Product Description
Student engagement with digital learning resources and online social networking are strong forces in education today. How can these resources best be utilized by educators and course designers in higher education? This book aims to provide the reader with enough background information to appreciate the value of social networking, especially for distributed education. Through highlighting the most relevant, interesting, and challenging aspects of e-learning the book … More >>

e-Learning and Social Networking Handbook: Resources for Higher Education

In general, those in the fields of Psychology or Social and Behavioral Sciences take Human Growth and Development college courses. For most online Human Growth and Development college courses the only prerequisite is that the student is able to read and write on a level that is appropriate for college coursework.

Online Human Growth and Development college courses range anywhere from 6 weeks to 15 weeks. In most cases, students have access to the entire course syllabus at the beginning of the class. Therefore, students may begin and complete their coursework ahead of schedule. Online Human Growth and Development college courses may vary in coursework and structure based on the educational institution. Generally, all coursework is turned into the professor via e-mail, and weekly contact with the professor, again via e-mail, is expected.

Examples of Coursework

• Weekly quizzes
• Participation in discussion topics
• Topical Questions
• Practice tests and Multiple-choice tests
• Essay paper
• Midterm and Final Exam

Online Human Growth and Development college courses have similar objectives to those of their traditional counterparts. Through these courses, students attempt to gain understanding of human development over the life span, which has three major developmental stages: child, adolescent and adult.

Objectives include, but are not limited to:

1. the ability of student to describe development;
2. the ability of the student to analyze development based on theories of development;
3. for the student to learn and utilize developmental concepts.

To meet these objectives, courses may require textbooks, videos, and visits to campus. The methods used in online college courses to determine attendance, participation and overall grade differs from those of traditional classroom courses. Attendance for an online class may be determined by correspondence, which includes e-mail and online participation of discussion topics rather than actual classroom attendance. Similar to traditional classroom college courses, lack of participation can lead to a failing grade. To take any online college course, a student should: 1. be proficient in using a computer; 2. have the ability to navigate the internet; 3. be proficient in using e-mail; 4. be familiar with word processing software; and 5. in most cases, be familiar with WebCT.

Some of the colleges and schools online programs developed from campus based programs, and others like the University of Phoenix only offer online classes. Clinical experiences and internships can be arranged locally. Typically, there are no out of state charges. Because you can do the course work at home on your own time there is no travel costs, and because course work is online, the cost of books is significantly decreased. If you are already working as an RN, your employer will often offer reimbursement for continuing your education. More and more scholarships and grants are being offered for nursing students as the government recognizes what a nursing shortage will do to the overall health needs of the country.

An online nursing degree education program is a great way to pursue higher education if you already have your RN license. You can advance from entry-level education to bachelors, masters or doctoral degrees in nursing science. And you can do it in the comfort of your own home at your own pace. You can continue to work and complete your education.

Advancing your education opens doors for you in your nursing career. Advanced degrees allow greater versatility, increased salaries, and opportunities for job advancement. Higher degrees allow you to expand your options. You can work in rehab, occupational health, home care, public health nursing, management or research. You can work in pharmaceutical sales, become a consultant, or become a Nurse Practitioner. And you can obtain all this through an affordable online nursing degree program.

There is never any reason to be bored, or suffer burnout in a nursing career, because there are so many different things you can do. Having an advanced degree in nursing provides you with one of the most versatile, rewarding, stimulating and portable careers there is.

Check out all the opportunities for an affordable online nursing degree education program at one of the many online college education websites to find the perfect program for you.

As the number of people who look for ways to complete their education or improve their skills becomes too large, it is inevitable that a large number of colleges and universities take the necessary steps towards filling that need. But jobs, childcare and other family obligations limit the amount of time people can devote to their education, and thus, alternative arrangements are created. Online education has started gaining popularity and has now completely changed the way we approach education today.

Online degrees are now widely accepted and recognized as authentic educational qualifications. As long as the institution offering the degree is accredited by an accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, there should be no problem in the degree being accepted and acknowledged anywhere. Fully accredited online degree programs are now available in nearly every field. From management to medicine, law to accounting, there is a wide variety of choices on offer. Even obscure subjects and fields of study have found their place on the Internet. With degrees such as healthcare, students are even given the option of combining the practical aspect of their training at local hospitals or clinics along with virtual classes and studying online.

The flexibility of online education has opened up the doors of education to people from all walks of life. Stay at home moms and dads can now study from their own houses and employees can complete their assignments around their work schedules. There is 24 hour accessibility to the study material allowing for all night study sessions as well as the possibility of returning to subject matter again and again if necessary. And as universities continue to expand their options, the flexibility of online education will only increase. Students will be offered more options with the possibility of a custom created curriculum that suits their individual requirements and interests.

Distance learning also allows people hundreds of miles away to graduate with degrees from the college of their choice. Without spending a penny on gas or transport, students can make the most of a world class education with resources and faculty from all over the world. Through pre-recorded lectures, worksheets, assignments, e-classes, online forums, and tests, students can view, interact, and study from the comfort of their own space.

With a more flexible attendance policy, students can choose to tackle their workload as quickly or as slowly as they need to (all within a larger pre-determined schedule, of program). While this freedom may prove to be a little daunting to a new student, after completing a few programs, it becomes easier to get used to this new way of studying. To be successful in an online program, a large amount of self discipline and motivation is imperative. Without which it is all too easy to take advantage of the flexibility of the program and not achieve much. And while online education is definitely less expensive than a traditional degree program, to spend time, money and effort on something that is not taken seriously will not accomplish anything in the long run.

Online education in short offers every individual the right information in the right format at the right time for the best chances of success. Once upon a time online schools were considered the next wave of education and that future is finally here – ready to change the way we look at education way beyond the boundaries of any classroom.

The origin of distance education can be traced back to the 19th century (1840) when Sir Issac Pitman, the inventor of shorthand, came up with an idea of offering courses through mail. In the 1900s, a department for correspondence courses was started at the University of Chicago. In the later years, a number of universities also started such departments. Until 1969, distance education remained an important means of education in only a few countries. In 1969, the establishment of the United Kingdom’s Open University brought about a significant change in the field of distance education. A number of other open universities followed suit.

In modern distance education, educational materials are given to the students through various means such as tutorials, audiotapes, videos, satellite broadcasts and CD-ROMs. Remote databases, e-mail, and video conferencing using broadband network are also used. Interactive videoconferencing helps a teacher deliver lectures to different groups in other classrooms, known as a virtual classroom. The various facilities and services available through the network include online registration, availability of online video materials, dissemination of course materials and constant communication with tutors, instructors and fellow students through e-mail

A majority of universities in the United States have distance-learning programs. There are a number of non-profit and profit institutions both in private and public sectors offering them. One of the disadvantages of these programs is their high cost. In spite of this, the possibilities of distance education are increasing day by day. Beyond doubt, in the near future, distance education will make a tremendous impact on the institutions of higher education.

It is not uncommon for the middle class average student to seek help for grants and financial aid assistance because the tuition is very high at the major Universities around the country. Many of these students come from families that have already invested a lot of money in their students education and the student is not about to drop out of school. The students that seem to stay in school usually have good grades in high school and a goal to become a professional. The goal to become a professional like a lawyer, doctor, scientist or other professions that give a long term career with a high paying salary are most desired by the middle to upper class students. The Universities are not afraid of having a lot of student loans that go unpaid by these professional seeking students. Some Universities even have what they call a “Professors Grant” that helps the best of the best students to be able to remain in school getting that degree in learning needed for that special profession.

The biggest federal aid grant programs that guarantee help for the student are the Pell grants and Stafford student loans to all students who qualify, no matter how many people apply. Many of the schools depend on these types of student funding to supplement the high cost of attending the college hoping that they can gather a larger student body. The importance of higher education seems to hold no meaning to those who prefer not to allow students in the door on the onset of grant money. Many younger students from lower income and minorities are still struggling for acceptance in some Community Colleges and Universities. The federal grant money is open to everyone which makes the burden of accepting these students less on the Universities. Many of these Universities not only look at a student’s economic level, grade level but at their sports abilities as well. There are many scholarships given to the lower class and minorities in sports because of their abilities to perform well for the team. This makes getting student financial aid a lot easier for many of those students but the rise in applications is still faltering in comparison to previous years.

The very fact that the conference is taking place in Bangkok casts another light on the matter. A week before the conference, a leading Thai climatologist predicted disastrous effects of global warming for the city, which is built on a series of largely covered-over canals below sea level. But, tellingly, he predicted that the most disastrous effects would first be seen along the Chao Phraya River, which snakes its way through the Thai capital from Ayutthaya to the north to the Bay of Thailand. One of Thailand’s top universities sits right along its banks.

Surely universities located along student-enticing coastal areas around the world are already considering the impacts global warming could have on the physical plants of their institutions. The concerns are real. Similarly, students – large numbers of which welcomed the delegates to the Bangkok IPCC conference in a heavy, unseasonable rain – will also base their decisions about places to study on geographic considerations. Even if the forecast unpredictable extreme weather could strike anywhere in the world, students might become wary of cracking their books too close to advancing seas.

Looked it in another, highly more positive way, the increasingly acknowledge problems of climate change offer a range of new possibilities for both universities and their students alike. The evidence is that there is – at least currently – no shortage of climatologists who have had to wait frustratingly long periods of time to deliver their scientific findings to the larger world. But the need, in the immediately foreseeable future, for specially trained engineers of every imaginable type, scientists whose areas of specialization could be put to use in various aspects of climate change and how to deal with it – and professionals in public administration, city and urban planning, and aid and refugee work – will soon be in high demand. Business and marketing may soon seem less promising fields in a world threatened by natural forces.

The ability of both institutions of higher education and the students who attend them to adapt to a rapidly changing geo-political reality could hold an important key to the survival of the planet. Seizing the moment could well be key to the very survival of both.

Hugh Nelson is an e-learning specialist who has worked in the education industry for more than 10 years. He currently lives in Hong Kong and is a director of UniRoute, a company that runs educational websites helping students prepare and successfully apply for post-graduate studies abroad.