Jane Hart over at the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies has compiled some great lists for e-learning tools. The lists are geared more toward educators, but I think a decent majority of the items are relevant for students as well, especially grad students who spend their days walking that line between penniless student and underpaid educator.

There’s the Top 25 Free Tools List, which is awesome for its no-charge-ness:

1. Firefox plus extensions—web browser
2. delicious—social bookmarking tool
3. Google Reader—rss reader
4. Gmail–webmail
5. Skype—instant messenger
6. Google Calendar—online calendar
7. Google Docs—online office suite
8. Slideshare—presentation sharing tool
9. flickr—image hosting and sharing tool
10. Voicethread—collaborative slideshow tool
11. Wordpress—blogging tool
12. Audacity—audio/podcasting tool
13. YouTube—video hosting and sharing tool
14. Jing—screencasting tool
15. PBwiki—wiki tool
16. PollDaddy—polling tool
17. Nvu—web authoring tool
18. Yugma—web meeting tool
19. Ustream—live broadcasting tool
20. Ning—(private) social networking tool
21. Freemind—mind mapping tool
22. Moodle—course management system
23. eXe—course authoring tool
24. iGoogle—personal start page tool
25. twitter—microblogging tool

And there’s the slide show below of the Top 100 Tools For Learning 2008:

Posted by Alexa Harrington

There is nothing ignoble or invalid about taking online courses or pursuing an online degree for purely time- and money-saving reasons. However, I would say that slightly more admirable are the motivations of the veterans taking online courses while their bodies and minds do some necessary mending.

It seems like it would be great fun attending classes and jumping right into the whole college campus scenario when your previously perfect body is newly broken and just won’t work the way you want it to and your mind is dealing with a sucky case of PTSD, but it’s probably nowhere near as good a time as it sounds. There are a plethora of solid arguments for online education; this is one of the better ones.

As far as online education advice goes: Again I say, if the student is self-motivated and is fine with not being involved with some or all of the college campus experience, then online classes and/or an online degree can be an excellent option. Taking everything online is possible for some degrees; taking some combination of on-campus and online coursework works, too. That’s kind of the best of both worlds.

Anyone cogitating on the online degree possibilities should always, always, always check up on the accreditation status of the college or university in question, especially if it’s a fully online school.

You’re usually safe signing up for online courses at a well-established brick-and-mortar school, but if there’s even a whisper of doubt, I promise it will be worth the five minutes it will take you to check. You can verify your prospective school’s accreditation status with the U.S. Dept. of Education’s database of accredited postsecondary institutions and programs, or with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

If you require more information and advice, these guys have a lot of information about online education, as well as a long damn list of accredited schools (all the schools listed on their site are accredited, which makes it easy).

Posted by Alexa Harrington

photo credit: Steve Sokolic, Associated Press

Online learning is already a pretty flexible education option, but now students in Louisiana have an even bendier education alternative via mobile devices. This is a prime example of necessity being the mother of invention: The state of Louisiana has a workforce shortage of 90,000 and the job openings require some education and training. Unfortunately, the potential workers who could go to school and absorb the necessary knowledge are all already working in less-skilled, lower-paying jobs and have little or no extra time for on-site or even online courses.

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) has partnered with Pearson Custom Solutions to create a customized online learning program for use on mobile devices, i.e., the AT&T Blackberry Curve. Courses will be facilitated by the Pearson company eCollege. The hope is that the combination of print, digital and online coursework will make education a viable option for Louisianians.

“We believe the ability to do some of their course work through the cell phone will be a major draw for individuals,” said Dr. May. “Presently, of the 4.2 million individuals that make up our state’s population, 25% have Internet access while 68% have cell phones. That means there are a large number of individuals to whom we can offer an opportunity to take courses, earn a degree, and have better quality of life in a more convenient way. We are very pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to our citizens. ”

While I think it’s a little creepy that the courses designed for mobile devices require the student to use a specific brand of cell phone, I still applaud the fact that the program as a whole isn’t a frivolous use of technology.

Further Reading:

Groundbreaking Mobile Learning Program Will Train For Louisiana’s 90,000 Job Vacancies

Posted by Alexa Harrington

I think we (and by ‘we’ I mean Americans) used to be a little prone to taking the commuting portion of our college education for granted. That is no longer the case. There’s an article in the NY Times about the rising cost of commuting coinciding with the rising number of college students enrolling in online courses.

Taking some or all classes online, or earning an online degree is looking better and better to impoverished college students. It saves money and the planet.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Medical billing and coding is quite the burgeoning career choice. According to my favorite information site ever (is it weird to be enamored of a statistics website?), it’s currently growing as a professions and shows no signs of stopping.

We are all aware that the Baby Boomers are starting to hit retirement age and will soon begin their collective physical decline. They are a fairly healthy generation, and I’m not trying to be negative, but everyone’s body starts to deteriorate at some point, there’s no way around it. And, to be career-oriented and blunt, a larger-than-average cohort of people who will soon be requiring medical attention is not a fact to ignore when considering career possibilities.

All Allied Health Schools has a pretty thorough section on their site explaining everything you need to know about a medical billing and coding career: education, certification, training, salary, the courses a student can expect to take, what the job entails, online program options, and why it’s a good career choice.

Almost as important as the above items is the debunked myths section of the site. If you Google ‘medical billing and coding,’ several sketchy ads will appear claiming how easy it is to set up your own business, as well as several equally cheesy ads for medical billing and coding software. Go here for the article explaining what’s actually required to set up your own business, and go here to read the billing and coding software article.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Online colleges have increased in popularity and ease of use over the past decade. A lot of that probably has to do with the convenience factor of online courses—no travel time, no sitting in class, no moving to another city, etc. In addition, the fact that the technology has improved on both ends—the school/instructor end and the student end—makes the whole concept more feasible for anyone who might be considering online education as an option. There are pros and cons to an online education, but for an increasing number of students, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

As far as online course options go, there are two: you can take online courses from a fully online college, which would enable you to earn an entire degree online; or you can take online courses from a traditional brick-and-mortar college that offers online courses in addition to their regular in-classroom courses.

Online college resources:

All Online Schools

Online MBA Programs
The Open University (in the UK, but a good resource nonetheless)

Taking online courses from a known brick-and-mortar college makes the question of accreditation a little less sketchy. Because anyone can pretty much do and say whatever they want online, if you’re looking into a fully online education at a fully online college, you owe it to yourself to check their accreditation status. Fake diplomas from diploma mills don’t tend to look stellar on the résumé.

Here are some good accreditation resources:

Council for Higher Education Accreditation
U.S. Dept. of Education

Posted by Alexa Harrington