The Online Degree Dorm Room

Engineering Degree Onine | Need help learning the language?

Posted by bposton on November 13th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

OUt here in the online degree dorm I see a lot of folks struggling with the foriegn language that they’re taking.

So this news story I came accross might be of benefit. Read on…

Did you know that alot of what we know about our native language is in the sub-conscious?

YOu know how when you want to express something, correct phrases and sentences just come to you? Well that’s how -most of this process is unconscious.
So Stephen Krashen, a professor at the University of Southern California and a linguistics expert, put together a hypothesis to explain how this is possible. And he used that, which is called Input Hypothesis to create what he calls a “natural approach” to learning a language.

Here’s how it works (I think…)

You read and listen to words and sentences - i.e. the “input” If you understand these sentences, they are stored in your brain. More specifically, they are stored in the part of your brain that is responsible for language.

For example, using this hypothesis, here’s how a child learns his or her native language. The child listens to his or her parents and other people. As the child’s brain collects these words and sentences, he or she gets better and better at producing sentences on his or her own. By age 5, the child can already speak quite fluently.

Got it?

So according to Krashen’s theory, the way to learn and improve is to feed your brain with a lot of “input” which are correct and understandable sentences, written or spoken.

Now some cognitive scientists say that watching movies is one of the most natural methods of improving your language skills at any age. Learning English by watching movies is an example of  “learning by input.”

So go get yourself some French language movies and go to town

There’s a company that has taken this theory and put it into practice:

The company is called SFK Media Corp. SFK stands for Specially For Kids. They created a product called ReadEnt Reading Movies.

It used this technique with an innovative tool called “Action Captions.” As a child or adult watches the movie, each spoken word appears on the screen as text directly from the person’s mouth as it is spoken. ReadEnt’s Reading Movies are available as interactive DVD programs for use on the TV, computer, video-game console or portable DVD player.

For more information call (866) SFK-READ (735-7323).

Ben

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Engineering Degree Online | Kentucky Education votes for a Diploma Mill?

Posted by bposton on November 8th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

Hey so it’s the day after Election Day - did you vote? I did

In the spirit of the election I thought I’d report about a recent political news story from
Kentucky.

It seems that a PAC from the Kentucky Education Association endorsed a state Senate candidate who received his
bachelor’s degree from a “diploma mill.”

The Kentucky Educator’s Political Action Committee recently changed its position to recommend
the Democratic candidate Douglas Goodman instead of the Republican Sen. Elizabeth Tori in the 10th
Senate District.

They first picked Tori as their recommended candidate, but then switched to Goodman after Tori
indicated in a forum that she would be open to a pilot program for school vouchers, which the teachers’
lobby opposes.

Then Goodman, a county magistrate who manages a construction company, says he received his
bachelor’s degree from Kennedy-Western University, which is an unaccredited institution based in Wyoming.

Of course, the PAC says that Goodman’s educational background wasn’t an issue…

And of course, Goodman is against vouchers…

Ah, the politics of it all…:-(

A timely reminder to just vote NO for Diploma Mills

Ben

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engineering degree online : Is the “non-traditional” student becoming the norm?

Posted by bposton on October 29th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

I was up last in the dorm room last night, and found a report by
WorldWideLearn.com, the world’s premier directory of education.

After reading it, I’m beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, the tide
is turning - that online education is finally becoming mainstream.

Here’s why…

In this report, it states that working adults are looking for
college degrees in greater and greater numbers, and they are changing the way
universities and colleges are doing business.

According to the report, 58 percent of those students taking courses today are
financially independent adults over the age of 22.
 
That’s in stark contrast to the typical freshman right out of high school.

In fact, they report that only 16 percent of college students
fit the typical profile of a 18-22 year old studying full-time on campus.

Interesting, huh?

So what is causing this stampede to the online colleges?

One reason may be that those without degrees are seeing the “writing on the wall”.

For example, the Federal government estimates more than half (63%) of the 19 million new jobs that will be created in the next 10 years will require at least a B.A.

In my next post I’ll go over a more of what I learned in this report

Stay tuned…

Ben

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