This blog is about obtaining online training and online degrees. It covers a range of distance courses, including online graduate programs, online PhD programs, and online certificate courses. It has advice, information and personal comments about studying online, information about learning styles, and even includes details of how you can obtain free online learning.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Big Idea 2015: Let's Rethink the Bachelor's Degree - Masters and PhDs
In the face of an increasing average student-loan debt and 44 percent for graduates ages 22 to 27 taking jobs that don’t require bachelor’s degrees, it is tempting to question the worth of college education. But rather than throwing out degrees altogether, it is really time to reassess how both education providers and students perceive and participate higher education.
Read more: http://masters-phds.com/big-idea-2015-lets-rethink-bachelors-degree/#ixzz3NF3GNhNJ
Friday, December 26, 2014
WizIQ Recordor: Create, Share Powerful Video Lectures for Flipped Classroom
WizIQ Recordor (yes, it’s spelt with an “OR” not “ER”. No pun intended!) runs as an add-in to Microsoft PowerPoint and works seamlessly with WizIQ. Install this add-in and a few clicks is all it takes to create an effective MP4 video lecture using your presentation. This add-in allows you to record your live audio and sync it with presentation slides.
Recordor also lets you flip the classroom and share the captured videos with your students via email so that they can learn from your online lectures at their own pace. Besides the flipped classroom, Recordor lets you create effective e-Learning content for your online courses, classroom teaching and MOOC sessions. And don’t worry, the software is so fun and easy to use that you’ll fall in love with it.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Crowd Sourced Accreditation to shake up the staid world of traditional education says ALISON CEO
IRISHMAN Mike Feerick likes to stir things up, writes Andrew Trounson in The Australian. He was running the world’s first massive open online courses before the MOOC acronym was born.
And, unlike most MOOCs, his free online education site ALISON is making money.
But an even bigger disruptive force is on the way.
Feerick calls it crowd-sourced accreditation and says it will pose a threat to vested interests among established educational institutions, where accreditation has long been seen as the ace in the hand.
Read more: http://ift.tt/13DCzSY
Monday, December 22, 2014
UK Universities Gear Up For Enterprise Education
According to figures published by the UK Government’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) around 11% of 18 to 24 year olds aspire to start their own businesses compared with just 3% of those aged 55 to 65.
Trevor Clawson, Contributor to Forbes:
So if the figures are correct, a significant number of young people are currently leaving schools and universities with the aim of wither working for themselves or employing others. And this in turn poses challenges for Britain’s universities, schools and further education colleges. Traditionally the role of educators has been to turn out successive generations with skills and qualities necessary to become ‘good employees.’ Today there is an increasing awareness that it is also important to encourage and support an enterprise culture – and not just in terms of supporting technology spin-outs.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HrF33P
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Potter versus 3D printer
Ceramics is an ancient, global art form, whose fundamentals have not changed for centuries. 3D printing on the other hand, has only been around for a couple of decades – but has attracted a wave of artists and craftspeople.
But should we think of 3D printing as a new branch of arts and crafts? Does it have any right to be considered a craft at all?
Read more: http://ift.tt/13FJ7RA
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
The Big Picture Of Education Technology: The Padagogy Wheel
The Big Picture Of Education Technology: The Padagogy Wheel
This Will Revolutionize Education
Many technologies have promised to revolutionize education, but so far none has. With that in mind, what could revolutionize education?
It is instructive that each new technology has appeared to be so transformative. You can imagine, for example, that motion pictures must have seemed like a revolutionary learning technology. After all they did revolutionize entertainment, yet failed to make significant inroads into the classroom. TV and video seem like a cheaper, scaled back film, but they too failed to live up to expectations. Now there is a glut of information and video on the internet so should we expect it to revolutionize education?
Monday, December 15, 2014
TypoEffects - Create your individual text art images
Do you know the proverb “A picture is worth a thousand words” ?
With the Typo-Generators this proverb gets a new significance. Use online the RowText-Image Generator or the WordCloud-Image Generator, and your pictures will be converted into individual, typographical images, which can be used as a personal gift, for presentations or as the base for further graphics.
10 Most Popular Teaching Tools Used This Year | Edudemic
Last year, Edudemic published a list of the most essential and popular educational tools used in modern classrooms across the globe. While many of 2013′s contenders retain top spots for 2014, there are a few new and noteworthy tools that made it onto this year’s list, and some of last year’s mentions have shifted in the rankings. We highly recommend taking a look at these “battle-tested” teaching tools; some of them may be a perfect fit for your modern classroom.
Monday, December 8, 2014
SPOCs, Small Private Online Classes, Tweak MOOCs
First came MOOCs — Massive Open Online Courses — and now universities are experimenting with SPOCs, or small private online classes, better known as “hybrid” or “blended learning,” in place of larg...
Sunday, December 7, 2014
For the First Time, Chromebooks Beat out iPads in Schools - Masters and PhDs
According to recent data from IDC, Google shipped 715,000 Chromebooks to schools in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Apple shipped 702,000 iPads to schools in the same time frame.
Chromebooks now account for one quarter of the entire educational market. Laptops running Chrome OS have gone from zero to a quarter of the market in only two years.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1wQ7po7
The 4 Stages Of Edtech Disruption
What are the stages of technology in learning, and how can these stages be used as a framework for improving learning?
Thursday, December 4, 2014
6 Apps That Target Higher-Order Thinking Skills
"A higher-order thinker is a critical thinker. What are the attributes of a critical thinker? In The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Richard Paul and Linda Elder describe a well-cultivated critical thinker as someone who:
raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively; comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing their assumptions, implications and practical consequences as need be; andcommunicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems."
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Open University: Online Learning Must Be Collaborative, Social
An annual report by The Open University said the current key challenge for education specialists is to engage thousands of learners in productive discussions while learning in a collaborative, online environment.
The report, Innovating Pedagogy 2014, is the third annual report concerning technological trends that could revolutionize education. It suggests that the next step in the world of MOOCs is to introduce massive open social learning.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1AcYMlT
Monday, December 1, 2014
eLearning Trends to Follow in 2015 [Infographic]
An infographic with eLearning Trends to you should follow in year 2015.
When Not to Use Technology: 15 Things That Should Stay Simple In Education - InformED
"Most of us know better than to use technology for technology’s sake. The Shiny New Tech Syndrome is taking the world by storm, and with the added pressure of finding new ways to improve educational outcomes, we try our best not to be tempted. But there are some things–certain methods, activities, and tools–we still assume can be enhanced with a little computational flair, when really, if we stopped to question ourselves, we’d find them best delivered the old-fashioned way."
Cited From: http://ift.tt/1HStbuQ
The author, Saga Briggs, goes on to list 15 occasions when not to use technology in your teaching.