Monday, March 30, 2009

Economic Downturn - The Best of Times, Especially For the Serious Student

I love that life is a challenge. I shop differently, I live differently, I work differently in 2009 than I did even one year ago. If I believed the newspapers, I'd believe the end of the world is upon us. But it isn't. Life is just different.

And this makes it all very exciting. I can't help but compare our current economic climate to the Great Depression. There is no getting away from the fact that the Depression was awful. Make no mistake, there is much bad news and scary parallels with what's going on today. But many people back then had little formal education. This made them very vulnerable in difficult times. Today, in 2009, so many people have solid formal education and skills. These do not disappear in a bad economic climate. Today access to education is vast and easy in comparison to the Great Depression. We hear a lot about corporate America, but the truth is educated owners of small businesses form the backbone of the economy. Knowledge makes people flexible and able to change as times change. It also means that in 2009, in spite of hard times, the accessibility of education make it the best of times to study.

That does not mean most college tuition won't keep going up; it will. But if it does, be sure you are getting your money's worth. And some institutions will learn to refocus. Do your homework. Find academic institutions that run leaner and focus on the goal of education instead of the niceties of campus life. For many this could mean some aspect of online study. Both public and private schools offer online courses and programs these days. But schools can seldom equip you with everything. So find other help as well. I'm all in favor of online help.

Think Great Depression again. Companies in the radio and printing mediums had boom times during the depression. Why? Because radio and printing were new and emerging mediums. What is the equivalent today? The internet of course. So make use of online studying options. Make use of good, free, online resources. Make use of good online help like academic editing and language reviewing when you need help with writing.

Start your online educational life by downloading your own copy of Language Online's 21 Proofreading Tips guide and requesting a weekly grammar tip. Indeed the best of times for the serious student.

Desray J Britz of Language Online enjoys writing on her blog about the issues that her clients ask about. Take a side trip to the site: http://blog.languageonline.us Desray invites you to comment on any blog post or to share a blog post you find interesting by using the ShareThis button.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Open Education - How to Think About Your Online Community's Purpose

Useful metaphors for creating a vision of your online education portal:

1. An InstructorNet Mall of available resources for instructors to meet their needs.

2. A Google "Knowledge Map" of available content that's searchable, zoomable, and subscribeable through RSS so the network alerts you for items meeting your interests instead of waiting for you to craft a search every time you feel a conscious need.

3. The Amazon/eBay "smart network" that automates the search and recommend function based on stated interests AND by remembering searches and paths

4. Customer Service center for instructors seeking help

5. Tour guides/Marketing Aide to demonstrate "How to use these resources"

6. Magazine model of info mgt/distribution: a targeted demographic, whose readers shape the course of the magazine/tools (Dear Readers! We listened to you!) Lean 6 Sigma (LSS) techniques have a way of accomplishing this, and a partnership with an LSS project seems like a natural one

Other work to be done:

1. Considering how we encourage/reward professional writing like lesson notes, course content, blog/wiki work that contributes to the practice of knowledge, in the same way we have tied promotion and retention to academic writing.

2. A faculty Development Program that incorporates more ideas related to "Master Classes in graduate teaching" on a regular basis. Some ideas include: a. Group learning vs Team-Based learning. b. RSS in the classroom (and blogs and wikis and podcasts...oh my) c. Live dialogue mapping skills to frame group discussions better (Google "Compendium" for demonstrations) d. How about giving Voice to faculty to let them nominate classes they want to receive, or challenges they face, and target the top vote getters?

3. An instructorNet Mall should have a "store" that has searchable index of available, recorded Faculty Development Programs with quick summaries of what's available for the individual instructor looking to sharpen his practice.

I hope these ideas generate some quality ideas in your situation.

Ken Long, Chief of Research, Tortoise Capital Management

finance: http://www.tortoisecapital.com

essays: http://kansasreflections.wordpress.com

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Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Catch Up to Your Potential With an Online Degree

More than any other factor, education is what helps people climb the ladders of success, social status and self-esteem. However, it is not possible for everyone to make a smooth, seamless transition from high school to college and on to a career. People take various detours - the military, early marriages, world travel, "time off" - that often result in their never getting back to their educations. These are just the kind of people who would benefit from getting an online degree.

There are others, too, for whom an online degree would be superior to sitting in college classrooms for two, four, six or eight years. Often there are economic circumstances that not only prevent young people from going to college, but require them even to leave high school to work for the greater good of the family. There are also young people with very highly developed skills in a certain area, like mechanical engineering, who do not see the logic in studying literature or history to get a four-year degree.

Many people - of all races, in all age groups and from all social classes - were unable for one reason or another to enter college at around 18, graduate at around 22 with a bachelor's degree and start working in their chosen field. It used to be that, once one reached 30 years old or so, it was deemed "too late" to return to school. Only within the last few years has a solution arrived on the scene for "late bloomers" and "retreads" - an online degree.

An online degree can be an associate's, bachelor's, master's or even a doctorate. There are literally hundreds of colleges, trade schools and training institutes on the Internet that are accredited, and whose degrees and certificates are respected and recognized by business, industry and the educational establishment. Furthermore, just about any subject that can be studied on campus can be taken online as well. In a few disciplines, some in-class or laboratory time may be required, but even these requirements are flexible and simple to manage with the help of school counselors.

Whether for someone coming straight out of high school, or a middle-aged person seeking a career change, setting sights on an online degree is a challenge that has a big payoff. The payoff comes in the form of increased lifetime earnings, enhanced reputation, greater employment opportunities and heightened self-respect. There are few things in life that bring as many positive results as working hard, studying diligently and bringing home that online degree.

After founding his first security firm in 1990, Scott McQuarrie built several security-related companies into regional and national powerhouses over the ensuing years. Since 2000 he has focused his sales and marketing efforts on the Internet, which opened up a virtually unlimited, international market for his flagship product line, EZWatch Pro

The EZWatch Pro brand has come to stand for world-class expertise in electronic security, video surveillance and the myriad technologies involved in both fields. From small houses to gigantic international airports, there is an EZWatch Pro solution to meet any and every residential, business, commercial and government security challenge.