Monday, January 25, 2010

“Bill Gates on taking online classes (CNET)” plus 2 more

“Bill Gates on taking online classes (CNET)” plus 2 more

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Bill Gates on taking online classes (CNET)

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 09:09 PM PST

No, Gates isn't working on his bachelor's degree, but, he tells CNET's Ina Fried, he is an avid viewer of online classes from MIT and elsewhere. Such classes have the potential to transform higher education, he says.

3 minutes 48 seconds

January 24, 2010 9:01 PM PST

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Orbis Education's services help online learning grow (The Indianapolis Star)

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 11:10 PM PST

Haley Pollack received her undergraduate degree -- studying criminal justice, religious studies and French -- at Indiana University's leafy and limestone Bloomington campus.

But as Pollack, 26, works toward a bachelor's in nursing in the accelerated degree program at Marian University in Indianapolis, the setting is different. She listens to lectures on the Internet. She meets with fellow students for clinical instruction at an office used by Marian University and St. Vincent Health near the Pyramids on the Northwestside.

Such online and workplace-like surroundings are becoming a big part of modern higher education. And companies such as Indianapolis-based Orbis Education are playing a significant, if behind-the-scenes, role.

"It's kind of hard to get used to not having a traditional campus," Pollack said.

Think of Orbis as a provider of outsourced services for nursing schools like Marian and hospitals like St. Vincent. Orbis takes a nursing curriculum designed for traditional classrooms and adapts it for use online. At times, it provides the instructors for those virtual classes, and it works with hospitals to coordinate clinical training.

The goal is to provide an efficient and effective way to increase nursing-school enrollment, especially for those who have received a college degree but want an accelerated path into a nursing career.

Orbis is attracting attention. This week, the company announced it landed $8 million in venture capital funding from Silicon Valley-based Lightspeed Venture Partners. That money comes on top of the roughly $8 million the company had raised over the past five years, most of it from individual "angel" investors in Indiana.

The company, which has not yet turned a profit, had revenue of about $4.5 million in 2009, up from $2.6 million the year before. Orbis has attracted well-known customers, including San Diego State University and the University of Oklahoma. Locally, Orbis works with Marian University and St. Vincent Health.

"They are tremendously helpful and easy to work with," said Anita Siccardi, professor and dean of the Marian University School of Nursing, which has about 460 students.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Masters Degree - Your Ticket To A Job And Future (OfficialWire)

Posted: 25 Jan 2010 09:11 PM PST

Graduate education is essential for maintaining a vibrant economy and healthy communities especially in the face of increasing global competition. The only way that we can hope to move beyond the status quo is by embracing new ideas, and engaging in research to discover new knowledge and new ways of doing things.
John Burroughs' famous quote, "For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love and self sacrifice," encompasses traits necessary to achieving graduate degrees – Masters and/or PhDs. The process of securing graduate degrees cannot be taken lightly.

Typically, graduate studies result in being awarded an online masters degree and/or a doctorate. These degrees can be as a result of accredited distance learning or traditional learning environments. Depending on the pace of study, a masters program can take one to two years of coursework, examinations that cover practically everything in the coursework and usually: a thesis.
Doctoral programs (depending on the pace) can take anywhere between two to four years of coursework, exams as well as a dissertation. Dissertations are the scholars' original research written under guidance of a supervisor or a committee comprising of faculty members.

As is evident, very few people wield masters and/or PhDs and it comes as no surprise that they are now becoming entry level requirements for the prestigious professional and academic positions. Looking more keenly on the issue, there's an acute shortage of African-Americans with advanced degrees, particularly, the PhD. A reversal of the situation is required - urgently. African-Americans are not only required to enroll in MBA courses, but also doctorate classes in order to provide research and instruction in all fields of knowledge. Noticing this dearth, African-American's have decided to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. An African-American PhD candidate at a reputable institution of research spoke with nostalgia saying, "I remember being a sophomore and it became clear (that) I had to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem." You too can be a part of the solution by pursuing doctoral study.

"A Ph.D. in mathematics is a perfect idea for me. Obtaining a Ph.D. allows for tremendous flexibility and increased opportunities in anyone's professional career path. My choice to pursue a doctorate in mathematics affords me the opportunity to conduct research, to develop curricula and programs, and to teach math in an engaging style to facilitate better understanding. I've made a great choice," reiterated a PhD student in Maryland.

According to Sheila Danzig, founder of Degree.com, www.degree.com, the premier internet portal for undergraduate and graduate online study, "Graduate school has opened many doors and has provided meaningful opportunities. Not only does graduate training 'open doors' with which we are familiar, it can help identify a lot of doors that, prior to that journey, people never imagined existed."
As the dismal financial atmosphere continues to wreak havoc, your security lies in what you know (coursework) and what you have done about it (research).
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