Online Education and Distance Learning Discussion Forums & Blogs

Can School Cause Heart Attacks and/or Stroke? Part II

Cajun — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:39:00 GMT

This is a continuation of my last post…

In light of yesterday’s post I thought I should share my personal experience regarding health and school. While earning my MBA I pretty much set everything not work or school related aside. I would get off of work, drive home, eat dinner and study. Sometimes I would be studying or doing homework until 4AM at night. In fact I would be up so late that my wife would have a hard time sleeping what with my walking around, turning on lights, making coffee and generally just making noise. So eventually I started pulling my all night study sessions at a Waffle House down the street from where our house at that time was. I didn’t work out, I didn’t eat right and I didn’t generally concern myself with my health in general. I was simply too busy burning the candle at both ends. In short, I gained about 20 pounds, was placed on prescriptions for high cholesterol, developed physical symptoms of overstress, was told by my doctor that I was very high risk for diabetes and pretty much was on my way to an early grave in every way you could think of.

After graduating I took a good long look at myself. According to my doctor my health was just in shambles, I had done so much damage in such a short amount of time that she and I worked together to develop a plan to reverse all the bad I had done to myself. I’m posting all of this here now because last week the final goal of that plan was realized. The plan was to lose at least 30 pounds, lower my blood sugar levels, lower my dangerously high cholesterol and basically just get active. It took a while, I’m not going to lie, it has been hard, after all I’m still a student and working professional. That being said however I went from 255lbs to 213lbs and I’m still losing weight. My blood sugar is perfect without prescriptions, I run regularly, I lift weights regularly and just last week I found out that my cholesterol levels without medication were excellent. Lastly, my physical symptoms of stress (headaches, etc.) have largely been resolved.

I was so focused on school and accomplishing the seemingly meaningless goal of getting a 4.0GPA on my MBA transcript that I put everything from my family to myself on the back burner. The price was too high and in retrospect, it was foolish of me to do that. So the whole purpose of these last two posts has been to say this...take care of yourself and don’t make school an artificially high priority in your life. Sure it’s important, sure it will give you returns on your investment beyond what you can measure, but it’s not worth risking your health for. It can be difficult as school places a lot of stress and demands on your time. In fact the only things that take up as much of my time as school would be my job and my family, thus I consider school to be a big factor in one's lifestyle.

Anyhow, keep that balance everyone...

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Can School Cause Heart Attacks and/or Stroke?

Cajun — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:01:00 GMT

I was reading a men’s health magazine article about how over work or burning the candle at both ends can significantly increase your risk of a stroke or sudden heart attack. Okay now granted, I’m not one of those people, it happens to other people. Well turns out curiosity got the better of me so I looked into stress and heart attacks and strokes and what I have found is concerning to me. So what does this mean? Well after reading everything from American Heart Association articles to publications on the American Institute of Stress it seems that what I have adopted in many cases is what is classified as Type A behavior. Don’t think that’s you? Take this quiz then…

1.) Do you have a balance between work, your school work and time for your family and things you enjoy?

2.) Do you have deadlines constantly looming over your head, such as a paper due by midnight Sunday (like me)?

3.) Do you have high standards for yourself that others might see as unrealistic? (For me it was studying until 4AM in a Waffle House, didn’t seem unrealistic at the time but in retrospect)

4.) Do you tend to have inflexible scheduling? (I have to do to meet deadlines and if I don’t stick to my calendar I get behind, then my stress levels soar)

5.) Are you in a hurry? All the time?

6.) Do you get frustrated now more than before you started spending all this extra time and effort on school? (I do, fatigue causes irritability)

7.) Have you started any new nervous fidgeting? Tapping your pen, bouncing your legs, biting your nails, etc. (Me, I’m guilty of about half a dozen of these but I notice I do it more when under the gun)

8.) Are you competitive when you don’t need to be? (For me it was insistence on a 4.0GPA on my MBA transcript)

9.) Do you drive more aggressively? (ummm…..no comment)

10.) Have you become increasingly distracted, such as not listening when someone is talking, scatterbrained or forgetful? (It’s been said that if I didn’t do this I’d have no personality at all)

Of course this is not an official questionnaire nor is it backed by research other than a few articles I’ve read recently but that’s not the point. The point is sometimes we as working professionals, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and students are working so hard and so long for the betterment of our families and to get ahead that we forget the toll it may take on our bodies in the process. In fact being in school pretty much demands unrelenting commitment and at times, sacrifices but I think we need to be careful and pay attention to things outside of what’s on our to do lists or educational goals. The point is, you have to take care of you first, so that you can take care of everything else. While it’s admirable an at times necessary to go to school and earn that degree, learn that new skill etc. we still have to be smart about it.

Next blog post… How to take care of you so that you can take care of the things you need to do.

For those curious the questionaire was a paraphrase of some of the questions and symptoms of a few different articles I read...just an FYI. I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. This is an education blog and does not constitute medical advice. Side effects of reading this blog may include nervousness, dizziness, well informedness, slightly sarcastic behavior and you may inadvertently be exposed to rare bursts of genius. ;)

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Guide to Homeland Security Degrees is up!

AndriaL — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:46:00 GMT

Hi all,

Just in time for July 4th, we've put out the Guide to Homeland Security Degrees so you can see what it takes to start a career in the Department of Homeland Security. The guide answers questions like:

What jobs could one get within the Department of Homeland Security?
What are average salaries for careers in homeland security?
What classes can I expect to take to get a degree in homeland security?

Check out the guide now!

Have a safe and happy 4th, everyone!

-Andria

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The Walden vs Capella Dilemma

WheelCipher — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:20:00 GMT

In the first post of many about my Doctoral experience at Walden University, I suppose we can start at the beginning. Today, I will break down the decision process that I went through and why I chose Walden over Capella.

First, I would like to say that I spoke to some people at Capella during the process of enrolling in a doctoral program. They were very nice and helpful. The programs at Capella are very appealing and appear to be just as rigorous (if not more so) as any other online doctoral program that I could find. My decision to go with Walden is in NO way a negative reflection on Capella. It simply boiled down to finding a program that was right for me. For anyone considering Capella, I found no reason to discount the institution.

After spending several months deciding what the next step was in my educational pursuits, I had my choices narrowed down to four schools. Those were Capella University, Walden University, University of Maryland and Baker College. After some further consideration, I narrowed it down to Capella and Walden. This was primarily because both had program start dates that were rapidly approaching. If I can start soon, I might not change my mind about seeking a doctoral degree!

The first idea I had was to look at the Ph.D. programs at each school. From Capella, I focused on the Ph.D. in Leadership. At Walden, I selected the Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Change. Both programs were very appealing on every level. Almost.

I rapidly abandoned the Ph.D. idea after learning of the cost. Both programs would average out to be around $70,000 - $80,000 when I finished. This is a lot of money and as someone who is already in debt with student loans from my undergraduate degree and my M.B.A., I didn’t need to take on this additional burden.

Furthermore, if I were to put my nose to the ground and focus a majority of my time on school under these programs, it would take four to five years to complete. This is too long for me. Since starting my undergraduate program at Kaplan back in circa 2003, I have gone to school for about six years with little or no breaks in between. Mentally, I am not sure I could have completed another four or five year program with any success. My brain is tired.

The factors above narrowed my choice down to the Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.) at Walden University. Capella did not have a comparable program, so they were out of the equation at that point.

The D.B.A. is the next logical step after the M.B.A. As a matter of fact, many of the classes are similar to those in the M.B.A. program, but more in-depth and require a lot more critical thinking. I am OK with this.

Five characteristics of the D.B.A. program that attracted me:

The cost is much lower than the Ph.D.
Since the D.B.A. is the next logical academic progression from the M.B.A., I was able to transfer five courses into the program. The result of this is that my program is more than a year shorter. Moreover, the cost of the program is significantly reduced.
Books are included in the cost of the program. This was a big deal to me. Had I elected to go into a Ph.D. program, I would have been ordering and paying for books on my own. If you have purchased a textbook lately, you know they are not cheap.
I searched for reviews on both schools to see what kind of reputation each one had. With thousands and thousands of “customers”, an operation as large as Walden and Capella were sure to have a few negative comments. At the end of the day, I was hard-pressed to find anything negative about Walden University.
With the transfer credits, my program should be somewhere around two years. This is a manageable block of time I can carve out of my schedule and still expect to thrive.

In the next few posts, I will write about the enrollment process and answer some fan mail.

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Follow My Lead

Cat — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:37:00 GMT

I honestly feel like I have cause for celebration. I have finally received all of my course material from Penn Foster Career School. I realize that I’m not ready to go through the material yet, but I’m happy just the same. In fact, I have been enjoying my studies so much that I suggested to my oldest son, Tyler that he should try it and to my surprise, he agreed.

My husband and I have been hoping that Tyler would pursue some sort of education past his high school one, but he just didn’t want to hear it…until this past weekend. I told Ty that I really loved catering and I think he might enjoy the cooking aspect of the course. I know my son loves to cook, but he’s been afraid of taking the plunge into a full time culinary career, mostly because it would require him to go to culinary school. I guess that’s why I thought this catering course would be perfect for him. It’s not like a traditional school. He could do it on his own time, and he’d get to cook. These things, (plus the fact that my husband is willing to pay for the course) lured my oldest boy in and the next time he graces us with his presence, we’ll be signing him up for the Penn Foster course.

Ultimately I’m hoping that Tyler will join me in the kitchen and that we can start doing some catering together. He’d be easy to work with as the boy is a fierce employee and an incredibly hard worker. The only problem I can foresee is that he just might eat up all of the food before we serve it. What can I say, he loves his mother’s cooking.

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Home Stretch

jodipalmer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:10:00 GMT

I am in the last week of my eight week semester.

I have completed one cumulative final and have one left. I took the one I perceived would be more difficult first (New Testament Survey), I did...Okay. I have one assignment left to be graded and I expect to get close to 100. If I do receive a 100% on it, my final grade will be a 91.95, do you think they'll round up so I can earn an 'A'? (92 and above is considered an 'A' at Liberty)

I intend to take my Theology final tomorrow. I should do really well on it, the professor is very forthcoming about what to study.

Looking back I entered into the Theology course very much afraid I was getting in way over my head, and I assumed the New Testament Survey would be a piece of cake. Turns out I had it completely backwards! For whatever reason, even being given the material to study for quizzes, I continually scored in the mid 80's.

Well wish me luck! Turns out after I take this last final I will have a bit of time off before my next semester begins! I intend to use the time off to reflect back on what I learned the past 16 weeks and hopefully let it all sink in a little more!

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Century-old school of Judaic study now on eLearners!

AndriaL — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:03:00 GMT

Gratz College is a century-old school of Jewish Studies based outside of Philadelphia with a very diverse student body ranging in age from 22 to 70 and from all over the United States. This student body has at least one thing in common, though: a passion for Judaism and Jewish learning. The school has less than 200 students, so you are guaranteed small class sizes — always a plus in the world of online learning.

The many degrees and courses available online through Gratz College will be particularly valuable to those wishing to become Jewish educators, communal service professionals, non-profit managers, cantorial and music specialists, and people who just want to learn more about Judaism.

Request info directly from Gratz right now, or scroll to check out their degree programs, certificates, and courses, all 100 percent online for your convenience:

Degree Listings:

Bachelor

Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies

Master

	Master of Arts in Jewish Education
	Master of Arts in Jewish Studies

Continuing Education

	Certificate in Holocaust Studies
	Certificate in Jewish Communal Service
	Certificate in Jewish Early Childhood Education
	Certificate in Jewish Education
	Certificate in Jewish Music
	Certificate in Jewish Non-Profit Management
	Certificate in Jewish Studies

Online Courses:

Arts

	Biblical Themes in Modern Hebrew Literature (In Translation)
	Book of Samuel: Leadership and Authority in Ancient Israel
	Hebrew Beginner's - Part A
	Hebrew Beginner's - Part B
	Music in Jewish Education
	Who's Who Among the Rabbis
	Yiddish Theater

Business

Synagogue Management

Education

	Educating for Character and Teaching Jewish Texts
	Holidays Through Horticulture: Teaching Children About the Yearly Cycle
	Issues in Supervision in Jewish Schools for Young Children
	Methods of Teaching Prayer: Skills, Concepts and Affect
	Philosophy and History of Jewish Education
	Teaching the Holocaust
	The Teaching of History: Theory and Practice

Society

	Archeological Excavation of Tel Dor, Israel
	Concepts of Jewish Community
	Israel within Jewish Tradition and Contemporary Jewish Life
	Jews on Trial
	The Bible and The Ancient Near East: The Rise of Biblical Civilization

Accreditation information:
Gratz College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

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Welcome to the "Earning My Doctorate Online" Blog

WheelCipher — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:43:00 GMT

Good day to all!

This is my first post to my new blog, “Earning My Doctorate Online”. I just started my Doctor of Business administration program at Walden University. So far, I am very pleased with the experience. If you are interested in this experience and want to learn from what I have been exposed to thus far, please check back on this blog frequently. There will be several posts coming up. I will post every couple of days so that people have time to read and catch up with me. Some of the topics I will be covering include:

What influenced my decision to go with the Doctor of Business Administration program

Why I picked Walden University over other schools that offer similar programs

What my course load looks like and what classes were waived

Initial thoughts about the course delivery system at Walden Univeristy

And more …

So stay tuned! I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences with you. From what I understand, only 2% of Americans have Doctoral degrees. I am anxious to join that elite crowd. I have also received my first “fan mail” about the new program and I will post that letter and my response in the coming days.

I want to thank the staff at eLearners for allowing me to write about my experiences here for everyone to read. I will try to make it as interesting as possible. I hope that others can learn from my experiences as well.

As I write this, I am already behind in the course work to some extent. I am not “officially” behind, but I am a couple of days later than I like to be. We are required to make our first post to the message boards by the third day of the week. I will meet that deadline, but will have to focus on working more studiously in the coming weeks.

More later!

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Learn New Skills or Lose Your Job

Cajun — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:48:00 GMT

Today I briefly spoke with a woman who works in my building whose department is being closed sometime this year. Everyone at the company is either moving to another department within the company or they are going to be laid off. The deciding factor on whether or not these people keep their jobs? Diversity of skill. If they posses skills that can be utilized elsewhere in her company then they will fill a vacant position or projected positions elsewhere within the company. If they do not posses current skills that are in need in the other departments, well, it’s going to be a long Fall and Winter.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, in the modern economy you have to have a diversified skill set in order to stay viable. Technology and business is in a continual state of flux and evolution. If you feel comfortable in your job right now, you should probably start searching the want ads because it likely means your skill set has grown stale. You should always be learning something, pushing yourself just slightly out of your comfort zone in order to grow stronger each day.

This can be done a number of ways. The way I’m doing this is three fold, first I read as many books as I can and try to actually absorb the content. The most recent book I’ve finished was Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Managers. Although not a life changing book or anything it did contain information that helped me grow as a leader and manager. Second I am in school at least half time. Although this isn’t always the right thing for everyone, there are always certificates, certifications or just informational classes available, sometimes for free. Remember it’s not about building credentials as much as it’s about keeping those skills sharp and learning new ones. Lastly I volunteer for projects or additional assignments, preferably ones that will ask me to do something I’ve never done before. Most recently I’ve begun work on a communication and collaboration project learning technologies as wide ranging as Wikis of various types to community technologies similar to Facebook, forums here, blogs, etc. As you know by now I’m pretty familiar with blogs and forums which helped me here, but using Wikis and social websites for business purposes is a whole new world for me.

Anyhow my 3 year plan is to earn my PMP solidifying my project management skills, earn some form of Six Sigma certificate or certification, finish my MS degree, read all kinds of books becoming increasingly familiar with application development technologies and IT project management (I’d like to learn .Net) and probably branch either into Information Security and/or Networking and Telecommunications. In the meantime I will keep volunteering for project teams and stretch myself professionally wherever possible. What’s your plan?

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Vacation and ELearning!

jodipalmer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

While on our quick road trip vacation to San Antonio I intended to post a blog about the freedom online schooling affords its students to go on vacation with the family. Except, I discovered quickly our hotel charged for internet. Fifteen dollars per twenty four hours. Yikes. So instead of cramming in blog posts and homework, we paid for internet for just half a night in order for me to turn in an assignment that absolutely had to be posted, and the rest of the time we relaxed sans internet and homework. Fortunately for me I forgot to download my reading lists and study questions and simply caught up when we got back on Sunday afternoon. My husband took our kids to his mom's house with him and my sister-in-law looked after the kids. The point I'm trying to get across is, I didn't do homework on vacation and the world did not implode.

Here is what we did on vacation while I was NOT doing school work. In attendance, four-year-old and two-year-old girls, sister-in-law, husband, me. First stop, San Antonio Riverwalk. We rode on one of the little tour boats that rides up and down the river while the driver points out interesting, and not so interesting, facts about the city. Temperature: above 100 degrees. Next, we walked around in the air conditioned mall then had some ice cream and listened to the wind instrument performers beside the river. It was so hot, we went back to the hotel and swam in the indoor/outdoor pool. After we were cooled of we took the whole clan to some dinner beside the river...it was supposed to be Tex-Mex. I only had some beans so it tasted okay to me, but according to my husband it was the most horrid representation of Tex-Mex ever in history.

The next day we went to Six Flags! Again the temp was over 100 but we had a great time anyway. There were surprisingly quite a few rides my four year old was tall enough to go on. Ended the day floating around in the Lazy River in their water park.

Sea World was last on the agenda. Do not get me wrong, we had a good time, but it was still over 100 degrees, which made it even more obvious to us that Sea World placed a very very low priority on planning on creating shade. Bonus: While at Sea World I saw a brand spanking new Airmen who just graduated from bootcamp. I had the opportunity to wish him the best, and refused to allow myself to bore him by droning on and on about all the things to look forward to and dread. (San Antonio is the location of the Air Force Base where new recruits attend basic training)

We completely exhausted our children, I think they are still recovering three days later! It was a great time and I'm glad I didn't crack the books!

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Analysis: Online Beats the Classroom, But Blended Learning Is Best

SteveFoerster — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:38:00 GMT

“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” — Will Rogers

The U.S. Department of Education has released a new analysis of existing research that shows that distance learning is more effective for adults than learning that only uses a classroom setting. This analysis didn't conduct new research, it looked at a number of studies that had used sound methodology, and looked for common threads that could be found throughout all of them. Two points from the report stood out:

Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.
Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.

I took away a few things from all this. The first is that as these sorts of studies and analyses continue to pile up, those professors, like this one, who claim their colleagues oppose online learning even though they work for institutions that offer it, just look more and more out of touch. I've worked at a number of universities, and have yet to hear this point of view from a faculty member who was actually well informed about online learning — it always came from older faculty members who were afraid of change in general and technology in particular.

But the other thing I took away from this was the point that blended learning beats learning that's only online. The naysayers may be wrong about online learning, but that doesn't mean they can't also be right about the benefits of the classroom experience. And I have to admit, there are times when I think that one week per year at A.T. Still University might have been helpful, at least at the start.

To that end, it's amazing how little blended learning is available. Distance learning providers seem to want to be available to as many students as possible, and I can understand that requiring residencies in a certain city can dampen a nationwide or worldwide marketing plan. Still, perhaps if this analysis keeps getting confirmed by research schools should consider offering a short classroom session, even if it's just an optional one. That's what my wife's British law school does: one can do the program entirely from afar, but they also offer four "study weekends" per year for those who want to take advantage of them. American schools take note!

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Have you color coded your meal?

Cat — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:25:00 GMT

It's a known fact that the darker veggies are better for you. Lettuce is great, but a dark green leaf such spinach or arugula mixed into your salad can make a world of difference in the health department. As a matter of fact I've even seen dark purple tomatoes that are supposed to be loaded with vitamins and nutrients. I'm not quite sure how a purple tomato would look on a salad, but I bet it's cool.

As I've delved hot and heavy into my fruits and veggies course I find myself learning so much about produce, things I've never known, and I have to say that I'm truly enjoying it.

Tomorrow as I go on my grocery shopping trip I'm going to work on my first assignment which is to identify as many produce items as I can without looking at my book and to try and find items that aren't in my book. This should be fairly easy at the Hispanic based grocery store that I go to. They've always got something unique in the vegetable bins. I will also be adding healthier fruits and vegetables to our meals by following some tips provided by Dr. Heber from his book What Color Is Your Diet. Here are just a few of the things he suggests.

Here's the basic rundown of Heber's "Color Code" system:

Red. These foods are rich in lycopene, which reduces cancer risk. Examples: tomatoes, watermelons, and pink grapefruit.
Red/Purple. Grapes, red wine, blueberries, strawberries, and red apples
Orange. These foods contain alpha- and beta-carotenes, thought to improve cell-to-cell communication and slow cancer. Examples: carrots, mangoes, winter squash, and sweet potatoes.
Orange/Yellow. These foods contain vitamin C, which protects cells, and beta-cryptoxanthin, one of the many carotenoid compounds that Heber recommends. Examples: oranges, tangerines, papayas, and nectarines.
Yellow/Green. These foods are rich sources of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which contribute to eye health. Examples: spinach and other greens, yellow corn, green peas, and avocados.
Green. These foods contain sulforaphane, isothiocyanate, and indoles, which Heber says stimulate liver genes to make compounds that break down cancer-causing chemicals. Examples: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, and kale.
White/Green. These foods contain flavonoids that protect cell membranes. Examples: onions, garlic, celery, pears, white wine, endive, and chives.

Keep these things in mind the next time you're picking up a few fresh items for dinner and you'll have a healthier happier meal.

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Proctored Exams at Penn Foster College

tcord1964 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:57:00 GMT

I have noticed a lot of questions in the forums about proctored exams at Penn Foster College, and how they work. I have taken proctored exams at PFC for my first semester courses, and the proctored finals for my second semester courses are coming up soon. In order to address some of the questions I have seen here at eLearners lately, I thought I would recount my experience and let PFC students who are preparing for their first proctored exams know what to expect.

One of the first things that students must do is find a proctor. According to PFC, the proctor can be anyone with at least an associate degree who is not a relative. Proctors can be employers, librarians, teachers, clergy...anyone with at least a two-year degree. I suggest checking the local public library first. That is where I found my proctor, who has a masters degree in library science. He does not charge me for proctoring my exams. You can also check your local community college's testing center to see if they offer a proctoring service. There is a nominal fee if you go this route. PFC used to pay an honorarium of about $20 to the proctor, but they no longer do this.

After you have your proctor selected and finish all of your courses for the semester, PFC will send the final exams to your proctor in the mail. Your proctor will then schedule a time for you to take your exam. The exams for the three-credit-hour courses are typically an hour long. If you have a one-credit course, allot about a half hour for the final exam. If you have five, three-credit-hour courses in your semester, you can count on having five hours to take all five final exams.

The proctor is directed to check your photo ID, to make sure you are the person who is supposed to take the test. The proctored finals are open-book exams, and you can also refer to your notes and your study guides. You are not allowed to use a computer or any other reference materials not supplied by Penn Foster College. The proctor is there to ensure you only use your PFC materials and notes and to enforce the time limit of the exam.

Once you have finished your exams, you place them inside the envelope provided by PFC, and your proctor is responsible for mailing the exams to Penn Foster. It typically takes a week or two to receive your final grades. I never received an email to notify me my exams had been graded. I just signed in to the student portal and checked to see if I had final grades yet.

If you fail an exam, you must take a makeup exam. The highest score you can receive on a makeup exam is a 70. You have one month to schedule and take the makeup exam after failing an exam. You must pass the exam with at least a 70 to pass the course, so you pretty much have to ace the makeup exam. I failed two final exams during my first semester. The exams were not easy. You MUST study for the exam, know your material and be prepared. I did pass the makeup exams with a score of 70 on each.

Penn Foster College makes its students earn their grades, but you will definitely receive an education!

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Off the Subject

ter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:16:00 GMT

Darn it! Luckily, I noticed that the eLearners blog mentioned the Department of Education's article. They stole my thunder! Just kidding. This expands on that some, but also throws in my two cents. The U.S. Department of Education has completed a study that finds that online learning has its definite advantages. Now, I have to throw in the caveat that the Department of Education included only a small number of independent studies that met a strict criteria (not defined). The winner of the study appears to be "blended learning", where online learning and face-to-face instruction are combined. The positive results appear to be relevant to all disciplines, graduate and undergraduate.

However, the study does identify time as a chief element of the success of online learning. Even though the study says online tests don't enhance learning, learner activity and self-reflection with online learning does impact what the student learns. Individuality is strengthened through online learning, as well as flexibility, visualization, and experiential learning.

While the study appears to support online learning, it's important to remember that distance education isn't easy. And it requires adequate technology. I received my Master's Degree in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT), which was mostly online coursework. It was nothing to spend 30 hours per week on the Internet, posting messages and submitting reports. However, I loved the fact that I could pursue my education at my own pace, even though I had deadlines. The hardest part was participating in live discussion forums because it was difficult to coordinate everyone's schedules.

I am one of those people who challenge the Department's findings where "blended learning" is the best form of education. I believe that online learning is just as successful. What's amazing is that online learning has been around for 20+ years, but has only gained popularity in the last 10 years. Where else can soldiers, students abroad, or men/women working full time with families, etc. get an education? I know I couldn't take time off of work to attend a classroom for hours a week to get my degree.

Look for online learning to become the forefront of education. With regard to financial aid, the Department of Education has changed their tune about how online courses are treated. Schools have the option of treating online classes as a "regular" course, but it's up to the individual school.

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Getting that Quick Win: Finding my motivation

Cajun — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:20:00 GMT

Sometimes it can be so hard to get motivated to do something that seems so mountainous that you just don’t know where to start, I know, I’ve been there. In fact I’m there right now, thus this blog post. I have so much work due right now at my job its silly, in fact I don’t really even know where to start and just getting up the motivation to do anything is a task in of itself. So how can I, you, we break this kind of funk? Personally I recommend making a list of things you need to do if you can remember it all right now, then going for one or two quick wins.

A quick win is something you can show for your effort almost immediately. For example this week’s discussion questions at Bellevue require me to design a network, submit it to my classmates for discussion, then redesign the network based on their comments then submit the final post in for a grade. That’s a pretty huge job, especially since I have to learn Visio as I go along. I won’t get into the other things I have to do (like an actual written assignment) suffice to say this in of itself just seems like too much. So what I’ve decided to do is go ahead and get the 15 question quiz out of the way. It counts the least towards my grade but it’s fast, gives me instant feedback and gets me moving in the right direction, or what I would call a quick win.

So if you’re like me right now and just feeling a little overwhelmed, find something you can accomplish quickly, that you can see results on instantly and just go to it. Maybe it’ll give you that motivation you need to do the heavy lifting afterwards. Kind of like a warm up if you will…

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Say Hello to APU! College Doesn't Have to Be Complicated; It Just Has to Be Relevant.

Liz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:42:00 GMT

Welcome, American Public University - another great school on the eLearners roster! In case you hadn't heard, this is a school that truly understands today's job market.

Remember being bored to death in high school algebra, and askign yourself, do I really need to know this stuff? Us too! Luckily, at American Public University, you'll never have to wonder about the applicability of your course work, because APU's academic philosophy can be summed up in one word: relevance.

APU employs industry advisory councils to make sure its classes align with the current needs and expectations of the major job sectors. APU also employs instructors who work in teh fields they teach, helping to ensure that students gain real life, practical knowledge.

Check out APU's profile, or request free info here. The sooner you get started, the sooner you'll put relevance back into your resume!

Programs Offered:

Associate

Associate of Science in Web Publishing

Bachelor

	Bachelor of Arts in Transportation & Logistics Management
	Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Security

Master

	Master of Arts in International Relations and Conflict Resolution
	Master of Education in Teaching - Instructional Leadership

Accreditation Information:

American Public University is a member of American Public University System. American Public University System is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, North Central Association (www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org, 30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60602; 800.621.7440) and nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission, Distance Education and Training Council (www.detc.org, 1601 18^th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009; 202.234.5100)

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U.S. Department of Education Study Shows that eLearning Enhances Education

Liz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:33:00 GMT

Veteran eLearners won't be surprised by these findings, but new online students and prospective distance learners should definitely check out the Department of Education's latest press release. Essentially, the meta data shows that online education is more effective in improving student achievement than face-to-face instruction.

Overall, "blended learning" was found to be the most effective approach.

The findings were the result of 46 studies and over 12 years of research. Additional details are available here:

U.S. Department of Education Press Release

We've always known that eLearning is a cost-effective, convenient alternative to long commutes and campus classrooms. Now we have additional research to show that online programs are especially effective!

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Bellevue Update: What’s with the new wikis?

Cajun — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:37:00 GMT

So I’m back in town, tired and my body clock is off kilter but otherwise good to go. Tomorrow I have to wrap up week 3 of this 10 week semester and so far everything is 100% still which is encouraging. I’ve started contemplating switching my concentration from project management to computer science so that I can move more towards application development. There are two problems with this though, first is my background is not in application development and graduate level classes in that type of subject may kick my butt, secondly my current job is really more in line with project and program management than in application development. But since I work with such highly technical people I find myself reading O’Reilly books trying to catch up on technologies that I was somewhat familiar with in years past and some technologies that I never knew existed. The trouble is that I love a challenge and this stuff is so very, very challenging. It’s like a whole new world with its own leaders and heroes and I’m totally oblivious to anything and everything they are talking about. Suddenly I’m neck deep in researching this stuff but I can’t tell if I’m intrigued by the subject matter or if I’m just loving the challenge of learning something new. I’m not making any decisions now but I’m thinking long and hard on this.

Also I logged into Bellevue the night before last and noticed that they have added blogs and wikis to their available tools. It will be interesting to see how my instructor makes use of these tools. I know that at work we’ve started using a lot of different communication and collaboration tools like wikis to work with our various project teams so I know how helpful these things can be in information sharing, though this will be my first formal educational experience using them. Anyhow it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

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The anticipation is building

steve — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:38:00 GMT

As I get closer and closer to finishing my final class necessary to earn my associate degree at St. Petersburg College, I have to admit that I'm starting to get pretty excited. The anticipation is really building, and to be honest I never thought I'd feel this way when I went into this process. I mean, I'm in my late 40's after all, not a teenager or a 20-something. Earning my first degree is going to be a nice accomplishment. It will certainly help me when it comes to qualifications (if that's ever necessary) and it will show my family -- especially my two teenaged daugthers -- that earning a degree is truly something that I believe is important. I wouldn't want them to use my example and skip the higher education process unless (and this is a big "unless") they get a really great opportunity to advance themselves in their careers and that opportunity absolutely prevents them from pursuing their degrees. That isn't nearly as likely these days as it was in my day, simply because online degree programs mean that a student can attend school and work at the same time with much more ease and success than they used to.

This feeling is interesting. I'm really looking forward to receiving that degree that I once thought of as simply "a piece of paper". I'm going to frame that degree, probably with a really nice frame. I've got dozens of certificates of all sorts and I don't have any of them hanging on the wall -- but you can bet this "piece of paper" is going to go up there, for all to see.

It's a different feeling, that's for sure. It's a feeling that I really didn't expect. Somewhere along the way I changed my outlook on my degree from just something that I feel I need to do to something that I feel is worthy of pride.

It's great.

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My Final Post to the Norwich Blog

WheelCipher — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:47:00 GMT

Today marks the end of my postings on the Norwich University blog at eLearners. In the next few days, I will begin my new blog that will focus on my next “adventure in education” as I earn my Doctor of Business Administration at Walden University. I have already enrolled and begin classes on June 29. As I write this, that is a mere six hours away. Even though I have not done any work, there is already a lot to write.

I want to close out this final post on my Norwich blog with the following statement:

When I decided to go to graduate school, the word “Norwich” had never crossed my mind or my lips. Living a few thousand miles away from Vermont, I believe that I have a valid excuse. I already had my choice of schools narrowed down to three and Norwich was not one of them.

Then I received an email informing be about Norwich. After doing some investigating, I signed up for the MBA program. Being a school that was nearly 200 years old, I knew the education I would receive would be of high quality. I was not disappointed. The 18 months I spent in that program was more challenging than four years of undergraduate work. Moreover, the residency program at the end was an event that made it all worth it.

During this adventure, I met some of the most interesting people and learned things that I do not know that I would have been exposed to at another institution. Everyone on the faculty, administration, student body and ever nook and cranny of Norwich has been a pleasure to work with.

The visit to Vermont was something I will never forget! I have lived in the city and in the country. I have seen mountains and desert. Nevertheless, I can honestly say that Vermont is unique in a way that I cannot explain. It is a beautiful, humble place that I will visit in the future.

Now I am on to other challenges. Of the three schools I will have attended when I graduate with my D.B.A., I will only wear the Norwich ring. I will look back at Norwich as my most memorable experience.

Norwich Forever!

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