Open University Courses
Open university courses go by a lot of different names, such as MOOC’s and distance university courses, and this is all due to them being a relatively new phenomenon. They are in effect the inheritor of distance learning, which has been the option for many families living in rural areas for generations, but what sets this reiteration of the older model apart is that instead of a reliance upon radio communication, it is now operated by using the internet as the platform. These new open university courses are offered by some of the highest ranking universities, as means through which anybody in any situation can gain access to some of the most intensive syllabi in existence, and ultimately they allow them to acquire some of the best graduate degrees. The real value of these courses is that they can potentially be provided for any subject absolutely free, which opens up these opportunities to all of those who’ve at some point in time been put off by the high fees required for university attendance.
Read more
The Advantages of Private Schooling
The money for private schooling can be expensive, too expensive for many middle class and working class families to be able to afford easily, but time and again, regardless of the country you call home, private education has outperformed public schooling in the vast majority of cases. There are a lot of reasons for this, such as improvements in the environment, higher quality teachers, generally more engaged parents, and more support for students. Taking children to and from school can be difficult to incorporate into a busy working life for people who have little to no control over their working hours. In this area, private schooling has a big advantage over public, in that you can pay for additional learning time for your children after regular school hours, so that they get off when you finish work. This time can instead be filled with them doing homework and revision, which means that you don’t need to come home from a stressful day at work to get your children to do their homework and study.
Read moreGiving Your Kids a Running Start
The goal for all parents, everywhere, is to ensure that their children have a great life ahead of them. There are lots of things they can do to increase the chances of this happening, but a big part of how it can be done is providing them with a great education as early in their lives as possible. An education is valuable to young children in ways besides what value they gain from learning new facts and skills, primarily in the structure that is required of students. Structure is required of everyone, and to be able to put it into practice yourself as an adult, practice is required. The more practice a child has at structuring their lives early on in their lives, the better results they get in their academic experiences as they get older, and ultimately they get better results with a profession as well. Providing education to your children can be done by either yourself (ideal for a really young child), but once they get older preschool becomes the best option, as they are better able to provide a structure where your child can learn and socialise with other children of the same age group, both very […]
Read more
Universities Going Global
Going to a top quality university can be difficult for a number of reasons, such as the stringent acceptance policies typically employed by them, and the massive fees you need to pay for attendance, but a recent trend among many of the best universities from around the world is to offer courses, for free, to people around the world. A number of the most famous colleges and universities, such as Stanford, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, MIT, and more, offer online learning courses, Massive Open Online Courses, MOOC’s, where you get access to a wealth of learning material, from lectures, to textbooks. While you don’t get the face to face management a proper student at one of these universities would gain by attending, you can still get a lot of value from these resources. This trend also extends beyond simply online learning opportunities as well, such as a recent plan announced by Stanford to tour their tech-entrepreneurship course around the world, starting with London. In fact, many schools have these kind of micro-campuses where they are able to offer unique opportunities people aiming to gain a specific set of skills.
Read moreAre Computer Games Bad for Children?
There is a lot of concern in the media and in the general population that games, and computer games in particular, may be bad for the mental development of children. This leads a lot of parents to ban consoles from their homes and forbid their children to play them around their friend’s houses, but this may be slightly misplaced, as studies are fairly mixed on how harmful it is. In fact, studies are pretty much evenly divided on the matter, although both sides of the argument certainly agree that there are games that kids should not be playing. This is something which is being addressed by age recommendations on games, but they still aren’t observed reliably. If you want to make sure that your children are not being harmed by the games they’re playing, the minimum you should do is observe the age requirements on games. Getting games which try to enhance their learning, or which challenge their brains, is another way to let them experience games without risk.
Read moreThe Advantages of Educational Games
When you’re trying to teach a child, the most important task, and also what is often the most difficult, is keeping the child engaged in the subject matter. It revolves around developing enthusiasm for what they’re learning, which requires some open-mindedness on the part of the teacher. Often times what is going to have the biggest impact on a child’s enthusiasm for learning is not what they’re learning but how they’re learning it. This is why educational games are so valuable to parents and teachers, particularly when the children are young. Educational games can be bought or developed by yourself without the aid of technology. To do it, all you need to do is involve the child in an activity where they’re required to learn information or skills and are then challenged on it. This doesn’t necessitate your involvement either, as you can buy games which are engaging and good for the child to do when they’re alone.
Read more