Education becomes global with online university distance learning programs

There was a time when education was restricted to classrooms, schools and universities. Our grandparents could not even imagine that something like distance learning was possible. They did have a rough idea that there could be something like online university. This is quite obvious as the internet had not come at that time. Even if it was there, nobody had an idea that it could be used for studies and distance learning programs. But with time and the advancement of science and technology, the concept of distance learning and online university became quite common and very popular too. It has been seen and studied in a survey that today more and more numbers of people are going for various distance learning courses from an online university for the various advantages that these universities offer.

The greatest advantage of the various distance learning courses from an online university is that it offers great flexibility to the students.

Students can study as per their own convenience and free time. There is no hard and fast rule that needs to be followed in distance learning programs. Online university courses have come as a great boon for the professionals. All the organizations want their employees to have high qualifications and develop themselves with each passing day. For that, they have to do various kinds of professional courses through distance learning programs. MBA is the most commonly pursued professional course by majority of the professional students. Enrolling in an online university for distance learning courses saves time and effort for the students. They can study after office or in the weekends. On completing the course successfully, the candidates are also awarded with online degrees from the online university he/she is enrolled to.

There was a time when there were major issues with distance learning degrees from an online university. People had a notion that the education that was provided by the online university was not of high standards and the degree that was provided was also not very valuable. But the concept has undergone a sea change with passing time. Today people are choosing distance learning programs for their convenience and flexibility. Various things can be managed at the same time along with studies with the help of these online education programs. You just need a computer and internet connectivity for completing your course. It has also been seen that the expenses incurred in distance learning courses through online university are lesser.

Free Focus on College seminars prepare students for success

Periodically, PTC staff and faculty hold Focus on College seminars -- free seminars/workshops that teach tips about time management, stress management, studying, test-taking, the college environment overall and much more. Additionally, a valuable 68-page bound guide, Making Your Mark, is given away at the seminars.

Navigating Your Future!
The Focus on College seminars offered in Fall, 2010 will carry a Navigating Your Future theme! Plan to attend any and/or all seminars offered this fall, and learn to navigate:
-- online tools such as D2L
-- with GPS LifePlan
-- communication with other PTC students
-- with your unique Learning Style, and learn how to use it to your advantage
-- PTC clubs and organizations

Schedule of Focus on College seminars
-- Aug. 4 2010: 9 a.m. to 12 noon
-- Aug. 9 2010: 5 to 8 p.m.

Specialized Focus on College workshops:

Week 1: Navigating my Online Class Using D2L
-- Aug. 30 2010: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Aug. 31 2010: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 1 2010: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 2 2010: 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 3 2010: 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Week 2: Why is my Syllabus so Important?
-- Aug. 30 2010: 10 a.m.
-- Aug. 31 2010: 1 p.m.

Week 3: Finding Time for Course Work
-- Sept. 7 2010: 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 8 2010: 11 a.m.

Week 4: Tools for a Successful Research Paper
-- Sept. 15 2010: 11 a.m.

Pre-Registration is required. For more information, call 800-521-7463 to reserve your spot at one (or many) of these valuable seminars!

Online Education Training Opportunities

What can you do to pursue your dreaming career? Of course all your action starts by training courses. The accredited online educational programs can provide you all the skills and knowledge to reach your desire. And this thing is easy to finish, by just one click.

 

When looking to gain the training needed for a career in education you can enroll in a number of accredited online schools and colleges. Training is available at various levels allowing you to choose the one that's right for you.

 

Bachelor degrees in education can be obtained by completing four years of accredited study. With a degree at this level students can become a general education teacher and choose an area of study to teach.
Master degrees in this field will prepare students to teach specific subjects or grades and can require an additional two years of online training.
Doctoral degrees in education will take students an additional four years to obtain and can provide the means to teach secondary and post-secondary educational programs.

 

With an accredited degree in education you can gain the training you need to pursue a variety of exciting careers.

Areas of study will vary based on the level of degree and desired level of teaching desired.

 

Coursework will cover a variety of topics, and students who choose to specialize in certain subjects will complete more focused courses. Online educational training programs can allow you to learn:

 

Mathematics
Social Science
Art
Physical Science
Music
Literature
Philosophy of Education
Teaching Methods
Psychology of Learning

 

...and much more.

By gaining knowledge in these areas you will be able to pursue your desired teaching career. You may also be required to complete some supervised teaching in order to complete all graduation requirements.

 

By choosing to gain an accredited online degree in education you have the opportunity to choose from a number of specialized studies. You can pursue a career teaching:

 

Elementary
Middle
High School
Post-Secondary
Special Education
Preschool

 

...and more. You have the options of deciding when, where, and how you study, as well as the level of teaching you would like to pursue, when completing an online training program.

 

By looking to gain an accredited online degree in education you can prepare to become the teacher you desire. Full accreditation is provided by various agencies like the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (www.ncate.org). Accreditation is provided to online schools and colleges that meet the criteria needed to prove that they can offer students the best quality education possible. You can start by researching various online schools and colleges and begin training today.

 

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.

 

Copyright 2010 - All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

 

Medical Laboratory Technician program poised to fill dire workforce shortage

The health care industry is facing worker shortages due to an increase in retirees, fewer workers and a growing demand for services. According to Healthcare Labor Shortages: Get the Facts, Minnesota will likely experience vacancies in registered nursing -- the largest employment group in health care -- of over 9,200 by 2015. This type of news report often focuses on nurses, but the nursing shortage isn’t the only alarming part of the story. Similar forecasts are anticipated in almost all health care programs including laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, home health aide, respiratory therapy and nursing assistants.

Jon Linnell, CEO of North Valley Health Center, Warren, says, "If we lose just one X-ray or laboratory tech, we may have to close our doors. The supply and demand problem is especially severe in Greater Minnesota where there is a very limited supply of professionals in the face of an increasing demand."

To help offset such healthcare worker shortages in East Central Minnesota, Pine Technical College has partnered with Lake Superior College to bring a Medical Laboratory Technician A.A.S. degree to the Pine Area and starts in the Fall semester, 2010. A Medical Laboratory Technician performs routine tests in all areas of the clinical laboratory and searches for the presence, absence, extent and cause of diseases. Qualifications of this highly skilled individual include a dedication and commitment to accuracy and precision to ensure quality patient outcomes. Interested students should apply now; the program will not accept new students next year. Classes start Aug. 23.

For more information about PTC's new Medical Laboratory Technician degree, call 320-629-5100.

Online Open Source Education

Online education is increasingly on the public's mind with many pursuing higher education during the current tough economic times. Accompanying the growth of the for profit online universities, serving these students, is the open source education movement. This movement, headed by MIT OpenCourseWare and the Khan Academy, seeks to revolutionize education by offering free content to anyone with an internet connection. Bill Gates said in an interview that he believes that within five years the best education will come from the web. Coming from a man who has made billions from investing in innovation, such predictions carry an enormous amount of weight.

There is a huge demand for online education materials, not just for those enrolled in online courses, but for anyone trying to learn. The upcoming generation of college freshman have to think hard to remember a time before Google and YouTube.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the first reaction of many young students when faced with a difficult problem is to "Google it." Interestingly enough, with the plethora of online education materials, it probably is the best strategy. A quick Google search for calculus returns quite a bit more than what one could find in a traditional library. Full textbooks, video lectures, practice problems with solutions, internet forums connecting to thousands of helpful experts, computer programs, and more content growing by the day make a trip to the library seem silly unless you plan on using a library computer to access the internet.

So where is the open source education movement taking us? Despite the enthusiasm of many, I do not foresee the destruction of the over priced higher education system (bubble?) any time soon. Although, it would be an interesting case study to submit a few resumes with a list of watched YouTube videos as one's education credentials. The open source education movement will have an effect, however, in the industry that produces supplemental education materials. There is a whole section of "Learn Calculus Fast!" style education books that could be disappearing off the shelves of your local book store (if your local book store hasn't already disappeared). How are they to compete with interactive online materials, video lectures, and discussion forums for these subjects? Quite frankly, I don't see how they can.

More interesting than the business impact of the open source education movement is the psychology behind it. What is driving people to produce their own YouTube videos solving calculus problems? Or spending their evenings in a forum devoted to organic chemistry, helping students with difficulty understanding the concepts? Economists and psychologists came together to find what motivates people to contribute to open source projects and found three primary motivators. Challenge, mastery, and making a contribution are the driving force behind all open source projects. These three elements are clearly prominent in the case of the open source education movement and one can add in the "joy of teaching" as an additional motivator. It is for these reasons that I agree with Mr. Gates that not only will the best education soon be available on the web, but that it will also be free.

More students choosing ASL

The Pine Technical College American Sign Language (ASL) program, an 18-credit certificate, is a rapidly-growing program. While the program is not often one students choose to take alone, it is a popular ‘side-dish’ program.

“To take the ASL program in addition to another program is a smart choice,” explains Nancy Mach, PTC Dean of Student Affairs. “Especially students graduating from early childhood, nursing, accounting and business programs with the ASL certificate on top are more attractive to prospective employers in the job market. It’s an excellent side-dish program,” Mach adds.

PTC’s ASL courses are not only popular with students since they meet requirements within the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum and help students when transferring to state universities with world language requirements, but also since there is a growing demand for graduates with the skill.

“ASL is estimated to be the fourth most commonly used language in the country,” says Kathryn Krier, PTC ASL instructor. “ASL courses fit well with nearly any student’s major or program and always makes the student more appealing to hire since they graduate with an extra skill. For example, nursing students will not only have the ability carry out healthcare services, but also the ability to communicate with deaf or hard-of-hearing patients, and that makes those graduates more appealing than students graduating with just the nursing diploma,” Krier explains.

The number of students enrolled in the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program taking ASL courses also is on the rise. In addition to Krier’s regularly-scheduled courses at the PTC campus, Krier teaches ASL via interactive television (ITV) to many rural area high schools including Isle, Holdingford, Lac qui Parle Valley, North Branch and BOLD Senior High School in Olivia, Minn. To take ASL courses via the PSEO program gives high school students the opportunity to earn credit that satisfies high school and college requirements simultaneously while gaining a skill in ASL as well as getting an early start on college.

“American Sign Language is the language of the Deaf community in the United States, and the Deaf population in Minnesota’s East Central Area has grown in the past few years,” Krier says. “Our community needs more people fluent in ASL, and we’re proud to contribute to meeting the need in the community,” Krier adds.

The ASL program at PTC is a language and culture program, which approaches the study of signed languages from both a linguistic and scientific perspective.

“ASL is a full, natural language. It uses a gestural-visual modality in which manual signs, facial expressions and body movements all convey complex, linguistic information,” Krier explains. “Once a student completes the certificate, he or she will have gained a full understanding of the language and be able to apply it in nearly any professional or social setting,” Krier adds.

Courses start Aug. 23, and PTC is accepting applications now. For more information about the ASL program, call 320-629-5100.

Management Education and MBA Programs

When we talk about management education, the borders are getting increasingly blurred as B-school go in for international partnerships and online mba programmes gain in popularity. Some people believes that to be at the cutting edge  of management education B-school have to work in partnership with industry as well as with other school across the globe. Through international partnerships of academic programmes, you gain additional perspectives on new business environments, and leverage different areas of expertise and specialization.

International academic partnership could be beneficial if they are long-term and mutual. With intelligent alliances you can create a new identity and different orbit for your institution’s pathways. In the initial phase of partnering one may feel that a ‘brand’ that is so well-respected in a particular milieu, is getting diluted in a different cultural context, but over time, you may actually strengthen the brand through these international initiatives. That has been one of the many lesson learnt from the history of global companies. However, not everyone is convinced that opening campuses would necessarily be good for the school. With the support of the web it is possible to deliver inputs anytime anywhere, you do not have to necessarily create a physical campus. Opening overseas campus is primarily exploitation of business opportunities, and may not necessarily be connected with enhancement of knowledge. The demand for MBA Education in India itself is so large that it would be unfair to spend time looking o establish centres/campuses abroad. In our efforts to meet the demand, we have created 15-17 programmes for working professionals to be imparted via satellite education. Candidates visit their regional centers to view a live broadcast of lectures from their  professors at IIM-Calcutta. They have to visit  the campus only once during the duration of the entire programme.

online it degree

Distance Learning MBA can provide and excellent mode for learning, but only if the school has designed its programme with care and sensitivity to the requirement of the delivery method. MBA Distance education is never an easy option, but it enables students to put theories into practice in the workplace, thus, they can gain more from the degree.

The recent shake-up of the investment community has left many baffled and even more revaluating their chosen career paths. The majority among those ‘revaluating’ their professional interests is a plethora of management education aspirants. Investment banks, regarded until recently as the kings of Wall Street, are on shaky ground.

When business are in trouble, MBA enrolments spike  up. The reason is that students know that downturn in business means a downturn in career prospects - some will be laid-off; other will see bonuses drop and promotion prospects dry up.

This is the perfect time to take a break and pursue management. The industry outlook suggest that the markets would start recovering in about two years. KPO and LPO sector to pick up in India and will most likely start a new venture to fulfill new demands. Besides, the global economic slowdown may make it harder to change careers. It is better to take a long-term view. Markets are cyclical  and what goes down will come up.