Online Education Programs - 4 Ways They Can Benefit You

These times are as troubled as we've seen them in decades. Businesses are closing. Companies are declaring bankruptcy. The unemployment numbers are growing more dismal by the month. People are struggling to make ends meet. Very few people are surviving unscathed.

This is precisely why it's a good time to further your education. Whether you still need to get your high school diploma or you want to develop new skills in order to access a better-paying job, you'll find online learning to be a convenient and effective avenue for your education.

Here are some of the advantages for your consideration:

1) Education On Your Time. Life is hectic. There's always more to do than time to do it. Squeezing lessons and classes into the equation only makes things worse. Fortunately, online education is designed to fit your schedule, not the other way around. When you choose to take your classes is largely up to you. Twenty minutes during your lunch break. Fifteen minutes while waiting for your kids to get out of their karate lessons. Thirty minutes after everyone has gone off to bed. Whichever times are most convenient for you.

2) No Travel Time. No one enjoys being on the freeway, moving ten miles an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic, worrying about being late to your class. It's frustrating. It's time-consuming. It's stressful. Online education eliminates the travel. You can study in the comfort of your home, never having to leave the house. You study and learn at your convenience, not someone else's convenience.

3) Money Saving. Online education classes are generally more reasonably priced. They save you in ways that you might not even realize at first glance. Not having to travel saves you gas money. Since you're learning at home, you save on childcare and babysitting expenses. There's no need to squeeze in a fast food meal between work and class, so you save on those expenses. Even if you're in a position where you can't afford a computer or Internet access, you can save money by using a computer at your local library. Almost every library has Internet access these days.

4) Personal Attention. In a traditional classroom it's easy to get lost. The instructor has a full curriculum to teach, and his or her life is most likely just as hectic as yours. It's no unusual to go through a semester of learning and never once have the opportunity to talk to your teacher. The online classroom makes access to your professor much easier. Communication by email is convenient for both parties. In addition, with technology rapidly changing, some classes are presented as webinars which allow you to ask questions directly. These new avenues of communicating make it much easier to get the personal attention you need to create the best educational experience.

Not every educational need can be addressed through online learning, but a growing number of them can be. This is a trend that should continue to grow in the future as well, as education adapts to the student instead of forcing the student to adapt to the education. So before you sign up for your local community college classes or even your state college classes, check to see what they have available online first. And if you can't find what you need, check to see if you can advance your education with a dedicated online learning program.

Online Education Tips and Tricks

On a positive note, you aren't the first student confronting this kind of decision, which means that with proper investigating you will find tons of tips and individuals who can help you. Have a discussion with your friends and family, do research online and at a library and most importantly, try to look at the actual location of the schools you might be thinking about. This isn't as vital with an online school, but if you want a geographic location, then you will want to visit.

With online degree programs, you will want to look into the accreditation of the university. A physical college usually has achieved some kind of recognition, and you can easily determine if your degree will be respected. However, online degree programs can mask their bad standing behind an Internet wall, so to speak, so accreditation is vital.

Accreditation is extremely important with online degree programs because prospective employers will look at it to know that your schooling is recognized by the United States Department of Education. Regardless of whether you are looking at physical offline schools or web-based schools, be sure that it fits in line with your long term education ambitions. Should you ever choose to transfer, then you'll want to ensure that your credits will transfer.

With online degree programs, you can start when you choose. Alternatively, a campus college has established course times and enrollment periods. This requires that you set a period of time aside to go to the campus and take the course. On the other hand, in an internet course, it is possible to take the class when you have a free spot of time.

Convenience may be a large factor anytime people are choosing between bricks-and-mortar institutions and internet based colleges. It's important to think about the time it would take to go to and from the actual campus, whether you have enough time to spend on a scheduled course schedule. Online degree programs still require you complete things on a schedule, so do not believe you can slack off and then finish whenever you choose.

No matter whether you are looking at physical campus schools or online degree programs, you can find what suits you the best if you take enough time to do your research. If you base your final decision exclusively on cost, you'll end up let down with the caliber of schooling.

The choice for where you wish to go to college is definitely a time intensive one, but one with wonderful rewards and advantages. If you're deciding between going to a web-based institution versus a physical campus, examine your finances, your available time as well as what kind of program will benefit you the most.

Online Education - Road Map to Your Quality and Accredited College Degree

As you desire to enroll in an online University or College or an additional type of online education program, you must think of available options to see if the course is accredited or institution is approved to run the programs. Studying online degrees is very important to accomplish your dream career.

There are categories of courses like accounting, business administration, management, science, engineering, education, criminal justice, marketing, advertising, adult education etc. Your high school education can be done online.

However, you can get an online degree if you wish at affordable cost. There are many available choices to you. You can do an online associate degree, bachelor degree and master degree programs. There are also colleges or universities that work with you on accelerated financing.

There are diverse ways you can get your online degree. You can get through one, as quick as possible compare to attending a traditional college or university. You can also increase your online qualification in various industries. You can get a certificate that shows you finished a course work in careers like culinary arts. There are many benefits to receiving career training and can push your life ahead with this nature of online course.

It is possible for you to complete online education program from home, at work or while on vacation with no changes to your usual plan and schedule. An online career education is very crucial to your life style, if you would like to proceed or grow to the high class of qualified personality in the society or in your organization.

Finally, this can be a very significant chance for you to move to the next step of your career level and guess what, you going to earn big money. Make sure you do an in-depth research and go for approved online education to enhance your quality career.

Free Webinar on Professors and Technology

The new study Digital Faculty: Professors, Teaching and Technology, 2012, found that professors are excited about technology trends in education, including the growth of e-textbooks. This is the type of information that should be important to collegiate retailers as the industry moves forward.

Inside Higher Education is now offering a free hour-long webinar Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. Eastern to discuss the findings. The panel will be made up of Inside Higher Ed editor Scott Jaschik; Joshua Kim, a blogger for the publication and director of learning and technology, Dartmouth College; technology reporter Steve Kolowich; and Jeff Seaman, co-director, Babson Survey Research Group.

Registration information will be shared with sponsor companies CourseSmart, Deltak, Pearson, and Sonic Foundry.

Results Should be Interesting from Expanded E-Text Pilot

The results from the first round of the e-textbook pilot program from Internet2 and Educause showed students liked the savings and portability of digital content, but weren’t as thrilled with the reading experience or the fact that instructors often failed to use collaborative features built into the platform.

This fall, the program has been expanded from the original five schools to 26 nationwide, with each paying between $20,000 and $35,000 to collect feedback from the fall 2012 semester. While the 2012 pilots use McGraw-Hill Education e-titles on the Courseload software platform to replace paper books, Internet2 and Educause are planning a new test next year using multiple platforms and publishers.

“It’s important for higher education and, most importantly, for students to have options going forward,” said Shel Waggener, senior vice president for Internet2, in a Center for Digital Education article. “Now, we have the option to rethink the integration of content with the pedagogy with collaboration between students in very new ways.”

The pilots provide a way for the industry to work out issues such as accessibility, according to Waggener, who encourages other universities to jump on the e-textbook bandwagon.

“Universities should not sit on the sidelines and wait for this to become resolved because resolution is not going to be absolute; it’s going to be a continuum, and we all need to have a stake in the game to influence the outcomes,” he said.

Weggener acknowledged the college store in his “do and don’t” list in a blog post at Educause Review Online. Even though the reference is a “don’t,” his suggestions providesome thoughts stores might want to focus on. Since stores are not often invited to participate and more than half of the institutions in the fall 2012 pilot have independent campus stores, collegiate retailers need to find ways to be part of the discussion.

Big Investments Being Made in Online Education

Investing in online education has become big business. Since the beginning of September, news reports have surfaced of $5.7 million in venture capital going to a Chicago-based education startup called eSpark Learning. At the same time, the Canadian firm Desire2Learn reversed its strategy of not using external funding and raised $80 million.

eSpark, described by its founder and CEO as the Pandora radio for education, targets students in grades K-8. Students are given a custom playlist of apps and then asked to rate how much they like the app or how much they are learning, similar to the way Pandora listeners rate songs played, according to an article in TechCrunch.

Desire2Learn, which develops cloud-based learning systems, changed its funding strategy, in part, to keep up with the rapid pace of change in the online learning market. Blended learning programs, personalized learning, and open online courses have all contributed to that growth. Desire2Learn has responded by hiring 200 new employees in the past year, according to a report in Reuters.

Finally, the online educational startup Straighterline recently announced it will begin allowing college professors to attract online students to their for-credit courses through Straighterline and even set their own price for the course.

The company landed $10 million in investment capital last April and plans to use the funds to expand its marketing to institutions across the country. It already offers online learning in nearly 40 courses for a fee of $99 a month and a $39-per-course registration fee. Its long-term goal is to create a platform where students can pick and choose courses created by professors for credit.

“The idea is the student has those choices,” Burck Smith, founder of Straighterline, told The Baltimore Sun. “It’s really an experiment in creating a market for professors and students to meet up.”

The Pros of Mobile Learning

The web site Edudemic has been making its case for mobile learning for the last couple of months. The site started by pointing to a survey which found that 45% of students use their smartphones for learning, and then provided 10 real-world examples of schools putting the bring-your-own-technology idea to work in their classrooms.

The Edudemic argument for mobile learning continued with its four big reasons why instructors should give it a try.

First on the list is the accessibility of mobile learning content. Not only is it easy for students,  it’s also simple for teachers to update and review the content they upload. The article even provides a link to an app that allows teachers to make m-learning quizzes.

Edudemic says m-learning allows teachers to customize content to fit the needs of their students while providing an easy and time-saving way for instructors to follow a student’s progress online.

Finally, Edudemic views mobile learning as a way to give students variety when it comes to content. Online presentations, videos, discussions, and online exams are just a few of the options that are available, which should keep things interesting and fun for both students and teachers.