Resources to assist Hispanic prospect students and general public interested in pursuing a professional career in an online scenario. Some items refer to articles to guide students in their selection of an online program, strategies to determine readiness to study online, a few free online courses, and more.
Free Online Courses
Academic Earth – Academic Earth believes everyone deserves access to a world-class education. A comprehensive collection of free online courses from the world’s top universities is available. Learning is taken outside the classroom with its’ original series of thought-provoking videos, designed to spark your intellectual curiosity and start a conversation. Watch, learn, share, debate. Resources are free!
Boundless – Boundless is making the world’s open educational content more useful for students by connecting them with the wealth of high quality, openly licensed, and free educational content that has been created by leading educators and institutions over the last 20 years. We work directly with pillars of the Open Educational Resources (OER) community and have an esteemed set of advisors and investors with substantial experience in education, publishing, and OER. Boundless curates the best open content to create a free learning platform that saves students money and helps them learn more efficiently.
Coursera – a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. Its’ technology enables professors to teach tens or hundreds of thousands of students.
Education Portal Academy – There is one universal problem students face: college is way too expensive. The mission of Education Portal Academy is to make college education accessible to students on any budget. They offer free college courses that put students on the path to earning real college credit. A team of world-class educators has developed original, fun and engaging video courses and assessments designed explicitly for the independent online learner. Video classes are bite-sized and less than ten minutes long. They are packed with relatable examples and engaging graphics, and each one is highly focused around a very specific topic.
e-Resource Center – The E-Resource Center provides resources and tutorials for students, tutors, and faculty – all with the goal of helping students who learn English as a second language develop proficiency in academic English. It includes interactive tutorials on writing, grammar, and academic disciplines, as well as downloadable guides and worksheets for working with students who learned English as a second language.
The site was developed at the Center for English Language Support, John Jay College, and funded by the U.S. Department of Education (Title V) and the New York State Education Department (Perkins III). For more information about the E-Resource Center, contact Christopher Davis, the Managing Editor, at cdavis@jjay.cuny.edu.
Linguistic Tools: Reverso is a portal of linguistic tools including: translation, dictionary, spell-checker, conjugation, grammar, pronunciation feature (just click on a word or a selection of words or on the voice icon). A free online reference tool.
Livemocha: Online tool to actually speak a new language. It includes tutors and content creators, and allows participnts to explore the world through practice and conversations – with millions of people from over 190 countries. It’s a free online tool.
Online Courses – is a free and comprehensive resource that is a collection of open college course that spans videos, audio lectures, and notes given by professors at Harvard, Princeton and MIT. It offers relevant courses such as iPhone Application Development from Stanford and Cyber Humor from Oxford. This is something that would be a resource for those looking to explore additional educational topics and to see what college level course has to offer.
Saylor.org – a free and open collection of college level courses. There are no registrations or fees required to take our courses, and you will earn a certificate upon completion of each course. Because we are not accredited, you will not earn a college degree or diploma; however, our team of experienced college professors has designed each course so you will be able to achieve the same learning objectives as students enrolled in traditional colleges. More information…
WebMath – is a math-help web site that generates answers to specific math questions and problems, as entered by a user, at any particular moment. The math answers are generated and displayed real-time, at the moment a web user types in their math problem and clicks “solve.” In addition to the answers, Webmath also shows the student how to arrive at the answer. [/accordion]
Articles
Are you ready for online courses? – Michigan Community College offers a series of tools to help students (1) self assess if he/she is ready to take online courses, (2) check if his/her technology is capable of accessing online courses, (3) orientation on what online learning is about, and (4) tips for success. These resources are free.
5 Tips from Successful Online Students – If you’ve never taken a class online before, the concept might seem too good to be true – no worrying about getting to class on time, being called on to speak about a topic you’re not really comfortable with, or sitting in an uncomfortable chair for way too long.
Distance Learning from about.com – A first-rate compilation of links connected to distance learning. The topics range from news substance, free of charge courses, faculty resources, and many other topics. Users can sign up in favor of updates.
EDUCAUSE: Student guide to evaluating Information Technology on Campus-this guide includes a set of questions that helps prospective students and their parents/guardians assess an institution’s computing and IT environment in easy-to-understand language. The Guide comes in two forms: a print brochure and an interactive Web site.
Is Distance Learning Right for You? – Before you enroll to take classes through an online school, check to make sure distance learning is really right for you. Earning a degree online can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. But, distance education is not for everyone. Read more …
Mandamientos del estudiante virtual – cinco características que debe presentar el estudiante interesado en estudiar en la modalidad de eLearning.
Online versus Traditional Schools From a Student’s Perspective – One of the most heated debates in today’s higher education landscape is between the effectiveness between traditional and online college programs. It should come to no surprise to you that the most well-recognized programs in the nation remain traditional institutions such as the prestigious Ivy League schools and established public schools in the United States. Online programs, on the other hand, have become well-known given their relatively low-costs and the utility of Internet services as a means to provide a beneficial education. Regardless of banter, rankings are meaningless unless the universities discussed will give you a useful education. Read on …
Online Colleges Guide book by Affordable Colleges Foundation– this e-learning guidebook was created to help students learn online more effectively. This includes 20 pages dedicated to distance learning basics, critical how-to’s, and many of the misconceptions that surround the virtual classroom. And to make sure to provide the right information from the right people, they interviewed experts at The Sloan Consortium, The Open University, and more than a dozen other distinguished institutions. Anyone interested in distance learning can access, download, and print our free guide at the following location: Online Colleges and E-Learning Best Practices
Online Readiness Quiz – A quiz that helps you understand where you are in relation to what an online course demands of you. Provided by Kentucky Community & Technical College System.
Readiness Assessment – The questionnaire is for your benefit only. To find out whether online learning is right for you, please respond to these questions honestly. You must make a selection for each question to proceed with results! When you are finished, click on “submit.” Developed by Vivian Sinou as part of a grant from the Chancellor’s Office for the California Community College Distance Learning Consortium, 1999-2000.
Other Resources
Accredited Online Colleges – The Internet is revolutionizing higher education: accredited online colleges are growing in size, traditional colleges are adopting online programs, and all trends indicate that distance learning is not only here to stay, but that it will make an unprecedented impact on the educational systems currently in place today. What kind of change will online college courses induce in the paradigms of students, professors, and educational institutions in the coming years?
The Internet is revolutionizing higher education: accredited online colleges are growing in size, traditional colleges are adopting online programs, and all trends indicate that distance learning is not only here to stay, but that it will make an unprecedented impact on the educational systems currently in place today. What kind of change will online college courses induce in the paradigms of students, professors, and educational institutions in the coming years? Let’s take a look. Read more…
Accredited Online Accounting Degrees– Interested in a future career in accounting? Many online accounting programs offer flexible study options and a lower overall cost than their on-campus equivalents making them an excellent value for budget-conscious students. Check out a list of top online accounting degrees to find a great value online accounting program for you.
Accredited Online Business Degrees– Whether you’re looking for a general business education or a specialization perfectly suited to your career plans, you will find the best online business degree courses to meet your needs and that won’t break the bank.
Accredited Online College Degree Programs – The site provides a comprehensive and informative resource that sorts out schools with accredited degree programs. It can be specifically filtered according to the degree level and the subjects/programs of your choice. This is free to use and will remain open to all users.
Catalog of Top Online Degree Programs – Education is a major investment, and like all investments it should be a well-researched decision. WorldWideLearn helps would-be students figure out how to align their interests with a career, what kind of education they might need, and whether they want to look at online or traditional, campus-based schools. One of the site’s most popular features, the Guide to Majors, helps students navigate the various academic subjects and specialties, and their eventual career paths. Students can also research online degree programs by subject or by level, from associate to doctorate. With hundreds of online and campus based colleges, universities, and career training courses, WorldWideLearn aims to help Students find the education path that’s right for them.
Degree.com – Whether it’s for educational purposes or to advance in ones career, obtaining an academic degree has become the main goal for many who seek an education. Studies have shown that academic degrees can significantly higher the chance of individuals succeeding in the working world. People often seek higher degrees believing they will land a better job and also to make more money, although this notion is true not everyone can have the same result. However, our society views education as a sign of success, productivity, and character so achieving a degree has proven valuable. Read more …
Masters Degree Online – This directory features over 90,000 program listings and allows you to determine which program features are most important to you so you can identify the program that best matches your personal interests and career goals. Search results can be filtered by institution size, geographic area, tuition cost, and school type. The primary focus is online master degree programs, but it is aware that on-campus programs at traditional brick-and-mortar schools are the best options for some students. Therefore, you can search for both online and on-campus programs here. It’s a free online tool.
Online Colleges Ranking -2012 – According to the U.S. Department of Education‘s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, “the thoughtful integration of digital technologies into the traditional scheme of education and their use in developing new ways of learning is necessary to ensure students have the tools to thrive in a complex and rapidly changing technological society.” In short, the importance of online education continues to impact the way we learn, work, and grow our careers. However, because learning in this format is still relatively new, it has been difficult for students to accurately assess the strengths and weaknesses of online education options.
This comprehensive ranking system was created in order to help prospective students make informed decisions about how to invest in their education. Our analysis takes many factors into account, including accreditation status, tuition cost, retention and repayment rates as well as student reviews of the colleges themselves. See overall rankings…
Online PhD Programs – a website designed to give you all the information you need as you consider whether it makes sense for you to get a PhD. OnlinePhDPrograms.org makes it easy to find and compare the most well-respected doctorate programs online. Check out our school finder to research the online offerings of world-class universities or follow our blog to stay up to date on the trends and topics that matter most to today’s online grad students.