Today, people really need to think of education as a continuous process, particularly in the high tech fields. One technical recruited mentioned to me that the best job insurance anyone could have would be to go to school one night a week forever. I don't think other fields will require the same intensive continuing education as high-tech, but the complexity of the world today does require people to keep on learning. Some of the challenges that we face today include a much more diverse society, globalization and the proliferation of information. People need to have critical thinking skills to cope in today's world.
Training has a shorter lifespan and is skill based.
Credit courses are designed to require students a variety of thinking skills such as analytic thinking and reflection. Some schools will, for instance, accept transfer credit for courses that are 10 or 20 years old. If you want to build a foundation for problem solving and higher-level thinking then courses bearning credit will have more appropriate content. Well, everyone out there lurking for this chat. I've enjoyed interviewing Amy.