What is online learning?

Online learning means acquiring higher education through the internet as your learning platform. The course is offered by an accredited distance learning university. Besides, you learn through the internet. This means your studies and study materials are available online. You are required to have a reliable internet connection and a good computer.

Where can you find online learning?

You will find an online institution by browsing through the internet. By using search engines like Google.com and Yahoo.com, you will locate these online learning centers include accredited schools, accredited colleges and accredited universities. They have online learning facilities like libraries found on their websites.

How to learn online?

Learning is simple. You have access to libraries and other learning material from the internet. Instructions are sent to you via email or to your inbox on the websites student’s services. You set your own learning time. This means you manage your education and timetable. You need to be much disciplined to make it through.

I am proud of my online learning. I have not only gained immense potential through online research, but also immense knowledge on different issues related to my studies and work. I will be completing my degree course next year. I spent a lot of time searching for a website that could help me expedite my application to online degree colleges. I found a website that reviews top online degree providers. You need to visit this site and get to learn more about where to apply for online degree courses.

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The Internet has been put to yet another utility, as more and more students are switching to studying for their degrees, a process that is part of a global industry by the name of online learning. In a nutshell, internet learning is any combination of education methods using digital tools. Online learning has been created with the purpose of students learning faster and at lower costs.

One such example of distance education is University Alliance. It is the largest distance education network in the U.S., which offers online degrees such as Bachelor of Arts in Accounting. Courses are delivered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The student accesses online classes wherever the Internet is available. Distance education companies can incorporate digital tools; used to enhance the learning experience (e.g. Video and Audio streamed lectures, virtual bulletin boards, and chat rooms, where students may collaborate online with members of the University or course).

How Online Learning Came About

Online learning was first established in 1998, referred to as e-learning (with a hyphen). It arose out of three needs the need to reduce costs associated with the usual classroom learning (e.g. textbooks, desks, and other resources), the need to train a large number of employees simultaneously, and the need to improve the effectiveness of training by narrowing it down to individual learning (this means that a large number would still be able to do the course, but each student will receive individual attention). Distance learning has succeeded in satisfying all three of these needs. It is a relatively young industry, having only come out a few years ago. Looking at the I.T. perspective, online learning appears to be a more effective way of learning than the traditional way in many ways, which will be discussed later on.

I.T. Background – Trends

It has been predicted that with online learning, software will shift from hard drive applications to Internet services, which means that interactivity products will be delivered online, and the existing software will be updated online each day.

Also, purchasing school products will be done online for efficiency and reducing the cost. Learners will also develop learning and technical skills as they study.

Internet learning companies will fund development of “cool” learning using things such as game interfaces, media and entertainers.

Impact

Although recent, e-education has had a rather large impact on society. The combined annual growth rate for online education between now and 2003 is expected to be approximately 80 percent per year. Universities have been saving large amounts of resources by incorporating distance learning. Depending on the persons view, the impact that online learning has had can be seen as either positive or negative. I feel that this impact is positive for many reasons. For instance the savings made on resources, as well as the fact that because students learn faster and more efficiently (due to receiving individual attention), there will be quite a large number of confident and qualified employees after they have finished the course.

It sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately there are a few issues which impede the quick adoption of online learning.

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Simply put, a virtual assistant is someone who provides administrative support to business owners but does not necessarily perform these services in the owner’s office. This is the aspect that makes us “virtual.” Although some virtual assistants do spend time in the offices of their clients, most do not.

Most virtual assistants work with a wide variety of clients from across the country they live in or from around the world. Being that the work is virtual, the possibilities are limitless when it comes to location.

Virtual assistants also charge for their work on an hourly basis. Every virtual assistance business is different in that they may have hourly packages setup or retainer rates but most just charge a flat hourly rate for their services. The clients then pay the virtual assistant for the work that he or she performs for them in a given pay period. These pay periods are also defined by the virtual assistant themselves.

Most virtual assistants work from home and have their own home office setup. This allows flexibility in the hours that you would work and it also allows you the comfort of working in your home.

There are various types of virtual assistants. Most virtual assistants are focused on the administrative aspects of assistance and they provide services such as word processing, editing, proofreading, document creation, scheduling, event management, file organization and other similar tasks. These virtual assistants generally charge in the $15 to $25 dollar range per hour.

The next type of virtual assistant would be what I call the ‘web savvy’ virtual assistant who does administrative based support but also has experience in the operations that are required to run an online business. The tasks that are included here include shopping cart setup and maintenance, website maintenance, autoresponder management, blog posting, etc. These virtual assistants can charge a bit more since their knowledge is at a higher expertise level than the administrative based virtual assistant. These virtual assistants generally charge between $20 and $40 per hour.

The last type of virtual assistant would be someone who considers themselves more of an online business manager. This person would work with their clients in a business partner role and provide a mutually beneficial relationship for them. What I mean by this is that this type of virtual assistant would be much more inclined to evaluate the operations of a client’s business and suggest ways in which he or she could improve their processes. These virtual assistants generally charge $50 and above per hour.

The types of skills you would need to be a virtual assistant really depends on what type of virtual assistant you are looking to become. At the very least, one must be knowledgeable with the office based software programs – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. – and the Internet. You must be able to have general knowledge of these things before you can begin to serve your clients or you will cause frustration to both yourself and your client.

On a higher level, you will learn and acquire a broad spectrum of new skills. You may already be talented in the area of web design or copywriting, as an example, but you may not know aspects of shopping carts and autoresponders. The best part about being a virtual assistant is that you can take the time out to learn these things because it will only help to further your business.

Being computer savvy is a requirement – you won’t become a successful virtual assistant if you are not computer savvy. Most business owners want to trust that when they send their work, they won’t be paying for training time or time spent figuring out how to do the requested task. If you aren’t yet computer savvy, I would highly recommend taking a course at a local college or career development institute so that you can learn the basics.

Other skills that a virtual assistant must have are communication skills and the ability to manage their time. Focus is also a key part of being a virtual assistant. Due to the fact that most virtual assistants work from home, it can be very easy to get distracted by friends, family, the phone, the television, a good book or your bed.

Communication is important because you will be the sole operator for all aspects of your business. You will need to talk to your new customers; you will need to send e-mails to potential clients who are asking questions about your services and most of all, you want to be able to clearly communicate what it is that you do.

Time management plays a huge part in being a virtual assistant. You need to know how to prioritize your to-do list so that you don’t fall behind and miss deadlines.

You also want to be someone who is eager to learn and willing to put in the time to learn new technologies and new industries. Not all of your clients are going to be in one specific industry. I work with people from the fitness industry to the marketing industry to the body esteem industry. It’s never the same and it’s ever-changing.

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Our remote receptionist service can also offer voicemail options and provide your callers with directions, your hours, and answer your callers’ questions in a prompt and professional manner. Multiple voicemail boxes are available and your voicemails can be sent to you by e-mail, web or phone.

We can even respond to common questions, dispatch service calls, and handle your sales orders. And if your staff is not accessible for the call, we take a message and deliver it to you, all according to your orders.  Virtual Assistant has our highly trained professionals are always ready to support you with live telephone answering to fit your situation: peak period calls, After-hours and weekend calls, or on-demand backup to your in-house telephone answering staff.

Personal Assistants worldwide that helps you keep your customers happy. we can bet we have a plan to fit your requirements.  Also has As a nationwide, 24×6 answering service, we’re ALWAYS there when you and your customers need us. We are serving the people the old-fashioned way: with CARE.

<a onClick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://virtual-assistants.outsourcing-services-india.com/live_receptionist.php”> Live Receptionist Services</a> is a trusted junior employee who assumes the role of an executive’s chief-of-staff. Many of the everyday tasks necessary for an effective workday fall on the personal assistant, from scheduling meetings to arranging transportation. A personal assistance is also expected to screen incoming calls and messages, assign tasks to other junior employees and prioritize his or her employer’s schedule. Running personal errands or setting appointments may also be part of a personal assistant services.

PowerPoint Virtual Assistance services helping in four great looking Professional PowerPoint Presentation services: Management, Business, Marketing, Educational, editorial, and project management design PowerPoint Presentation. Presentation services are provided on a per-project basis or as high-volume outsourced PPT designing.

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More and more young people are choosing non-traditional education to start and advance in their careers while completing and furthering their formal education. “Typical distance learners are those who don’t have access to programs, employees who work during scheduled class hours, homebound individuals, self-motivated individuals who want to take courses for self-knowledge or advancement, or those who are unable or unwilling to attend class” (Charp, 2000, p. 10). Three key elements surround the online learner: technology, curriculum, and instructor (Bedore, Bedore, & Bedore, 1997). These elements must be keenly integrated into one smoothly and operationally functional delivery tool.

While an online method of education can be a highly effective alternative medium of education for the mature, self-disciplined student, it is an inappropriate learning environment for more dependent learners. Online asynchronous education gives students control over their learning experience, and allows for flexibility of study schedules for non traditional students; however, this places a greater responsibility on the student. In order to successfully participate in an online program, student must be well organized, self-motivated, and possess a high degree of time management skills in order to keep up with the pace of the course. For these reasons, online education or e-learning is not appropriate for younger students (i.e. elementary or secondary school age), and other students who are dependent learners and have difficulty
assuming responsibilities required by the online paradigm.

Millions of students use e-learning solutions in over 140 countries: corporations such as Kodak and Toyota and education providers like ExecuTrain, New Horizons, the Enoch Olinga College (ENOCIS), Phoenix University amongst the hundreds of schools and colleges.

Studies have shown student retention to be up to 250% better with online learning than with classroom courses. Several recent ones have helped frame the debate. The Sloan Consortium published a widely distributed report titled “Growing by Degrees: Online Education in the United States in 2005″ that examined the growing prevalence of online education across U.S. institutions.

In addition, a study conducted by the Boston-based consulting firm Eduventures found that, while about half of institutions and more than 60 percent of employers generally accept the high quality of online learning, students’ perceptions differ. Only about 33 percent of prospective online students said that they perceive the quality of online education to be “as good as or better than” face-to-face education. Ironically, 36 percent of prospective students surveyed cited concern about employers’ acceptance of online education as a reason for their reluctance to enroll in online courses.

But what actually drives quality? A March 2006 report released by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education identifies six quality indicators: mission, curriculum and instruction, faculty support, student and academic services, planning for sustainability and growth, and evaluation and assessment.

The debate rages on while the Pros and Cons of Online Adult Education for today’s international students are constantly analyzed to determine if this type of education platform can deliver predictable and measurable results.

The Enoch Olinga College (ENOCIS) is one institution which uses this type of delivery system. ENOCIS enhances their learning experience by offering many other “value added”, cost reducing benefits to students. Online pupils can apply for scholarships available to students of excellence and other financial aid programs like the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS), with attractive interest rates. They also provide convenient payment facilities, on line banking, Western Union Quick Collect, bank cards and a student who is granted a loan can start repaying it after two months if they have a corporate guarantor.

Pros of Online Education:

The key advantages of the online education experience are briefly explained below:

1. Cheaper: Online courses may be more affordable than those offered at colleges or trade schools. You may also save on transportation costs like gas, bus passes, and parking permits because you don’t need to commute to school and there are no housing or meals plans to worry about since you do not need to live on or near a college campus. Housing expenses and other costs associated with living expenses are usually the most expensive aspects of a college education, so by taking an online course you could save quite a bit of money.

The best part of online education is the absence of travel and immigration problems. Some students may prefer not to pursue traditional on campus education, as it involves traveling to attend lectures. With online education, an applicant does not need to travel. Courses simply require accessing the internet in order to begin the learning process.

2. More Convenient: By taking courses online, you’re able to decide when you study and for how long. You are also able to schedule your studying around your work or social schedule.

Since you’re not bound to a classroom, you may do your work wherever you have access to a computer and the internet. You’ll be able to set your own pace and decide exactly how fast you want to go over the material.

Take online courses when you need them, not based on some college’s annual or semester schedule. You can learn when you need it (Just-In-Time) A course is as close as a computer with an Internet connection.

3. Flexibility: with no set class times, you decide when to complete your assignments and readings. You set the pace. In some programs, you can even design your own degree plan. The online students can carry out their private or official work, along with the online education. As it provides the convenience of time flexibility, a student can login and logout as per his desire whereas, the traditional education do not provide such flexibility in learning.

Flexibility of online education allows the student control over their studies. They can allot more time in the topics, which they feel comparatively hard and vice versa. The speed of learning depends solely upon the students.

4. Technology: With the help of the scientific technology, students can do their online education at any place. The only mandatory pre-requisite is the availability of computer along with an internet amenity. Side benefits include the learning new technologies and technical skills

5. Availability: distance-learning opportunities have exploded over the past few years, with many accredited and reputable programs.

6. Accessibility: with an online course, you can work on the course just about anywhere you have computer access. Your learning options are not constrained by your geographic location. The new virtual classrooms have created a myriad of learning opportunities for global learning and education center. On line education is a new era experience adapting to the needs of the world citizen.

7. Self-Directed: you set your own pace and schedule, so you control the learning environment.

8. Time Spent in Classroom: now you can take a course on just about any subject without ever having to be in, or travel to, a classroom so you have very little wasted time. Note, however, that some distance-education programs still do have an in-class component and normally to receive a fully accredited US university degree an international student must spend one or two semesters on campus.

9. High Quality Dialog: Within an online asynchronous discussion structure, the learner is able to carefully reflect on each comment from others before responding or moving on to the next item. This structure allows students time to articulate responses with much more depth and forethought than in a traditional face-to-face discussion situation where the participant must analyze the comment of another on the spot and formulate a response or otherwise loose the chance to contribute to the discussion.

10. Student Centered: Within an online discussion, the individual student responds to the course material (lectures and course books, for example) and to comments from other students. Students usually respond to those topics within the broader conversation that most clearly speak to their individual concerns and situations resulting in several smaller conversations taking place simultaneously within the group. While students are expected to read all of their classmates’ contributions, they will become actively engaged only in those parts of the dialog most relevant to their needs. In this way, students take control of their own learning experience and tailor the class discussions to meet their own specific needs. Ideally, students make their own individual contributions to the course while at the same time take away a unique mix of information directly relevant to their needs.

11. Level Playing Field: In the online environment learners retain a considerable level of anonymity. Discriminating factors such as age, dress, physical appearance, disabilities, race and gender are largely absent. Instead, the focus of attention is clearly on the content of the discussion and the individual’s ability to respond and contribute thoughtfully and intelligently to the material at hand.

On line adult education can be more effective and better for certain types of learners (shy, introverted, reflective, language challenged, those that need more time). Distance education courses are often better for people who learn through visual cues and experiential exercises.

12. Synergy: The online format allows for a high level of dynamic interaction between the instructor and students and among the students themselves. Resources and ideas are shared, and continuous synergy will be generated through the learning process as each individual contributes to the course discussions and comments on the work of others. The synergy that exists in the student-centred virtual classroom is one of the unique and vital traits that the online learning format posses..

13. Access to Resources: It is easy to include distinguished guest experts or students from other institutions in an online class as well as allow students to access resources and information anywhere in the world. An instructor can compile a resource section online with links to scholarly articles, institutions, and other materials relevant to the course topic for students to access for research, extension, or in depth analysis of course content material in the global classroom.

14. Creative Teaching: The literature of adult education supports the use of interactive learning environments as contributing to self-direction and critical thinking. Some educators have made great strides in applying these concepts to their on ground teaching. However, many classes still exist which are based on boring lectures and rote memorization of material. The nature of the semi-autonomous and self-directed world of the virtual classroom makes innovative and creative approaches to instruction even more important. In the online environment, the facilitator and student collaborate to create a dynamic learning experience. The occasion of a shift in technology creates the hope that those who move into the new technology will also leave behind bad habits as they adopt this new paradigm of teaching. As educators redesign their course materials to fit the online format, they must reflect on their course objectives and teaching style and find that many of the qualities that make a successful online facilitator are also tremendously effective in the traditional classroom as well.

Cons of Online Education:

Briefly explained are some factors that could negatively affect your success with distance learning courses:

1. The Technology:

a. Equity and Accessibility to Technology: Before any online program can hope to succeed, it must have students who are able to access the online learning environment. Lack of access, whether it be for economical or logistics reasons, will exclude otherwise eligible students from the course. This is a significant issue in rural and lower socioeconomic neighborhoods and educating the underserved peoples of the world. Furthermore, speaking from an administrative point of view, if students cannot afford the technology the institution employs, they are lost as customers. As far as Internet accessibility is concerned, it is not universal, and in some areas of the United States and other countries, Internet access poses a significant cost to the user. Some users pay a fixed monthly rate for their Internet connection, while others are charged for the time they spend online. If the participants’ time online is limited by the amount of Internet access they can afford, then instruction and participation in the online program will not be equitable for all students in the course. This is a limitation of online programs that rely on Internet access. Equity of access to learners of all backgrounds and parts of society

b. Requires New Skills/Technologies: if you’re not computer-savvy or are afraid of change or new technologies, then online education will probably not work for you. The online students are required to learn new skills, such as researching and reviewing the internet. For the online students, they need to learn the techniques of navigation on an online library for necessary information. Technical training and support of learners and instructors

c. Computer Literacy: Both students and facilitators must possess a minimum level of computer knowledge in order to function successfully in an online environment. For example, they must be able to use a variety of search engines and be comfortable navigating on the World Wide Web, as well as be familiar with Newsgroups, FTP procedures and email. If they do not possess these technology tools, they will not succeed in an online program; a student or faculty member who cannot function on the system will drag the entire program down.

d. Limitations of Technology: User friendly and reliable technology is critical to a successful online program. However, even the most sophisticated technology is not 100% reliable. Unfortunately, it is not a question of if the equipment used in an online program will fail, but when. When everything is running smoothly, technology is intended to be low profile and is used as a tool in the learning process. However, breakdowns can occur at any point along the system, for example, the server which hosts the program could crash and cut all participants off from the class; a participant may access the class through a networked computer which could go down; individual PCs can have numerous problems which could limit students’ access; finally, the Internet connection could fail, or the institution hosting the connection could become bogged down with users and either slow down, or fail all together. In situations like these, the technology is neither seamless nor reliable and it can detract from the learning experience.

2. The Institution: Many online education facilities are relatively new with many courses and hence, lack in modern instructors for instructing the new curriculum. Estimates show that there is still a need for an increase of more 50% of qualified instructors for online education.

b. The Administration and Faculty: Some environments are disruptive to the successful implementation of an online program. Administrators and/or faculty members who are uncomfortable with change and working with technology or feel that online programs cannot offer quality education often inhibit the process of implementation. These people represent a considerable weakness in an online program because they can hinder its success.

3. The Facilitator :Lack of Essential Online Qualities: Successful on-ground instruction does not always translate to successful online instruction. If facilitators are not properly trained in online delivery and methodologies, the success of the online program will be compromised. An instructor must be able to communicate well in writing and in the language in which the course is offered. An online program will be weakened if its facilitators are not adequately prepared to function in the virtual classroom.

4. Perceptions/Reputation: while slowly changing as more and more mainstream colleges and universities embrace distance learning, there still is a stigma attached to distance education to the student’s interaction in the online education. Some of the students believe that, there are few opportunities with regards to face-to-face interactions and feedbacks.

5. No Instructor Face Time: If your learning style is one where you like personalized attention from your teachers, then online education will probably not work for you.

6. Little Support: students are expected to find their own resources for completing assignments and exams, which is empowering for some, but daunting for others.

There is little support and limited guidelines provided in online education system. Online students are required to search as per their own imaginations for completing exams and assignments.

7. Lacking Social Interaction: while you often interact with classmates via email, chat rooms, or discussion groups, there are no parties or off line get-togethers.
If you enjoy meeting new people and learn better while you’re interacting with other people, you may want to reconsider online education.

8. No Campus Atmosphere: part of the traditional college experience, of course, is the beauty of the campus, the college spirit, but you have none of that with distance-education courses.

Since you’re not on campus or in classes, you may lack opportunities to meet other students. You will not have many opportunities to interact face-to-face with your professors, so they may not have a real sense of who you are as a person.

9. Making Time: if you are a procrastinator or one of those people who always needs an extra push to complete work, you may have a hard time making time for your online classes. On line learning requires new skills and responsibilities from learners

10. Academic honesty of online students: requires a new mindset to online assessment. Most education experts agree that rote memory testing is not the best measure of learning in any environment and new measurement and evaluation tools are evolving.

11. Types and effectiveness of assessments: The importance of outcomes in online learning cannot be over emphasized. Does the program have measurable results? Are students learning what you say they should be learning? Then there are institutional outputs: course completion rates, job placement rates (if that’s the goal of the institution), graduation rates, student success on third-party tests, and student satisfaction scores.

These factors, both the pros and cons, contribute greatly to making an informed decision about the direction of your career path and how you are going to accomplish your goals: on line, in the classroom or a combination of both.

Institutions and companies that use continuing education to meet their needs also face similar decisions. Institutions that deliver online education are confronted with a series of challenges, including the search for good faculty, use of technology, and provision of adequate student services.

The Sloan Consortium report “Growing by Degrees: Online Education in the United States in 2005″ found that 64 percent of chief academic officers and faculty believe that it takes more discipline for a student to succeed in an online course than it does in a face-to-face course.

More and more major business and industry is turning to on line continuing education as a viable and cost effective resource for training its personnel. Hilton Hotel has 380 hotels worldwide and is represented in 66 countries.

When you weigh the benefits and advantages of on line adult continuing education the cost of study and flexibility of scheduling tip the scales of programs like the Enoch Olinga College, Capella and Phoenix University’s distance learning program on line adult continuing education is becoming a world wide respected form of education.

However, as with any situation, there are both pros and cons with the concept of online education and the benefits of the virtual or global classroom. You may want to evaluate both before you decide on an online education program. By examining the advantages and disadvantages, you will be able to make a more informed decision. But, at the end of the day, online learning is independent learning. A lot of structure has been put into online programs, but it still comes down to a learner sitting in front of a computer by him or herself. The knowledge you receive or the benefits it will generate either in development of self esteem or increasing earning capacity will depend sole upon you the student.

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