Meta-Education

The Reason for Education

Making the decision to further your education is the best decision you can make. These days it’s not enough to have your primary education. You need far more than that. So going back to school could be the most rewarding decision you could make for your future. However, if you are on the fence about it there might be some points to sway you.

First, the idea of going back to school should be embraced. It’s a chance for you to be connected to your future and to do the kinds of things that you love. You are able to get specific and specialized training in the area that really excites you. It’s one of the things that makes it so rewarding.

Many people worry about the cost of school and they should because it’s not always cheap, but with the advent of online classes, going back to school is both easy and affordable. These days you can go to an online school that isn’t paying for the overhead of a traditional university. It’s something that really makes a difference in the price.

Because so much secondary education is online it is allowing people to be able to do their schooling remotely. This makes it easy for the adult with a full-time job and or a family to get their education without ever having to put their life on hold.

If you want to go back to school you should. These days there is less and less reason to say no.

Start Your Higher Education Online

Image by Mrs. Gemstone via Flickr

A traditional path to higher education would have a high school senior applying to several first pick and second pick campuses. If all goes according to plan, they’ll be accepted to their school of choice and head off to four more years of learning. However, sometimes life has a funny way of pulling the rug out on the best of college plans. Sometimes the first and second choices aren’t available. There could also be a challenge with tuition and living costs that can upend a journey to the university. Just because these factors crop up doesn’t mean you need to bring your higher education dreams to a halt. You can take an online path as your regroup.

Online education is the modern equivalent to the old correspondence courses. The goal of an online learning program is to let you earn a valuable degree within the framework of a flexible schedule and affordable cost. Most of those very same colleges you applied to will be offering distance learning as part of their curriculum. As you dedicated a semester to online learning, you can also continue working at a job to save up for an ultimate transfer to the campus of your choice. Those online credits should be able to fold right into your traditional college degree program.

Another benefit of online learning is allowing you to explore different career paths without committing to a specific program. You don’t have to declare a major right away. Instead, you can enroll in courses that interest you in the hopes of finding your passion, but without the heavy tuition costs of a normal college.

Filed Under: Online Education Tagged With: Distance education, eLearning, Higher education

Going Away to College

Going onward with your education is an admirable goal, but sometimes you need to go away to do it properly. After all, it’s far too easy to get lost in the inertia of familiar faces and familiar places. Sometimes going to a large city like Atlanta is a great way to focus on furthering your education and moving up in the world.

When you first check out some Atlanta apartments, you are going to notice that living in a big city like that is a far different experience than living in a suburban or rural area. For one thing, the culture is very tilted toward the support of others within the community, which is a strange concept to people who live very self-sufficient lives out in the sticks. Cities are all about interdependence. For another thing, you will notice that the arts have a powerful influence on the area. Remember that beautifying a space is as much a functional activity as improving your skills and expanding your horizons. When you’re in a new place, especially one that’s as large as Atlanta, you have to respect other people’s opinions.

Your education is not just going to happen in the classroom. Most of the time, going off to school teaches you all kinds of things about the world that just can’t seem to fit inside of a textbook or an instructor’s lesson plan. As often as not, you are going to find that if you ever go back to the place you came from, it just won’t seem as vibrant or large. When they say you can never go home again, they mean it emotionally more than physically.

Filed Under: Adult Education, Continuing Education Tagged With: Atlanta, Education, Lesson plan

Learning Wherever you Are

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Some people say that wherever you go, that’s where you are. With this cryptic quote as your guide, it’s no wonder you can take your educational experience with you to any corner of the globe. You can even go to school from the comfort of your own local coffee shop. All you need is a laptop with wifi capabilities, and you’re in. Caffeine expenses notwithstanding, it’s even reasonably inexpensive.

Being educated means more than just having a fancy piece of sheepskin paper to hang on your wall. For a lot of people, it also means that you’ve grown beyond where you were before. If you spend your entire life in a small town and rarely meet anyone new or different, you won’t be as socially educated as you would be in a major metropolitan area. However, the people you can meet online are all but infinite, as well as infinitely varied. With this in mind, online education allows you to combine the best parts of small town life with the unbelievable amount of learning you can do when you’re online and guided by trained professionals.

Imagine being able to sit in a coffee house and sip your brew of choice while you pay little to no rent, because you aren’t living on campus. This is a pretty nice life in itself, but it gets even better when you realize that you can also be taking in an entire education, and even earning an advanced degree in a lucrative field while you live this kind of life. No matter where you want to get your education, you can do it. From there, you can go far.

Filed Under: Higher Education, Online Education Tagged With: Academic degree, E-learning, Education

Tips to Continuing your Education Successfully

Taking classes while gainfully employed is not just a way to get continuing education units (CEUs) needed to maintain licensure in some fields (i.e., nursing), continuing education can help you keep your job and even get a better one. Working at a full time job and juggling family and school can be daunting. The following are tips for making your three-ring circus work.

Take online classes—many courses are offered through accredited schools online, such as Kaplan University, DeVry University or University of Phoenix. Online courses offer the flexibility of working at your own pace, on your own schedule.

Schedule carefully—many brick-and-mortar universities now offer weekend and evening programs for people who work. When scheduling, limit the number of classes you take so you have time for your family and your job.

Time management—block out time on your schedule to review coursework and do homework. Leave the house and go to the library or a coffee shop (like you did in college) if you need to.

Tell your employer what you are up to—you might be eligible for tuition reimbursement and letting your boss know you are improving your credentials can help you get a bigger pay increase.

Get a study partner—it pays to have someone to call up if you miss a class and to study with when working on difficult material.

Keep your family involved—while it may seem easier to go it alone, having the support of your family can make it easier to get study time and reduce your stress level.

Filed Under: Continuing Education, Online Education Tagged With: Continuing education, Continuing education unit, Kaplan University

Virtual Classroom Basics

Getting admitted to an online college is much the same as admissions for a traditional college. Just like admissions to brick-and-mortar schools, applicants must complete applications, submit test scores in some cases and pay application fees. The course curriculum is also basically the same for the both. However, once you’ve been accepted, attending class is a little different.

Online degrees can be self-paced which means you are able to start it at any time, or they can be structured so that students are scheduled to begin classes in groups and then they go through their programs at the same pace. In the latter case, there is usually a specific start date.

In addition to finding out when each course begins, it may be able to take individual courses at an accelerated pace. Although a student might have an entire semester to complete an online course, it is sometimes possible to complete a course early, depending upon the speed at which you work.

Although computers are the status quo for most degree-seeking students, regular access to a computer with Internet access and email is absolutely necessary when attending a virtual school. In addition, different online schools may have different technical requirements so it is important to check these out as well. For example, find out the time of browser you will need, how fast your Internet connection should be and whether or not you need specific software like Microsoft Office or something else that might be required for a certain class.

Filed Under: Adult Education, Online Education Tagged With: E-learning, Microsoft Office, Student

How to Get the Most from an Online Education

Going to school online, especially as an adult working full time, is a very different experience than doing it right out of high school full time. Although you won’t have the diversions of fraternity parties or road trips, work and family can offer up a whole host of new distractions. Knowing what you are getting into and what you can expect can help you make your education a success.

Tips for a Successful Education

Get familiar with the educational resources your school offers as well as the software necessary for class. Online schools typically offer online tutorials and even a basic introductory class to help ease the process.

Don’t forget to take notes. Notes help in all kinds of classroom situations but are especially useful when learning new vocabulary, procedures and concepts.

Don’t just sit there and take up virtual space! It is important to participate in your class and interact with your instructor and classmates in order to take full advantage of all your education has to offer. And when you participate, share your thoughts and opinions. Because of the nature of distance learning, many of the pressures associated with socializing are minimizing. Your classmates and teacher will get to know you through your thoughts and contributions to the class.

Because the course is online, you also have the ability to think before you act. Online instruction gives students time to really think about what they have learned before sharing it with others. The same goes for your classmates. This experience allows you time to learn from your peers as well.

Filed Under: Online Education Tagged With: Distance education, Education, High school

The Difference between Non-Profit and For-Profit Online Colleges

The University of Phoenix has made a big name for itself as one of the go-to online universities. As a for-profit school, most people think of it as one focused on career, vocational or technology training, backed by investors and run like a business.

Non-profit universities like the University of Michigan or the University of California are typically four-year educational institutions which means bachelor’s degrees are conferred in four years.

Beyond these basics, do they really differ? Many students find the for-profit model beneficial. Because these universities follow a business model, students are often treated as customers ,so the colleges are often quicker to respond to a student’s needs. In addition, the colleges tend to be competitive across the market as a whole, including for-profit and non-profit universities alike, so they are quicker to improve and innovate than non-profits.

One competitive advantage for-profit schools offer is their flexible learning environments. Because many of them have campuses across the country in addition to online programs, students can function at their own pace in their own space.

In order to ensure that a degree or certificate earned from a for-profit school is all that you hope it is cracked up to be, make sure that the program you select is accredited. If it isn’t regionally or nationally accredited, your degree won’t be considered legitimate. Accreditation is the way in which the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) determines whether school meet the current standards of professionalism and education. This accreditation is what really guarantees that you get what you pay for at both for-profit and non-profit institutions.

Filed Under: Higher Education, Online Education Tagged With: For-profit school, United States Department of Education, University of Phoenix

What to Expect from the Online Classroom

The first day of class in a virtual classroom is very different than the first day of class in a bricks-and-mortar classroom. When you saunter into a physical classroom, you can easily strike up a conversation with the student sitting next to you. Not so in an online class. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able interact with your classmates or your teacher.

Online courses are frequently hosted on secure websites. In this construct, the professor can post lectures and assignments to the site for students to access. There is usually a method for students to post queries and comments, either via a bulletin board or some other discussion forum. In many virtual classrooms, instructors will often set up specific times for students to log in for chat sessions. Communication in the online classroom usually takes places by one if not all of the following: email, instant messaging, streaming video and/or video conferencing.

Although these multiple communication forms can seem daunting if you are new to the world of virtual school, do not despair. Online colleges typically have excellent technical support available to students.

In addition to receiving your lectures online, you will be turning in your assignments via email, often in Microsoft Word, if not Excel or PowerPoint. Students also use email to correspond with professors, classmates and groups within a class.

Because not all students may be present online at the same time, blackboard chat sessions are often recorded and archived. A chat session or discussion board allows members to message back and forth as part of a topic thread. Colloquiums are often offered to augment the virtual classroom. A colloquium is a seminar often led by different instructors on different topics an each meeting.

One thing that won’t be any different from a regular classroom, you can still expect to buy textbooks.

Filed Under: Higher Education, Online Education Tagged With: Classroom, Microsoft Word, Student

Myths about Online Colleges Debunked

Going to school online sounds good; who wouldn’t want to go to school without getting out of bed? But many people wrongly assume attending college online isn’t for them because of expense or level of difficulty.

Taking courses online is not any more expensive than taking classes at your local college. In fact, many local colleges now offer courses online as well as in the classroom. The prices for online courses do vary greatly just like classroom courses. Credit hours typically range from $100 to $300 and there are usually additional fees as well. However, when you go to school online, your car stays in the garage so you don’t have to pay for gas or parking.

Online colleges also offer scholarships and financial aid just like brick-and-mortar schools. It is important to check whether the degree being offered is accredited because programs that are not may not be eligible for certain federal financial aid programs.

The difficulty of online college courses isn’t any different than traditional colleges because they basically follow the same curriculum, even if the material is delivered in a different format. The upside is that because you are taking classes online, you can frequently “attend” the class when you want to. So if you aren’t a morning person, you don’t have to go to classes before you get your morning coffee. Also, an instructor’s lectures can be gotten in written form, a plus if you are a lousy note taker.

Another myth about online programs is that you can’t get credit for work experience. Just like traditional programs, many schools offer the option of taking proficiency exams, such as the College Level Examination Program and the Proficiency Examination Program, instead of coursework.

Filed Under: Online Education Tagged With: College Level Examination Program, Distance education, E-learning