Category: Your Education (Page 6 of 22)

      The virtual classroom of the future is here now

      June 20, 2012 /

      The idea of college kids congregating in libraries on college campuses will likely never go away, but a revolution in higher learning is underway that can shake up the university system in the United States and around the world.

      The trend of putting college courses online for free is exploding, and the idea of a college education may never be the same. That’s probably a good thing, as the cost of a college education has been spiraling out of control. We believe that the emergence of self-education through free online tools will be one of the great trends of the 21st century.

      Steve Klinsey is the founder and CEO of New Mountain Capital and has been very active in education reform for years. He has published a very interesting commentary in Baron’s discussing this topic.

      The American Dream is increasingly blocked by steadily rising college costs, and America’s student debt stands at more than $1 trillion. Fortunately, the combination of readily available technology and a simple regulatory change could create a low-cost or even a no-cost alternative path toward a college degree. The edX program recently announced by MIT and Harvard points the way toward a massively open online course movement.

      EdX is designed to make MIT and Harvard college courses widely available online, building on the MITx program that already offers MIT courses free of charge online to any student anywhere. EdX will support students’ learning and grade their work, and a certificate from the program will be granted for successful course completion. EdX is also offering to give its online-course-delivery software to other educational institutions that want to broadly distribute their courses.

      Last fall, Stanford offered an introductory Artificial Intelligence course for free, online. It reported that 160,000 students, from high schoolers to retirees, enrolled from 175 countries, and 22,000 students completed the rigorous course.

      Princeton, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, and others are pursuing similar paths. The Open University system in the United Kingdom and Western Governors University in the U.S. have been pioneering this philosophy as well.

      Digital technology can revolutionize the cost structure of education, just as it has for other forms of information. However, regulation needs to change to enable the advance, particularly in the area of accreditation.

      He goes on to discuss ways that some sort of certificate of completion can be given to people who complete these courses online, and how the government can incentivize universities to come up with a standardized system to handle these certificates so that prospective employers and other universities can count on them.

      This is yet another example of the tremendous power the the internet and social media. The exponential effect this can have on global learning is simply staggering and also very exciting.

      Hopefully, the days of ridiculously priced college educations will be coming to an end.

      Your Education

      Start-ups offer free college education

      June 18, 2012 /

      The cost of college tuition is skyrocketing, so it’s not surprising that some entrepreneurs are trying to fill the void.

      Technology start-ups are cracking into the higher education market and there pitch is an enticing one: A college education for anyone at almost no cost.

      Sound to good to be true? The founders of tech start-ups behind this revolutionary idea say they have already had success with their models, but they say there needs to be more momentum if their idea is to succeed.
      “The 99% should be protesting college campuses,” says Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford University artificial intelligence professor, who recently co-founded Udacity, a technology start-up dedicated to providing higher education at a very low cost.

      Two companies doing this are Udemy and Udacity. The new trend is self-education with all of the tools out there, including free lectures on iTunes and Khan Academy.

      Smart employers will start to figure this out as well, and I suspect in the future we’ll see job applicants will put a Self-Education section on their resumes. It shows initiative and prospective employers can always quiz applicants on what they learned for verification.

      Your Education

      Increasing Wealth by Going Back to School

      March 26, 2012 /

      Many people recoil at the idea of going back to school. The cost of tuition coupled with chronic unemployment and unpaid student loans among graduates has, for many would-be students, caused them to reconsider a pursuit of higher education. In some ways, this is understandable. Avoiding debt and financial instability is a major priority for many people. However, if you look at your life in the long run, going back to school may actually be the more shrewd endeavor, as it can prepare you for many careers that will simply be unattainable without formal training, careers that will be around for a long time and may open the doors to still more lucrative ones. These include increasingly ubiquitous career paths such as medical billing, web development, and financial advising. Let’s take a quick glance at the relative strengths of these paths for prospective students considering a return to school:

      Medical billing. This is an increasingly important job in the healthcare industry that is responsible for submitting claims to insurance companies. It is essentially the facilitation of the relationship between a health care provider and an insurance company. Medical billers reduce the burden of paperwork and the administrative stress put on medical practitioners. Considered an important part of the insurance process, medical billing is expected to continue to carve out a fresh slate of jobs for medical graduates.

      Web development. Web development is, in many ways, the equivalent of manufacturing in the 40s, its the fresh face on a near infinite new economic infrastructure that may eventually usurp the revenue generated by industrial sectors. There are a wide variety of career paths in web development: web design, SEO, social media, programming, web hosting, CMS, etc. The list goes on and on. An aggressive pursuit of a web development career is a strong step toward future job stability—and hefty paychecks as well.

      Financial advising. Financial advisers are always in demand, by variety of suitors—government agencies, businesses, individuals. Their tools are generally stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, and insurance. Whether you’re “fee-based” or “fee-only”, a career in financial advisement is not likely to be outdated any time soon. A college education in this field will also prepare you for the new electronic frontier of financials that involve heavy online sophistication.

      These are just three of the many careers that analysts say have strong job stability moving forward. For students who are considering returning to school but are weary of accruing more debt, it is worth looking at career paths such as these that will lead you into a flexible yet stable future with long term financial benefits.

      Your Education

      The value of your major in college

      January 20, 2012 /

      This is a very controversial topic. What should you have in mind when choosing a college major?

      On the one hand, it’s very important to study something you enjoy. If you do that you will likely excel or at least do better, and then you can think about how to turn that degree into a career. If you love English or History, this thinking says you should pursue these majors.

      On the other hand, particularly if you’re taking out big loans, to what extent is it important to study something that will lead to an actual career? Majors like engineering and accounting come to mind.

      This article examines the topic from the perspective of turning your major into a career.

      The student might say, “English,” “psychology,” “political science” or “engineering.”

      And then, in my mind, after factoring in some other information, I say to myself “job” or “no job,” depending on the major.

      An English major with no internships or any plan of what she might do with the major to earn a living? No job.

      A political science major with no internships that could lead to a specific job opportunity? No job, I think.

      Engineering major with three relevant internships in the engineering field? Ding. Ding. We have a winner. Job.

      Read the entire article.

      In one sense, it tilts too far to the career area. Yet it brings up an important point. Too many college students have no idea how they can earn a living after college, and WAY too many of them are taking out huge loans and then selecting majors that will make it very difficult for them to repay those loans whiles earning a living.

      The bottom line is that all factors have to be considered. I think it’s important that college students pursue an education. College has to be much more than just a vocational program.

      Yet you have to have common sense. Maybe you can get that English degree at a great public university instead of a small liberal arts school that costs $50,000 per year. This way if you decide that grad school makes sense for your career after you get that English or History degree, you’ll be in a much better position financially to make that decision.

      Your Career, Your Education

      3 Things A Business Degree Student Could Learn From Silvio Berlusconi

      December 6, 2011 /

      Everyone needs an icon, an inspiration, someone who shows just how much can be down and how well. Not necessarily a role model, because the most successful people tend to have extremely negative qualities, but even the most evil character can teach some important lessons. For example: Darth Vader teaches you the value of presentation, black is always in fashion, and don’t jump uphill at a man with a light sabre, you idiot.

      But since the dark lord of the Sith isn’t a great exemplar for business degree students (the profit/loss sheet on the Death Star is horrifying), we’ve looked for a more down to Earth villain. Italian ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is a glory of capitalism. He is at least four different male fantasies crammed into one body. He’s made more money than Midas, twisted the law into shapes which would confuse Escher, and scored with more women than the entire population of several colleges.

      What lessons can a business degree student take from this mastermind?

      Networking

      The single most important lesson in any business degree is networking, and Silvio masters this the same way Genghis Khan mastered making first impressions: way harder and better than anyone had ever dreamed possible, and than most people had even had even had nightmares about. Mr. Berlusconi has a more powerful network than most Yakuza and uses it much more blatantly.

      If you don’t make connections during your business degree it might as well be a piece of novelty toilet rule. Luckily modern technology means you can mingle without ever having to stand up, which is great, because when you work online you can take the time to craft the perfect image. Or, like Silvio, you can just own most of the TV stations and tell them to do it instead.

      Think Big

      No-one gets a business degree because they want to be a faithful secretary. It’s more a Gordon Gecko without the bad ending thing, power and riches and most importantly the feeling of doing something worthwhile with your time. This means you have to aim high and just keep climbing, an no-one solved his problems by aiming higher than Silvio. When his businesses were under legal investigation, he became the government and changed the rules. When Medusa cinemas were investigated for embezzling five million Euros, the judge decided that Silvio probably had nothing to do with it because the amount is too small. When you’re excused on the grounds that you couldn’t be bothered with a paltry seven digits, that’s the success of thinking big.

      Understand The Rules

      The most important thing in any project is a clear understanding of the rules. Some will say that this is to make sure you obey them, but come on, we’ve already mentioned Gordon Gecko and Silvio Berlusconi in this article. Sure, Berlusconi might have been finally forced to resign as prime minister, but he still has more money and sex than everyone you know put together.

      The real reason you need to understand the rules is to succeed as quickly as possible. The hardest work in the world doesn’t necessarily, or often, lead to a the best reward. That’s why you’re studying a business degree instead of bomb disposal. A clear set of guidelines means clear targets and knowing exactly what you’re allowed – or able – to do to get what you want. When you study for a business degree you’re practicing dealing with the real world by getting ready to do the same. You have a clear set of tasks and courses to complete and, by far the most importantly, you have total command of your own time and resources to do so. That benefit cannot be overstated. So many jobs are based on sitting down and doing what you’re told – you want to be master of your own destiny. And like Silvio Berlusconi, you want to fill that destiny with money and fun.

      Your Career, Your Education

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