Falling into Fall Semester

Image via WikipediaIt was back to school today early in the morning. Yes, the beginning of Fall 2011 semester which takes me a little step closer to my ultimate educational goal. This semester like the previous one promises to be hectic, time consuming, tortuous, and of course a great learning experience.

As I sat listening to the first lecture of the semester I was glad that the professor this time around has a great sense of humor and enjoys teaching. The very complex topics that were being taught was broken into the simplest possible units, this enabled me to understand much more. Another aspect of the prof's teaching style - humor - made the lecture engaging and kept me attentive to the goings on in the class.

I sure hope that this semester will go better than the previous one in terms of academics. Looking forward to having a learning fall and winter 2011.

Earn a teaching degree from a renowned university from the comforts of your home!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

For people who have a job it is often impossible to attend regular college and earn a degree. Especially when a higher degree is essential for career advancement, it becomes highly challenging for individuals to decide on the future course of action. Thanks to the proliferation of high speed internet there is the possibility of earning most of the degrees online.

A case in point is the Masters in Teaching degree offered by the USC Rossier School of Education’s MAT@USC. The unique program provides aspiring teachers an opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from an elite research university without having to leave their present jobs or alter their schedules. According to the program information, classes are held online and are highly interactive. The program is an accelerated one which combines some field-based experiences and can be completed in as little as 12 months.

The best part of the program is its unique and fantastic tuition reimbursement program. Along with becoming an integral member of the elite USC Trojan family, students have the opportunity to get complete tuition reimbursement. Still unsure whether this program works for you? Just visit the MAT@USC Student blog and hear about the experiences of actual students who are in or have completed the program.

If you haven't already heard about USC, then here is a small intro. The school has been around over 100 years and has been educating teachers since its inception. USC has been known as a research institution and its School of Education has been ranked #22 in the United States, and #9 among all private universities by US News and World Report.

Now do you want any more information. If you do then just visit their website.

Earn a Masters Degree in Teaching Online

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of the most important aspects of modern life is a need for acquiring new skills and certifications. It is not possible for everyone to go back to school and acquire new degrees. Thankfully new technologies have enabled prospective students to learn online without having to step out of their home/ office. The biggest benefit of studying online in my opinion is flexibility. One doesn't have to go to school at a specific time to attend classes, it is possible to go through the lectures at your leisure.

I recently came across the program information of the prestigious USC Rossier School of Education. They are currently a Masters of Arts degree in teaching for those who are teachers and aspiring educators. The USC is a well renowned research university and certification from this school is recognized across the country.

Though online the program is highly interactive and combines a wide array of field-based experiences of students. The program is designed in such a way that you complete a Masters degree in just 12 months while most regular programs take nearly 2 years to complete. By studying at the USC you will become an integral part of the elite USC TRojan family.

The best motivator perhaps is their amazing tuition reimbursement and scholarship program. You can more information at MAT@USC Student blog where the insights of current and past students are detailed.

Study online to Earn Prestigious Master of Arts in Teaching Degree

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

Higher Education is a sure shot gateway to better career, greater earnings, enhanced respect, broadening of intellectual horizons and of course a better quality of life. Unfortunately all of us have not been lucky enough to go to graduate school when we were young. Some of us had to start working early and had neither the means nor the time to go to the university. There are many among my friends who would like to go back to school, earn a masters degree, but are unable to do so due to clashing schedules.

It is also a reality that in today's ever changing jobs marketplace one needs to be constantly upgrading skills, acquiring new knowledge to have the competitive advantage. This is specially so for teachers and those that are contemplating becoming teachers. I recently came across a fantastic online masters degree program for current and aspiring teachers/ educators, from the USC Rossier School of Education.

The program aptly titled Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT@USC) is completely online and offered by none other than the University of Southern California, considered an elite research institution. As I read more about the program information I am totally impressed by its interactivity and fast pace that enables students to complete a Masters degree in just 12 months. The two features of the program that attracted me the most was the phenomenal tuition reimbursement program of the university and the rare chance to become member of the USC Trojan Family.

Though the program is completely online there are field work opportunities at the student's local area. The university will work with you to schedule field activities for you.

These advantages seem too good to be true or at least that is what I felt when I first read through them. On further research I came to know that USC is an internationally recognized school with over 100 years of history of educating teachers. USC was ranked #22 in the US and #9 among private universities by the US News and World Report. With such high credentials I would be glad to graduate from the USC.

Online Knowledgebase

The internet is a huge repository of information. How much of it can be considered knowledge is a big question. General searches will throw up millions of websites that contain related data. It is very difficult to find authentic, relevant and correct information/ data/ knowledge on the subjects we are searching for. Looking at this chaos entrepreneurs have come up with their solutions. One of the recent developments is the springing up for websites which contain articles on various subjects.

For example a search on Health Weight Loss would yield thousands of responses on a search engine. But by visiting this dedicated site which contains articles by experts on the related subject it would be lot easier to find the information we are looking for.

One might argue that there are so many websites that contain articles on all subjects, what is the big deal about another one that is joining the web. Well I agree that there are several websites that features articles on various subjects but how many of them feature articles that are written by experts? How many feature articles with references and further reading on the research?

These are some of the things one needs to look for while looking up for an article base on the internet.

Online Education - The Way Forward

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

To remain ahead in our career it is important that we get trained and retrained so that we keep abreast of the latest happenings in the job marketplace. Often times it is necessary to go back to school and take some classes to equip ourselves with new skills to advance our career at the work place. With a full time job and family most people find it difficult to go to school. The best solution for these people is online education.

I recently came across this superbly interactive online education course which combines theoretical knowledge with on-the-job experiences. The program information says that it is being offered by the USC Rossier School of Education. The school's MAT@USC is a great place for teachers offers both current and aspiring to earn a Masters of Arts in Teaching degree. The best part of this offer is that one can set their own schedules for classes and study, because the entire program is online.

There are several perks of studying online at USC, the first thing being the program being online and accelerated so what would take 2 years in a traditional brick and mortar classroom setting, you will complete in just 12 months. They have a tuition reimbursement program to help you to pay for college.

Well what is so great about USC you might ask. For starters what does the fact that USC has been ranked #22 in the US and #9 among private universities by the US News and World Report? Impressive! The school has been teaching teachers since the past century. The school is extending all the benefits and status of regular full time students to its online students also, including free lifetime Alumni Association memberships.

I would say this is a great opportunity for anyone who wishes to become a teacher. Explore the unlimited learning opportunities at USC and advance your career.

Book Review: Wanna Study in the U.S. 101 Tips to get you there!

Guide to US-bound students
Wanna Study in the U.S.? 101 Tips to get you there! by Natasha Pratap; Rupa & Co, Price: Rs.395; 302 pp

According to recently published US student enrollment statistics, India has surpassed
China as the No.1 country of origin for foreign students in American universities. Last year (2000-09) the aggregate Indian student population enrolled in institutions of higher education (95,000) topped the Chinese total. With a large and growing number of Indian students hell-bent on pursuing at least a part of their education in the US, this aggregate number is expected to grow by 20-25 percent annually. But making it into the US of A for higher study is easier said than done. With half the third world’s population fleeing communism, socialism, dictatorship and plain socio-economic mismanagement, aspiring to enter this fabled land of opportunity, the US immigration and naturalisation service is working overtime to keep out the scrambling hordes – especially after 9/11. Unsurprisingly the admission process is tedious and difficult questions are raised about adequacy of funding. Visa procedures too have become complicated.

For the swelling number of hopefuls fleeing India’s dumbed down institutions of higher education, Natasha Pratap’s maiden book Wanna Study in the US? 101 Tips To Get You There! is a boon. This easy-to-read volume written in simple English is a comprehensive compendium of accurate information and useful guidelines to students and professionals on ways and means of accessing American universities and institutions of higher education. “There is so much to be gained from a US education, that I continue to be grateful for it every day. Studying in the US is about pushing your boundaries: academically, intellectually, geographically and emotionally. The best thing is fearlessness and confidence I developed from my own experience. Choose to study in the US because it is better. Go because you will be the better for it,” writes Pratap an alumna of the blue chip Cambridge (UK), Stanford and Boston universities.

The merits of this chatty and unapologetically how-to book apart, a striking achievement is that she has persuaded Mukesh Ambani, chairman & managing director of the telecom, textile, petroleum and IT behemoth, Reliance Industries Ltd to write the foreword. “All these years, information on studying in the US was limited to a privileged class of Indian students, by virtue of their advantaged school, teacher and peer group environments. This book would democratise this advantage to a much wider cross section of Indian students,” says Ambani, himself a Stanford alumnus.

Though the information, data and procedural guidelines provided in this deliberately casually titled book is by no means novel, the fact that it has been collated, sorted and compiled into a one-point, well-laid out compendium is its unique selling proposition. “When friends asked me questions on their applications or essays I realised that what seemed obvious to me was not to others. Book stores in Mumbai had little information on the application procedure, and even prospectuses of colleges say little. The internet is too vast and some information is misleading. Since I had experienced the system first hand I decided to write this book,” says Pratap explaining her motivation to write this valuable guide.

Though the author claims to have completed this comprehensive volume in just seven weeks, this 302-page compendium is well organised into 11 main chapters each offering valuable nuggets of information and advice. The main chapters are: top 10 reasons to study in the US; 101 tips on the application process; scholarships from Indian sources; visa Q&A in consultation with the US Consulate, Mumbai; interviews with Stanford and Harvard university heads; application datelines; a special section for parents titled ‘heart to heart with indian parents’ among others.

Particularly useful is the chapter which includes the essays (SoPs) of Indian students which dazzled admission evaluators of blue-chip universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Columbia. The essays are discussed and dissected with the plus and minus points highlighted. “Many applicants tend to borrow SoPs from others and then modify it (sic). You may not be exposed to the kind of introspection and writing that applications to US universities demand. For many, the idea of writing itself is overwhelming and the nature of the questions makes them apprehensive. By including the essays of people who have gone through the process and written everything themselves, I want to illustrate that the task at hand may be different, but is not incredibly difficult,” explains the author, no mean correspondent herself who has written for publications such as The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Economic Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express, Mid-day, Verve, Man’s World and Elle.

The overwhelmingly major preoccupation of Indian students aspiring to education abroad – scholarships and bursaries – is also addressed. There seems little awareness that the natural instinct of institutions of higher education in the industrialised nations is to levy higher tuition fees on foreign students than payable by natives. Nevertheless there is widespread belief that scholarships are available in plenty. Wanna Study provides a list of trusts and foundation which offer (usually grudging) scholarships and bursaries to merit students.

Though a useful guide to the growing number of students driven to foreign universities by the abysmal and declining Indian institutions of higher education being relentlessly dumbed down by politicians and educrats, the publication and reportedly enthusiastic reception to Wanna Study is a wake-up call to Indian academia. That a rising number of Indian students are ready to pay relatively huge tuition and residential costs abroad and endure the rigours of incrementally humiliating visa and admission processes is a severe indictment of India’s higher education system. Quite evidently Indian educationists and academics need to get their act together and canalise the huge annual outflow of hard currencies into their own cash-starved institutions. But this requires the practice rather than mere preaching of excellence in Indian academia.

Entrepreneurial Kids!

I had this experience yesterday evening when I was walking home from the swimming pool in our apartment complex. I saw two kids with their skateboards playing in the empty parking lot. One of them was slightly chubby and looked like the typical hyperactive kid. The other wore thick spectacles and looked like the studious types. Both of them were attired in complete safety gear for skateboarding, knee pads, elbow guards, helmets were in place and they were enjoying themselves on the wheels.

I have always been enamoured by skates and skateboarding and stopped to chat up with the kids. "Hey! Do you skateboard everyday?" I asked. "Yes, we are having holidays now. Do you have anything for us to do?" said one of the kids. I hid my surprise at the open question and asked them whether they could teach me how to skate board. "Yes of course!" said both in unision. I was taken aback because I was not prepared for such an enthusiastic response. Moreover I was still attired in swimming clothes and sandals. "Not today, I will be here tomorrow." I replied.

"You don't have to do it. Just watch us do and you will learn a little," said the chubby kid and both of them launched themselves on the boards and started whirling around me making odd curvaceous patterns. After sometime they stopped and started talking to me. "This is summer, we don't have school. We want to perfect our skating and then perform stunts," said the chubby kid who was obviously more vociferous than the geeky looking one. In the same breath he continued "Yesterday we earned five bucks at the basketball court by fetching them balls which went out. We are always looking for jobs so we can make some candy money."

This caught me completely by surprise. These are two kids, probably 10-12 year olds and they already want to work and earn money. They are not looking for handouts but for jobs to make money. I wish I had had this kind of entreprenurial spirit and acumen when I was their age. I recall our former president APJ Abdul Kalam's constant emphasis that education institutions should focus on creating entrepreneurs and not employees. Now I understand what he meant. This kind of enterprise is what is absolutely necessary for the economic progress of a country.