EDUCATION GUIDE

Check to ensure the college is accredited by a legitimate accrediting agency. Accreditation means the college and its programs meet certain set educational quality and standards. This also means courses and credits acquired can be easily transferred to another accredited institution, whether online or brick and mortar college. You will stand a better chance of securing employment or promotion at work if you have an accredited degree.

Be aware of degree mills – there are many questionable accrediting agencies out on the internet that are outright fraud and are willing to give fake “accreditation” to any institution willing to pay a certain fee. Some of the degree mills are even owned by these same fake accrediting agencies. Make sure you do your homework and thoroughly investigate the accreditation that the college of your choice claims to have. While many online colleges are legitimately accredited, be aware that there are many that are not. Check out your prospective college to see if the accrediting body is approved by the United States Department of Education or CHEA.

Before you choose an online college, it’s also important to think about what your long-terms plans and goals are as far as your education is concerned. Incase you intend to pursue further education, think about if you’ll need to transfer credits from one college to another. With this knowledge you’ll be able to choose a college that allows and accepts credit transfers.

Class size plays a big role in an online distance education college as it does in a traditional classroom. The smaller the better, thus you should investigate the class size of the institution you wish to join.

Find out if the faculty hold any credentials and if they are qualified to teach the program you want to enroll in. If you can dig further to find out what degrees they hold and if they are experienced in teaching online students, this will save you the distress of finding out later that your instructor is a fellow un-qualified student with no education skills.

Find out if it easy to contact your instructor or administration should you have questions or need help. The level of support offered to students varies considerably from college to college. Choose one in line with your needs and expectations.

Most colleges have their online classes rolling out all the time. This is a great thing and makes learning flexible. As such you should not feel pressured by the admission office or anyone else to start your program right away. You should start only when you feel your mind is set to it. This will ensure you stay motivated and put the effort you need to succeed with your classes.

Check out if your program will be offered entirely online or if it will require residency at some point in the course. Some online courses have site projects and require residency so let this not come as a surprise to you.

Check if the institution you’re interested in offers any form of financial aid assistance. You may be pleasantly surprised to find out that financial aid, loans and the scholarships available to you. In addition, many colleges and universities offer tuition installment plans which help make college more affordable. Ask before you enroll whether such programs exist.

Don’t settle for less than quality programs and education when selecting your online distance education program. Unlike there before, when online degree options were severely limited, it is now possible for those willing to spend some time gathering information to find almost exactly the degree program that meets their needs.

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This time, we give you article about 7 Things You Must Do Right To Succeed in Online Education Degree. For those students who cannot afford the time or money to take full-time courses on campus, an online education degree has removed many roadblocks. In fact, there are several advantages over traditional degrees. Nevertheless, because the methods of instruction and learning are quite different, students need to consider the adjustments and changes necessary to receiving a quality education degree online.

1. Choosing an ideal online education degree college – One of the ways to succeed is to select the right online education degree college. There are many dubious “fake colleges” out there that are only interested in selling their diplomas without providing any quality education and support to their online students. As a result, the diplomas acquired from these fake colleges may not be recognized by prospective employers who simply term then as fake degrees. To avoid this pitfall, it’s important to do background work on the college you wish to pursue. Before you enroll, check it out with relevant accrediting agencies to ensure that it is a legitimate college.

2. Analyze cost vs. benefit – Some students enroll in a distance learning program without considering the cost. Generally, the cost per credit hour is fairly expensive. However, decide whether the education will translate into better income opportunities down the road. Only after assessing the true benefits can students appreciate the rewards of obtaining an education online degree.

3. Provide degree verification to potential employers – Faced with the prevalence of bogus and worthless degrees, it is no wonder that prospective employers are a little wary to hire employees who have acquired a diploma through distance learning. Therefore, anticipate potential skepticism and bring along proof of accreditation from the college or university. By underscoring the recognition of the U.S. Department of Education and CHEA, it will immediately alleviate any degree misgivings.

4. Practice discipline, intrinsic motivation, and good time management – In the beginning, students may not fully comprehend the discipline necessary to stay focused and keep pace with online classes. It takes strong intrinsic motivation to succeed without the classroom atmosphere and peers. Time management is critical. Setting up communication with other students will be most helpful on the road to success.

5. Take advantage of the facilities available – Online lectures and email correspondence are a great venue for facilitating communication with fellow students, tutors, and instructors. Take every opportunity to utilize these options as a means of progressing through the classes, staying motivated, and feeling connected with your accredited online college or university.

6. Make use of Credit transfers – Even institutions solely dedicated to the online education degree will generally accept some, or all, of the credits obtained from another accredited online college or university. So, to avoid the expense and time necessary to retake unneeded courses, make the effort to obtain official transcripts. Then, the applicable credits can be transferred, bringing the student a little closer to that coveted diploma.

7. Using Educational technology is essential – The only way to facilitate an excellent online education degree is to take full advantage of all the educational technology available. Virtual libraries generally have all the information necessary to complete research projects and other assignments. The online materials have been factored into the cost of the course. The convenience is another reason for using this benefit to the fullest.

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With the rise in demand for online bachelor degrees, many bogus learning institutions have mushroomed over the internet with the sole intention of taking advantage of innocent students seeking for a genuine degree. These so-called “Colleges” often attract applicants with their attractive degree programs which are boasts of easy graduation, low tuition fees, no examinations and credit given for life experience, all of which just sound too good to be true. Some of them even go to the extent of prospecting for customers by sending out bulk email citing university degrees for sale.

So, how do prospective students determine whether an online college is accredited or only offering bogus online Bachelor degrees? Especially for International students, it can be very difficult to determine a school’s validity. In most cases it is impossible for distance learners to visit the campus, so the website is the only point of contact before making the choice and enrolling, which makes it hard to determine credibility.

One of the best ways to determine credibility is to pay close attention to how the credentials are stated. For example, if an educational institution claims to have nationwide or worldwide accreditation, without revealing which government agency provided the accreditation, it’s possible the college or university probably does not possess the necessary seal of approval to provide legitimate online Bachelor degrees.

In the U.S., college accreditation is awarded by one of the following six accreditation agencies which are all appointed by the National Board of Education – New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (NCA), Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA), Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS), Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (NWCCU). Each agency has been allocated responsibility for providing accreditation for schools in specific states. Therefore, it would be best to run checks on a particular online degree institution with the agency offering college accreditation for the state in which the college is registered in.

If a university sends out mass e-mailings offering on online Bachelor degrees, Master’s Degree, and even Doctorate degrees for a fixed rate, it is a sure sign the result will be a bogus degree. Course credits for such a degree may include such strange elements as: credit for life experiences, work experience, previous educational background, workshops, community services, travel, and books read in the past. To further confuse the issue, fake accrediting URLS are set up to prove accreditation, but unless it is from one of the 6 agencies endorsed by the Department of Education, the award is most likely phony. The unscrupulous institutions depend on the desperation of people who do not have the time, or the money, to earn a valid degree. Nevertheless, without that all-important diploma, good jobs are impossible to find.

In short, because of the influx of fake degrees, it leaves the employers worried about the legitimacy of online Bachelor Degrees. Thus to avert these fears and ensure you get a job with an online degree, it is imperative to carefully select a college that possesses all the support and resources to provide quality education approved by the U.S. Department of Education, and granted accreditation through one of the 6 designated agencies with the authority to award proper accreditation to legit institutions.

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One major advantage of educating your child at home is that you are involved with their home school success. You help to decide that way your child is taught the material and no one knows your child better than you do.  You know how your child learns and can find ways to make their education unique and best for them.  Another way to ensure your child’s home school success is to enroll them in enrichment classes.

A parent’s decision to home school their child does not mean they wish to keep them from socializing with other children their age.  In fact, the opposite is quite true.  They simply want to have more control of who their children are socializing with.  For example, if you live in a city where your child goes to public school, your child is apt to come into contact with drugs and alcohol issues much quicker than they would if they were home schooled.

There are enrichment classes available to children of all ages, such as gymnastics, karate, art, and even guitar lessons.  Any of these classes will allow your child to learn new things that you will not be able to teach them, as well as learn socialization skills.  Many area high schools allow home schooled children to participate in special classes, such as computer classes and even physical education.  This allows your child to enhance their educational experience and develop their social interactions skills with other students.

Many communities have programs that were developed especially for home school success.  It may be as much as a alternative school that offers enrichment classes to enhance your child’s home schooling or it could be as little as informal get-togethers for home schooled children.  Either one will help your child to achieve home school success.

If you find there is not a community program in your area, you may want to think about starting a support group yourself.  Many groups have started out small and together, they plan field trips to enhance their children’s learning experiences, as well as get-togethers where their children can simply interact with one another.  It also can provide you a chance to talk with others that are in your position as parent and teacher.

Many people do not understand why parents may choose to home school their child and many may picture the home schooled child to be lonely.  However, this is not the case at all.  Home schooled children are often more confident in their abilities and they have no problems fitting in with other children their age.  By adding enrichment classes to your child’s education, you are helping to ensure their home school success.

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When you decide to homeschool your children, you need to become knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects so you can prepare an adequate educational plan. Once you have established a plan, which should include targets for different subject areas, you should consider the idea of unit projects.

You’re probably familiar with projects, as you likely did one or two if you came through the public school system. Projects are a great way to implement and test knowledge acquired through an educational unit. A good plan is to have a multi-week unit set up for a given subject, and at the end of the unit assign a week-long project that will make use of what your child has learned.

For example, if you and your child study a biology unit, a great week long project is to create an ecosystem. This can be done with an old aquarium, and your child’s goal will be to create an environment that can be self-sufficient in the sealed aquarium. In learning about the water table and the different cycles of nature, encourage your child to think of the best way to make his or her ecosystem. After your child has come up with a plan, take him to a store to by the requisite materials with which to begin his project. Once it is started have him track the ecosystem’s progress every day.

The reasons that projects like this can be very effective is that they serve multiple educational purposes: your child will not only be learning as he goes, but he will be learning in an engaging way, and most likely with a higher level of retention. A project can also engage other members of the family. The ecosystem, for example, could be placed in a prominent location, and other family members will no doubt take interest. It’s a great educational experience when your child can not only excitedly report on a project’s progress to his parents, but actually show the work at hand. Every parent has witnessed a child from the publics system describing a project they’re doing at the dinner table, but as a homeschooling parent you have the benefit of having “home” and “school” being one: you child can not only tell, but show.

When you homeschool, you’re not limited by the practicalities necessary in a public or private school system. Project ides are only limited by you and your child’s imagination. For each and every unit, encourage your child to come up with long term project ideas and use their learning in a practical way. Not only will the project allow your child to learn more about the subject, it will carry over into the home as a whole: other family members will take interest, and the whole process of buying the materials and planning the project will become part of your child’s educational experience.

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Education guide – The right time to introduce your child to home schooling seems to be in the elementary years. Those children who get started with elementary home schooling seem to be the ones who get the most benefit from it.

Children schooled at home succeed academically at greater rates in relation to national rates of success. Those who are home schooled from an early age often end up significantly advanced in comparison to children in regular school. Elementary home schooling allows families with young children to take advantage of the full range of educational benefits of home schooling.

If your child is in elementary school and you want to try home schooling, you have to test your child to see what their current grade level is. You can do this online and it will target your child’s weaknesses and their strengths. Then you would use this information to figure out the curriculum and method to which you will use while home schooling.

Home schooling comes with a choice of a variety of curriculums. These concentrate on the requirements of your child. A wide spectrum of coursework marks the elementary levels. You may have to consider the regulations of your state while choosing a program. Of course, your main objective remains your estimation as to your child’s requirements.

Homeschooling families are often interested in specific courses such as Christian education or advanced literature. Because there are a variety of home school programs, it is important to examine several before making a decision. Knowing what the different programs contain and what teaching methods they use will insure you get the program most suited to you.

Starting with elementary home schooling seems deliver the most benefit for home schooled children. It is very rewarding for both parent and child to stay at home working together to accomplish an education designed for their unique needs and interests. Both can discover all the value that home schooling has to offer.

It will be much easier than you expected once you start preparing for your elementary home schooling curriculum. You will need to get a set of guidebooks which will prepare you to become and expert in elementary home schooling.

If part of your home schooling program is to teach your children a second language then Spanish is probably the most practical choice as it is effectively the second language in the US and is one of the most diversely spoken languages in the world. Teaching children a second language is also thought to improve their general academic performance too. Give them that important head start they need in an increasingly competitive world.

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Educational theorists, from philosophers like Socrates and Rousseau to researchers like Howard Gardner today, have addressed theories of learning. Many of their ideas continue to influence homeschoolers as well as traditional educators. A little familiarity with some of the ideas most popular among homeschoolers will help you make sense of the wealth of available materials when you begin to make choices for your family.

Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development

He proposed that children go through several distinct stages of cognitive growth. First comes the sensorimotor stage (birth to two years), during which the child learns primarily through sensation and movement. At the pre-operational stage (ages two to seven), children begin to master symbols such as language and start to be able to form hypotheses based on past experiences. At the concrete operational stage (ages seven to eleven), children learn to generalize from one situation to similar ones, although such reasoning is usually limited to their own concrete experience.

Finally, at the formal operational stage (eleven years older), children can deal with abstractions, form hypothesis and engage freely in mental speculation. Although the rate at which children progress through the stages varies considerably, the sequence of stages is consistent for all children.

Therefore, to be appropriate and effective, learning activities should be tailored to the cognitive level of the child.

Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf Schools

Steiner divided children’s development into three stages: to age seven, children learn primarily by imitation; from seven to fourteen, feelings and emotions predominate; and after age fourteen, the development of independent reasoning skills becomes important. Waldorf education tends to emphasize arts and crafts, music, and movement, especially at younger ages, and textbooks are eschewed in favor of books the students make for themselves. Waldorf theories also maintain that the emphasis should be on developing the individual’s self-awareness and judgment, sheltered from political and economic aspects of society until well into adolescence.

Montessori and the Prepared Environment

Italian physician Maria Montessori’s work emphasized the idea of the prepared environment: Provide the proper surroundings and tools, so that children can develop their full potential. Montessori materials are carefully selected, designed to help children learn to function in their cultures and to become independent and competent. Emphasis is on beauty and quality, and that which confuses or clutters is avoided: Manipulative are made of wood rather than plastic tools are simple and functional, and television and computers are discouraged.

Charlotte Mason: Guiding Natural Curiosity

Charlotte Mason was a nineteenth-century educator advocated informal learning during the child’s early year contrast with the Prussian system of regimented learning then in vogue. She recommended nature study to develop both observational skill and an appreciation for the beauty of creation and extended that approach to teaching history geography through travel and study of the environment rather than as collections of data to master. She felt children learn best when instruction takes into account their individual abilities and temperaments, but she emphasized the importance of developing good habits to govern one’s temperament and laying a solid foundation of good moral values.

Holt and Unschooling

Educator John Holt wrote extensively about school reform in the 1960s. Although he originally proposed the word “unschooling” simply as a more satisfactory alternative to “homeschooling.” Unschooling now generally refers to a style of homeschooling, in which learning is not seperated from living, and children learn mainly by following their interests. Children learn best, he argued, not by being taught, but by being a part of the world, free to most interests them, by having their questions answered as they ask them, and by being treated with respect rather than condescension.

Gardner and Multiple Intelligences

Psychologist Howard Gardner argues that intelligence is not a single unitary property and proposes the existence of “multiple intelligences.” He identifies seven types of intelligence: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Because each person has a different mix of these intelligences, learning is best tailored to each individual’s strengths, rather than emphasizing the linguistic and logical-mathematical approaches traditionally used in schools. A bodily kinesthetic learner, for instance, might grasp geometric concepts presented with hands-on manipulative far more easily than she would if they were presented in a more traditionally logical, narrative fashion. A teaching approach that recognizes a variety of learning styles might encourage many individuals now lost by conventional methods.

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