So, you know that you want to complete your schooling online, but have you found the college or university that you wish to attend?  There are a few factors that all prospective students should take into consideration when choosing the college that they are going to attend online.  Here’s what you need to think about when picking out your school of choice:

What is your desired program major?  Not all schools offer the same programs for students.  It is important that you know which major you want your degree in so that you can complete the program and graduate.

Does the school offer your desired major as an online program?  If you want a degree in communications, then the school needs to offer it in an online program.  Some programs are hybrid studies where some of your time will be required on campus.  If you are looking to strictly take online courses, then the college or university must offer it that way.  Hybrid courses can include video correspondence like Non-Stop Video, email, online enrollment, and seated classes.

How long has the program been offered at the school and how long has it been offered online?  Sometimes you will want to choose a school based on the length of time the programs have been in place.  This could signify quality instructors and such.  You can also talk to past students to find out their thoughts on the program and what they would have changed if they could.

No matter where you decide to go for your degree, it is such a wonderful thing that you are doing.  Education is incredibly important.  Now you can live your life and get your degree from your home with online school.

In current times the fact that someone has a four year college degree means very little to employers.  Almost everyone has that and these employers are looking for more.  How are people supposed to go back to school to get a higher education or even start out in college without debt now?  The prices for a college education continue to rise and rise and rise.  It is tough to look at some of the costs of attending school these days.

Even the prices for a two year education are higher than what many people would expect.  So if you are planning on going to college in the future, save up.  You will be glad that you did.

There are numerous reasons why a high school student would choose to learn in an online environment.  Some include:

• Conflicting schedules.  Some students work, act, travel, and more.  Online school gives students the availability to learn from practically anywhere.
• Different learning styles and paces.  Let’s face it, there is no one way to teach a student but many school enforce this.  Online environments allow students who might learn more quickly to carry on with their work at their own pace.  Such is the case for students who need a little more one on one attention to grasp subject matter.  The lesson can be slowed to a pace that is more suitable.
• Convenience.  It is so nice to learn on your own time and still get all the knowledge, or maybe more, without having distractions and interference that might come about in a typical classroom.

• Make sure there is sufficient lighting in your study area.  Too little light will put a strain on your eyes and make it so you have a difficult time focusing.  Too much light can also affect your concentration and may create glares on your computer screen or books.
• If your study space is a common area in your home, let people know that you have to have quiet time during certain hours so you are able to focus solely on your studies.  Keep the televisions and radios turned off in too so you can fully concentrate.
• Sitting at a table or desk to do your work is always better than sitting on a couch or leaned back in bed.  You might be more comfortable on a couch, but you are not likely to get as much accomplished with your school work.
• Keep clutter out of your study space.  When things pile up it can make you feel overwhelmed.  When you feel overwhelmed, you might not be able to get your school work done like you would want.

Do you have any tips of your own for study spaces?

Find out some facts about online learning, or E-learning, in the infographic that you see below.  Some of the really interesting points are:

1. Online enrollments keep on growing with no signs of slowing down.
2. Only 4% of traditional universities do not offer any type of online course.
3. In the fall 2008 term, there were 4.6 million students enrolled in at least one online course.
4. Online Universities is a very commonly used keyword when searching for an online school.
5. Online Only universities allow the same benefits of typical institutes of higher learning.

With that said, you have made the tough decision already, to go to school.  You might already have a field of study that you wish to pursue, but often times people do not know where to turn at this point.  How do you decide which online degree program is for you?  There are a few ways that you can easily find your path.  Take a look at them below.

1. Talk to a counselor.  Schools give you access to counselors and advisers for a reason, to help you.  Take advantage of the knowledge and expertise that they can give by setting up a time to meet and discuss your future.  It might be exactly what you need to pick your online degree program.  The reason I chose the criminal justice degrees online program is because after talking with an adviser I knew it was the best choice for me.
2. Find out from  former students.  The good news is that you are probably not the first person to have ever taken a specific path in an online course.  Use that to help you make your decision of which path to pursue.  Find out the different requirements and course loads before enrolling to a specific program so you will be well aware of all that will be expected of you.
3. Take a quiz.  There are many different types of quizzes that you can take to inform you of what career path you will be happy with.  You can use those results as a starting point, but I do not suggest using them as a deciding factor.

In higher education settings, there are many people choosing not to go to college at all.  Now though, thanks to online education from top colleges all over the whole country, many people can go to school or finish their degree on their own time.  One would think with something as easy as that, why aren’t more people in line to get a degree?  Sadly it could be due to the fact that in the current economic state of the country that even a Master’s degree does not guarantee a job.  Many people with degrees are stuck receiving unemployment or working in retail.  I mean one of my best friends just received her MBA and she is stuck working with direct tv customer service, and it is so sad.  Do you think that once the economy settles that more and more people will return to school?

Take a look at the infographic below.  It shows 10 facts about education in the United States that I believe you will find to be very interesting, and some maybe even a little disturbing.

Penn State University, The World Campus Student satisfaction, high instructional quality, and a wide variety of degree programs lends online credibility to a school that already has a world-class reputation. Penn State has been an innovator in online and distance education and provides its e-students the same dedication and experience as it does to its traditional on-campus students. The tuition is relatively high, but most of the school’s students receive financial aid packages to offset the costs.

Boston University Online In terms of student satisfaction and the all important program completion rate, Boston University Online rates a close second to Penn State University World Campus.  Boston U has an appealinglylow student to teacher ratio, selective admissions, and an overall high quality online learning experience.  Again, the cost is quite high for the online programs, but Boston University’s reputation and quality make it a worthy investment for any student pursuing an online degree.

Full Sail University Online Full Sail University is among the top rated film schools in the US, online or worldwide. Its music and gaming programs enjoy similar high quality ratings and prestige. Nearly 75% of students receive some form of financial aid, in the form of subsidized loans, grants, and scholarships.  This helps them to offset the not-so-cheap cost of earning a degree from this world famous school.

Saint Joseph’s University Online For over 150 years, Saint Joseph’s University has upheld its outstanding reputation for academic excellence. This Jesuit university currently offers only a Bachelor’s of Science in Professional and Liberal Studies online, but their online master’s degree programs in business, criminal justice, education and healthcare offer some variety. The higher than average costs of completing the school’s online degree programs may seem daunting to many students, but 90% of those enrolled do receive financial aid.

Northeastern University Online Northeastern University Online boasts over 70 online degrees in a huge number of fields, leaving it virtually unmatched in the breadth of programs it offers to online students.  Impressive graduation and retention rates paired with a low student to teacher ratio and very selective admissions makes Northeastern University Online a coveted school for online and distance education students to be admitted to.  The cost, as with the other four online universities in this article, is high.  This seems to be true of most online learning programs.  A majority of the students enrolled receive financial aid packages to help with tuition.

Keep in mind, you will need internet service in order to take classes online. If you need access to internet and leave in the country, sometime it is helpful to order direct tv internet. It is satellite based, and usually more accessible.

Plagiarism is a growing problem in post-secondary educational environments.  As students emerge from modern elementary and high school classrooms into college lecture halls, many of them are ill prepared for writing high quality, professional sounding papers.  Paper writing has always been the bane of college students’ existence,  but in decades past, students seemed more prepared to rise to the demands of a tight schedule of course paper deadlines.

In some ways, writing papers is much easier now.  There are advanced word processors like Microsoft Word for Windows and Mac, and other technological tools for helping students to create compelling and engaging work.  In many cases, professors now allow students to cite certain approved, online sources when writing their research papers;  some even permit all online sources, so long as they are peer reviewed and approved by the college.

In other ways, writing a college paper may seem all too easy for students who, under prepared for lengthy and sophisticated writing projects, find the temptation to copy and paste difficult to resist.  There are so many documents available online now, students may encounter them haphazardly, borrowing snitches and snatches from a variety of sources and thinking nothing of it — and yet, online course instructors are charged with maintaining the same degree of academic integrity in their online classrooms as they do within the four walls of a campus hall.

It is not always the case that students set out deliberately to cheat on their papers.  Often, plagiarism can occur accidentally, after reading too much from too many sources and integrating the sentences with their own thoughts.  Below are two powerful tools that can assist both online course instructors and students in determining whether a work is original, or has crossed the line into the treacherous territory of plagiarism.

Turnitin

Turnitin is the home security burglar alarms of content plagiarism. It has a  number of databases containing some 14 billion live and archived web pages along with  150 million student papers and millions more articles publications and libraries all over the world.  Instructors can use this tool to compare student work, in its original submitted format, with scores of text documents in the databases and determine how original they are.

Although many online course instructors feel exasperated by their inability to be in direct contact with students, and may feel there is no way to ensure classes are being passed without the assistance of dishonesty, there are some steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of cheating in the online classroom.  Here are a few tips from seasoned online course instructors on how to cut out the cheating:

1. Randomize the order in which questions appear on each exam: students who cheat on online quizzes and exam because they are able to copy from each other will find this thwarts their plans, since the questions on the exam are not in the same order as those of their friends. This effective technique is successfully used to prevent some instances of cheating online.
2. Impose time restrictions for exams and quizzes: if your assessments are timed, and students are given just the amount of time needed to complete the quiz or exam, cheating by consulting a textbook or last week’s class notes is greatly diminished.  This also helps cut out Googling for answers.
3. Limit access to your online quizzes and tests: test generator services and companies can help cut out cheating on online examinations. By limiting domain and user access control, and requiring students to log in with valid and unique credentials, this eliminates the chances of someone else taking a test for any student.
4. Creating an exam in which every question on each exam is unique, and has a different set of answer choices is probably the best way to be sure students are not cheating from one another’s tests and quizzes — but if you have 180 students that can be nearly impossible.  With a much smaller class size, however, this would be a worthy investment of your time.

The tips above, which are sponsored by direct tv service, are only a few of the many ways to reduce online class cheating.  By implementing some of the advice given, you should be able to rest easier with your online quizzes and exams.