• What drives you?
• If you can’t answer the first part, then why are you bothering to get out of bed?

Now, there’s no wrong answer to part one. It’s your life; you get to decide what drives you. It’s the second part that should hit home. You shouldn’t just be going to work; you should be working towards something. It’s all too easy to forget sometimes, which is why it’s often necessary to proactively remind yourself why you do what you do–lest you get stuck in a rut or lose sight of the light, leaving you to wander that tunnel blindly.

This is where rebranding your day comes in. Think of slogans like, “Fake it ’til you make it.” Next time your in a foul mood, try smiling for a while. You’ll start off feeling ridiculous, but you’ll be smiling in earnest in just a few hours. If you’re still alive, chances are high that you want to be. Figure out why, focus on that, and make your day about it. Life isn’t about trudging from one basic need to the next. When it starts to feel that way, take a step back, a deep breath, count to ten–whatever you have to do, get some perspective. Life is like surfing. You can ride the waves, or you can get tumbled–it’s your choice.

A Goal Is a Dream with a Deadline
Figure out what you want from life. If your answer is nothing, then–again–why’d you even get out bed? Now, break down how you’re going to get there. This is an extremely intimidating task–suddenly you’ve decided to grab the reins rather than simply going through the motions. You’ll be better for it, I promise.

Starting by writing it out works very well, but staring at a blank sheet of paper won’t get you anywhere except discouraged. Start getting down ideas. Ask yourself what drives you. Figure out what you want, and start writing out ways to get it.

Be Realistic
I use a little lesson I picked up from Existentialist philosophy: the idea of facticity versus transcendence. Facticity is what you cannot change; transcendence is what you can change. Identifying too much with one or the other leads to despair.

Say, for example, you were born without legs. You can’t change this, which puts it into the category of facticity. If you decide your goal in life is to win the 100-meter dash in the Olympics, you’re identifying too much with your transcendence. You’re setting yourself up for failure and a life of despair and depression. If, on the other hand, you decide that because you don’t have any legs you’re a cripple incapable of accomplishing anything, you’re identifying too much with your facticity. Again, you’ve slipped into despair.

This example is extreme, but it gets the point across. Balancing your facticity and transcendence is a constant struggle. Ambition demands you push the limits of your facticity, and ambition is what gets you out of bed every morning. You desire to do something, accomplish something.

Education as a Means to Transcendence
Most every important life goal is going to involve success. If your goal in life is something abstract, like being happy, it’ll break down into requirements like eliminating stress by living well and within your means. In our society, that requires money. To get money, you need a job. To maintain the happiness part of the goal, you need a job you like. This is where education comes in.

You can get a high quality education online and keep your current job while your earning that degree. You can take advantage of a local community college, where night classes are offered more often than in traditional universities. The fact of the matter is, more education makes you look better to employers and succeeding in whatever school program you choose makes you feel proud of yourself.

It’s not going to be easy, but nothing that’s truly worth it is ever easy–the difficulty adds value. When you wake up tomorrow, get that special glint in you eye that says, “I’m in control, and I am going to succeed.” Go forth and achieve.

Online Education Wins! Key Findings
The online education study had the following key findings (I’ve taken the liberty of choosing the top three and arranging them in descending order, starting with my personal fave):

• Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction
• Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction
• Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for

This study has the potential to change the way we teach, from K-12 on up through higher education.

Blended Learning Is on Par, But…
Now, the Internet is a tremendous resource (it is, after all, the largest information database in history, organized and linked in a way that actually changed the way we think about knowledge). Any contemporary college student will tell you that much.

Most contemporary college students are also taking courses with an online component, but it’s most often simply based around taking quizzes and participating in discussion boards. The latter is great, as it encourages discussion in a setting in which most everyone is comfortable (whereas face-to-face debate/discussion intimidates many students into quietude). The former–well…

• Elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes

Nail in the coffin for videos of lectures, too–which makes sense. If face-to-face teaching is less effective, than videos of it probably wouldn’t score any better.

Of Course, This Isn’t the End
There’s no substitute for a great teacher. That personal touch is responsible for, among other things, my starting off in engineering and finishing with a degree in English. I have friends and mentors who have taught me about life while instructing me.  And, as the study shows:

• Blended and purely online learning conditions implemented within a single study generally result in similar student learning outcomes

Not to mention…

• Providing guidance for learning for groups of students appears less successful than does using such mechanisms with individual learners

So, teachers, you’re not being outmoded; it’s just time to evolve.

Great News for Online Education
Of the roughly 18.5 million college students in the U.S., 11 percent took most of their classes online in 2008, shows the study by EduVentures, Inc. Compare that to the 1 percent in 1998, and it’s pretty clear that popular opinions about online education are shifting. This big-name backing is fantastic for online education as a whole.

Mr. Welch had two extremely encouraging things to say about the program:

“I think it’s a real education,” and “I’m now a believer.”

This kind of support will echo throughout the halls (or servers, as the case may be) of online universities everywhere. It’s about time.

This new program isn’t the only good news for business-minded individuals, either. Hiring is up in financial institutions. It’s not skyrocketing, but progress is progress–and it’s better than more layoffs. So, go get yourself a shiny new Welch Institute MBA, and hop on the finance hiring train. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the beginning of the end… of the recession. (Not to worry, I’m knocking on my wooden desk vigorously.)

Yes, the Times Are Changing
A new adult education class in Connecticut is teaching social networking. For most students today, social networking is a way to lose credits (by Twittering, Facebooking, et cetera-ing instead of doing homework), but not for these folks, who are actually earning credits while learning how the younger generations communicate with each other. The question is: do you get extra credit for Twittering during a lecture? Or is my phone going in the June box again?

Go Online to Learn–and Get Licensed–to Operate a Boat
South Carolina has just christened a new online boating education program. The course, which is approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard, teaches students all sorts of great things about boats, boating, and boat safety–and all at their convenience, thanks to the wonders of online education. After completing the course, students go to BoaterExam.com and, upon passing the exam, can print out temporary certificates immediately.

This is great news for anyone looking to append Captain to the start of their name, but it raises some interesting questions about what can and cannot be taught online. I, for one, don’t think I’d feel ready to pilot a boat around my local, popular lake after taking a course online. In the same way, I wouldn’t want to be licensed to drive a car without being forced to, you know, actually get some driving in.

Online Universities Just as Susceptible to Fire as Their Brick-and-Mortar Counterparts
Fires in Santa Barbara, CA threatened to burn down a virtual university last week. Well, actually, it threatened their servers. Fielding Graduate University staff members actually pulled the plug on their network, put it in the back of a car, and raced the flames out of town. Students were only without access for 25 hours, which is pretty remarkable, considering the entire online university relocated and set up shop at another location.

I don’t mean to make dramatic comparisons, but look at how far we’ve come, thanks to technology: it’s been roughly two millenia since the burning of the Royal Library of Alexandria, and we’re now so technologically advanced that when fire threatens our stored knowledge, we can email it, upload it, unplug it and toss it in the back of a horseless carriage–whatever it takes. Students can be back and learning at their leisure in less than a day–or just go to a different site–whereas the burning of the library at Alexandria set Western civilization back hundreds of years because of everything that was loss. If that’s not progress, I don’t know what is.

The Associated Press reported this about a recent survey:

71 percent of high schools reported that more of their students are forgoing their “dream schools” this year than in previous years. And there is little doubt money is a big reason. “With the exception of one or two students, it was THE determining factor in their decision,” one high school official wrote. Said another: “Parents were willing to pay for prestige in the past. This year they wanted prestigious schools IF the financial aid packages would work for them.”

Often, the trouble with dream schools is that the student applying is attempting to be upwardly mobile. This means that he or she might–just barely–make the cut for admission. Students who barely make the cut rarely find that they’re being offered much financial incentive from their dream schools.

I remember applying for college in a three-tier system: dream schools, schools I’d probably get into, and safety schools. The financial aid I was offered can be broken down respectively as: student loans, a fair amount, and a full ride. This is pretty typical, and in this economic climate, people (parents and students alike) want more debt like they want a hole in the head.

How Much Is That Fancy Alma Mater Worth?
Friends of mine with prestigious names attached to their bachelor’s degrees have one thing in common: they all went back to school for graduate degrees. Sure, their dream-school degrees helped them get into the various graduate programs, but once you get a higher-level degree (i.e., higher level than your previous degree) the focus shifts to your most recent alma mater.

I’ve heard it said more than a few times that it doesn’t matter where you get your bachelor’s degree–as long as you go to a good graduate school. Of course, you’ve got to do well in your bachelor’s program for this to be true.

Dollar–and Penny–Wise
Getting your degree from an online university could be just the option for students and parents looking pinch pennies for a while. Not only is it easier to work full-time (easier, not necessarily easy) while attending an online degree program, it’s often cheaper across the board. There’s no commute, no additional room and board, no parking fee, and no strict attendance policy keeping you from holding a job. If you’re looking to pinch pennies, online degree programs are the way to go.

With more and more people taking advantage of online programs, the general public’s acceptance of these degrees has grown significantly. This means that not only potential employers, but also that dream school you put off, will respect your degree when you hand over that CV.

Don’t give up on your dreams just because money’s a little tight lately. Just put them on hold until you’re in a better place to take full advantage of having that prestigious name next to your degree. It’ll look better beside a graduate degree anyway.

Students? What Students? Where?
The absent-minded professor cliché has its roots in research-driven-instructor reality. Anyone who has made it through enough schooling to become a full-fledged professor knows how to do research and has probably come to enjoy it. The trouble comes when these flighty professors let teaching duties slide to accommodate their intensive research schedules.

Now, there’s one obvious benefit to having research savvy professors: They’re on the cutting edge, not stagnating in outdated theories or outmoded schools of thought. These professors are advancing their field. Sure, it’s time consuming, but the benefits are numerous.

Pressure Point
The trouble comes with publishing. Research is great, but getting it published (especially the more esoteric stuff) is often difficult. Another benefit of the Internet, though, is that it’s made getting published a lot easier. The low overhead of online journals has made it possible for a great many more articles to be seen by an even greater number of people. The trick before this was to research and research and research and then write paper after paper after–you get the idea–until one finally got published, at which point the professor could relax for a day or two, maybe even get back to teaching.

You Make Your Hours; I’ll Make Mine
Just like students at online universities, professors have a more flexible schedule than they would at a brick-and-mortar college. This isn’t to say that teaching online takes less time, far from it. It simply allows professors to do their research without having to leave for an hour to go teach a class.

The publishing expectations vary from school to school, so publish or perish is still a concern, but at least our absent-minded professors  don’t have to worry about keeping track of a schedule.

Becoming a Multimedia Educational Institution
With so many students only attending classes online, a different approach to education is needed. The traditional classroom setting has changed, but what about the university in its entirety? When a school’s enrollment is mostly made up of distance learners, a new strategy is required. At the annual meeting of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, the following issues were discussed:

• Faculty: Standing at the front of a classroom delivering lectures has a certain allure that monitoring an online discussion board does not. Faculty members need to be trained to make the transition from traditional classrooms to the Web–especially when on-campus class demands drop off in favor of online classes. It isn’t as easy as typing up lecture notes and putting them online. It requires the same enthusiasm and creativity that traditional teaching does, but conveyed in a radically different environment. Traditional, in-classroom education is no longer the norm, and curricula need to be re-geared with this in mind.
• Community Ties: Colleges with strong community ties may find it difficult to make the change over to programs.more online-oriented programs. This is especially true of schools that don’t have a higher tuition for out-of-state students. With students spread–sometimes–all over the globe, working closely with local companies for internships, guest lecturers, etc. takes on entirely different logistical difficulties. Companies looking to support local schools, might also be turned off to learn that their money is going to fund students hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away.
• Technology Issues: Small colleges that have seen their online programs explode face the problem of staying on top of technology demands. One of the main points of getting an education online is being able to work at any time, from any place–when the system keeps crashing, this doesn’t really work anymore. Schools with a burgeoning online enrollment need to make sure that they can handle the stress put on their servers, lest they face thousands upon thousands of disgruntled students yelling, “The server ate my term paper!”

The lesson here is that planning is the most important part of any major transition. Students should keep these points in mind as well. It never hurts to know what your professors are going through. Many are learning how to teach online while they’re busy teaching their courses.

Greener Schools and Energy Savings
In the short-term, it’s pretty clear that these initial investments in our educational infrastructure will save money on heating and cooling. While this money saved may be in essence canceled out by the cost, the savings are going to the schools, not back to the taxpayers.

Schools are, in general, large buildings that are costly to heat and cool. This money comes out of school budgets, and in older schools with outdated heating and cooling systems, this comes out to be a lot of money. Updating these schools will not only make for a better learning environment, but it will let schools use the alotted moneys in a more productive, more educational fashion.

Rep. Ben Chandler (D., Ky.), sponsor of the legislation, had this to say about the bill: “It will give much needed money to our schools struggling with huge budget deficits and deteriorating facilities while encouraging energy efficiency and creating jobs for Americans that cannot be shipped overseas.”

What About the Children?
Students learn better in a comfortable environment. Just think of those hot, summer days in the classroom as you struggled to hold on to a sweat-covered pencil. It’s bad enough to deal with test anxiety by itself; add sweltering heat to the mix and it’s no wonder students can’t concentrate.

These improvements proposed in the bill will help America get back on the right track to having the best educated citizens on the planet. It may be a chunk of change, but in today’s bailed-out economy, $6.4 billion is just a drop in the bucket. Isn’t it about time that our educational system see some of this money?

Despite the discussion boards being a kind of social networking, he found that his students see them as homework–not a tool to be used for benefit, but a chore. Concerns came up about asking ’stupid questions’ in front of the class, and it turned out that one of the students was acting as a sort of bully, which lead students to–rather than get into capital-letter shouting matches–avoid any extraneous posting. The bully has been chastised, but students still prefer to do all of their chatting on other sites, honing and polishing all posts to the class’s Web site, which doesn’t really lead to any genuine discussion.

Networking Isn’t Homework
A new study has come out showing an unfortunate correlation between social networking online and lower grades. This is obviously true of any distraction. If checkers became insanely popular across college campuses tomorrow, I’m sure we could find evidence that playing checkers rather than studying lowers a student’s GPA. The trouble with these social networking sites is that students feel like they’re being productive because they’re chatting about classes.

It’s like trying to write a paper sitting out on the most popular lawn on campus. Sure, you may have met a friend from class out there, but you’re surrounded by games of frisbee, other friends walking to other classes, et c. Students may have their papers open in a word processor, but the draw of taking quizzes, chatting with everyone else, and posting statues updates about hating homework is simply greater. It isn’t an uncommon practice to have a friend change your password during finals week, so that you can’t go online, post that you’re stressed, and ignore the tasks at hand.

The Online Education Challenge
If chatting about class on a social networking site is like trying to study in a bustling area of campus, then doing so on a class Web site is like having a study group in one of the basement rooms of the library: generally unappealing. I talked about a new group of online study sites that are changing the face of study groups in a recent post, perhaps these will meet the challenges faced by teachers of online courses. Whatever ends up happening, the fact is that only very rarely will anything that’s got a grade attached or a professor looking it over be seen as fun. Don’t despair, teachers, just relax and post your annoyance on your facebook page, maybe your students will post relevant comments there.

If It Still Isn’t Out of Your System
For students who haven’t quite gotten the trouble-maker bug out their systems, an online education gives them a flexibility they haven’t had before. There’s no seven-in-the-morning political science class to miss because of partying too much the night before. Discussion boards allow students to think about what they say before blurting out, too. The whole system is set up to be flexible and allow for measured responses, making it a perfect match the spitfire in all of us.

Lower Overhead Means Fewer Cuts
Online universities don’t have an entire campus to heat. They’re often based out of just a few–if not just one–buildings, allowing them to keep overhead low. There aren’t giant libraries to keep staffed; there aren’t coaches to pay or stadiums to keep up. Online education programs have been able to weather the recession better than their brick-and-mortar counterparts, which is good for everyone.

With fewer cuts needing to be made, online colleges aren’t having to drastically cut admissions. Anyone, no matter their hellian past, can get into these programs if they’re willing to work.