Online Degrees for Adults

The Internet has changed the way we do business, manage money, and is becoming an increasingly popular way to get an education.

Online degrees are more convenient for people who are in the middle of a career, or have started a family. Online classes eliminate commuting hours and allow students to tackle coursework at their own pace, and on their own schedules. Frequently, classes meet once per week online and school is open 24/7. This means that schoolwork can be accomplished after board meetings or when the kids are sleeping. More often, classes can be taken at anytime, eliminating the need to schedule a particular day or time.

Learning online does not necessarily make it easier to finish a degree. Coursework can be intense and workloads can be hefty, somewhat driven by the need to validate this fairly new learning path. However, the convenience of studying online is a huge draw for online degree seekers.

Top tier schools across the nation are offering opportunities for online learning, from community colleges to the top Ivy League institutions. The University of Phoenix Online is the nation's largest, private, accredited university. Other top tier schools with online options include University of Connecticut, University of New Hampshire, Columbia University in New York City, Boston University and Harvard.

Like anything on the Internet, beware of fake degrees from online diploma mills. Anyone who has the $20 fee can register and use an .edu domain name, and fraudulent organizations have established legitimate looking Web sites and polished brochures that show pictures of beautiful campuses with stately buildings. If you have any doubts about an online program, check to see if it is accredited and by whom. Request information from the school directly - directories such as eLearningYellowPages.com are a good place to start. They list only accredited online degree programs, and you can request information from multiple schools in a matter of minutes.

Certificate programs are another good online resource that can help boost your credentials and career by certifying you as a specialist in your chosen field.

Online degrees aren’t for everyone; however, for mature working adults with with clear goals, online degrees are an excellent way to get the credentials they need. Complete this self-assessment form to determine if online learning is right for you.

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Is An Online Degree Right for You?

If you are thinking about going back to school to earn your degree, you may be wondering if an online degree is right for you. There are many reasons why adult students choose online degree programs, and the following article addresses the most pertinent ones.

Is An Online Degree Right for You?

"Published: Friday, January 19, 2007 2:04 PM CST(ARA) - With the ever-changing job market and increasing competition for stable, well-paying jobs, more and more adults are seeking additional education to help them in their current professions or to prepare them for a career change. For people who are working full time, online learning, sometimes referred to as distance learning, can be a great choice.

Taking courses online enables you to pursue an advanced degree without sacrificing the time you spend with your family or the momentum you have in a career track. Online programs allow learners to take courses when it's convenient for them. Without set classroom time, learners can work on assignments from home, the office, or on the road -- as long as they have access to e-mail and the Internet.

The practicality and convenience of online learning has helped it become a popular choice among busy adults. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands enrolled in online degree programs. University of Phoenix, the largest accredited university in the United States -- and leading online university -- helps more than 180,000 working adults achieve their academic and career goals every year.

Online learning offers many benefits. Most programs have rolling admissions and courses begin frequently so students can get started quickly. Going to school online means no hurried commute to make it to class in time. Students can log on to their course any time of day. And online programs typically cater to adult learners, so courses focus on material that's important and practical.

Choosing the right school is key to a positive and rewarding online learning experience. Prospective students should understand the options available and investigate which programs best suit their needs.

Here are some guidelines from the experts that will help you make an informed decision:

1. Is the institution accredited? An accrediting agency evaluates such things as financial stability, admissions and student services, student learning and more.
2. Does the institution have both an online and traditional brick-and-mortar presence? This gives you the option of attending some classes on campus.
3. Does the institution have adequate student support services? Can they help you with choosing the right program? If you have technical problems with the online systems, can they help you resolve them?
4. What are the qualifications of the instructors? In addition to academic credentials, instructors may also hold high-level positions within their field of expertise, enabling them to share valuable, real-world experience which can be immediately applied to your career success.
5. What is the success rate of alumni? Ask about the program's graduation rate and job placement assistance.The cost of online programs varies widely. The good news is that students enrolled in online degree programs are often eligible for the same types of financial assistance as traditional students, including scholarships, federal loans, grants and tuition reimbursement.

Online learning programs give adults a chance to go back to school to pursue their educational and career goals. To research accredited online universities, visit" eLearningYellowPages.com. Take a look at all of the many programs offered, and request information from several schools, in order to compare and choose the program that is right for you.

Tags: online degree programs

learnability matters » Blog Archive » Rapid eLearning

Rapid eLearning as a tool for business skills training is developing quickly. Here is an interesting discussion on rapid eLearning, and how it can be used as a cost effective business skills training tool.

learnability matters » Blog Archive » Rapid eLearning Rapid eLearning
Today rapid eLearning is the buzzword in the eLearning industry. Rapid eLearning is emerging as the fastest-growing category of online training. It is web-based training created in far-lesser time than traditional eLearning. Rapid eLearning is beneficial on two key counts:

It meets the current demand to rapidly create learning resources to address business events, competitive developments, product trainings, or other business needs.
It helps minimize the time and resource contribution from the client.
Here’s a case study about Kern’s foray into rapid eLearning. The client is a leading training organization in UK. The client has been conducting classroom training for several decades and now wanted to create an online training programme for the same audience. The client wanted Kern to create a WBT on “Tendering for UK/EU Public Sector Contracts” for small and medium enterprises.

The client’s requirements were:

A complete training module on ‘Tendering for Public Sector Contracts’ to be created in 1.5 months (6 weeks) and rolled out to the market by end-March.
The course duration to range from 8-12 hours.
The course had to be SCORM-compliant.
One hour of online course should have 45 minutes of learning time and 15 minutes of practice.
Each session should not exceed 20 minutes.
The course should cater to audience in the age group of 35-65 years.
Approximately 50% of the audience had no experience with online training.
Comparing Requirements vis-à-vis Traditional eLearning

Kern conducted an in-house analysis about the requirements and resources available for the task on-hand vis-à-vis traditional eLearning. The comparison is given below.

Current Project Requirements Traditional eLearning
Purpose
Urgent business needs; had to be rolled out in a short timeframe Difficult to rollout in such a tight timeframe
Timeline Minimal resources (2 for scripting and 3 for development) Requires approximately 3 person months to create an hour of eLearning.(The current project would require 16-20 people to rollout the product in the specified timeframe.)
Costs 20% of the traditional eLearning budget Would involve US$7000-US$10000 per learning hour
SME Availability Client was committed to providing content and help to help meet deadlines SME availability over longer duration becomes a problem

Typical Challenges in Rapid eLearning

Creating rapid eLearning is not an easy task. The typical challenges are listed below:

Ensuring a look and feel that is consistent with traditional eLearning
Using good and effective instructional design principles in a short time frame
Integrating with LMS
Creating detailed and consistent media elements in a short time frame
Integrating the programming and HTML
Providing advanced features such as links, tests, and glossary
Meeting schedules without compromising on quality or learning effectiveness
The challenges faced by Kern while implementing rapid eLearning were:

Tools: Kern had no rapid eLearning tool
Resource: Kern could spare only 5 members for the project
Deadline: Kern had committed to deliver within a deadline of 6 weeks
Quality: Kern had to adhere to quality standards despite the stringent deadline
Budget: Kern had proposed a budget that was 20% of the cost of a traditional course
In short, Kern had the challenge of rolling out an output that would match or surpass the output of a traditional eLearning course at a fraction of the traditional eLearning budget and with minimal resources.

Implementing Rapid eLearning

Kern adopted different strategies to meet these challenges. Let us look at the actions taken by Kern:

Focus on design: Kern first defined the scope, guidelines and workflow for the course. The scope covered the extent and depth of content coverage. The guidelines included the strategies, look and feel, and the level of interactivity. Kern finalized the use of page-level presentation strategies such as tabbed pages, drag and drop, rollover text, click text, checklists, and so on. The standards document specified the rules for the use of fonts, audio, positioning of graphics, course length and slide and frame formats. The workflow outlined the tendering process in the form of a flowchart. The design document and the workflow were signed-off by the client at the beginning of the project. The design team created and finalized the design interface of the course.
Content categorization: To meet the course duration and provide adequate content to the audience, content was categorized and segregated into two parts, main content and additional content. Main content was covered in detail in the course. Additional content was placed in the Reference section of the course. It was included as optional reading at appropriate places. This helped maintain the course duration at 8 hours without resulting in content overload.
Tool used: Kern decided to use PowerPoint to create storyboards. The storyboards were scripted using PowerPoint called wire frames. They had detailed visualization and instructions for the graphics and construction team. The storyboards sent to the client for content validation looked like the real screens of the course. Visualized scripts ensured that there was no additional time spent by instructional designers with the graphics and construction team to clarify graphics and presentation-related doubts.
Parallel processing: The team at Kern worked in parallel. There was no time wasted by either graphics or construction in waiting for inputs from the ID team. Let us see how this happened:
ID team of 2 people worked on the table of content and content categorization; 2 people from the construction team created the shell; graphics person created common icons and graphic elements for the course.
ID team starts scripting using existing templates. The smallest module, module 1 is rolled out in 2 days. The module is passed on to the graphics and construction team. The module is also sent for client feedback. Based on module 1 feedback, other modules are modified and created.
Client feedback is incorporated by one person of the ID team while others continue scripting the other modules. The graphics team creates the icons. Development team is simultaneously working on the shell and integration of module 1.
This synchronized process resulted in the constructed modules being rolled out quickly after the completion of scripting, resulting in successful completion of the project.
Critical Success Factors

Let us summarize the critical success factors for rapid eLearning based on Kern’s experiences:

Ensure all content transfer happens in stage I. We had access to all relevant materials upfront and they were shared with us at the beginning of the course.
Define course guidelines and workflow upfront and share it with all concerned.
Ensure ready availability of SME. Our client was very prompt and clear about the requirements. There was no ambiguity in expectations and the scope of content was also signed-off by the client early in the project. Since the client was also the Subject Matter Expert, it helped close content issues faster.
Use simple tool such as PowerPoint and user-friendly templates to script the course.
The key is team work and project management. Define the team, expectations and schedules from the beginning. Ensure that the team works closely in coordination with the schedules, and timelines are tracked on a daily basis.
Have constant communication with the client on a daily basis about the progress and requirements. "

For more information about Business Skills eLearning, go to the eLearningYellowPages.com directory.

Learn Italian Online - Directory of Foreign Lanaguage Programs at eLearningYellowPages.com

Learn Italian Online - Directory of Foreign Lanaguage Programs at eLearningYellowPages.com: "earn Italian online! Speak Italian, read and write Italian in no time with top foreign language programs. eLearningYellowPages.com offers a free directory of online foreign language programs, and language learning classes, lessons, and course for the Italian language. Learn Italian online at your own pace from home! Use online Italian language learning courses such as Rosetta Stone Language to learn to speak Italian fast. Rosetta Stone Language's innovative speech recognition technology will help you improve your Italian pronunciation and accent! It is one of the most effective lanagage learning programs available. With Rosetta Stone Language learning programs you can start learning immediately online. Italian Dictionary and Italian English translation software, as well as electronic translator, are also available from Transparent Language and ECTACO. Using an Italian dictionary and Italian English translation (the electronic translators are great!) will help you get ahead, and learn Italian fast. For business or travel, you'll find the Italian dictionaries and Italian English translation provided by the electronic translator more than helpful, and it may ensure your safety, as well. Be sure to try out the free demo at Rosetta Stone Language, it's one of the best-known, and highly regarded foreign language programs on the "

Where we are

Where we are: "The Bed & Breakfast is easy to get to by all means of public transport.

From the port, where all the ferries to the island leave from (500mt).

From the railway stations (1,2 Km)

From the airport (4 Km)

From the motorway (2 km).

Near the Bed & Breakfast (about 100 mt), there are guarded garages, taxi ranks and stops for all means of public"

Official Online Accredited Degrees directory: Elearningyellowpages.com

Official Online Accredited Degrees directory: Elearningyellowpages.com: "Online Degree Programs Offer Convenience and Quality

Online Degree Programs offer the convenience of working from any location, at any time of the day or night, any day of the week. You don't have spend time in a classroom, nor do you have to drive to any location outside your home or office. You can still meet your full-time work or family obligations, and earn a degree that will help you to get ahead in your current or in a new career. Internet technology makes it possible for you to obtain the same education as those students attending classes in a campus setting, but be aware - it takes the same amount of work to earn your degree. Don't expect to pay the tuition, logon, and be handed the diploma. You must manage your time well, and be motivated enough to complete the courses without supervision. Take the self-assessment to determine if e-learning is right for you.

If it is, then you're ready to start down the path to earning an online degree!

The fact that you can earn a degree online from a quality college or university is wonderful news for anyone, especially those of you who lack the time or money to attend classes at a campus location. Perhaps you live a long distance from the nearest school, or have job or family obligations that prevent you from attending on campus. Perhap"

e-FrenchLearning.com - Learn to Speak French Online Fast and Easy From Your Home, Car, or Office

e-FrenchLearning.com - Learn to Speak French Online Fast and Easy From Your Home, Car, or Office: "Rosetta Stone utilizes a highly regarded foreign language teaching method to reinforce your natural ability to connect to a new language. You'll acquire French actively and quickly, associating new words with familiar objects and ideas. Using pictures, written text and native French speakers to teach you, with Rosetta Stone language courses you'll quickly become proficient in speaking and writing French, as well as, listening comprehension and reading comprehension with this French language learning course. There is no tedious memorization or translation—just continuous mastery of French with a fast and effortless method.

Rosetta Stone taps your innate language-learning ability - you'll learn naturally, just like you learned your first language. Rosetta Stone is the #1 language-learning software in the world. It has been used successfully by millions of people in 150 countries, as well as government agencies and corporations—including Deutsche Telekom, IBM, and Lockheed Martin—and thousands of schools and universities around the world. With the Rosetta Stone language learning method , learning a new language is easier than you ever imagined."

iPhone Impacts Mobile eLearning

The iPhone is coming! Its beautiful! It's the wave of the future, and it is going to have a a major impact on elearning! Many corporations are already using the Blackberry, and many of those same companies are testing or preparing to implement iPods for their employees as learning devices. Soon, for the same price you can now get a device that acts as both...!

PodCasts are becoming a part of elearning already as top tier online colleges and universities offer podcasts to supplement the material offered. In addition, there are some terrific corporate training programs, and self help programs that are now available on podcasts - and they are becoming more and more popular.

Lots of possibilities with the iPhone. Keep watching for more information.

New Year's Resolutions - E-Learning Paves the Way to Success

What was your New Year's resolution? To learn a new language? Or, maybe it was to learn a new trade or vocation? Others of you may be contemplating going back for a college degree - possibly a graduate level program. Now is the time to develop new skills and training to take your career to the next level. And it couldn't be easier. All of these goals can be successfully achieved with high quality online programs.

Perhaps you want to learn a new language. With the globalization of our economy, knowing a second or even a third language is a great benefit when doing business in other areas of the world. Many employers are actively seeking speakers of Chinese, French, German, Spanish, and many other languages. Knowing another language can make you more employable, and possibly entitle you to higher levels of income.

Learning a language can be successfully achieved through e-learning programs via the Internet. There are several good programs available, including the Rosetta Stone Language Learning program, used by NASA, Fortune 500 corporate executives, US diplomates, and many schools and universities worldwide. Rosetta Stone's teaching method incorporates native speakers, and an innovative speech recognition program that provides a total immersion situation for the learner. The program can be used online conveniently from anywhere you have an Internet connection, or with audio CD's.

Language learning is not only recommended for business people, but these programs are also great for children too. In addition, adults who are looking for mental exercises to keep their brains young, are often encouraged to learn a new language. The 30 different language learning programs offered by Rosetta Stone are a great tool for this purpose.

For those of you who want to learn a new skill or vocation, don't despair. Several top career schools, such as Professional Career Development Institute and Penn Foster Career School, offer certificate and diploma programs online in careers as diverse as medical/dental office assisting, animal care, paralegal, bridal consulting, locksmithing, and many other careers.

You can complete these programs completely online, and start your new career in a matter of a few weeks or months. Study at your own pace and at your convenience, anywhere you have access to a computer with an Internet connection. Upon completion of your target program, you will be ready to start your own business, or apply for jobs in your new vocation.

According to the Sloan Consortium Survey, more than 1.9 million university students were studying online in the fall of 2003, 40.7% of schools providing online courses agree "students are at least as satisfied" with their online courses. Online enrollments are rapidly growing, as employers are willing to accept degrees from accredited online schools. Whether you have family obligations, work responsibilities, or both holding you back from obtaining your degree, pursuing an online education can be the best avenue to improve your career opportunities, income and increase your level of education.

Degrees from top online schools such as University of Phoenix Online, American Intercontinental University Online (AIU), Capella University. and more are widely accepted and highly regarded. Curricula are normally the same as on-campus programs, and more often than not, core faculty members are teaching the online courses, for the highest quality available.

Some schools, such as Kennedy-Western University, offer credit for work experience. Many students can finish a degree program in as little as 12-18 months, with qualifying prior work experience.

Isn't it time to make your New Year's resolutions a reality. Check out an e-learning program today to find out how to make your dreams a reality.