Monday, July 9, 2012

Online Education Is Not For Everybody

Online education has become very popular. You can study just about any subject online, without ever stepping foot into a classroom. Everywhere you look there are advertisements for online programs to get your Masters of Business Management or your law degree online. Before you enroll in an online degree program, you have to consider some things.

Depending on what you want to study, online education may not be right for you. Many of the online programs that are offered today are provided by for-profit schools. For-profit schools exist to make money for their owners, often their owners are stockholders who expect a dividend to be paid or the stock price to increase. The fact that an online program is provided by a for-profit school doesn't mean that the program doesn't deliver a good education, it is simply a factor to consider when researching different programs. The reason I mentioned for-profit schools is because I believe that certain subjects should never be taught entirely online, they just do not fit into the online format.

A perfect example of a subject that does not lend itself to the online format would be chemistry. Chemistry requires students to spend time in a laboratory. The laboratory has specialized equipment and is set up to allow students to conduct experiments, these lessons cannot be taught online with the same degree of competence. A student can watch videos of other people conducting experiments but it is not as effective as actually conducting the experiment.

Other subjects that are difficult to learn online are law, architecture, and medicine, to name a few. If you are unsure if the field you are considering is conducive to online education, check out U.S. News and World Report's College Rankings. If you cannot find an online program in the field that you are researching that is ranked by U.S. News, then that field is probably not appropriate for online education.

Another reason online education is not right for some people is the discipline required. The attractive flexibility of online education also means that a teacher will not tell you when you should start working on your final project or when to read the required reading. It can be tempting to procrastinate and fall behind in class. It is very difficult, if not impossible to catch up once you have fallen behind in an online class.

If you need the structure and guidance of in-class instruction to avoid procrastination, online education is not right for you. Your going to have to be realistic with yourself, only you know if you are the kind of person that can stay focused and disciplined for the couple of years it is going to take to complete the program.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Technology Improved Education


Teaching and learning have taken on a whole new dimension due to the major impact of technology in schools. Teachers now have a medium to communicate effectively with one another and share ideas to better their teaching skills. They now have a pool of endless resources they can utilize to offer students the assistance they need to develop their ability and advance. The computer has improved education in many ways. There is now the reduced use of paper, which plays a role in environmental conservation. This positively supports what teachers are trying to instill in their pupils; it is important to preserve the natural environment and take care of our surroundings. There is no better way to do it than putting a stop to cutting down trees.

Other notable areas of improvements as a result of technology are;

- Information on different subject matter is readily accessible. This is not only beneficial to teachers, but students as well. There is no limit to the knowledge one can attain from the internet. What's more, the material available is diverse since it's presented by people from different parts of the world. This opens up a student's viewpoint and allows for fresh, new ideas to arise.

- There is a lot of software that schools can use to create far more interesting presentations and programs. Students can use the software on projects thus they have a way to express their tasks effectively and in detail.

- Technology has helped do away with distance and time restrictions. Online education has opened numerous possibilities for students and teachers alike. You can now school or teach from anywhere in the world. Many online schools are accredited and registered with the necessary government bodies. This means that every individual interested in acquiring a higher education has the opportunity to do so now. Many people who have jobs also have the chance to pursue further studies without giving up their careers.

- The introduction of schools online has made education more enjoyable and achievable. Because this allows a visual and audio mode of communicating, everyone can share ideas, knowledge, as well as information and make others the better for it.

Through technology, education has been transformed. Learning and teaching has become more interactive. It has also done away with barriers as knowledge can now be shared across borders. Different cultures can now openly appreciate one another as they learn the various ways of life. Technology has undoubtedly improved the scope of education and through this there will be more technological advancements. Thus, technology and education are correlated; they work together to develop each other.

The Importance of Value Education

The world will start learning from the mistakes done in the past which few leaders did because a little misunderstanding can bring instability in the world, due to this misunderstanding and bad politics the most powerful country of its time, i.e. Soviet Union fell down, it is the mistakes which had turned the whole world into the battleground during the world wars. America is not able to control the number of its enemies. India and Pakistan are fighting with each other since the day they came into existence. But the third world will be free from all these problems, These things will be unaccepted in the third world.

But for all this, we need nice people. The third world needs nice people who are strong in morals, because it is they who are going to make the difference, and their demand will be fulfilled by the universities, the university should provide moral and value education to the students beside the professional studies.

Character is the basic thing, the man with good character is all that this current world needs, who will drive this world to the third world, the world of dreams, where everybody would love to live. The third world is very far from us, but it is possible to reach there.