Before you buy a car you normally research which car is right for you, how much the car costs, what kind of financing can you get and what kind of warranty comes with the car. Applying to an online school is really no different from buying a car. You need to do your research where online schools are concerned.
First and foremost is to always make sure the college is accredited. Most will say so on the website but you can check at the US Department of Education for a full list of accredited online colleges. If the college you are looking into is not accredited, virtually no one will consider your degree or credits valid.
Consider the courses. Make sure they have courses that you are interested in or degree’s that you want. Are the credits transferable? And a good question to ask is how long does it take for an average person to complete the program? At a college campus, you go to school a set number of days, for a few hours a day, and you have a set time to complete the program. This is not the case for an online school.
Ask about financial aid. Some schools accept grants and financial aid, even helping you to apply for them. If they don’t accept financial aid, do they offer a payment plan? This is where it’s probably a good idea to talk with someone over the phone. They may have more than one payment plan to fit your budget.
Also, make sure that staff and tech support will be available to you, at any time, should you need them. Most people attend online colleges because they work or have children, and you need to know how to contact the staff. You want to know that they will be there for your needs even if it’s after hours.
There always seems to be a shortage of qualified teachers for our schools. This has only been made worse by the increased requirements for teacher certification. It is much harder to be allowed to teach in our public classrooms today than it has ever been in the past. Teachers have to be fingerprinted, checked for tuberculosis, and pass a battery of tests to prove that they both know the material they are planning to teach, and the theory of how to teach it.
Now, while I think the idea of testing and certification is a good idea, I’m equally sure that the system can be improved upon. After all, making sure that our teachers aren’t criminals, don’t have diseases they’ll pass on to our children, and have the necessary knowledge in order to teach all sounds great, But, who pays for all that?
Believe it, or not, the teachers themselves have to pay for all of this. The average teacher has to pay over $500.00 out of their own pocket in order to become certified to teach, and that is before they receive their first paycheck.
By not covering these expenses for teachers, their school districts are sending them a very clear message. That message is, “You aren’t professionals.” It’s also sending a secondary message, “You aren’t important to us. You have to pay for the right to work here.”
If a school district would reimburse the teachers for this cost, it would be a great way of telling them, “We appreciate you.” It might not be a great financial boon to those teachers, but it would be a great emotional boon to them. Instead of treating them like workers who have to pay for the privilege of working, it would be treating them like the professions we expect them to be.
Most school districts have hard and fast rules about the use of any electronic apparatus in the classroom; if a teacher or administrator sees a student using it, they confiscate it. All this seems to do is make both students and parents mad. The students still bring their cell phones and MP3 players to school, and still have them confiscated.
However, there are a few brave schools which are working on thinking outside the box. These schools are actually allowing their students to keep their cell phones on their desks, and even use them in class. No, they aren’t crazy, nor are they allowing their students to run the classroom; all they are doing is trying to find a way that to utilize what the students are using anyway as a tool in the classroom.
So many modern cell phones have access to the Internet built in. Although our kids would rather play games on the Internet, they’re more than willing to use it for educational purposes. Actually, they’re much more likely to learn information that’s on the web, than they are to learn information that’s written in a book. So, when those students need to look something up, they’ve got their cell phone right there on the desk to do it.
These schools are still maintaining strict rules on how the students can use their cell phones in class. First of all, they can’t use it to text their friends; the only one they can text is their teacher. Since their cell phone is on the desktop, instead of hidden in their lap, it’s easy for the teacher to see if they are trying to text someone. They are also required to have their ringer on silent, without vibrator, so that they don’t disturb other students.
Will these schools succeed with these new ideas? That’s yet to be seen. But somehow, all this technology needs to become integrated into our educational system.
A few years ago, the youth of our country were known as “Generation X,” but no more. Now the generation in which we live is that of “Generation Net.” Why is that? It’s because the youth today have grown up on the Internet. While their parents might think of using the Internet as one of many resources in their lives; most of today’s youth may not even know of references that their parents are used to using.
If a teen wants to know where the movie theatre is, they get on the internet to find one; while their parents will look in the phone book. If they want to know what’s showing, they’ll get on the movie theater’s web site; while their parents will look in the newspaper. If they want to know about the climate in Sudan, they’ll Google it, instead of looking in an atlas like their parents.
If this is the way that our children see the world, why are we still trying to force them to learn like their parents? The parents used textbooks, but the children would rather throw them in the garbage. It’s not the information that they’re throwing out; it’s the format in which that information is presented.
With today’s youth, the way to get them to pay attention to something is to put it on a screen. This is the way that they are accustomed to look at their world. In fact, the youth of today spend an average of 7.5 hours per day looking at computer screens, televisions, and their cell phones.
Our schools need to adapt themselves to the way that these youth are seeing the world. If we take the same information that are in the textbooks and put it on an interactive web site, not only will they be willing to do the work, they’ll enjoy it. Since they will enjoy it, they’ll learn more.
It’s long been recognized that reading is the most basic of educational skills. If one knows how to read, they can learn anything. On the other hand, those who never learn to read are handicapped throughout their lives. Yet, we need to realize that there are thousands of students every year to slip through the cracks of the educational system, without ever learning how to read.
It’s not that these students are stupid, or that they lack the ability to learn. In fact, most of them are quite intelligent. Many of them are cleaver enough to graduate from High School without anyone realizing that they don’t know how to read. How can they do this? More than anything they have excellent memories. Instead of counting on reading to gain their information, they count on remembering what their teachers and others tell them. Yet, in those cases where it is known that they can’t read, they are categorized as being of low intelligence.
So, where does this problem come from? More than anything it comes from the manner that reading is taught today in our schools. Once upon a time, we taught phonics, which gave the student the ability to properly sound out and read words that they didn’t even know.
However, this system isn’t used any more. Now what we do is teach a system that is known as “sight reading.” In this system, the student is taught to recognize the shape of common words. The idea for this system came from the recognition that most fluent readers do this. But, that doesn’t mean that it works for people who aren’t fluent in reading.
Something needs to be done for these students. It doesn’t matter how old they are, someone needs to realize that they don’t know how to read, and give them some good old fashioned phonics. We need to give them the gift of reading.
Amongst the various technological advances we can find in the classroom today is a wonderful tool called the interactive whiteboard. This is a touch-sensitive whiteboard, or marker board connected via computer to a video projector. Anything the teacher “writes” on the surface of the whiteboard is interpreted by the computer, and projected on the whiteboard as lines, shapes, text, and numbers.
That’s only touching the surface of what this wonderful device can do. Essentially, the interactive whiteboard is a large computer interface, putting both input and output on the same surface. Whatever you can put in the computer is projected right back on the white board.
That gives the average teacher a whole arsenal of new tools to use in the classroom. Tools such as: interactive web sites, computer generated graphics, any educational computer program you can think of, and even interactive video.
If you watch professional sports on television, from time to time an expert will analyze a particular play by one team, or another. They have a tablet which they write on, which interprets their marks and lines, then applies them to the image from the camera. Interactive whiteboards have that same capability. A teacher can be showing the students an educational video, pause it, write comments on the whiteboard, which become integrated with the image.
Imagine, a science teacher who can perform a dangerous chemistry experiment on screen? Since the experiment exists only in the computer’s microprocessor, nobody can get hurt. Or, how about an interactive human anatomy program to show students the digestive system. Since the teacher could zoom in, rotate the body, and add or remove organs at will, the explanation would be much clearer than possible with models, or pictures.
The applications of this technology in the classroom are literally limitless. I cannot think of a single area of study that wouldn’t be enhanced by putting this tool in the hands of the teacher.
Once upon a time, children went to school, and learned how to read. Not only that, but they learned writing and arithmetic as well. Any child who had completed sixth grade knew at least the basics; you could count on it. But, when we look at the children of today, we find many of them dropping out of school as soon as they are old enough. Those that stay in don’t necessarily do any better, many of them graduate from high school without the ability to read.
What has happened to our schools? When did we stop teaching children, and start allowing them to slip through the system without learning? Why do we let these children graduate, if they can’t even read?
It’s safe to say that there isn’t just one thing that has caused the problems in our school system. Likewise, there’s no one magic solution thing that’s going to fix everything. However, there are some real problems, and there must be some real solutions to them.
Those problems can be something the administration is doing, or maybe it’s because of the teachers; then again, it could be the curriculum the school is using. Or, if we look outside the school, the parent’s could have a part in the problem. Finally, there’s the part that belongs to the student.
In actuality, all of the above have some part in the problem, because good education can only happen when each of those five elements is doing its part. However, the big question still remains, how do we change each of those areas in order to make the whole system work better?
The solution won’t happen by looking who we can blame, but by each one taking their part to make things better. Teacher, administrator, students and parents must all do their part to correct the problems we have.
For some reason there seems to be a bias against online degree programs. This bias exists primarily among individuals who have not 
investigated the various programs that are available for students looking to continue their higher education and to receive an advanced degree.
The truth is that an online degree program is every bit as valid as a traditional classroom. Students who opt to attend classes online have access to the same resources, professors and materials that are available in traditional classes. Career opportunities are available for those with an online degree the same as they are for those obtained on a campus. The only major differences is online students have more flexibility in their course schedule and can often pay less than if they attended classes at a university.
For a long time online classes seem to be nothing more than an extension of the century old phenomenon of distance learning. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, multiple studies which took a look at the performance of both online students and traditionally educated students, showed that online students perform approximately nine percent better than traditional students. It follows that, as more students turn to online classes and the technology used to teach them improves, it is likely that online students will soon perform vastly better than traditional students.
Remember that an online degree program is a valid form of education. It simply utilizes a different teaching methodology, utilizing software that effectively creates a virtual classroom. Students have access to presentations in the form of slide shows or videos, lectures in the form of notes or web cases and other resources. It really is a virtual classroom.
Earning a degree through an online education program provides individuals with the exact same qualifications as a traditional college student. It all comes down to what you want wear to class – jeans or pajamas?
Everyone student enjoys their time off from classes. But, not everyone gets the most out of those times. Let’s take for example summer vacation. If we were to go on the street and ask any 100 kids what they’re going to do with their summer vacation, the most common answer by far would be “just hang out.”
The average student doesn’t have any idea what to do with all that free time, and therefore just wastes it, doing nothing. They watch television, play electronic games, hang out with their friends, or just plain get in trouble.
Did you know that the average student forgets a large part of what they’ve learned over summer vacation? In fact, in the average classroom, the teacher spends the first six weeks of the school year reviewing things that the students learned the last year and forgot over the summer. That’s one sixth of the school year; lost to forgetfulness!
Why does this problem exist? Basically, it’s because our children take summer vacation a little too seriously. When they leave school on that last day, they unplug any academic part of their brain, so that only the fun focused parts function.
I’m not suggesting that we do away with summer vacation (I enjoyed it too). But, I think that we, as parents, can and should help our kids make more of their summer vacations.
How? More than anything by encouraging our kids to do their hanging out at the library. Reading is not only the most basic of academic skills, but it’s a great way to keep one’s brain sharp. Kids who read will continue learning, even if they’re just reading stories. Then, get them to talk about what they’re reading. That helps them remember, and learn how to express (important for creative writing).
Help your kids make the most of their vacation, as a wise man once said; “everything a person learns is useful sometime in their life.”
It doesn’t matter if one is talking about garden hoses, suitcases, or people; when pressure is applied, the results are unpredictable. You never know if the object or person in question will hold up under the pressure, explode, or just give way.
One of the ways that pressure is being applied to our educational system is in the expectancy that most students will pass their classes, continue on with their education, and ultimately graduate from schools. School administrators are rated on these criterions; specifically how well their school does on standardized testing, how many students pass each grade, and how few drop out of school.
One would expect that this pressure would cause administrators to strive harder and push the teachers working under them to do a better job. I’m sure that’s what’s happening in a large number of cases, but I’m just as sure that isn’t what’s happening in many other cases.
Since teachers give the grades, and administers review those grades, it’s just as easy for them to change those grades. In fact, that is exactly what is happening in many cases; teachers and administrators are changing grades, to make themselves look better.
It’s one thing to up a student’s grade who’s right on the borderline between a C and a B so that they get the B; but, it’s a totally different thing to give a student who is failing a passing grade. All that guarantees is that students who don’t know the material and haven’t done the work still get to move up a grade. If the school system does that enough times, they can actually graduate those students; possibly even graduating students who can’t even read.
While I can easily understand rating school administrators based upon some sort of measurable criterion, the system that is being used is obviously not working. Any criterion that is used must be something that doesn’t have the ability to negatively impact students.