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Earning a Teaching Degree Online Tips
Earning A Teaching Degree Online vs. Traditional Classroom
The Internet is changing the world everyday. Students take classes from professors half way around the world and events that were only on the pages of newspapers are now at our fingertips to see.
Colleges and universities are taking advantage of the Internet’s wealth of possibilities by offering classes and online degrees. Penn State, Tulane University, and Villanova University are just a few of the universities offering online degrees to those who need more flexible class schedules. But are online degrees as valuable as a traditional degree?
“Academically, online degrees are equally rigorous, and in many cases more difficult than traditional programs,” explains S. Lee Beaumont, Director of Administrative Affairs, Distance Learning & Graduate Studies, Liberty University. “The bottom line is regardless of how your classes are delivered, the benefit a student receives from his/her education is based on how much effort a student puts into his/her studies.”
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Motivating In An Online Study Environment
eLearners Tip: Earning an education degree online takes hard work and drive. Making your environment conducive to giving you the best possible advantage of success can only benefit you and those around you. Establish a routine in your day that allows time set aside for classroom attendance and study time. This is the time where the laundry doesn't get done, the phone doesn't get answered, you don't surf the Internet, and visitors are not allowed. Make a workspace that is inviting and encourages you to succeed. Create an study environment that is uniquely your own, and include pictures of family and friends, motivating phrases, or a scented candles to keep the mood relaxed. Remove anything that is distracting and if you need to, buy ear plugs to drown out the general noise of the day. If this isn't feasible at home, find a place at a local coffee shop or anywhere that offers WiFi.Don't short change yourself by shirking an ideal workspace environment either at home or otherwise. It's important to your professional career and your self-esteem.
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Online Education Degree Cirriculum
The great debate continues over whether a student gets more out of a traditional class setting versus an online class. The variety of classes may be more diverse at a larger university or college, but this can be dependent on the institution. Many large colleges only offer certain classes during certain semesters, locking a student into a degree plan or route that may or may not be conducive to life commitments.
Compare traditional and online college curriculums if you aren't sure about classes offered or what the best education degree route is for you. Talk to a counselor and other students from both online and traditional schools to see which option works best for you.
Keep in mind that even if a traditional classroom setting may offer more of a variety, if the student doesn't attend class or complete the required assignments, they will get about as much out of their degree as they put into it. The same applies to an online student, if you sign up and don't do the required work, you will get no more out of the class.
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Getting The Most From Virtual Teachers
eLearners Tip: Online degrees in education take approximately two years after you've completed all the prerequisites. Make sure during the time you are enrolled in an education degree you get to know your professors either through phone, in-person, or email communication. The education field is one where it is important to network and talking to your teachers regularly is a good place to start.
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Motivating In An Online Study Environment
Home life, school commitments, and work projects will continuously keep your day occupied. With all the commotion, how can a person be expected to thrive in a virtual study environment? One word: Routine. Here are some other tips that will help you succeed in your online learning environment:
(1) Choose the things that simply take too much of your time such as surfing the Internet, answering the phone, and chatting with your nosy neighbor. Cut out any unnecessary activities, television shows, or duties.
(2) Delegate chores to family members. Children are eager to emulate their parents (even when they don't act like it) and giving them a way to help you succeed so you can spend more time together is a great way to keep them occupied. Word of advice, don't freak out when the kids fold the towels differently than you do, just be glad the laundry is done.
(3) Continue to check in with the positive and supportive people in your life.
(4) For working parents, sometimes the hardest distraction is the one that's most dear--the children. Day care can be very expensive so other options to consider: your best friend or trusting neighbor, trading with other working/returning to school parents for study or class time, and never underestimate the power of the grandparents.
(5) Set up "virtual study groups" and meet the same time each week.
(6) Reward yourself with things you love. If you have to watch "Desperate Housewives" on Sundays, tape or digital record the show and use it as a reward for finishing an assignment.
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Taking Both Online And Traditional Classes
eLearners Tip: Getting an online masters in education, or any degree, can be tricky when mixing classes. Make sure before doing so to talk to both institutions you plan to attend and make sure the classes are transferable both ways. Master's degree program requirements can be difficult to transfer between traditional universities, much less online and traditional, so do your homework and don't assume because a class has a similar name at both universities, there won't be any problem with credits.
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Practical Experience With Online Classrooms
Traditional degree plans will require actual classroom time as a teacher's assistant in order to earn an education degree. Online degrees may vary with their requirements but if you are not required to have practical experience as a teachers aide or the equivalent, pursue the option anyway. Textbook situations only give a basic idea of what a teacher will experience. Since all children are different and textbooks cannot account for every scenario, it's to your benefit to volunteer or inquire about earning credit through working as a teacher's assistant. This gives you a better outlook and perspective of how to handle a room full of fourth graders after lunch time or one of the best methods of teaching first period algebra to a group of high school freshmen.
Check with local schools, churches, volunteer organizations (Teachers Count, United Way, Boys and Girls Clubs of America), and community colleges.
Teacher-student interaction cannot be taught through textbooks or lectures, it has to be experienced. You have to find out how you'll handle an unruly teenager, an uninterested classroom of fifth graders, or a self-conscience adult returning to school. In the end, it will better prepare you for your first day of school as an educator and may even land you your first job.
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Practical Experience With Online Classrooms
eLearners Tip: Earning a master of education online may require volunteer or teacher's assistant hours in specific subjects or kinds of schools. They may place you within their own programs or it may be up to you to arrange your schooling. No matter the case, make sure you talk to your counselor, the school's where you plan to volunteer/TA administrator, and the teacher whom you will be helping. Get all of their approvals in writing and verify they are all in agreement of how much credit this will earn, the length of the semester, and what is expected of you during that time. Keep copies for yourself and your files at school.
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Interacting With Other Online Students
One way to gain interaction with other students is to form a virtual study group or, if the online group is made of students in the same city/town, plan an in-person study group. If you live in a larger city and the college you are attending has multiple students in your area, suggest all meeting the same time and place each week for study sessions. This can help with the isolation aspect of taking classes at home as well as interaction with other classmates on the subject at hand. Discussing the lectures and working together is also a great way to retain the information and better apply it when test time rolls around.
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Earning A Teaching Degree Online vs. Traditional Classroom
eLearners Tip: Online teaching degrees can be the best choice for your lifestyle. Family, work, and general life commitments can make it difficult to go to school at set times but only you can make that decision. Talk to a counselor of the school(s) you are interested in taking classes. Before enrolling in any program, make sure the school is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC.org) and the school districts in which you want to teach or potential employers recognize your online degree. Many people who want to attend school can’t attend traditional classes because of full-time commitments with work and family. Online classes is one solution that is growing in popularity. The curriculum and degree requirements are the same as a student who would attend class so there is no “easy way out” with online classes. In fact, it may take a more driven student to finish classes per cyber-school, since it takes great determination to study and complete the school work in your own home, without classroom pressure.
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Getting The Most From Virtual Teachers
One advantage of taking an online class is having the flexibility of taking the class in your living room, but one of the disadvantages is not meeting your instructor or classmates face to face. The peer-to-peer and instructor-student interaction can add significantly to a college education and experience, so how does a cyber-student gain such a perspective?
What about the instructor? If you live within easy driving distance from the college or where the professor's office is, schedule a teacher-student conference to get you both acquainted and give you an idea who the professor is, their personality, and their expectations. Ask for feedback from the instructor and constantly keep an open form of dialogue going. If you're feeling daring, invite the instructor to a study session so he/she can place a face with those email addresses. This also tells the instructor you are there to learn and are taking the initiative to make yourself known.
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Online Education Degree Cirriculum
eLearners Tip: Earning a teaching degree online is hard work and require a huge amount of commitment to education and personal success. If you want to earn a teaching degree and the best way for you is to complete an online course, then make the commitment and go. The writer Christopher Morley wrote "There is only one success--to be able to spend your life in your own way." If your way is to take an online degree, then get the most out of it as you can. Earning a college degree takes work, determination and drive no matter if you are attending class or attending class while in your pajamas and sitting at your kitchen table. Make the commitment to yourself and your future.
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Taking Both Online And Traditional Classes
Mixing online and traditional classes can give you a variety of perspectives, but take caution with this approach. You may find that the school you wish to attend won't accept your online class for transfer credits. The best advice is talk to counselors on both ends. There are some colleges and universities that offer both traditional and online classes but again, make sure they apply to your degree plan and get it in writing.
