Online education makes big gains!

According to Eugene Scott of the Arizon Republic enrollment for online courses are projected to reach about 1.7 million U.S. students this year, more than three times those enrolled in 2002. The number of online students represents nearly 10% of total students enrolled in postsecondary education nationwide, according to the reference book, released in fall 2006. To read the remainder of this article click here.

PBS & WGBH/Boston to Collaborate On Major Online Professional Development.

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 26 -- PBS today announced a collaboration with the WGBH Education Foundation's Teachers' Domain, bringing Teachers' Domain's state-of-the-art online science courses to PBS TeacherLine's national online professional development service for educators. The announcement was made today by PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger at the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) annual meeting in Norfolk. To read the entire announcement click here.

Legislation Offered To Study Distance Education.

Today's blog post comes from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Ever the critic of distance education, Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers, Republican of Michigan, has introduced legislation that would require scientific scrutiny of online learning. The Independent Study of Distance Education Act of 2007, H.R. 412, would direct the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study comparing distance-education programs to classroom instruction. The same measure was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005 but was killed during House-Senate negotiations. In an interview with The Chronicle last year, the congressman talked about diploma mills and his concern that some distance education institutions could confer meaningless degrees.

"As a scientist, I strive to base my policy decisions and voting on reliable studies and data," Representative Ehlers said in a written statement released on Tuesday. "Unfortunately, when it comes to the Higher Education Act and distance education, there is no scientifically correct, statistically valid study of the quality of online distance-education programs as compared to campus-based programs." -- Andrea L. Foster

On-line learning in Spanish is coming to U.S. soon.

Here is another interesting article from the Green Tree Gazette. The Fundacion Universitas Iberiamerica, or Funiber for short, is coming to America to offer advanced master’s and doctoral degrees and continuing education to Spanish-speaking students here.

Sergio Abramovich, Funiber’s New York director, claims there is no political agenda. This has nothing to do with the immigration issues or controversial propositions in California requiring schools to deliver or not deliver primary education in Spanish. Nor is it paranoia about subcultures refusing to assimilate. To finish reading this article click here.

Attend eLearning Africa this coming May 28 - 30th, 2007.

Attend eLearning Africa 2007, the second International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, will take place from May 28 to 30, 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya under the Patronage of the Kenyan Minister for Education, the Hon. Prof. George Saitoti.

The title of the conference is Building Infrastructures and Capacities to Reach out to the Whole of Africa, reflecting the significant efforts of African countries to set up their national and regional ICT infrastructures to create access to education, training and services for all. At the same time, they are working to provide the capacities for all stakeholders to efficiently exploit the huge potentials advanced telecommunications technologies offer for the benefit of Africa.

Wireless Devices: The front door to students’ lives.

This great article is from the Green Tree Gazette. University marketers looking for a front door to students lives will find it in mobile wireless devices, according to the 2006 Alloy College Explorer Study. “Students are spending a total of eleven hours of each day engaged with media and are constantly on the go,” says Dana Markow, vice president of youth and education research at Harris Interactive, which helped research the study. To read the entire article click here.

Gaming advances as a learning tool.

eschool News says, "Educators increasingly are using sophisticated computer games to snag and hold the interest of the "digital natives" in their classrooms, but some teachers have trouble accepting the educational value of making learning fun. This obstacle cannot be found in the cutting-edge learning environments described in this report, starting with one game-augmented course that has kids learning before they even know it." Click here to read this entire article.

Kentucky program creates online learning plans for all students.

From eSchool News staff and wire service reports.......

You could call it "MySpace" meets "Monster": Kentucky has introduced a web-based program that will help students map out their academic careers and give them an idea of what career path they'd like to explore--all while teaching them how to write a resume and apply for financial aid.

The program, called Individual Learning Plans, is a revamped version of the Individual Graduation Plan, a system the state introduced in 2002 but that failed to catch on with students. The new program, run by Toronto-based Career Cruising, is already earning raves. "I've already had more kids in the last week say things about this than I've ever had in 13 years of education," said Todd Mullins, a guidance counselor at Oldham South Middle School.

Each student will have his or her own page, complete with test scores and the results of surveys designed to help students figure out what they're interested in. "It's pretty cool," said Ray Grijalba, 13, an eighth grader at Oldham South who said he wants to be an engineer. "I've been looking at the money you make and stuff."

The site also allows parents to log in and check on their child's progress. Parents can leave students a message on the site or send a note to the school's guidance counselor. The plan is available in both English and Spanish. To read the rest of this article click here.

Online Courses Demonstrate Use of Seven Principles.

This article from the International Journal of Instructional Technology examines Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education when applied to online courses. It is important to validate that these findings developed originally for face-to-face instruction apply also to online learning. Click here to read the full article.

The League for Innovations 10th anniversary conference in New Orleans.

The League for Innovation in the Community College has announced the location and dates of the 10th anniversary of the Innovations Conference. Over the past 10 years, they have featured some of the most innovative, thought-provoking, and cutting-edge programs featuring leaders and trendsetters in the community college field. The conference is being held this year from March 4 - 7th in New Orleans. Click here to learn more or to sign up.

Freight Broker Training Program demo is now available.

This will be the last in our series of posts about our new online Freight Broker Training Program for a little while. Students are saying a lot of good things about this program already. Interested students can try a free demonstration of this course by clicking here.

Great continuing education conference for California Educators.

The Association of Community and Continuing Education (ACCE) an organization of California Community Colleges is holding the annual meeting February 21 - 23, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California. Interest parties can read their mission statement to learn more about the organization.

AutoCAD 2007 online training program is now available!

We are pleased to announce our AutoCAD 2007 online training program is now open for enrollment. This nationally recognized AutoCAD 2007 online course and certification training program is an essential tool for those seeking AutoCad Certification. AutoCAD 2007 is used many industries including mechanical and civil engineering, architecture, and facilities planning and management. More employers using AutoCAD, and need workers skilled in AutoCAD, than any other CAD system. Textbook and student software included!

Launch of our new freight broker training program is a huge success!

The launch last week of our new freight broker training online program was a great success! More students signed up for this training program during the first week than any other brand new program we have developed recently. This Gatlin Education Services EXCLUSIVE online program provides students with the necessary skills to succeed in the freight brokerage and logistics business. Freight Brokering is currently one of the top home-based businesses as well as the largest growing sector of the transportation industry, according to Entrepreneur magazine.

A recent search at MSN Careers shows eight job openings posted in the past three weeks for freight brokers. Virtually all of the salary ranges show the potential to earn six figures! Freight brokerage is an ideal business for anyone with good organization skills and a desire to work with people. If you’re a self-starter who enjoys fast-paced work, you’re perfect for freight brokering. Our program is open enrollment and financial aid is available for qualified students.

UCEA Workforce Development Forum 2007.

We want to give equal time to our University and Community College partners. The next conference we recommend you consider attending is the (UCEA) University Continuing Education Association's, "2007 Workforce Development Forum" is entitle, "Connecting, Creating and Competing: Advancing Economic Development with Education and Training." It will be held January 10 - 12, 2007 at the Hyatt on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota, Florida.

A Surprising Secret to a Long Life: Stay in School.

James Smith, a health economist at the RAND Corporation, has heard a variety of hypotheses about what it takes to live a long life — money, lack of stress, a loving family, lots of friends. But he has been a skeptic.

“If you were to ask me what affects health and longevity,” says Michael Grossman, a health economist at the City University of New York, “I would put education at the top of my list.” Click here to read this great article by the New York Times.

First conference of the year we recommend attending.

We intend to feature a number of Education conferences this year. The first one we are featuring is the 4th Annual NACCE Conference being held January 8 -11 in Orlando, Florida. The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) was created to establish entrepreneurship education as a core offering to foster economic development through community colleges. NACCE focuses on increasing economic development through entrepreneurship education and student business incubation at the community college level. Collaboration through NACCE had begun to increase entrepreneurship education and student business incubation for participating community colleges.