And then there are the "Epic" Spells, when you are Lv100 of each magic tree. Or you can put the same spell in both hands, and with a certain perk you get out of the Destruction Tree, if you cast both spells simultaneously, you get a bonus and a different spell animation (you put your two hands together and the projectile is larger and does more damage). Or maybe a shielding spell (those exist in Skyrim). They also have the ability to dual-wield spells - you could put a Lightning Bolt spell in one hand, and maybe a Healing Spell in the other. Skyrim has you learning spells by finding (or buying) Spell Tomes that you read to learn the spell.
Now, Skyrim isn't perfect either - they did do some controversial things (like removing Spellmaking), but I can understand why they did it, and no it wasn't to "dumb the game down" like everybody whines about. You should, if you ever get the chance/extra money/what-not.