Are online schools a good idea?

Monday, December 08, 2008

Online Degree

CL Conference








Author: Robert

In case you are looking for one of the quickest straightforward ways to get a certificate, the best way to do this is by applying for an online degree. Buying online certificates is great for folks that are on the go. Sometimes it it is becoming tough for folks to find times to get their degree at a normal university, because it does not fit into their daily schedule. Let us remind, with online degrees, you are able to have the school work around your time and get your online degree in your free time. These days, with our fully stretched lifestyles, there is just no good time to go back to school, however, when you buy a degree on line, you are opening the door to other chances that could have been closed before.



So what are the main advantages to getting a degree online? There are tons of different vantages. First of all, you can get your degree online from home. Not only that, but you get to do it in your spare time. No more trying to make it to classes just in time. Having extra time, you can do the work; it's that simple. Let us face the truth, when you get a degree online you are not just getting a diploma, you are getting a life experience degree. You are out there living your life and not having to fit in college in the very moment. This is an experience that all should have that not everyone gets the chance to enjoy.



Getting online degrees from home is not as insane as it sounds. You can buy approved online degrees with less money than it would cost you to go to a local institution. Not only that, but it is more than likely going to take you less time as well to get the degrees online. You will be able to work at your own pace which is something that helps a lot of people learn faster or you even can get your degree instantly. You can fly through the parts you already know, and really learn hard on the parts you do not. That is why a myriad of people every year are buying a degree online . It's your life; you should live it when you want to live it. There are some schools out there that are just going to try and rip you off. There are many institutions that you have to watch out for which are not accredited online schools. If you are going to buy a degree online, be sure that you get it from an accredited school like instantdegrees.info does procure you with. Alternatively, you could just be throwing money down the drain.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/where-to-buy-an-online-degree-427660.html

About the Author:
Hello. It's me Claude Parmer. I'm into Online Marketing since 1998. Therefore I'm holding a Bachelor degree in Online Marketing Management and am currently attending a Masters class in Paris, France. I have a 1 year old daughter, Marie-Lou, and am married to the smartest woman in the galaxy, my wife Christine. Read more in my blog .

Online Schools

FindArticles - Are online schools a good idea?
Junior Scholastic,2008

NEWS FACT: According to recent studies, one in five students in grades 6 through 12 has taken an online or distance-learning course. Online classes could be the wave of the future for all kids in middle and high school.

How do virtual (simulated on a computer) classrooms work? If your school offers an online program, you can join an instructional group from any location--including your own living room! By plugging into an Internet course, you can learn while getting credit for your work.

Students who have participated in such programs say that they offer several benefits. Online classes provide additional instruction in difficult subjects, allow kids to work at their own pace, and provide them with more choices than they might have at a conventional school

Some education experts agree that online courses can be a valuable tool for certain students. Others warn that such courses may cause students to miss out on the varied social interactions that enrich the actual middle and high school experience.

What Do You Think?

Should kids really take classes over the Internet?

YES

Students are surrounded by technology--at home and at school. Why, sags teacher Anne Malone, shouldn't such equipment be used to help educate them? "I think online and distance learning are wonderful for enrichment and [review]," says Malone, a teacher of 36 gears at Oglethorpe Charter School in Savannah, Georgia. "Many of my students would welcome the opportunity to take courses not offered at our small charter middle school."

Leah Wade, a student in Malone's eighth-grade class, agrees. "Our world is becoming more dependent on technology," the 13-year-old tells JS. "Online courses would help students learn more about computers."

Kimberly Aguilera, 13, an eighth-grader at De Anza Middle School in Ontario, California, says that "Many students are disciplined enough to do the work ... wherever a computer is. [Online courses] would help some of these students understand the work better."

NO

"Online learning should not be allowed because interaction between a teacher and a student is very important in middle school," says Nathan Hoffman, 13, an eighth-grader at Oglethorpe Charter School. "Also, if [you're taking classes] at home, then you can't hang out with other students, which is necessary for teens."

His classmate, Courtney Overstreet, 13, agrees. "There would be no group projects or hands-on activities," Courtney tells JS. "Students would lose interest with the lesson."

Samariel Perez, 13, an eighth-grader at De Anza, worries that middle-school students "are a little too young to handle the responsibility. We wouldn't pay attention because there is nobody telling us what to do."

Jeremie Rios, 13, Samariel's classmate, says that sitting alone at a computer would isolate students. "[We] like to be with friends," he says.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

VoIP News - Vonage Tries To Solve Its Problems With IPO

VoIP News - Vonage Tries To Solve Its Problems With IPO by: Rick Hendershot
Vonage announced on Feb 8 that it intends to issue an IPO in an attempt to raise $250 million. This move underlines some of the problems mainstream VoIP providers are having.
The problem for Vonage is that while its subscriber base is growing, it is still losing money. According to the IPO filing, Vonage lost $189.6 million on sales of $174 million in the first nine months of 2005.
The company spends so much on marketing that it is almost impossible to make money from low spending subscribers. Average single line subscribers paid $26.73 per month in 2005. But the company spent $213.77 per subscriber on marketing. That means it would take more than 8 months to recoup their up front marketing costs.
Market share is also shrinking and the competition is ramping up. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are all aggressively entering the market.
They are also getting squeezed on the expense side. Currently VOiP providers like Vonage offload the carrier costs to internet subscribers. But the major telcos are lobbying hard for approval to charge providers like Vonage extra tool fees for the ramped up level of service required to make wide scale VOiP possible.
Pure VOiP providers like Vonage are eating into the traditional market of the telcos. So it seems almost inevitable that the telcos will retaliate in various ways to either hold on to their customer base, or convert customers to their own services.
**Other developments in VoIP
Microsoft - Gates and company will be entering the VoIP market aggressively in 2006. The new version of MSN Messenger, called Windows Live Messenger will have advanced VoIP capabilities, and an interface with the traditional phone system through an agreement with MCI. This alliance with MCI is Microsoft's way of avoiding the threat of telco toll charges.
As with Skype, PC to PC calls will be free using Windows Live Messenger. Microsoft and MCI claim that PC to landline calls will cost only a few cents a minute, and much less than some other alternatives currently being developed.
Google - Much like Microsoft and Yahoo, Google is putting the pieces together to offer a comprehensive PC to PC chat/voice service, as well as a PC to landline service. That would take Google just one relatively small step from becoming a complete VoIP provider.
Google released Google Talk last August, and recently announced the release of Gmail Chat which integrates GMail and Chat. For voice capability, users still have to download the Google Talk client, but it is just a matter of time before there is one client for all three services (mail, chat, talk).
The company has also confirmed that it is working with VoiceOne, a Florida company owned by VoIP Inc. VoiceOne is providing Google with "click-to-call" services. This free service lets people speak directly to Adwords advertisers who come up in searches, with the costs, presumably, being covered by advertisers.
Yahoo - Yahoo announced in December that they will offer two new fee-based voice over IP services so customers can make voice calls from a PC to a telephone and receive phone calls on a PC.
The new VoIP services are called Phone Out and Phone In and are part of Yahoo Messenger with Voice.
Phone Out will let users to make calls from a PC to traditional or mobile phones in more than 180 countries. Projected cost will be $0.01 per minute to the U.S. and less than $0.02 per minute to more than 30 international countries.
Phone In will let users receive calls on a PC from traditional or mobile phones for $2.99 a month. Multiple phone numbers will be available for travelers, and phone numbers in different countries will be available so people who call them from that area will only pay for a local call. This is very similar to Skype's current offerings (see below).
Skype - EBay bought Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion, so chances are they have big plans for the service. Skype offers a range of VoIP services, but so far all require at least one user be tethered to a PC with a broadband connection. Services include free computer-to-computer calls, as well as paid calls from a PC to the public network (SkypeOut) or public phone to PC (SkypeIn).
With the release of Skype 2.0, the company has announced a number of enhancements to their core service such as teleconferencing capability, and video calling. Another useful service is Skype VoiceMail. Callers from anywhere can call your number and leave a voice mail on your computer.
Judging from their web-centric approach to VoIP, Skype does not have plans to directly compete with the telcos for traditional phone business. However, they are well-positioned to offer click-to-call services to everything from community and dating websites, to EBay itself.
About The Author
Rick Hendershot provides effective Online Advertising - http://www.linknet-promotions.com/

Online Schools

Strategies to Maximize the Life of Your Mac Hard Drive by: Alex Bezborodov
Maximize the life of your Mac hard drive
Although Macs are often deemed the most user-friendly computers, many Mac users do not know much about computer maintenance. This is because Mac OS cleverly hides all the cumbersome applications it runs to keep the system secure and healthy. Unfortunately, while this maintains Apple’s signature look and feel, it also takes away the user’s ability to easily monitor and maintain the health of their computer.
Below, I recommend several procedures that can be performed by most Mac users without much difficulty, which will help safeguard your computer from data loss.
Be SMART, Monitor your hard drives
SMART stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology and allows you to run diagnostics on your hard drive to determine if a failure is imminent. In order to run the tool, launch Disk Utility (Applications: Utilities) and click on the top level indicator for your drive in the left-hand column. In the bottom of the window, you should see something like “SMART Status: Verified”. If you do not see “SMART status” at all, your Mac does not support the technology. If you see “SMART status” but do not see “Verified”, your drive may be at risk of imminent failure. In this case, your best bet is to backup your data and replace the drive. This simple, but often overlooked procedure may save you from losing your data. One other thing worth noting is that although there is a myriad of 3rd party applications that can run these diagnostics automatically, be advised that using such utilities in the event of a hardware failure can cause extensive damage to the drive.
Clean up files
This is pretty self-explanatory and is applicable to all computer users – take some time to organize your files on a regular basis. Clean up any downloads or files from your desktop and place the files into appropriate folders. This will not only save time, but will also protect you from losing files due to bad sectors.
UNIX Maintenance Scripts
Mac OS uses automatic maintenance routines called maintenance scripts to clean up system log files and other temporary files. The three scripts are designed to run daily, weekly and monthly. The problem is that these scripts are set by default to run late at night when most Macs are either off or sleeping. If the computer is off or in sleep mode during this time, the scripts will not run and the log files will grow in size, clogging up the startup disk and slowing down performance. The good news is there are a number of 3rd party programs that exist that allow the user to set different times at which to run the scripts, including MacJanitor (v.1.3 or later for Tiger) and Anacron among others. I will be reviewing these software suites in the coming articles so do check back often and sign up for our newsletter!
About The Author
Alex Bezborodov is the technical writer for Accurate Data Recovery http://www.a-datarecovery.com, specializing in data recovery for end users, academia and small businesses. Check out the ADR Resource Center http://www.a-datarecovery.com/tips.html for more useful information.