What do you know about blog sites? How do you benefit from blogs? Blogs are those interesting forms of writing which inspire and analyze various topics, in short an entertaining and informative feature of a website. Well, I am sure the definition is short and sweet, but, you see there is a lot more about blogs and their uses. In an effort to offer the best of information, a list of questions and their answers are presented below for your reference and understanding.

What is a Blog?

A website that allows you to publish your ideas, opinions and writings instantly is called a Blog Site or the Web Blog. A Blog Site is developed with the help of Blogging Software on the web, which enables the user to publish his or her views. All you need is a computer with internet connection.

Why Don’t You List The Benefits Of Blog Sites?

Being a frequent visitor of various blog sites, one can understand that these sites offer varied benefits. It caters to the demands of a number of people and therefore the benefits vary according to the user.
These blogs sites were originally meant for personal blogs or journals. Slowly the usage began to diversify and today the varieties of users have increased tremendously.
Among the various users of blogs, academic institutions are finding a better and the most required usage of blog sites. In short, they are either used for group journals or by students individually, which is formally linked to the group’s webpage. Blogs are widely used by colleges as a means to the curriculum and its representation among students. Most of the online discussion forums find the blog format extremely useful for their kind of presentations and interaction from students.
With the onset of online education as one of the most preferred medium of study, blogs are an inevitable part of online study curriculum.

How Can Blogs Used As Medium Of Instruction Within a College Course?

• The school of study and the instructor in particular posts various announcements and information, assignments to students and lessons in short for the ready reference of students
• More aptly called an interactive medium of study, students get an opportunity to express their opinions about a particular topic or subject posted for discussion over the net.
• Articles on various topics provide extensive knowledge on the subject and students in turn can post their comments on these articles.
• Lectures and relevant class discussions can be done when pursuing online degree with the help of blog sites
• Many schools require their students to post their writing assignments and exercises which have been instructed to be solved at home.
• Students find it very useful to post comments, throw questions to their instructor about the course and the subjects in particular and talk to fellow students about course progress and related benefits.
• Used as a writing portfolio, blogs are found to be very helpful in expressing thoughts by students about their subject of study.
• Activities and presentations pertaining to a particular subject can very well be discussed over the net by way of blog posts.
• Students get to know each other very well, by not just chatting, instead by responding to the various posts offered by various students.
• As a means of evaluation, assignments are cross verified and the qualities of presentations are evaluated by fellow students positively by way of blog posts and related responses.

Blog Moderator Role in Online Learning:

Regulation is a keyword for effective performance. Any form of online discussion forum for that matter, should be regulated for better and optimum performance. As far as blog site interaction goes, it is the moderator who plays a vital role in regulating a discussion forum, making students participate with regular reading and reply to the various blog entries posted and compulsory presentation of articles by all students over the net.
The moderator should make it clear to the students about the nature of presentation, decency in communication, proof reading before posting, comfort and convenience in posting their opinions, making online discussion in line with class discussions, giving a feeling of live virtual interaction. Hence effectiveness of communication can be regulated only by a competent moderator who knows the way to make interaction absolutely wonderful.

Before taking admission in any online course, you need to take into consideration few things.

1. Accreditation

Do not take admission in an online course which is not accredited. Non-accredited degrees are of no use. Employers only accept degrees from accredited colleges and universities.

2. Tuition Rates

With so many top online colleges and universities in the fray, there is no point taking admission in a university which is charging high tuition rates.

3. Faculty

To get the best out of your online course, make sure that you only take admission in a university where faculty is highly qualified and experienced. More importantly, they should know how to teach students in an online environment. It is worth mentioning in this regard that teaching in an online environment is totally different from teaching in a traditional colleges and universities.

4. Syllabus

The quality of online course is normally decided by the syllabus. If the syllabus is not up to the mark, it clearly means that you have made a mistake in selecting the online course. Best online courses are ones where equal emphasis being put on practical training and theoretical concepts.

5. Study Material

Only studying from the study material that is provided by your online university is a big mistake that is committed by plenty of students. In order to earn an online degree, you need to study from both study material and textbooks.

6. Studying Only On Weekends

To attain success in an online environment, it is quite vital that you study on a daily basis rather than just on weekends. When you study on a daily basis, you can take the help of faculty if you are not able to understand any of the topics. Another advantage of studying daily is that you can get rid of the examination pressure.

7. Accelerated Degree Option

Before you go for accelerated degree option, make sure that you take into account your schedule. If you cannot devote three or four hours daily on your studies, stay away from accelerated degree option. Further, accelerated degree option is only suited for individuals whose academic record is good. If your academic record is not that good, you will not be able to handle the pressures of accelerated degree option.

8. Selecting Subject

Select subject of your online course on the basis of your interest and area of expertise rather than current market condition and subject chosen by your friends. If you are not comfortable with the subject, you will face plenty of problems throughout the course.

If people are not taking your online degree seriously, there is a strong possibility that something is wrong with your degree. May be you have earned your online degree from non-accredited institute or your grades are not up to the mark. In order to ensure that people take your online degree seriously, only earn online degree from accredited institute. To check the accreditation of the institute, you can take the assistance of US Department of Education.

Practical training:

People will take your online degree seriously when you get right kind of practical training during degree program. There are number of institutes where all the emphasis is laid on theory and not much practical training is being imparted to students. Therefore, when students start looking for jobs employers reject their loan application because of lack of practical training.

Good grades:

Good grades are quite an important factor when it comes to online degrees. In order to get good grades, make sure that you study on a daily basis for a period of two to three hours. Number of students commits a mistake of only studying in weekends, thinking that earning online degree is quite a straightforward affair. This is wrong way of thinking on the part of students because similar to regular college there is no substitute of hard work and discipline when it comes to online degree program.

You may not believe but it is true that syllabus of some online degree programs are more comprehensive in nature as compared to traditional degree program. When you study on a daily basis, you can take the assistance of your faculty members if you are not able to understand any topics.

Choosing right kind of online degree program:

People will only take your online degree seriously when you are able to choose right kind of online degree program for yourself. For example, if you are interested in making career in the field of information technology, it is of utmost importance that you go for a degree program related to computer. In order to get entry-level job straight after earning an online degree, you need to earn bachelor or masters degree. PhD degree is also a good option especially if your financial condition is good and you have no pressure in terms of studies.

Internship:

To enhance value of your online degree, it is recommended that you work as an intern in a big company. When you do this, not only you increase your chances of getting a job but also people will realize that you possess some talent and therefore company has given you an opportunity to work as an intern.

Project:

Doing some sort of project related to your area of expertise is also quite a good option if you want people to take your online degree seriously. Working on project is not an easy task and therefore when you show some interest in doing projects, people will think of you very highly. In other words, you have to work on above mentioned tips to make people take your Online Degree seriously.

What do you think is the reason behind the Illiteracy Demon?

Well, if we dig deep into finding reasons behind why people do not take up education seriously and become literate, all that we will find are countless reasons and excuses. Children who are old enough to attend their secondary level classes hardly go to school. Reasons being internal conflicts and lack of peaceful ambience, poor educational set up in their place of living, lack of proper teachers and their availability, instable political setup and insufficient aid from well to do countries. Well the reasons quoted are just a handful of them, as innumerable reasons keep coming up given the varied atmospheres and living patterns of people.

Why Online Education is Considered a Feasible Hope for Closing the Literacy Gap in Developing Countries?

For a long time since the evolution of internet as a means of education, it had been disparaged with the illusion of illegitimate institutions and fraudulent companies set up to swindle money from students who found distance learning education the only option available for fulfilling their goals and long standing aims. With the growing need for education and given the limited options available in under developed or developing countries to achieve maximum literacy, internet emerged as the only feasible method to achieve the target.

Online Learning has increased dramatically providing way for a complete educational and literacy solution serving those remote places and countries which cannot be otherwise catered to.

How does online education help in enhancing literacy rate?

• Handicapped school systems across the globe are revamped with the help of web based teaching tools
• Refugee children and aspiring adults are offered free online open source curriculums which can be downloaded free of charge. It is but obvious that those who fled for life cannot think of bringing their school books along with them.
• Not just offering education to students, internet as a medium is helpful in training teachers who in turn will help in serving under served and backward areas.
• Close to 75 million children do not attend to schools due to not availability of primary school teachers. In South Africa alone close to 4 million teachers are trained through distance educational and web based training programs to cater the needs of Sub- Saharan African region.
• Online Degree Programs offer question banks enabling students to understand and revise their lessons better especially when they are not clear about their assignments and home work schedules offered online.
• Open source study and reference materials are becoming popular, as they enable under developed countries to access free course materials, text books and lessons to enable students to meet their requirements.
• As a major hurdle to the efforts of educating the world population is the non availability of the means of benefiting from web based learning. The student to computer ratio is about 1 for 20 and 1 for 71 in countries like Guatemala and Mexico; it is around 1 for 3000 in countries like Niger. Even if computers are not available net based learning can be continued without disturbance through cell phones and radios. While supplementary study materials are downloaded through cell phones, radios are used for googling and related searches.

How far is net based education beneficial?

Online Degrees is extremely beneficial in serving those places where educational development is at its minimum. It is offers as a education as a gift even to those in under developed nations where regular educational development will take a long time to happen.

Early education for kids through internet may be as successful as advanced level of study as interaction in person means a lot in early days of schooling.

Again, net based education is not free from the fears of diploma mills and online fraudulent companies whose main aim is to dupe the students and run away with the money collected from them. Given the dangers such as falling prey to diploma mills, extreme precaution needs to be taken in handling the limitations and shortcomings of online education as a means of achieving the desired literacy rate across the globe.

In the last few years, pursuing degree with regular college is becoming expensive as tuition rates are on the rise. In addition, there is also tremendous increase in the traveling and accommodation cost. To earn degree from regular college, you need to go to the university on a daily basis. If you have taken admission in a college out of your state, you need to pay hostel fee as well. All these things increase the cost of studying in regular college.

Salary of faculty members is also a prominent factor in the high tuition rates of regular colleges. It has been noticed that average salary of faculty members teaching in regular colleges is lot more in comparison to faculty members of online colleges. Online Colleges normally provide study material to their students, thus you do not need to buy books. When you take admission in a regular college , you need to buy books as you are required to prepare study material on your own.

Which Is a Best Option: Online College or Traditional College?

The answer of this question depends entirely on your situation. If your financial condition is not up to the mark, online college is the best option as tuition rates are quite low in this environment and you can attend classes through internet. This means that you can save plenty of money in the form of traveling and accommodation cost. However, not everyone can study in an online environment especially if you are used to the traditional classroom setup.

Unlike traditional classroom setup where you can interact with the faculty members personally, this is not the case in an online environment. In an Online Degree Program, you need to take decisions on your own without getting any assistance from the faculty members. Self-discipline is the buzzword in an online degree program. If you are one of those that requires direction from the faculty members in every step then you should not take admission in an Online College.

Financial Aid

To make sure that students complete their education and do not leave their studies in between, most of the colleges and universities are offering financial aid to their students in the form of grants and scholarships. Getting an approval for grants and scholarships is quite tough but if you are willing to put in your hard work, there is a strong possibility that everything will fall in place. The most important thing about grants and scholarships is that you do not need to repay it. In other words, there is no real pressure on you once you complete your education.

Scholarships And Grants

Before applying for grants and scholarships, it is quite vital that you check the eligibility criteria first. Further, fill the application form correctly with all the personal and academic details. If there is any mistake in your application form, your application is going to be rejected. Students with good academic record have a much better chance of getting an approval in comparison to those with mediocre record. There are some colleges and universities that give grants to students on the basis of their extra curricular activities including sports and cultural routines.