Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Accreditation and Afflilations

Accreditation can be termed as a validation of online and traditional education institutes against pre determined standards set by the Education Board. Accreditation gives an idea of the educational standard of the institutions. Affiliation on the other hand is the process in which some big University allows a smaller institution or college to teach courses complying to the standards of he University. The exam papers are checked and marked by the University and the degree is issued by the University to the student upon completion of the course. This is how colleges offer degrees of graduate and post graduate level.

The terms Accreditation and Affiliation are often unknown to students. Some students, unaware of their importance, don’t take much notice and some times suffer a lot through fraudulent institutions. Frauds over the internet are inevitable. Committing a fraud is quiet easier as the person is not present in real. Students should thus confirm every detail before enrolling for a course and paying the fees. Checking the accreditation and affiliation at the time of registering is very crucial to the student. Because some institutions take fees, give classes and tests as any other normal institution would do, and issue a degree at the end to the student. The student thinks he has finally achieved a degree that'll boost his career only to find out that the degree is bogus and has no value more than a piece of scrap. Such incidents ruin the entire work career of the student. He tends never to trust online institutions again.

Being a little careful and observant may avoid such situations. The most important factor to check before enrolling at any institution online or local is to check its accreditation or affiliation. In case of online institutions student visit the website of the institution. First browse around to find the link that provides information about the accreditation of the institution. Accreditation details should be very clear. Anything that is complicated of difficult for you to understand may be misleading. The best thing to do is to note down the name of the accreditation agency, look out the number in the telephone directory, call them up and confirm if they had accredited the institution or not. You may even email the agency to get the details. This step is extremely important, even if you are sure about the accreditation. There is no harm in re-confirming as it may save you from some bad situations in the future.

An online database of institutions and there accreditations can be found at CHEA's Institutional Database website at http://www.chea.org. This is an easy way to check an institution's accreditation online by entering its name or state. If the required institution is out of the United States, the website's international database of institutions may help you in getting the required information.
An institution that is fair in its dealing would just simply and clearly mention the name of the accreditation agency along with the date and address. Some institution providing wrong information often use the terms that sound like accreditation but mean different. Some examples could be "pursuing accreditation", "chartered", "licensed or registered", "recognized", "authorized" or "approved."
Not being accredited does not always mean a fraud institution. Some institution fairly imparting education may not be accredited maybe because they are innovative than the current standards. New standards may have to be set for institutions like them. In such cases it is advisable to search for students who are either currently studying or have studies in the past to get an idea. Therefore when you decide about your online education it is more important to keep the nature of your degree in mind than to check on the accreditation. An Online MBA or Graphic Design degree should preferably be taken from an accredited Institution, whereas a simple word processing certificate wont matter even if acquired from a non accredited institution.

ONLINE EDUCATION ~ 3 Important Factors

No one wants to stop the process of learning. Online education provides excellent opportunities to continue education at ones own ease. Studying was never that convenient before. However as online education is a much newer concept, students have a lot of questions in mind. Three of the most troublesome questions are answered below. The answers I have provided are not concrete, but they are general answers and are applicable to almost all online education imparting institutions. Knowledge of these points will help you as a student to select the right course from the right university or institution for yourself.

Finding the Right Institution:

Online education is now accessible in and from all countries of the world. Thus one must make a thorough search of the institutions available. There may be a university or institution available in your own country or subcontinent offering the course you wish to take. In such case you wont have to search far. The cost will also be then quiet affordable as the currency would be more or less similar to that of yours.

Finance

Whether studying from a local college or an online institution, finance is the biggest area of concern for students. What I have observed is that a degree obtained by studying online is relatively cheaper than the one earned at a Physical institution. The reason behind it is that while studying at some University or college, costs involved in earning a degree are not just limited to the fees. Travel, transport, accommodation fees etc are also included in it. While in the case of online education, the only cost apart from the fees is that of the internet connection and bill. Still this doesn’t mean that online education for all courses may be affordable. In some cases the fees may be out of budget. Or ones budget may be too less to even sponsor a relatively non expensive course.

In such circumstances, mostly, the institution offers various kinds of assistance ships. Some may be in the form of scholarships, while others are student loans with easy installments. There are a few online education institutions that offer job opportunities for students to support there academics. Thus a thorough research of all the factors is very important before opting for an online course.

Course Selection:

Selecting a course that is most suitable to you is very crucial. However terms like associates degree or first level course or HND may be quiet confusing. A high school diploma in your country may be equivalent to intermediate according to the standard of that particular University you wish to apply to. Thus when applying or selecting courses it is very wise to take advantage of the consulting service provided by the university. These services are free of cost at all institutions and are very beneficial. People giving advice are qualified professionals and can do the necessary conversions aptly to tell you what is better for you. A student should always discuss all his matters including financial condition, current education status, current work status etc very clearly in order to get a useful advice.

ONLINE EDUCATION~ A BRIEF HISTORY

Moving back in the time zone to a couple of decades earlier, how do you see a person who has earned a bachelors degree? He or she may be in their early twenties; staying in a hostel or near the university with parents sending the term fees. All the student had to do was go to the university every morning, attend classes all day, make projects and assignments, come back to their accommodation in the evening and prepare for the next day. Even this was only possible for those who could afford to pay the University dues in time and had some one back at home to do the earning. In earlier days student who didn’t have enough financial assistance had to give up school and earn their livelihood. Going to college and acquiring a degree turned out to be a dream that never seemed to be fulfilled. Once stuck into the fulfilling the needs of shelter and food, education never got its turn. Work and education could not walk side by side.

As time sped by, expenses got higher. It has now almost become impossible to run a family with one person working. Almost every member of the family after reaching age of maturity goes out into the practical field of life. Yet education always walks alongside career. The reason behind this great turnover is the evolution of a new concept known as "Online Education". Online education came into the scene after the victorious advent of the internet and technology age. The complicated gadget named as "Personal Computer" had gained so much popularity with time that it had became a necessity in very house. That is when online education came into the scene. Although Online Education is still in its very early stages yet it has attracted a huge number of students.

Online Education can be termed as the most precious gift, the internet as given to a common man. E-learning, began when companies started to educate their employees about the further advancements in their work. Those were the times when computer had begun to popularize and were mostly found in offices of companies and organizations. There were some problems at those times, mostly related to the time co ordination between the instructors and students. However after a few years the multimedia technology came into existence and touched the height of fame in almost an instant. Then e-learning became even more convenient with the use of PowerPoint slides, educative games, and other programs. The process on online education was still quiet slow and restricted to only a few regions.

After the advent of the new millennium, technology came with new horizons which were accessible to all. The internet was streamed with institutions offering online courses and degrees. Students had found a way to continue there studies along with there jobs. Businessmen and professionals had found a way to further polish their skills. Web servers were much faster and could easily bear the load of videos and presentations. Lectures could be recorded and viewed any time the student wished. Solving queries became much easier. Learning had become easier and is still continuing to be.

The very first type of online education can be traced back to the end of 1980s or in the beginning of 1990s. This was when, as mentioned earlier, companies used e techniques to educate their employees. By the end of 1990s it started to spread over to the college students as well but was still restricted to a few regions only. Online education got its biggest boost in the new millennium and just shot to heights of success in almost a leap.

ONLINE EDUCATION IS NOTHING BUT A TALE

Shocked? That’s what you are thinking? What is the means of this entire venture when I give a topic like this? Is online education really a myth? Is it nothing because no one can see it? A fraud? A trick to fool people? If it is so then what is the online gag going on every where over the internet? Any search query yields thousand of website given info on online education, providing articles, offering assistances, fee solutions, providing consultations, enrolling students etc. There must be some truth to it. Well YES there is truth to it. ONLINE EDUCATION EXISTS. It not only exists but is also continuously facilitating thousands and thousands of people all over the globe.

Then why am I writing this article? Anyone one of us who uses the internet, knows how to search, is very well aware of the existence and importance of online education. This article of mine is especially for the still dwelling numerous amount of people who strongly believe that online education doesn’t exist. It is there strong acceptance that there is nothing beyond the traditional school, colleges and Universities we have been going to since years. For them anything that has no concrete solid existence is not present at all. They believe in the non existence of any online institution because they can’t see any classroom. There are no campuses, buildings where students go and study. The teachers are not present in front of them. They are not ready to believe the existence of any such thing which is not physically available to them. They strongly accept the fact that if a university is not teaching in a classroom it is not teaching at all. This may seem as a joke to most of us. But such people are still present in our environment.

The purpose behind this article is to make them aware that online education is as much real as the traditional ways of imparting education. One argument they have in mind is that when they access the website of any such online institution they can’t see teachers teaching and students learning. The reason behind this is privacy and prevention of fraudulent activities. Every tutor teaching online is the employee of the organization and each student has paid the fees before he got enrolled. It is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure that each student is being taught and assessed properly by the tutor. They have to check that tests and exams are taken in a fair environment and the grading process is clean and accredited.

In order to do this every student and each tutor is assigned a unique ID, LOGIN and password. These terms may seem new to people who are not much aware of the internet. ID is the identification number for each student and teacher. This is unique for everyone and student/ teachers are identified by their ID instead of their names. Login and password can be termed as a set of keyhole and key, again unique to every student and tutor. This ensures that only the enrolled student and assigned tutor has access to the teaching area, tests and records. These measures are taken to prevent unauthorized and wrong persons from accessing those areas. As all education and exams are taken online thus it is very vital that only the enrolled student attends classes and gives the tests etc.

We live in a high tech world which has globalized to a large extent. Something that cannot be seen physically is not bound to be non-existing. Online education does exist and the reason it is not accessible without ids and passwords is to protect the records and privacy of both the tutors and the students.

Be An Online Tutor

Caught in thoughts? You definitely can be an online tutor. Earn from the ease of your home. Teach people from anywhere around the globe the knowledge you have. Spread it, educate the world and earn a good bunch of money. This is no catchy slogan or dream sayings, it is the truth. This is very much possible. Online education is not limited to boundaries of a city, country or continent. Same is the case with online students and online tutors. As we, studying a course virtually from an institution are real time people. Similarly those who teach us on the other side of the monitor are also real time people, teachers, instructors, people who are spreading their knowledge. Educating the world.

Being located in Tokyo, you can teach students from California, New York, Australia, Middle East, any where! There is no end to the territories involved. Majority of people who are much informed about the system of online education simply never believe that there really are teachers who impart education. They take it all as fake and bogus. But all those of you who are currently reading this article have accepted the importance of online education and are very well aware that is exists, exists in reality and is helping people all over the world. It has made learning easier and convenient.

Institutions that provide online courses also hire teachers for those courses. As learning is a never ending experience, so is the process of teaching. There is always need of more lecturers, more qualified personnel to distribute there knowledge. Online tutoring is not just through the online universities and institutions, but there are also many private institutions that outsource services of tutors to students who need help or assistance in their daily coursework, homework, assignments etc. These tutors work on daily or hourly salary basis. Such outsourcing organizations work as a mediator between the student and tutor. They make sure that a student gets a tutor according to his needs and a tutor gets students according to his experience and qualification. It ties the student and tutor into a bond or a contract. This way the student gets full academic assistance for the amount he pays and the tutor gets his due payment after teaching the student. This way the rights of both the tutor and student are secured.

This system of online tutoring is very helpful for people who are disabled yet educated. We have many such people around us who may be genius a mind but due to some disastrous circumstances, have to now spend there lives bound to bed or chairs at homes. They can now earn for themselves, instead of sitting and wasting their lives, ending up being a paranoid. They can join such outsourcing organizations as tutors and make use of their lives.

One misconception that I'd like to clear here is that it is not necessary that you possess a big university degree to become a tutor. Well it definitely is a requirement when you apply to some College or University as an online teacher, but when teaching via these outsourcing organizations it isn't a pre requisite. We have an abundance of people in our surroundings, those who may not possess some college degree but their knowledge is incomparable and unbeatable. They can teach through such outsourcing organizations as ratings at such places are developed through the remarks given by the students who have been taught by the tutor and not on their academic qualifications. Therefore, making it a golden opportunity for people with knowledge. Knowledge as agreed has no boundaries. Similarly is tutoring. It is not restricted to regular subjects like mathematics, science, history, geography etc but very interesting subjects like aromatherapy; gardening, auras etc are also included in it.

Thus if you term yourself well versed in any subject of life, you have qualified to become an online tutor. The amount you get paid depends on the number of students you get who are interested in that particular specialization of yours. So Best of Luck with Your Quest! No one is useless in God's world.

What is Online Education?

Often times we hear phrases like "online degree", "online certificates", " online courses etc. We ourselves talk about studying virtually. But do we all know what really online education is? Online education which is gaining popularity without leaps and bounds in the past few decades, probably a few years, as termed by Doctor Stella Thompson, an online assistant professor of English at Prairie View A&M University, is a "classroom without walls".

Describing Online Education, if explained in simplest words, is acquiring education at the ease of the student using the most famous World Wide Web. The internet has gained tremendous exposure in the past 10 years and is accessible from almost every house in the world. Online degrees are tailored according to the requirements of every student. Online education is not just for students, even elderly people or working people can also benefit from it and quench there thirst of knowledge. It also helps them gain advancements in the current career, provide better salary opportunities and earn higher placements in there fields of work.

Online education doesn’t mean that education takes places over the internet with bots and automated programs. On the other side of the communication are real time qualified professors and lecturers. Online Instructors, as the lecturers are called, are available round the clock or at most times of the day. Hardware accessories like microphones and videophones are used to enhance communication and learning process between the instructor and student. Class timings can be set privately between the student and instructor or may be scheduled according to the time table set by the institution or University.

To get started with an online course or a degree, the student must firstly have a detailed look at the finance available to him. Online courses can range from being merely affordable to highly expensive techno courses. Although institutions offering online courses also provide financial assistance in form of scholarships and reference to loan providing agencies and organization, but its not wise to depend on financial assistances fully. People opting for an online degree mostly are those who choose to rejoin their educational career after a break or a gap. They may not have a clear vision of the amount of mental abilities they still have to possess academic results. It is thus better to keep an arrangement of fees for at least for the first term, quarter or semester. This will help a lot and won’t let you fall into a situation of being lost. After beginning the course, the student gets an idea of how much he is able to grasp and learn and can then apply for scholarships with full confidence and surety.

After tackling the finance issue, or maybe alongside the finance issue, another crucial point to consider is the knowledge you have with the internet or software programs. You would never want to end up in a program that is too technical with whole lots of software stuff that’s beyond your understanding. Such a situation will ultimately land you into more stress and in worse condition of even failing the course. Not all courses require the same level of computer knowledge. In some cases the pre requisites are basic computer usage, knowledge of typing and MS Office, while some may require high computer proficiency and even programming skills and experience. To be sure that you don’t land into a course that’s not technically meant for you, you must take the service of a course advisor or correspondent. Almost all institutions providing online education offer free consultation to students which assist them in selecting a course that is feasible economically, socially and technically for them.

Even though regular school, colleges and institutions are vital, no one can deny there importance and they would never be lost. However the number of students enrolling for online degrees is increasing with every passing day. So if you need a degree to gain promotion at your workplace or earn a better job or get higher salaries and online diploma is just exactly something you may

Monday, February 4, 2008

Bachelors degree

A Bachelor's degree can be a schooling milestone that will astounded up doors and verifiable you firm by opportunities to go regular additional upward. A Bachelor's degree tells a manager that you are true to what you do. With a Bachelor degree, you obtain an edge over the competition by having abetting history and additional unorthodox skills. Your bachelor's degree is your ticket to an additional successful livelihood, extra break, increased trust, and true more currency.
Students can go for various bachelor degrees according to their interests. Variegated of the by many available are Bachelor of Arts degree online, postgraduate criminal degree justice online, bachelors computer degree online science, paralegal bachelors degree online, true online bachelor degree in education, bachelor degree online university, charged engineering bachelor degree online and multitudinous more
Representing researching the best accredited forming, students are required to fix to one of the college's degree programs. One time predetermined underneath an online program, students are asked to sign up for seemly courses. Championing the registration process is complete and students are accepted into the program, the accurate work begins.
Students begin their passage studies by logging knowing the Internet. Previously they're in their appropriate classroom, they'll learn by definition assignments, asking questions, and receiving master answer. Multifarious courses even bid forums and/or chat quarters where students can glean, nigh or untrammeled the scholastic, to discuss assignments. Lastly, students are graded on homework assignments, terminal needful, and examination mess.
Distinct programs thrust different levels of computer and/or Internet knowledge. Accordingly, it is compulsory students take the time to talk with budding instructors, previous kindergarten students, and even the computer tech department to get a better accord of the principles methods and technology outcast.
"Online instructors, allied men and female teaching traditional courses, get to their courses their own individual experiences, teaching objectives, and selected methodologies. In summation, the institution's technology and intricate support possessions potency learning experiences," says Dr. Thompson. "Some courses are text and content-focused, during other courses emphasize more technical aptitude and interaction with technology."
If students don't take the time to understand how the courses are fitting, they potency end up in a stratum that is too technologically innovative and impair academically.
So awaiting traditional colleges will on no account cloud off, online educational institutions are development in number and enrollments because they tender the working class a holdings to approach in their careers, develop a higher true of individual reliance, and fulfill life-long dreams.
Unlike correspondence courses, many distance learning programs are offered via television, satellite, or video conference. In addition, some distance learning classes may require some in-class meetings and may require you to follow a particular schedule to make sure you are on track with the rest of the class.
Online education classes are the newest and one of the most appealing distance learning options. While you will need to have a computer with Internet access, online education classes allow interaction between you, your instructor, and other students. And, while some programs require materials to be turned in by particular dates, others are quite flexible in allowing you to work at your own pace throughout the semester.
If you're ready to advance your career and want to balance work, family, and classes, getting your degree through an online education program could be ideal for you.