Best Online Colleges: Alternative Educational Resources for Online Students
As online students, you don't often have the same kind of access to educational resources that traditional students have access to. Traditional students can walk to the university library and speak with a librarian if they need help. They can set up an appointment to meet their professors for conferences. They can work one-on-one with a tutor in the university writing center to help them revise their essays.
Online students, however, have a different kind of access to educational resources. Of course, online students can still go out into the world and access libraries and other educational facilities, but the support networks are not as built in or as easy to use as they are for traditional students. You may be able to use facilities at other institutions if your online school has a partnership with a local university; however, if that's not the case, you'll have to strike out on your own and find some alternative educational resources.
So when you're an online student, you have to be savvy about what educational resources you access. You should have a membership to your local library. Besides checking out books, you can also check out audio material, such as lectures and talks, as well. Also, look to see what kind of programs you can access at any local schools or universities. And be sure to check out the nearby museums, as these too can be of help. Of course, all of this will depend on what exactly you're studying; however, it cannot hurt to keep in mind local alternative resources that might be of use in the future. [...]
These are things anyone can do, and it never hurts to spend some energy on an interest or two outside the course of our normal daily activity from time to time. One great resource is MIT's OpenCourseWare.
While on the topic of alternative resources for online students, it would be awesome if there was some kind of online iframed app that students could use to help them gather resources and then track them. There could even be a fb app to attract more students - there are so many kids on fb anyhow, they might as well learn as they chat.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't necessarily a new idea, many schools offer similar tools, but they're computer based instead of internet based - meaning, you can't access the tool from anywhere at any time like you could if you had an online app.
There's already a similar app for businesses: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mindflash-Advertising/180033020422?v=app_4949752878&ref=ts
Just an idea, sure it could be helpful for students, professors and many others.
I agree. In fact, I think that sort of thing should be in the forefront of any educational reform efforts. Best thing we could possibly do would be to make these kinds of resources available to everyone, and stop looking at education as something one only does in school or college.
ReplyDeleteVery nice web site (http://bit.ly/fWojPu). Thanks for sharin', and thanks for stoppin' by. :)