eLearners News is edited by Steve Foerster.
Steve has worked in higher education for nearly ten years, both as a staff person specializing in eLearning and international higher education, and as an adjunct instructor, designing and teaching online courses in IT and business.
He's also an eLearner himself, having completed a Bachelor's degree from Charter Oak State College and a Master's degree from George Washington University, both thanks to eLearning.
For more about Steve, visit his website.
There are a number of reasons to consider eLearning, but many people come to it for the convenience. If you're a busy person, then being able to go to class whenever you get some time can be a lot easier to figure out than having a set schedule where you have to crawl through rush hour traffic to campus, circle the parking lot like a great white shark until you finally find a space and hurriedly sail into it, spend three hours in class, and eventually get home long after the sun's gone down. Who wouldn't be interested in a more flexible approach? The problem is that if you're that busy, one of the things that may get short shrift is physical activity. When the most exercise you get is walking across the street to Starbucks in the morning, you know there's a problem!
At least you're not alone. It turns out this is a problem throughout the academic community. Young college professors decrease exercise significantly once they get situated in their first academic job. But you may be surprised to find out that there's more reason to exercise than just to lose weight or even to stay healthy. One of the most intriguing benefits to a workout is that it can make you more alert, and more focused on whatever you do for the rest of the day. That means that it may seem like going to gym or running along the road a ways is an expenditure of time, but it's really an investment of time that just might pay off in higher productivity! And of course, there are still the other benefits of losing a few pounds, staving off heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure, and lowering your overall stress level.
If you have to balance study, work, and a family then probably already know this, but one of the keys to finding the time is scheduling your day as much as you can in advance. When you get into a rhythm of exercising at a certain time, you're on the road to success with it. It's tough to start a new habit, but once you've done so, you'll wonder why it ever took so long to get started.
So go ahead and get off your duff! All the benefits you learned about in health class are waiting for you, and if pending a little time on it helps your mind focus for the rest of the day, well, what would be better than that?
Do you have a tip for fitting exercise into your busy day? Share your advice in a comment!
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I pick the furthest spot in the parking lot whenever possible ...