Free Education

TUNTUTAN KOMPETENSI SARJANA KOMPUTER di Era INFORMASI saat ini

2008-01-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Kamis, 22 Februari 07 - oleh : Tata Sutabri S.Kom, MM

Kebutuhan SDM di bidang teknologi informasi menjadi semakin besar, seiring relokasi industri TI dari negara maju ke negara berkembang. Kenyataan itu seharusnya menjadi kabar baik bagi para Sarjana Komputer (S.Kom) di Indonesia, agar bisa mengisi kesempatan kerja di bidang TI tersebut. kebutuhan tenaga kerja profesional bidang TI terus tumbuh, seiring dengan produk dan layanan TI yang makin berkembang.

Industri TI, terus melangkah maju dengan perusahaan raksasa kelas dunia, seperti Microsoft dan IBM. Khusus di Indonesia industri TI dapat dikembangkan dan menyumbangkan devisa negara, paling tidak sekitar USD 8,2 miliar sampai tahun 2010. Target ini tidak berlebihan karena pasar dunia TI sudah mencapai USD 1 triliun. Kebutuhan SDM TI profesional semakin tinggi, sehingga memungkinkan banyak pekerjaan di bidang TI yang bisa dilakukan. Tenaga TI profesional tidak mudah diperoleh bahkan di Lembah Silikon (AS) sekalipun masih kekurangan SDM TI. Mereka mendapatkan SDM TI dengan mengimpor dari India dan Cina, atau melakukan relokasi pabriknya ke negara berkembang seperti Indonesia.

Disisi lain muncul sebuah fenomena, ketika para sarjana memadati berbagai arena bursa kerja untuk menawarkan ilmu dan ijazah mereka, iklan-iklan penerimaan mahasiswa baru juga nyaris memenuhi halaman-halaman surat kabar. Dua fenomena tersebut ironis. Promosi Perguruan Tinggi untuk menjaring calon mahasiswa sama "gencarnya" dengan peningkatan pengangguran lulusan.

Selain itu pula, perlu diajukan pertanyaan, kualifikasi apakah sebenarnya yang disyaratkan oleh para pencari tenaga kerja lulusan Perguruan Tinggi ?. Jawaban yang diperoleh para peneliti umumnya adalah campuran kualitas personal dan prestasi akademik. Tetapi pencari tenaga kerja tidak pernah mengonkretkan, misalnya, seberapa besar spesialisasi mereka mengharapkan suatu program studi di Perguruan Tinggi tersebut. Kualifikasi seperti, memiliki kemampuan numerik, problem-solving dan komunikatif sering merupakan prediksi para pengelola Perguruang Tinggi daripada pernyataan eksplisit para pencari tenaga kerja.

Hasil survei menunjukkan perubahan keinginan para pencari tenaga kerja, dalam hal kualifikasi lulusan Sarjana Komputer (S.Kom) yang mereka syaratkan. Tidak setiap persyaratan kualifikasi yang dimuat di iklan lowongan kerja sama penting nilainya bagi para pencari tenaga kerja. Dalam prakteknya, kualifikasi yang dinyatakan sebagai "paling dicari" oleh para pencari tenaga kerja juga tidak selalu menjadi kualifikasi yang "paling menentukan" diterima atau tidaknya seorang lulusan sarjana tersebut dalam suatu pekerjaan. Yang menarik, tiga kualifikasi kategori kompetensi personal, yaitu kejujuran, tanggung jawab, dan inisiatif, menjadi kualifikasi yang paling penting, paling dicari, dan paling menentukan dalam proses rekrutmen. Selain itu pula kompetensi interpersonal, seperti mampu bekerja sama dan fleksibel, dipandang paling dicari dan paling menentukan.

Namun demikian, meskipun sering dicantumkan di dalam iklan lowongan kerja, indeks prestasi kumulatif (IPK) sebagai salah satu indikator keunggulan akademik tidak termasuk yang paling penting, paling dicari, ataupun paling menentukan. Di sisi lain, reputasi institusi Pendidikan Tinggi yang antara lain diukur dengan status akreditasi program studi sama sekali tidak masuk dalam daftar kualifikasi yang paling penting, paling dicari, ataupun paling menentukan proses rekrutmen lulusan sarjana komputer oleh para pencari tenaga kerja.

Kualifikasi-kualifikasi yang disyaratkan dunia kerja tersebut penting diperhatikan pengelola Perguruan Tinggi untuk mengatasi tidak nyambung-nya antara Perguruan Tinggi dengan dunia kerja dan pengangguran lulusan. Jika pembenahan sistem seleksi mahasiswa baru dimaksudkan untuk menyaring mahasiswa sesuai kompetensi dasarnya, maka perhatian pada kualifikasi yang dituntut pasar kerja, dimaksudkan untuk bahan patokan proses pengolahan kompetensi dasar tersebut. Untuk itu semua, maka kerja sama Perguruan Tinggi dan dunia kerja adalah perlu.

Tuntutan kompetensi Sarjana Komputer (S.Kom) selain memiliki keterampilan dan keahlian di bidang TI, juga harus memiliki kemampuan yang biasa dihadapi oleh professional yang bergerak dibidang TI. Ada beberapa kemampuan menarik yang harus dimiliki adalah sbb :

1. Kemampuan menulis.
Untuk mampu menulis dengan baik, diperlukan persiapan dan latihan yang intensif. Mulai dari latihan penulisan ide ide cerita, penggunaan kosa kata yang tepat, alur cerita mengalir dengan terstruktur. Umumnya mahasiswa Indonesia mengalami kesulitan bila mereka diminta untuk menulis, terlebih lagi kalau penulisan harus di lakukan dalam bahasa Inggris. Mengandalkan semata pada kemampuan grammar dan vocabulary tidak cukup menghasilkan karya tulis yang baik.

2. Kemampuan mengutarakan ide dan berpikir kreatif.
Umumnya mahasiswa Indonesia mengalami hambatan dalam mengutarakan ide kreatif ke orang lain. Mahasiswa Indonesia umumnya tidak mendapat kesempatan untuk berlatih kreatifitas. Pola pembelajaran secara umum di sekolah kita menekankan pada aspek kepatuhan yang jauh sekali dari aspek kreatifitas. Umumnya mahasiswa Indonesia belajar untuk memenuhi kemauan dosennya. Beberapa keyword yang sering ditemui berupa: kisi-kisi, aturan, perintah, sanksi, harus, benar atau salah. Berbeda pendapat merupakan hal yang taboo. Sementara keyword untuk berpikir kreatif yang seyogianya ditanamkan berupa: pemilik ide, argumentasi, referensi, bukti, hasil survey, benar menurut siapa atau benar dari sudut pandang yang mana. Mengutarakan ide & berpikir kreatif juga perlu di dalam mendesain solusi TI. Rasanya jarang sekali kita temui adanya solusi TI yang sama untuk perusahaan yang sejenis apalagi berbeda. Hal ini disebabkan kondisi dan kebutuhan yang berbeda untuk setiap perusahaan. Setiap perusahaan perlu dianggap unik bila kita berbicara TI. Hal ini merupakan tantangan bagi professional TI untuk memikirkan solusi yang tepat untuk kondisi perusahaan yang tepat.

3. Kemampuan presentasi.
Setelah menulis dan berpikir kreatif, kemampuan presentasi merupakan kemampuan yang tersulit. Karena presenter harus berhadapan dengan orang banyak, yang mungkin diantaranya jauh lebih pintar dari anda. Tantangan lain adalah bagaimana membawa suasana presentasi ini menjadi presentasi yang menarik dan diminati orang. Kemampuan mendengar juga tidak kalah pentingnya dalam waktu presentasi. Seorang presenter harus mampu membaca gelagat dengan cepat, berbicara dengan bahasa yang tepat kepada orang tepat.

4. Kemampuan menggunakan komputer
Penggunaan komputer tidak hanya sebatas menggunakan aplikasi komputer saja. Tetapi kemampuan ini meliputi kemampuan menyusun ide disertai sisipan desain grafis, animasi dengan sedikit sentuhan multimedia dapat membantu membangkitkan minat dan emosi peserta. Sehingga peserta tidak mudah bosan dan terjebak dalam kejenuhan. Penggunaan desain grafis dan multimedia ini tidak berarti presenter harus memiliki nilai seni yang tinggi atau penguasaan komputer grafis yang canggih. Penguasaan powerpoint saja sudah dirasakan cukup untuk membawakan materi presentasi.

5. Kemampuan mengolah informasi.
Pengolahan informasi berarti bagaimana kita menyajikan informasi yang tepat dan terbaru kepada orang yang tepat. Referencing dan studi kasus merupakan pendukung penting dalam menyampaikan argumentasi anda. Seringkali semua ide kreatif anda menjadi tidak berguna karena tidak didukung oleh bukti dan referensi yang kuat. Presenter cerdik biasanya pintar memanfaatkan hasil survey/statistik dari perusahaan terkenal untuk mendukung argumentasinya.

6. Kemampuan membuat keputusan.
Kemampuan membuat keputusan tidak terlepas dari bagaimana kita menyederhanakan permasalahan dan menginspirasikan orang untuk berani mengambil resiko. Bila kita berbicara kelebihan TI, maka resiko itu tersembunyi di dalam setiap kelebihan yang ditawarkan. Semakin tinggi kelebihan yang dijanjikan maka semakin tinggi resiko yang dikandungnya.

7. Kemampuan bekerja dalam tim.
Didalam dunia nyata rasanya tidak pernah kita temui ada solusi TI yang efektif 100% atau tidak efektif sama sekali. Seringkali solusi canggih, tepat dan bermanfaat bagi kita belum tentu memberikan hasil yang sama bagi orang lain. Untuk ini diperlukan kemampuan untuk melihat dunia berbeda dari sudut pandang yang berbeda (Soft Skill). Pendekatan soft skill mengajarkan kita bahwa semua orang melihat kebenaran dari sudut pandangan yang berbeda. Kemampuan untuk melihat dari sudut pandang yang berbeda ini penting memahami interaksi dan kepentingan manusia dalam lingkungan perusahaan. Kemampuan seperti ini dapat kita latih bila kita belajar bekerja dalam tim. Didalam tim seringkali kita melihat teman anda tidak sependapat dengan anda, walaupun anda merasa pendapat anda yang terbaik dan anda yang paling pintar. Pertanyaaan adalah bukan kita mencari siapa yang paling benar, tetapi bagaimana kita mengakomodasi kebenaran yang berbeda dari setiap orang dalam mencapai hasil yang optimal.

Tuntutan kompetensi diatas merupakan tantangan yang harus dihadapi oleh professional TI di dunia kerja. Semoga tuntutan kompetensi yang diusulkan diatas bermanfaat tidak hanya untuk lulusan TI saja tetapi juga professional dibidang lain.

Awal Sejarah Internet Indonesia

2008-01-22T19:04:00.001-08:00

RMS Ibrahim, Suryono Adisoemarta, Muhammad Ihsan, Robby Soebiakto, Putu, Firman Siregar, Adi Indrayanto merupakan beberapa nama-nama legendaris di awal pembangunan Internet Indonesia yang mungkin kurang banyak dikenal oleh khalayak Internet Indonesia di tahun 2000 ini. Masing-masing personal telah mengkontribusikan keahlian dan dedikasinya dalam membangun cuplikan-cuplikan sejarah jaringan komputer di Indonesia. Pada waktu itu di awal tahun 1990-an jaringan Internet di Indonesia lebih dikenal sebagai paguyuban network. Semangat kerjasama, kekeluargaan & gotong royong sangat hangat dan terasa diantara para pelakunya. Agak berbeda dengan suasana Internet Indonesia hari ini yang terasa lebih komersial dan individual di sebagian aktifitasnya terutama yang melibatkan perdagangan Internet.

Tulisan-tulisan tentang keberadaan jaringan Internet di Indonesia dapat di lihat di beberapa artikel di media cetak seperti KOMPAS berjudul "jaringan komputer biaya murah menggunakan radio" di akhir tahun 1990 / awal 1991-an. Juga beberapa artikel pendek di Majalah Elektron Himpunan Mahsiswa Elektro ITB di tahun 1989-an. Kebetulan saya adalah penulis sebagian dari artikel-artikel tersebut. Tidak terasa waktu demikian cepat berlalu, tanpa terasa hal itu telah melewati kita semua lebih dari 10 tahun yang lalu.

Inspirasi tulisan-tulisan awal Internet Indonesia datangnya dari kegiatan kami di amatir radio khususnya rekan-rekan di Amatir Radio Club (ARC) ITB di tahun 1986-an. Bermodal pesawat Rig HF SSB Kenwood TS430 milik Harya Sudirapratama YC1HCE dengan komputer Apple II milik YC1DAV sekitar belasan anak muda ITB seperti Harya Sudirapratama YC1HCE, J. Tjandra Pramudito YB3NR (sekarang dosen di UNPAR), Suryono Adisoemarta N5SNN (sekarang dosen di Texas,US) bersama saya YC1DAV kami berguru pada para senior amatir radio seperti Robby Soebiakto YB1BG, Achmad Zaini YB1HR, Yos YB2SV, YB0TD di band 40m. Mas Robby Soebiakto YB1BG merupakan suhu diantara para amatir radio di Indonesia khususnya untuk komunikasi data packet radio yang kemudian di dorong ke arah TCP/IP, teknologi packet radio TCP/IP yang kemudian di adopsi oleh rekan-rekan BPPT, LAPAN, UI, & ITB yang kemudian menjadi tumpuan PaguyubanNet di tahun 1992-1994-an. Mas Robby Soebiakto YB1BG adalah koordinator IP pertama dari AMPR-net (Amatir Packet Radio Network) yang di Internet dikenal dengan domain AMPR.ORG dan IP 44.132. Saat ini AMPR-net Indonesia di koordinir oleh penulis YC1DAV. Koordinasi dan aktifitas-nya mengharuskan seseorang untuk menjadi anggota ORARI dan di koordinasi melalui mailing list YBNET-L@ITB.ac.id.

Di tahun 1986-1987-an awal perkembangan jaringan paket radio di Indonesia Mas Robby YB1BG juga merupakan pionir dikalangan teman-teman amatir radio Indonesia yang mengkaitkan jaringan amatir Bulletin Board System (BBS) yang merupakan jaringan e-mail store and forward yang mengkaitkan banyak "server" BBS amatir radio seluruh dunia agar e-mail dapat berjalan dengan lancar. Di awal tahun 1990-an komunikasi antara saya yang waktu itu berada di Canada dengan panggilan YC1DAV/VE3 rekan-rekan amatir radio di Indonesia dilakukan melalui jaringan amatir radio ini. Dengan peralatan PC/XT dan walkie talkie 2 meteran, komunikasi antara Indonesia-Canada terus dilakukan dengan lancar melalui jaringan amatir radio. Mas Robby YB1BG ternyata berhasil membangun gateway amatir satelit di rumahnya di Cinere melalui satelit-satelit OSCAR milik amatir radio kemudian kami melakukan komunikasi lebih lanjut yang lebih cepat antara Indonesia-Canada. Pengetahuan secara perlahan di transfer melalui jaringan amatir radio ini.

RMS Ibrahim (biasa dipanggil Ibam) motor dibalik operasional-nya Internet di UI, saat tulisan ini ditulis berada di Singapura untuk meneruskan S3. Ibam pernah menjadi operator yang menjalankan gateway ke Internet dari UI yang merupakan bagian dari jaringan universitas di Indonesia UNINET. Protokol UUCP yang lebih sederhana daripada TCP/IP digunakan terutama digunakan untuk mentransfer e-mail & newsgroup. RMS Ibrahim juga merupakan pemegang pertama Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) yang dikemudian hari dikenal sebagai IDNIC (http://www.idnic.net.id).

Muhammad Ihsan adalah staff peneliti di LAPAN Ranca Bungur tidak jauh dari Bogor yang di awal tahun 1990-an di dukung oleh kepala-nya Bu Adrianti dalam kerjasama dengan DLR (NASA-nya Jerman) mencoba mengembangkan jaringan komputer menggunakan teknologi packet radio pada band 70cm & 2m. Jaringan tersebut dikenal sebagai JASIPAKTA dengan dukungan DLR Jerman. Protokol TCP/IP di operasikan di atas protokol AX.25 pada infrastruktur packet radio. Pak Ihsan ini yang mengoperasikan relay penghubung antara ITB di Bandung dengan gateway Internet yang ada di BPPT.

Pak Firman Siregar merupakan salah seorang motor di BPPT yang mengoperasikan gateway packet radio bekerja pada band 70cm. PC 386 sederhana menjalankan program NOS di atas sistem operasi DOS digunakan sebagai gateway packet radio TCP/IP. IPTEKNET masih berada di tahapan sangat awal perkembangannya saluran komunikasi ke internet masih menggunakan X.25 melalui jaringan SKDP terkait pada gateway di DLR Jerman.

Putu sebuah nama yang melekat dengan perkembangan PUSDATA DEPRIN waktu masa kepemimpinan Pak Tungki Ariwibowo menjalankan BBS pusdata.dprin.go.id yang hingga saat ini masih beroperasi. Di masa awal perkembangannya BBS Pak Putu sangat berjasa dalam membangun pengguna e-mail khususnya di jakarta Pak Putu sangat beruntung mempunyai menteri Pak Tungki yang "maniac" IT dan yang mengesankan dari Pak Tungki beliau akan menjawab e-mail sendiri. Barangkali Pak Tungki adalah menteri pertama di Indonesia yang menjawab e-mail sendiri. Saya sempat terkagum-kagum memperoleh jawaban e-mail dari seorang menteri Pak Tungki yang waktu itu sedang berada di Amerika Selatan dalam kunjungan kerjanya. Bukan main, seorang menteri tapi tetap menyempatkan diri untuk membalas e-mail.

Mas Suryono Adisoemarta N5SNN di akhir 1992 kembali ke Indonesia, kesempatan tersebut tidak dilewatkan oleh anggota Amatir Radio Club ARC ITB seperti Basuki Suhardiman (sekarang di AI3 ITB), Aulia K. Arief (sekarang di WAHID), Arman Hazairin (sekarang di Telkomsel) di dukung oleh Adi Indrayanto (sekarang S3 di Inggris) untuk mencoba mengembangkan gateway packet radio di ITB. Berawal semangat & bermodalkan PC 286 bekas barangkali ITB merupakan lembaga yang paling miskin yang nekad untuk berkiprah di jaringan PaguyubanNet. Rekan lainnya seperti UI, BPPT, LAPAN, PUSDATA DEPRIN merupakan lembaga yang lebih dahulu terkait ke jaringan di tahun 1990-an mereka mempunyai fasilitas yang jauh lebih baik daripada ITB. Di ITB modem packet radio berupa Terminal Node Controller TNC merupakan peralatan pinjaman dari Muhammad Ihsan dari LAPAN.

Berawal dari teknologi packet radio 1200bps di atas, ITB kemudian berkembang di tahun 1995-an memperoleh sambungan leased line 14.4Kbps ke RISTI Telkom sebagai bagian dari IPTEKNET akses Internet tetap diberikan secara cuma-cuma kepada rekan-rekan yang lain. September 1996 merupakan tahun peralihan bagi ITB, karena keterkaitan ITB dengan jaringan penelitian Asia Internet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3) sehingga memperoleh bandwidth 1.5Mbps (sekarang 2Mbps) ke Jepang yang terus ditambah dengan sambungan ke TelkomNet & IIX sebesar 2Mbps. ITB akhirnya menjadi salah satu bagian terpenting dalam jaringan pendidikan di Indonesia yang menamakan dirinya AI3 Indonesia yang mengkaitkan 25+ lembaga pendidikan di Indonesia.

Jaringan pendidikan ini bukan hanya monopoly ITB saja, jaringan pendidikan lain yang lebih besar lagi adalah jaringan SMK yang dibawahi DIKMENJUR (dikmenjur@egroups.com) yang saat ini telah mengkaitkan 270+ SMK di seluruh Indonesia. Saat ini ada 4000 SMK yang mempunyai potensi yang sangat besar jika berhasil dikaitkan. Belum lagi kalau bisa mengkaitkan 10.000 SMU ke Internet pasti tidak kalah serunya dengan mengkaitkan 1300 PTN / PTS (saat ini baru ~200 PTS/PTN yang terkait) di seluruh Indonesia ke Internet.

Di tahun 1989-1990-an, teman-teman mahasiswa Indonesia di luar negeri mulai membangun tempat diskusi di Internet, salah satu tempat diskusi Indonesia di Internet yang pertama berada di indonesians@janus.berkeley.edu. Berawal dari mailing list pertama di Janus diskusi-diskusi antar teman-teman mahasiswa Indonesia diluar negeri pemikiran alternatif berserta kesadaran masyarakat ditumbuhkan. Pola mailing list ini ternyata terus berkembang dari sebuah mailing list legendaris di janus, akhirnya menjadi sangat banyak sekali mailing list Indonesia terutama di host oleh server di ITB & egroups.com. Mailing list ini akhirnya menjadi salah satu sarana yang sangat strategis dalam pembangunan komunitas di Internet Indonesia.

Di tahun 1994-an mulai beroperasi IndoNet yang dipimpin oleh Sanjaya. IndoNet merupakan ISP komersial pertama Indonesia pada waktu itu pihak POSTEL belum mengetahui tentang celah-celah bisnis Internet & masih sedikit sekali pengguna Internet di Indonesia. Seingat saya sambungan awal ke Internet dilakukan menggunakan dial-up oleh IndoNet, sebuah langkah yang cukup nekad barangkali. Lokasi IndoNet masih di daerah Rawamangun di kompleks dosen UI kebetulan ayah Sanjaya adalah dosen UI. Seperti kita ketahui bahwa perkembangan usaha bisnis Internet di Indonesia semakin marak dengan 60-an ISP yang memperoleh lisensi dari pemerintah. Asosiasi ISP (APJII) terbentuk di motori oleh Sanjaya cs di tahun 1998-an. Effisiensi sambungan antar ISP terus dilakukan dengan membangun beberapa Internet Exchange (IX) di Indosat, Telkom, APJII (IIX) & beberapa ISP lainnya yang saling exchange. APJII bahkan mulai melakukan manouver untuk memperbesar pangsa pasar Internet di Indonesia dengan melakukan program SMU2000 yang kemudian berkembang menjadi Sekolah2000.

Perkembangan terakhir yang perlu diperhitungkan adalah trend ke arah e-commerce dan warung internet yang satu & lainnya saling menunjang membuahkan masyarakat Indonesia yang lebih solid di dunia informasi. Rekan-rekan e-commerce membangun komunitasnya di beberapa mailing list utama seperti warta-e-commerce@egroups.com, mastel-e-commerce@egroups.com, e-commerce@itb.ac.id & i2bc@egroups.com. Sedangkan rekan-rekan penyelenggara WARNET banyak berkumpul di asosiasi-warnet@egroups.com, pada tanggal 25 Mei 2000 merupakan hari bersejarah bagi rekan-rekan WARNET - karena telah lahir asosiasi warnet yang ada secara fisik dalam pertemuan di kantor DIKMENJUR. Ketua Asosiasi Warnet adalah rekan Rudy Rusdiah, Bendahara rekan Adlinsyah dan Sekretaris Abdullah Koro. WARNET di Indonesia akan disediakan domain war.net.id.

Demikian kilasan sejarah Internet di Indonesia, kami sadar bahwa perjuangan kami masih panjang. Masih banyak hal yang perlu diperjuangkan terus agar dapat menggerakan bangsa Indonesia menuju knowledge based society.
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Dr. Onno W Purbo -- Praktisi Teknologi Informasi.

Trik Sederhana Mencari Ilmu di Internet

2008-01-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Dr. Onno W Purbo -- Praktisi Teknologi Informasi.

Bagi yang sering surfing di Internet akan terasa sekali bahwa tidak mudah untuk mencari ilmu di Internet. Seringkali pada saat kita surfing justru tenggelam dalam lautan informasi; terlalu enak membaca-baca tanpa tujuan yang jelas; melihat-lihat berbagai etalase informasi di berbagai situs tanpa tujuan yang jelas hanya untuk memuaskan mata & pikiran; memang pada akhirnya kita akan memperoleh banyak informasi tapi belum tentu memperoleh sesuatu yang betul-betul bermanfaat atau biasanya maksimum kita akan memperoleh berita-berita / informasi terakhir sebagai pengganti koran.

Bagi anda yang mempunyai waktu yang sempit saya yakin tidak mungkin menggunakan pola-pola di atas untuk melakukan surfing di Internet. Kita perlu menggunakan metoda / pola yang baik supaya bisa memperoleh informasi yang sangat spesifik dengan baik dalam waktu yang singkat. Satu hal yang perlu di pegang erat-erat pada saat kita surfing adalah menentukan dengan sangat jelas niat / tujuan utama pada saat surfing tersebut - apa yang akan kita cari? Pada kesempatan ini saya akan memberikan sedikit tip & trik jika kebetulan niat anda adalah mencari ilmu di Internet.

Untuk menghemat waktu & pulsa biasanya saya surfing pada pukul 4-6 pagi (subuh); pada saat itu tidak banyak orang yang menggunakan Internet sehingga pengambilan informasi dari Internet dapat dilakukan dengan cepat & effisien. Teknik-teknik untuk melakukan sinkronisasi menggunakan browser yang kita gunakan (seperti Internet Explorer) ada baiknya di kuasai supaya tidak menghabiskan waktu / pulsa untuk membaca informasi tersebut akan tetapi cukup mendownload semua informasi tersebut ke PC yang kita gunakan & membaca-nya kemudian secara off-line pada saat telepon kita putuskan. Teknik sinkronisasi pernah saya tuliskan dalam artikel sebelumnya; dan sangat penting untuk menghemat waktu dalam mendownload berbagai informasi setelah situs-nya di temukan.

Untuk mencapai situs / informasi yang tepat trik yang harus digunakan sebetulnya tidak terlalu rumit. Cara yang paling effektif / sederhana adalah:

" Menggunakan search engine di Internet.

" Menggunakan keyword yang benar.

Jika kedua hal tersebut anda lakukan dengan baik & benar maka akan diperoleh ilmu & pengetahuan yang baik.

Ada banyak sekali search engine di Internet. Search engine hanyalah memuat daftar alamat situs (berbentuk Universal Resource Locator - URL) & subjek yang di bawa situs tersebut saja. Search engine umumnya tidak membawa informasi itu sendiri. Beberapa search engine favourite saya adalah:

http://www.yahoo.com

http://www.infoseek.com

dan untuk mencari hal-hal yang berkaitan untuk pendidikan anak-anak saya biasanya menggunakan:

http://www.yahooligans.com

Tampak pada gambar adalah tampilan yahooligans.com. Saya sangat menyarankan bagi anda yang mempunyai putra-putri untuk menggunakan situs ini untuk mencari hal-hal yang bermanfaat untuk menunjang pendidikan anak.

Yahoo.com & infoseek.com mempunyai karakteristik yang berbeda; biasanya jika kita mencari hal-hal yang cukup solid atau mencari dalam kerangka institusi, negara dll saya biasanya menggunakan yahoo.com. Untuk hal-hal yang betul-betul baru atau belum terstruktur dengan baik maka saya menggunakan infoseek.com.

Selanjutnya adalah penggunakan keyword yang tepat. Keyword tersebut di ketikan ke dalam kolom yang kosong di search engine. Tampak pada contoh situs yahooligans.com kolom untuk memasukan keyword terletak di sebelah tombol "search".

Keyword favourite saya adalah:

FAQ

Whitepaper

FAQ adalah Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Sesuai namanya FAQ akan memuat berbagai jawaban dari pertanyaan yang sering ditanyakan dalam sebuah bidang. Saya biasanya menggunakan FAQ sebagai awal dalam mencari berbagai informasi / pengetahuan yang saya butuhkan.

Whitepaper adalah istilah bagi berbagai ilmu / informasi yang memang di sebarkan secara gratis / cuma-cuma di Internet. Kita cukup menambahkan beberapa keyword tambahan yang menjelaskan tentang ilmu / informasi yang spesifik yang kita cari, contoh:

Faq gardening
Whitepaper telecommunication
Faq distance learning

Dengan menggunakan rangkaian keyword tersebut hampir di jamin anda akan memperoleh informasi / pengetahuan yang anda cari. Tentunya karena kita menggunakan internet maka informasi / pengetahuan yang terbanyak umumnya mengunakan bahasa inggris - konsekuensi-nya keyword yang digunakan sebaiknya dalam bahasa inggris agar kemungkinan memperoleh ilmu yang di cari dapat maksimal.

Selamat mencoba.

5 Myths of Homeschooling

2008-01-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

By: Bryan Deming

As the homeschool movement is growing and as outside interest in homeschooling is escalating, there are a number of myths about Homeschooling that have evolved. Based mostly on misinformation, these myths deserved to be dispelled.

Myth # 1: No Socialization

Among the questions I get most frequently when I tell people that I was homeschooled, the question of socialization is the most prominent. Kids schooled at home just don’t get the same socialization skills that are developed at “normal” schools, right? They spend so much time with their families that they don’t’ know who to interact with their peers. This is definitely a myth.

Homeschool kids have multiple avenues to interact with their peers. Through church, youth organizations like 4-H, homeschool co-ops, and just hanging out with the neighborhood kids, homeschooled students have ample opportunity to be with their friends. In fact, most homeschoolers I know spend so much time doing the extra-curricular activities, in which they are surrounded by their peers, that they complain they don’t have enough family time.

Myth # 2: Homeschool Kids Do Not Get a Good Education

Another often asserted idea claims that homeschool students do not get a quality education. On this issue, empirical evidence speaks loud and clear. Homeschooled students generally score much higher than public schooled kids on the same standardized tests.

Myth # 3: Moms Who Don’t Have a Degree are Not Qualified to Teach

Opponents to Homeschooling often argue that the average mom is not qualified to teach her kids. Many moms think that they will not do an adequate job teaching their children if they didn’t go to school to be a teacher. This is simply not true. A degree does not make a good teacher. Any mom (or Dad) who is willing to put some work into her child’s education and is willing to learn with her child will be more than qualified to teach her child what they need to know. Plus, there are a host of books, seminars, conference workshops, videos, etc. available to help you grow in this area.

Myth # 4 Homeschooled Kids can’t get into College Homeschoolers had some problems with this in the past, but as more and more colleges are growing in familiarity with the homeschool movement, the more they are becoming accepting of homeschoolers. Many college, recognizing that homeschoolers often perform better academically, are even going out of their way to recruit homeschoolers.

Myth # 5 Homeschooled Kids are Not Exposed to the Diversity of Thought

Some opponents of homeschooling have asserted that homeschooled kids are sheltered from the diversity of views, being brainwashed with one set of ideas. Again, each homeschooling family is different, but generally homeschooled kids are exposed to the various ideas in society. Each homeschooling family homeschool for different reasons, including some religious and ideological reasons, but this does not mean that the kids do not know that there are other views out there. In fact, because of the emphases on analytical and critical thinking within most homeschool curricula, these kids come out of school better equipped to sort through the many ideas found in the world.

Summary: There are a number of myths about homeschooling that are just not true. Homeschoolers do, in general, receive a quality education even from parents without college degrees, are exposed to diversity, and socialize with their peers. Despite some of the negative myths about homeschooling, teaching your kids at home is an excellent option.

Driver's Education Classes

2008-01-13T20:23:00.001-08:00

By: Jimmy Sturo

Most states have tightened their regulating rules concerning teenage drivers. The rules have caused many parents to turn to private instructors to teach their children the requisites to be followed behind the wheel.

Many high schools provide driver education classes within the school itself. This provides an option of the students staying after school or during weekends to attend such classes. Another option would be to attend a private school providing these courses. Driver education classes usually consist of 30 hours of classroom training and 6 to 10 hours of behind-the-wheel instructions.

Driver education classes usually consist of about four 7 1/2 hour sessions on Saturdays or 3-2 hour classroom instructions per week and driving time in one-hour increments at the student's convenience. The students will be provided with all the requisite materials including a drivers education car, the responsible driving curriculum, drivers handbook of that particular state, lesson plans, a wide variety of driving videos, and a behind-the-wheel checklist.

After successful completion of the course, students will be given both road and written test. The license will be provided soon after successful completion of the tests. The student will need to have an eye exam to be presented a drivers license.

Classroom education helps the students have direct contact with the teachers and makes them feel more involved in the course. Any doubts or clarifications can be taken care of immediately with the help of these teachers. It also helps the students communicate effectively so that they become a part of the lesson and can retain the same easily at a later date. This provides an opportunity to provide each student with the proper training so they can obtain their drivers license and drive a vehicle safely.

Minority Education

2008-01-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

By: Archangelo Joseph

By the late 19th century, educational debates were still echoing on “who was to be educated?” and “how this education was to be carried out?” Such philosophers as John Dewey and (closer to us) Jean Piaget understood that “all knowledge has a special origin and the interests of the child are the primary source of learning” (Spring 1989). The same author said that after the Civil War black leaders, particularly W.E. Dubois and Booker T. Washington debated not the importance of schooling but the kind of education for blacks. The latter, considered by many blacks as a traitor, would acquiesce with the 1895 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that said under segregation schools can be separated and remained equal. According to Perkinson (1991), Washington addressed publicly in 1895, “….The Negro did not want social equality, that he did not need social equality with the whites. Nor did he want or need political or civil equality … but cooperation with their white friends. Negro education should be devoted to the practical education of earning a living.” P.48

But Dubois vehemently rejected that position and argued for equal rights. Meanwhile, diverse segments of society had been restless protecting their interests after the inaction of Plessy v. Ferguson. The US Supreme Court solved many cases in favor of minorities such as Peirce v. Society of sisters (1922, unconstitutionality of forcing public schooling only) or Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1940, unconstitutionality of forcing Jehovah Witness to salute the flag). None of them delivered a blow to the racist establishment more significant than Brown v. Board of Education of (1954), which stipulated that separate education was inherently unequal. That decision invigorated the position of such minority leaders as Dr. Martin L. King who had long said that the reality of equality will require extensive adjustments in the way of life of the white majority, an adjustment many are unwilling to make”, ( Smith & Chunn, 1989). The Brown decision opened the valve for a flurry of other specific legislations to right the educational wrongs done to minorities. For, Perkinson (1991) stated that black parents realized that their children were failing in schools not because they were culturally deprived but because the schools were incompetent to teach black students who, indeed, had a culture, a different culture.

I remain convinced that, on the part of many folks, it was not a matter of how to educate our culturally different children, but a deliberate case of not willing to do so. If we take, for example, Shor and Freire (1987), “It is not education which shapes society, but on the contrary, it is society that shapes education according to the interests of those who have power” p.35; and Perkinson (1991) “By 1965 the schools had polarized American society into self-satisfied whites and victimized blacks, into despondent city dwellers and indifferent suburb amenities by identifying and creating winners and losers” p.220, we shall see that these points of view (Freire/Shor’s and Perkinson’s) are in direct contradiction while both being sensitive and in the interests of the unfortunate, that include the children of the immigrants.

History & Rationale. As children of the lower class were failing in school and in life, bilingual education (originally) was not meant to rescue them. On the contrary, it was designed to catch up with the Soviets after their launching of the Sputnik, the first manned satellite (Cazabon, 1993). Through the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), the United States Government hoped to be competitive scientifically and technologically while being sophisticated in languages and cultures. As waves of immigrants kept crashing onto our shores, the Federal government passed a series of legislations and decisions to deal with the problem among which the 1965 Elementary & Secondary Education Act (to attack poverty), the 1967 Bilingual Education, the 1974 Lau vs. Nichols (special aid to non-English speaking pupils) and the 1980 Department of Education regulation (mandated Transitional Bilingual Education nationwide for limited English proficient students). Despite all those efforts, Lambert held that there were two faces of Bilingualism; one for language minorities and the other for the mainstream Americans (Cazabon, 1993). To such conservative politicians as former Senator Hayakawa, Bilingual Education would hinder the English development of immigrants (Minami & Kennedy, 1991). To those critics, Jim Cummings replied that students who experienced a preschool program in which: a) their cultural identity was reinforced, b) their was active collaboration with parents; and c) meaningful use of language was integrated into every aspect of daily activities; these pupils were developing high level of conceptual and linguistic skills in both language. Supportively, Krashen (1983) indicated that all languages are acquired the same way through four development stages, namely silent period or comprehension, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency. Given time, a comprehensible input, and a lower affective filter (anxiety-free) the young immigrant will excel.

The situation of bilingual education let to believe that the authorities either want to assimilate every child into the main culture or to create bad cases of bilingual programs for the minorities where they would be proficient in neither language. In reply Skutnabb-Kangas (1986) had put forward the Declaration of Linguistic Human Rights (the rights to identify with, to learn, and to choose when to use one’s mother tongue), especially in relation to small children, where it “is close to criminal, real psychological torture to use monolingual teachers who do not understand what the child has to say in her mother tongue” (Skutnabb-Kangas & Cummins, 1986) p.28. Nonetheless, they registered many cases of positive as well as negative bilingual programs. The additive (positive) Bilingualism has been mostly experienced abroad, whereas most of the subtractive ones have been found in the United States.

Models of Bilingual Programs. When Lau vs. Nichols was settled, it left the establishment too much leeway even though it cited the school districts for violations of the fourteenth Amendment and the Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964. According to Lyons (1990), the law did not seek any specific remedy, but only that the Board of Education apply its expertise to the problems and rectify the situation. Therefore, in its implementation worldwide, Bilingualism had two faces depending on whom it was called to serve. It could be implemented and verified as the best form of education (for the elite, the middle/upper class) or the worst case of educational formation (for the minorities, the working/lower class).

I'm the One

2008-01-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

By: Lisa Thomas

I'm the One and the power lives within you...

There is a verse in the poem "I'm the One" that reads "As the flame flickers and falters, slowly leaving you breathless, I am the One; the one to breathe the fire of life back into the fibers of who you are."

Where do we draw from when we can't see how we can have what we want? Is it that we've stopped believing in ourselves? Have we simply given up on our dreams? Have we become resigned or complacent with what we currently know and have? Are we simply comfortable with the way things are?

We already know that suppression is one of the things that keep us from having what we want, but what keeps us going?

I'd been faced with a challenging decision for 2004. Each year I find myself in creation of a new year, designing new strategies for going after my dreams.

2004 took me by surprise. I had this thought of dissolving The P3 Group. I'm President of The Power, Passion and Purpose Group and the company provides life strategies for women. I was very disturbed by the thought of what that might mean. For me it meant, not going after my dream. It had become a challenge, as most businesses are, needing far more attention than I could give it for success.-or so I thought.

I was also re-evaluating my goals, dreams and desires for myself this year. On the onset of looking at this whole notion of dissolving the company, it appeared that I wanted more than the company could provide. I wanted to be out more, sharing more, doing more for women, rather than just managing the staff and operation of the company. I wanted to have more workshops, do multiple tele-classes across the country, donate more money, make more so the company and I could donate more, speak more, facilitate more, etc. I simply wanted more!

During that year, everyone had heard the phrase 'MORE in 2004". I wanted more for myself and for women.

So, after some moments of deliberation with myself, I went through ALL of the possibilities.

That was the first step. That first step was getting clear about what I wanted and looking from there. The second step was taking action on having what I said I wanted.

We tend to get stopped because we don't say what we want. Sometimes we get stopped because we think we don't know how to have what we want. We find reasons why we can't have what we want. We have our own internal conversations that tell us why we can't have what we want or why we shouldn't go after our dreams.

So as I began to look, the possibilities were: I could just quit, but that wasn't what I wanted. I could close the doors of the company, but that wouldn't given me what I really wanted. I could find a job, but that wouldn't give me what I really wanted. I could buy another company that already provided these things, along with flexibility and a healthy salary, but that wasn't really what I wanted.

What a deliberation! My "internal deliberation" was at work. So, what does one do now? It seems that this is where most of us stop, isn't it? You've exhausted all the possibilities and what appears to be all of your resources, right? You've come to no resolution. It's dark and resignation kicks in. The flame of possibility and having one's dreams slowly flickers.

What do you do from here? Continue to look deeply within! The answer lies within you.

Persevere and keep going even when it seems hopeless.

So, what did I do?

Well I couldn't seem to find a viable solution in that moment. How could I really? All of my creativity had been smothered by resignation. Resignation breeds suppression. There are very few possibilities available when you are stuck and resigned about something.

So, I had a conversation with my own life coach, and there, to my surprise, were many possibilities available to me. Some were promoting myself more as a public speaker, aligning with organizations that donate money and becoming more involved, making myself available to facilitate other programs that empower women, expanding the corporations financial portfolio, creating alliances with many women's organizations and list went on and on.

Having what I wanted was again at my fingertips. I didn't give up. I persevered. I forged ahead....

See, "As the flame flickers and falters, slowly leaving you breathless, I am the One: the one to breathe the fire of life back into the fibers of who you are"...

You are the one to breathe the fire of life back into the fibers of who you are. The power lives within you, and it's always been there! Will you allow your own power to emerge?

Until next time!

Science Fiction Writing - Ten Cliches to Avoid

2008-01-11T23:13:00.000-08:00

By: William Meikle

Science Fiction has become so much part of our culture that icons from it are all around us, in film, TV, computer games and music. Adoption into the mainstream makes science fiction both easy to sell, and hard to write without seeming tired and cliched. Here are ten situations you should steer away from, and some variations to consider if you're determined to proceed.

The Never-Ending Spacecraft Flying Overhead

It starts with just a small piece of hardware coming into view. Then it expands as the ship fills the whole screen, gun ports bristling. Still it comes, sound building all the time, until the tail engines, glowing yellow, pass overhead. Star Wars started this one, and it's been used ad-nauseam ever since, giving the model makers a chance to show off. Try a new approach. Why not have the spaceship roll overhead then pan back to find its only inches long? Or how about an alien that can travel through space without a ship?

Saucers Over the White House

The silver saucer hovers overhead while various military types run around saying things like "Now we know we are not alone." and "Hit them with everything you've got." The aliens say things like "Klaatu Barada Nicto." This approach was overdone in the 1950's in Earth vs The Flying Saucers and The Day The Earth Stood Still long before Independence Day came along. The aliens always speak English, supposedly having watched our TV. If that were the case, why aren't they already brain dead? Just for a change, how about having the aliens ignore the major powers altogether? After all, are they really stupid enough to attack the strongest military powers first?

The Multi-Race Bar Room

The barman says "We don't serve your kind in here" There's an evil looking being standing in the corner and a silly- looking alien singing a silly sounding song. Writers love this situation. It gives them a chance to come up with outlandish aliens with equally outlandish names. There are fine examples in Star Wars, and any episode of Babylon 5. If you want to subvert this cliche, how about having an alien town with segregated bars, or even segregated areas inside bars, thus creating plenty of opportunities for tension?

The Meeting of the Galactic Council

Groups of different aliens shout at each other a lot, saying things like "I withdraw my voting block" and "We do not recognize this council" By far the most boring example is in The Phantom Menace, which tried to substitute spectacle for tension and failed abysmally. at least Babylon 5 showed imagination and a modicum of originality, and in Star Trek you can always rely on the Klingons to do something violent.

The meeting is often little more than a chance for the writer to play with metaphors for contemporary politics. And if they're not doing that, they're rehashing King Arthur And The Round Table. Thee is a whole genre of books devoted to galactic councils, empires and federations. If you're going to try it, it's best not to have a recognizable antecedent. Never use thinly disguised Roman Senates or British Style upper and lower houses ... and definitely no round tables. Find a new way of having an intergalactic empire make decisions. Then you'll be getting somewhere.

to be contiuened

Love Poems

2008-01-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

By: Jimmy Sturo

It is true that love is a spontaneous emotion, which should neither be artificial nor forced.

One of the best ways to express one’s thoughts is to pen a beautiful poem. As we know, a poem is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, wherein thoughts flow freely like a river. This is perfectly suited for love.

Love poems have been an integral part of any literature, whether it is Western or Oriental. In fact, some of the best literature is related to love. Love is all pervasive and cannot be confined to any particular race or community. Hence, love poems have existed since ancient times.

To testify this, we all are aware that even in the history of English Literature, there was a particular period when “romantic poems” were in vogue and “romantic poetry” was the talk of the town. To name a few exemplary romantic poets from England: Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Byron and Blake. Their poems are masterpieces and treasured by posterity.

A few lines from one such love poem, written by Taryn Grace, are a clear indication of a lover’s thoughts.

I'm at your feet

and I come with gifts

my body, heart, and soul

They're yours to do with as you please

to command and to control

I give myself with all my heart

I'm yours for all of time

Your slave, your queen, your anything

only say that you are mine

In a love poem, the author can use his imagination and creative skills to give the exact meaning of his thoughts and provide a true picture of his views on love.

Similarly, a love poem can be easily identified by the language itself. The poet usually describes his lover as a Goddess or an angel. Not only that, a love poem is written by a person who is immersed in love and imagines that his world revolves around that “special person” only. To quote a lover’s words, “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

Love has the power to change an ordinary person into a genuine poet, thereby encouraging him to write delightful love poems. Normally, the language of a love poem is simply flattering, and sometimes exaggerated, too.

Sometimes, a lot of negative thoughts tend to creep in a love poem if the poet is suffering due to lost love or unfulfilled love. Such poems reflect his shattered dreams, agony, and frustration.

Love is an eternal feeling- so expect love poems to reflect the changing times even though love remains the core theme always.

Child Education

2008-01-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

By: Brigitte Meier

The initial state of happiness about an own child is often overcome with annoyance after even a short period of time. Children quickly grow an own personality, and it's the most vital task of the parents to help develop it and give it a shape. Otherwise, the little angel can turn into a little devil adding considerably to the stress in life you already have.

Like everything else in life, child education is a tightrope walk between strictness and letting loose. Drifting off either way causes more problems than it solves. But of course what sounds clear and obvious in theory is much harder to actually apply practically.

The suggestions here are no rules to follow, they're mere guidelines and should animate own thoughts and ideas. After all, it's up to you what you think is best.

1. Discipline

During the first six month of its life, a baby won't yet be able to understand the connection between "bad behaviour" and punishment. What it really needs during that time is care and loving, to tighten the emotional bounds to its parents.

Nevertheless, even a baby that small is fully capable of repeating actions that lead to a pleasant result. So if any sob makes you appear immediately on the cradle, you'll find that you have a miniature dictator soon who keeps you up and running with joy.

Between seven and fourteen months, children normally start testing their limits. This results from a growth in both mobility and stubbornness, so what's being put on test are the parents' patience with keeping their little ones from exploring, often eating and probably destroying the reachable parts of the household and for how long they can get away with it.

Babies at that age start challenging their parents by stubborn disobedience, but that should not lead to punishment. Be firm and persistent in telling and showing them what they're not supposed to do, but don't be rude or harsh. Their concentration usually doesn't last, so distraction is a great weapon. They still need a lot of love, and your reward will be a happy time with a sometimes annoying, but mostly very cute baby.

Going towards an age of two years, the obstinacy takes often a negative direction: "No" is the preferred answer to all "propositions" ranging from eating and choice of toys to taking a bath and going to sleep.

Discipline can become considerably harder to apply, but is vital to steer the course of your child's further development. It has to learn that the authority and decision is with the parents. Still, love and forgiveness is of even importance. Especially the father's role as an authority for the child and support for his wife can make this period a lot easier.

With increasing mobility, skill and curiosity a child between two and three years can keep its mother constantly busy, taking every moment of silence as an indication of a new disaster involving eating things, messing around with things and getting stuck in things.

This can really add to the load of stress parents already have, and the explosive emotional or even physical reaction might ease the moment, but on the long term increases the problem. So be as relaxed as possible and make sure you've got all valuable pieces of household equipment properly secured. When children receive a bump or scratch that's no drama - turning it into one will just make you and your child over-freightened in the future. Still, with all calmness, don't miss to tell your child when it did wrong and discipline when it's overdoing it.

In the following years, the focus of education should be on the child's character and attitudes. The influence of trends, friends and media is strong, and the temptation to try new things is high. At the same time, the control parents have over their children's activities is reduced, and especially when it comes to trends parents often lack understanding for the things that are "in".

So even though your child becomes more independent, it's important that you have time together and show interest in its experiences, interests and problems. Offer to talk about things, but don't urge. Show understanding and always be there as someone your child can talk to without fear - remember the days when you were in that age, and your feelings at that time.

And, most important: Be a paradigm to your child. You cannot expect it to do something you don't have the power or courage to do yourself. Respect is nothing that can be taught, but has to be earned, even by parents.

2. Rules of thumb

- Be just! Don't expect your child to behave according to rules you haven't set. Especially young children often can't distinguish between right and wrong. So even if something is clearly a stupid idea for you, it might seem a brilliant one to it.

- Be firm! If you give in to your child's defiant reaction, maybe because you're just tired of the whole thing, you lose much more than that fight. You give away authority and respect.

- Forgive! After a confrontation is settled, reassure your child of your love and show that you're not resentful.

- Don't ask for the impossible! No matter what your means of education are like, you can't expect a child to behave like an adult. Children sometimes behave irresponsibly - that's built-in.

- Don't forget the love! In the end, no matter how much trouble you might have with each other, don't forget to show that you love your child. And when it comes to decide how to educate, how to reward and how to discipline, listen to your heart what's the right thing to do.

A Psychology Course Will Take You Places!

2008-01-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

By: Robert Brown

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) there has been a steady increase in demand for psychology courses over the last few years, both from people who want to practice psychology in a traditional field, and from those who want to use the knowledge in an unrelated area, such as business. This is happening as people realize that psychology training is one of the most useful things you can get - for almost any career.

In the complex world of today, psychology courses lend you the training to handle a wide variety of roles and job-situations: from education to marketing, from social work to finance, from elder care to the military – all need understanding of human psychology.

Therefore, psychology knowledge had become more in demand, both from employers who are looking for these skills, but also as a result of the turbulent nature of the world we live in today.

Fast changes and conflict in society mean more stress. Individually we want more but seem to have less time. In the work place interpersonal communication skills are more highly valued than ever. Employers demand more in less time.

All of these mean (1) that there is a greater amount of psychological stress about, which we need help relieving and (2) knowing about how humans think will help you survive and grow in the workplace.

Are you now convinced you should take a psychology course?

In case you're not, we'll close this discussion by pointing out a few of the job options that are available just in the field of traditional psychology. Bear in mind that we are not going to mention the vast array of career options outside psychology.

Forensic Psychology: Not always as glamorous as it might look on TV; here you work in and around the criminal justice system. You might be advising police, the prison service or the courts. You could work in a law firm helping with jury selection and trial strategy.

Educational Psychology: Here you’d help deal with issues that children face in education. Many children today suffer with emotional problems, learning difficulties and issues of social acceptance. You’d help them to resolve these.

Clinical Psychology: Here you work with people in the health system, either at hospital or various community settings in this well known mental-health-psychology field. You might counsel patients with mental health issues or help those with learning difficulties.

Counseling Psychology: Possibly the best known field. As a qualified counselor you use your skills when working one-one-one with clients to resolve personal issues or psychological difficulties. This is a very popular and in-demand field.

3 other fields for you to consider: Occupational Psychology, Psychotherapy and Sports Psychology.

Education

2008-01-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

By: Monty Karl

EDUCATION

Obtaining an education can take time and money. But for many of the careers, it is necessary in order to gain promotions or to even find a position of level of entry. Many people are registered every year in programs of degree at the universities, at the schools of technology, the programs of training, and the classes in line in order to improve and obtain the majority of their careers. There are many programs of degree to choose from while trying to gain an education. Some can test two or three programs before deciding what they want to do when they receive a diploma. Many people will sometimes return to the university to improve their education by gaining a higher degree in their field or which are closely related.

It is important to consider which interests with one are before deciding to invest time and the money in costs of an education. Another important factor is where to go to the university. Some remain at the house with their parents in order to save the money, whereas others leave to the university to learn how to be independent. There are extra costs to go far to the university such as traveling expenses and expenditure of part of dormitory. Some students obtain work, whereas some find grants or acquire loans to pay for their education.

Once a university was chosen and arrangements of voyage were made, many of the students will have to leave their families. This can be hard at the beginning, but the study of how to be a responsible adult becomes easier once you get through the hard times. The students who decide to take the classes online do not have to travel, but they have to have self discipline to get themselves to devote time to study which can be hard because you're home and no one is watching after you. On the other manner, obtaining an education is not always easy. The calendars changing to satisfy the needs for the time of study, leaving the familiar people and places to go to a new place, and learning a new competence which will form the career of a person are great stages to be taken.

Even those which return to the school after having missed it during one moment will have to make adjustments in some of their lives. This can take a few months and can require the assistance of the members and the friends of family. The reference at the school can be frightening sometimes. But to decide to obtain an education is the best goal to realize. The study moreover about the world, to get information about new or familiar field, and to meet new people are all the part of the experiment of university. People who have degrees of university will usually gain more in their career that those which not, they will be able to solve problems in the life much easier, and they will be able to meet people easier than those which do not have a degree.

Educational Toys and DVDs

2008-01-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

By: Fabiola Groshan

Educational toys are very important tools in the development of a child’s functional skills. Most parents are aware of how important it is for their children to play and have fun. Education plays an equally important part in the development of that child’s personality. Educational toys fulfill both aspects, that of allowing your child to have fun and play, and that of significantly contributing to his or her education and process of learning. From the early stages of their life, children have amazing abilities to learn. Nothing is more appropriate than carefully selected educational toys, even from early ages. A careful selection of the child’s toys, based on criteria such as age, materials and functions, is very important. Such toys, if appropriate for you child’s age, can stimulate the child and engage his or her imagination. Many parents see educational toys as providers of an excellent medium for the education of their children. However, many such toys are too expensive for many people to afford, and so, some parents are restrained from buying them.

Shopping for educational toys online is the answer for all parents. First of all, there are many online shopping stores that you can choose from, and the variety of educational toys is overwhelming. Secondly, the educational toys you can purchase online come with the cheapest rates you will ever find. An online shopping store is where you’ll find the best prices and discounts. Moreover, shopping for educational toys online saves a lot of time. You don’t have to leave your home and spend hours going from store to store. The online shopping stores are easy to browse through, and you will be able to find the desired product in no time. What’s more, some offers include free shipment, which is even more convenient.

In order to be able to make an informed choice, you should do a little searching on the Internet to find out exactly what type of educational toys are appropriate for your child’s age. Once you have done that, you can browse through the numerous products out there and choose the ones that are most appealing to you. Any respectable online store should provide you with detailed information about the educational toys that they sell, such as detailed description or even a picture, learning objectives, price, etc. This will make your job even easier. Nothing can be more convenient than purchasing online, as it is time and cost-effective.

Educational DVDs are yet another excellent medium for stimulating your child and engaging his or her imagination. These educational DVDs are fun to watch and your children will certainly love them. The best part is that, aside from the fun they provide, educational DVDs will also teach your child a lot of useful things, while contributing substantially to his or her education. Be it infant, toddler or preschooler, there are educational DVDs for all age levels. From speech and language development to acquiring spelling and math skills, educational DVDs are a great provider of quality education for your child.

All in all, as a parent, you will always want the best for your child. Education is a very important part of your child’s life, starting from infancy. Educational toys and DVDs are considered the best option, as they contribute to the development of knowledge and encourage playing and fun at the same time.

Learning to Read with Phonics

2008-01-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

By: Herman Reeder

Teaching children to read accurately and fluently seems like such a straightforward and simple task but the reality is that many children suffer from some form of learning disability and really require a little more then what is offered in most schools. The "Whole Language" approach should be supplemented with a carefully planned Phonics program and although this is by now common knowledge, many teachers are not properly trained in this method.

Even children with mild forms of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and/or hyperactivity/attention deficit disorder, will have a hard time learning to read. These children face more difficulties than others in creating relationship between sounds that they hear in words and letters that make that sound on paper. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has concluded in its survey that 95 percent of the children suffering from this problem can reach their goal of reading accurately if they are attended to at a very early age, preferably, before they enter 3rd grade. This institute recommended that ‘phonics’ should be included as the part of the curriculum and should be taught along with the whole language combination.

This message has by now penetrated into most schools and teachers will assure you with a "But we DO teach phonics!" The question is, "Do they believe and understand it well enough to teach it competently?" What phonics a child may be taught can be nullified by teacher policies that still emphasize the Whole Word approach. And there still are some whole-language schools in various parts of the country, where they proclaim, "But we DO teach phonics". It is not that many years ago (1995), that a student was penalized for sounding out words by having his desk put out into the parking lot!

This space will not suffice to provide you with a full description of the Phonics. However the following definitions will arm you with some terminology and relevant vocabulary.

PHONEME - Smallest unit of sound. GRAPHEME – Letter or group of letters representing a one sound, such as: sh, igh, t. DIGRAPH – Two letters which make one sound, such as: sh, ch, ee, ph, oa. SPLIT DIGRAGHS – Two letters that work as a split pair: a-e as in cake and i-e as in kite. TRIGRAPH – Three letters which together make one sound but cannot be separated into smaller phonemes eg. igh as in light, ear as in heard and tch as in watch. SEGMENTATION – hearing individual phonemes (sounds) within one word, such as: crash consists of c-r-a-sh. The child needs to learn how to segment each word in its component phonemes and then to choose a grapheme to represent each phoneme. I know, that sounds very hard and it is, particularly when you are learning disabled. BLENDING – Means merging the individual sounds together to pronounce the word. A child must learn to "sound out" each grapheme, not each letter eg. th-i-n not t-h-i-n. MNEMONICS – a device for memorizing and recalling something, such as a hand action of a drum (beat fist on table) to remember the phoneme /d/ and the instruction "think of your Mammy", to remember the /m/.
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Teaching children to read accurately and fluently seems like such a straightforward and simple task but the reality is that many children suffer from some form of learning disability and really require a little more then what is offered in most schools. The "Whole Language" approach should be supplemented with a carefully planned Phonics program and although this is by now common knowledge, many teachers are not properly trained in this method.

Even children with mild forms of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and/or hyperactivity/attention deficit disorder, will have a hard time learning to read. These children face more difficulties than others in creating relationship between sounds that they hear in words and letters that make that sound on paper. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has concluded in its survey that 95 percent of the children suffering from this problem can reach their goal of reading accurately if they are attended to at a very early age, preferably, before they enter 3rd grade. This institute recommended that ‘phonics’ should be included as the part of the curriculum and should be taught along with the whole language combination.

This message has by now penetrated into most schools and teachers will assure you with a "But we DO teach phonics!" The question is, "Do they believe and understand it well enough to teach it competently?" What phonics a child may be taught can be nullified by teacher policies that still emphasize the Whole Word approach. And there still are some whole-language schools in various parts of the country, where they proclaim, "But we DO teach phonics". It is not that many years ago (1995), that a student was penalized for sounding out words by having his desk put out into the parking lot!

This space will not suffice to provide you with a full description of the Phonics. However the following definitions will arm you with some terminology and relevant vocabulary.

PHONEME - Smallest unit of sound. GRAPHEME – Letter or group of letters representing a one sound, such as: sh, igh, t. DIGRAPH – Two letters which make one sound, such as: sh, ch, ee, ph, oa. SPLIT DIGRAGHS – Two letters that work as a split pair: a-e as in cake and i-e as in kite. TRIGRAPH – Three letters which together make one sound but cannot be separated into smaller phonemes eg. igh as in light, ear as in heard and tch as in watch. SEGMENTATION – hearing individual phonemes (sounds) within one word, such as: crash consists of c-r-a-sh. The child needs to learn how to segment each word in its component phonemes and then to choose a grapheme to represent each phoneme. I know, that sounds very hard and it is, particularly when you are learning disabled. BLENDING – Means merging the individual sounds together to pronounce the word. A child must learn to "sound out" each grapheme, not each letter eg. th-i-n not t-h-i-n. MNEMONICS – a device for memorizing and recalling something, such as a hand action of a drum (beat fist on table) to remember the phoneme /d/ and the instruction "think of your Mammy", to remember the /m/.

The Steps To Achieving Your Microsoft Certificate

2008-01-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

By: Paul Abbey

Getting your Microsoft certificate is a big step to a great future. There are some things that you should know before you begin your studying. And one of the most important steps is going to be to obtain a job that is in the IT field. This is going to get you the proper experience that you will need to land a job. This is a very competitive field.

It’s important that you find the proper training courses that will help you to prepare for the Microsoft certificate exam. This exam is going to cost you money so you want to make sure that you are fully prepared to pass it.

There are many different courses out there, but not all of them are going to be good. You need to make sure that the course that you select is going to not only offer you the necessary material but that they will also be there for you when you have questions. You don’t want to be left out in the dark when you pay money to learn the information.

Online courses are the best way to make good use of your time. You can still work at your current job, or the job that you get within the field to get the much needed experience, and still study for the Microsoft certification exam. So if you have a limited amount of time during the day to go to scheduled classroom classes then online courses are going to be the best option. It’s important that you understand that you will need to really condition yourself and make sure that you make the time to study. It’s easy to push it off when you have this kind of freedom. If you don’ think that you can do this then you should begin looking into some classroom courses they might just be better suited for you.

When you get you Microsoft certificate you will be in a great position to begin making a nice salary. The salaries for people with their Microsoft certificate are not as high as they use to be, but they are still higher then many other careers. The job openings for these positions are also not as common as they use to be, but they still exist. And with the internet today it helps to make finding these openings much easier then just using your local newspaper to find jobs.

Free Advertising Made Easy

2008-01-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

By: Steve Choi

You cannot have everything handy or reachable when you need them. People go bananas searching for their needs and solutions for their routine life’s requirements and problems. All the worries end when you visit the place that is the hub for everything on the Internet – the StrubleHere. No matter whether you are single and looking for someone at weekends or you are a property dealer and want to explore some good locations and sites for your newly developing business, you can get all what you want and there is no word in the dictionary of necessity that you cannot find at StumbleHere.

StumbleHere allows you to post ads free of cost for certain period. You can post free classifieds in your local community to buy or to sell anything. This all-in-one website is very well categorized and there is a clear classification for your day-to-day requirements. You can select the subject you want or can directly put the keyword to search.

The major classifications include sales (auto parts, furniture etc.) communities (activities, events, groups, pets) , housing (real estates, housing, vocational rentals etc), services (computer, legal, labor etc) and many more. At StumbleHere, you can also search for classifieds and can browse for your dream jobs. This useful website also allows you to submit your resumes so that your efficacy is exposed to hundreds of thousands of employers who can make your future bright.

One of the main features StumbleHere has is you can browse for different locations across the United States. All you need to do is click the location or the city you want to find different communities and when you click on it, you are directed to the page where it has all those beautifully classified and well-arranged categories.

StumbleHere understands that the business is nothing without marketing and especially on the Internet, it is very important tool for your and your company’s growth. StumbleHere, for a specific period, allows you to post your any type of advertisement, content or blog that describes your service or product at free of cost. This would provide fair chances to sell your goods or products and will accelerate your business’ growth.

To share your views and ideas about communities or any kind of services, you are also allowed to the forums

Are Websites Helpful to Students Who Are Researching?

2008-01-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

By: Angela Sampson

Students in the 21st century want information to be accessible right away. Books contain useful information but it takes awhile to find what one is looking for because the person actually has to read the book in its entirety or the topic related to the research. Interviews take some time to conduct because an individual has to set up an appointment, prepare questions to ask and hope that the interviewee says something relevant to the topic being probed. On the other hand, websites can deliver multiple sources just by clicking the mouse and most sites are scannable, hence a person would know if the site is pertinent or not.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has made it possible for relevant sites to be shown in the first 20 pages of Google or Yahoo. Keywords that contain the phrases or words being searched for enable the spider, a term that describes the tool that Google or Yahoo uses to determine if a site is useful or not, to access and analyze the content of a site. This and new ways that the two most recognized search engines employ to be cautious of sites that comprise worthless content, aid in presenting sites that are useful.

However, relying on a website without checking if the site's author is reliable can be analogous to a person believing in someone with unfounded beliefs. Note that anyone these days can create a site and claim that the so-called information are "facts". Hence, government websites, school websites, or experts on a particular field that have a site are credible sources. Make sure that your research is derived from them.

SEO has resulted in pages that would benefit users, it is now up to people to extract the information that they need from these sites and give credit to people who share their knowledge to others.

Web Development

2008-01-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

By: Stephen Hamilton

As with the growth of industries it was necessary to distribute the information regionally and world wide. So common platform required over which we can deploy common application from which data and application usage can be distributed.

Web development term is related to development of web site over World Wide Web. Web development is very vast field. This can include ecommerce business development, portal development, shopping cart development etc.

Web development is pertaining to non design aspect of the web sites. Web development is of two types (i) static web page development and (ii) dynamic web page development. Day by day web development industry is going to be grow by 20 % by 2010. Big corporate giants plunged in to this business to sell their products and services to their customers to automate their business work flow. Reduced cost of web development and hosting has played tremendous role in growth of web development industry. Large companies offer contract for web development to smaller companies. There are various web development tools available to aid the development. E.g. LAMP architecture (Linux, apache, mysql, php) and Microsoft .Net development. LAMP is distributed free of charge. It has inspired many people to set up new web sites. It has fuelled up continuous growth of web development. Html is basic web page formatting language for web development. Next generation web development technologies use LAMP and Microsoft .net technologies. Data base driven and ecommerce based web sites requires use of web technologies like LAMP for Microsoft .Net technology.

So many enterprises are going to be web based. They can be defined as portal. Such portals are known as social networking portal. People find and get together through online dating and matrimonial portals.

Today each and every human is going to popularize his online identity though web. There are different ways to promote yourself over internet. You can create your own blog, article, press release etc.

Major reasons why people creating web sites or portals:

1. Personal Identity 2. Company Identity 3. To grow domestic business world wide 4. To sell products and services 5. To made easy communication with people world wide

Like above, there are other many reasons to create web sites and portals.

Yes!!! but the truth is that today website is must for each and every small and large business companies. Websites today become the corporate identity for every business.

Toady your business is not a business without a website.

How to Increase Speed of Internet

2008-01-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

By: Allen Jo

Today, the Internet has become indispensable for many. People narrowing down to this option are opting for technological advancements like broadband, ADSL, Wi-Fi etc. However, the slow speed of connection can be highly frustrating at times especially during downloading. There are a number of ways which allow you to optimize your internet speed.

High bandwidth technologies hold extreme importance for tech-savvy consumers. Among such washing ashore are cable modems which are nowadays being used for high speed Internet connection. It also eliminates the need for dialing in every time you want to go online. The users can continue to receive television through the same cable, whereas data services can be shared by several PCs in a home based LAN configuration.

An Ethernet network is managed over a wide geographic area. In case, there are a few users served by a neighborhood node on this network, all the bandwidth will certainly be dedicated to them. On the other hand, if there will be a majority of users availing cable network will lower the speed. Cable providers generally add a node to an area to reduce such congestion. Use of cable modems has shown their caliber resulting into high speed internet connection. This was one of the ways to speed up the connection through cable modem.

Many individuals see GPRS internet connection on PC as the best means to increase speed of the internet. Opposed to this, a broadband connection with mere 256 kbps can be enough to work online efficiently without any disconnections.

Broadband Internet Access, often acronym to simple "broadband", is high speed Internet access. They are preferred over dial-up modems which are only capable of supporting a maximum bitrate of 56 kbit/s. Broadband connections provide the double of the speed what dial up connections has to offer and without disrupting telephone use.

Broadband is generally termed as high speed Internet connection as it can transmit a high rate of data. Any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s or more is considered broadband internet. It offers several advantages for business, home users. Along with putting an end to waiting time for downloads, broadband gives fast access to the information the user requires or wants.

Increase Web Traffic

2008-01-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

By: Tim Beachum

I was told it was easy. You have probably heard the same thing. Then like me you took the leap of faith. You built your masterpiece. You submitted your website to the search engines. Then you waited… And waited… And waited.

The sales never poured in like most experts have told us that it would. Now it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Maybe you should try Google Adwords. Or maybe you should try buying traffic. Those services work and they are effective. But what if you are operating on a shoestring budget.
You could turn to SEO marketing and generate free traffic. Although SEO marketing is extremely effective it is time consuming – but it works. Nobody wants to wait weeks or even months to increase there web traffic. You need traffic and you need it within minutes. What do you do?

TIME TO PLAY DIRTY

That is the position that I found myself in when I first started. Out of stupidity I turned to black hat techniques, spam, and several other risky strategies. Did they work? They sure did. Did I generate any revenue? I sure did. In fact I made a lot of money. I achieved my goal and I did increase my web traffic. I even quit my job. I had become one of those so-called over night successes that I had once read about.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

As fast as it all came… It all went away. My house of cards came tumbling down. I was spamming so much I had shut down entire companies. The lawsuits started pouring in. What seemed like a dream come true had turned in to my worse nightmare. A shortcut turned into a yearlong battle, and a mountain of attorney fees. Although I survived it all the scars still remain. But there is more…
During the battle I discovered Safelist. I wish I could tell you that I struck it rich again my first time out the gate. But I failed miserably. Then I discovered that Safelist marketing was a unique form of marketing. I couldn’t approach it like I did with traditional forms of marketing. With a year or so and a ton of persistence I finally figured it out - the traffic began to flow. And more importantly it was all 100% legit.

Now when I launch a new website Safelist marketing is the first weapon in my arsenal that I pull out. It allows me to drive traffic to my website within minutes. If you do not remember anything else from this article – remember this. The most important thing outside of knowing how to write a good ad is being consistent.
Although I use several techniques to drive traffic to my website – I always start with Safelist marketing. Why do I do this? It cost little to know money to get started and it is effective. It allows me to test my sales copy for conversions. At the same time I am generating revenue, while I optimize my website for the search engines.

The bottom line is this… Regardless to what the so-called experts say, Safelist really do work. I recommend this strategy to those who are just starting out with online marketing. This strategy is time consumer, and is geared towards those with little to no revenue to invest.
Go join a couple of Safelist and take about 15 or 20 minutes to review the ton of emails that you are going to receive. Look at what they are selling. Take note to the headlines that catch your eye. Study their sales copy. Experiments and see what works for you. I ensure you that Safelist marketing will generate web traffic for you.

Will you have tons of traffic flowing to your site in the beginning. Nope! However you will open the floodgates of web traffic once you understand how the system works.

How to Do Your Dissertation Research Productively?

2008-01-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

By: Dominic Corey

Are you ready to start your dissertation research? Your research should illustrate a broad understanding of studies done in your area of study. Whether you are starting your research or have started already, I am going to discuss some important points that you should know in order to carry out an in-depth research productively. Not knowing these tips might cause frustration and even make students give up their degrees. These are some basic yet powerful tips that will help you understand how to do your research successfully.

• First of all, you need to realize that dissertation research is not an easy task. It is your thorough research that enables you to write your dissertation and earn your degree. Therefore, it should not be taken lightly. It is undoubtedly the most important aspect of your dissertation writing process. Your thorough research will also prevent you from spending as much time with your loved-ones as you used to. This is the sacrifice you will have to make when you do your research. But once you are done, your life will be back to normal. Not will your life be normal again, it will instead be much better with your degree.

• When you start your dissertation research, make up your mind that you will explore as many resources as possible. Visit all kinds of libraries like your university library, local libraries and online libraries. Talk to your advisor and professors about your dissertation and note down their valuable suggestions. Discuss the theme of your dissertation with your classmates and friends who have completed their dissertations. Remember, the more you explore – the easier your dissertation writing will be.

• Along with searching for matter, you should also know how each part of your dissertation is written. Check your university guidelines and talk to your advisor about the format, length and writing style of your dissertation. This will enable you to understand what type of matter you need to search for and, hence, you will be able to do your research accordingly.

Carrying out an in-depth dissertation research is extremely crucial. It is the key to completing your dissertation successfully. You need to be prepared that it is not an easy task. At times, you might even think about giving up your degree. But don’t let that happen. Tell yourself that your life will get better once you are done, then thoroughly search for matter and finally write your dissertation successfully.

Internet Authors don't need fame

2008-01-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

By: Mike Scantlebury

It must be awful being a publisher. Working in a Traditional Publishing firm must be like working in the industry of flood prevention in Holland. In that country, nearly seventy per cent of the land is lower than the sea level, so it's a constant battle to make sure that the barriers and dykes are well serviced and watertight, otherwise water will flood in and houses and people will be overwhelmed. Publishers say they know that feeling. In their case it's not water, though, it's brown envelopes. Every day the postman staggers in to their office with a heavy sack on their shoulder - like Santa at Christmas Eve - and unloads a stack of submissions onto any spare surface available - desk, shelf or floor. Then minions have to turn the envelopes over and try and identify who they're from and whether they're worth reading. Anything with a famous name will get looked at. Most other stuff hangs about for a bit, and then gets returned. If you're not famous, you're ignored. Tough but true. Meanwhile the publishing staff, despite leaving the majority of submissions alone, still feel like they're drowning under the flood of paper. They take manuscripts home at night. They read them on the bus or train coming in to work in the morning. There's a sea of chapters around them, all the time threatening to cover them completely. No wonder they feel under pressure.

Luckily, there's some joy in the job, and that's when a piece turns up that's a joy to read. Suddenly the weight lifts from their shoulders. The plot drags them in, the characters stir them, the dialogue sparkles. The words leap off the page and everyone is hooked. Mark that one up for publication, they cry!

Then there's the actual stuff they publish. Check any Bestseller List and you'll see that it isn't the above, the genuine work of literature, the 'joy to read' that we've just discussed. At the moment the fastest selling books as listed in the daily newspaper are all by people you already know - singers, comedians, musicians, actors, TV stars and sports people. Do their words grab you? No, but people want to read this stuff. Do they shock, enlighten, educate and entertain? Not at all, but then, that's not what we want. What we ask famous people to do is divert us, take us away from the mundanity we already know and let us dip our toes into the pond that is celebrity. It doesn't have to well written, it just needs to have enough gossip to titillate and amuse. If there's references to other famous people, so much the better - it'll save having to read their life story. One book could cover several. Even better if it's a husband and wife team. If famous people marry each other, our curiosity is tickled even more. So much to learn! So little time.

Internet Authors don't need to worry about such matters. There's no hurdle for them that says, 'If you're not famous, you're not getting in'. They can go to an on-line publishing firm like Lulu and upload their book, then they can print off as many copies as they need, passing them round to friends and relatives, and placing a few in local bookstores. They can even pay a small amount for a listing in on-line bookshops like Amazon, so that people can order their own copies, either soon or in the future. Meanwhile they're in the market, and there's still that dream of 'being noticed', of being spotted and taken up by a national publisher, or one of the Traditional names. If so, maybe a career beckons, the life of 'author' and the small amount of celebrity that will entail. If not, they've still found a home for their creation and still seen the work in print.

The alternative? Your work, so lovingly crafted, polished and presented, may be scuffed around the floor of an already overcrowded office, not being noticed because no one knows your name. You haven't got the fame - yet - and so you can't get the attention. It's a vicious circle and few writers will ever break in and join the enchanted few. Most will languish, their books still in the brown envelopes, right up to the time they are taken out, given a Rejection Slip, and put back into the Stamped Addressed Envelope and returned. Undaunted, the ambitious author and would-be writer will try again, and again, doing nothing except contribute small waves to the flood that may, one day, overwhelm the insecure offices of each of those Traditional Publishers.

Online Undergraduate Degrees

2008-01-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

By: Keith Londrie

Most high school seniors know a college degree becomes important during the time of choosing a career path. Having an undergraduate degree opens more doors to success than experience alone. Statistics show individuals holding an undergraduate degree make at least 20% more than anyone else in a similar entry-level position. This may not seem like much at first, but considering the ease of advancements, promotions and bonuses seen by most graduate students, one cannot deny the benefits of holding an undergraduate degree.

Daily life obligations put a strain on the modern individual’s ability to allocate time towards getting everything done in a single day. Add this strain to a recent high school graduate’s life and you may never see the pursuit of further education. This statistical fact is an unfortunate and avoidable circumstance. The introduction of online undergraduate degrees offers high school graduates a chance to pursue their educational desires from just about anywhere and anytime. Most students don’t even need to move out of their parent’s home in order to enroll in programs offering online undergraduate degrees. All the information regarding course material is hosted on a remote university’s server and is available to the student at their discretion.

Time, Education and Online Undergraduate Degree Success

Of course, most students and professors agree, whether pursuing online undergraduate degrees or local university degrees, you’ll need to invest the same amount of time into studying, preparing for exams and actually learning the material. College advisors suggest allocating 3 hours of study time towards every 1 hour of college credits taken. Time management and sufficient allocation of study time can be quite a task in any student’s life but add work into the equation and scheduling disasters will nearly be eminent. By pursuing online undergraduate degrees, one doesn’t have to fuss with commuting to or from class and can redirect this time towards studying, reading or completing homework assignments.

Staying on Top of Debt While Pursuing Online Undergraduate Degrees

Most students would not be able to afford paying for college right out of high school. Thus, the majority of the student body takes out student loans to help pay tuition obligations. However, most lending companies still require a student to pay down incurring interest during their educational pursuit. While the interest payments can seem relatively small to the overall loan amount, it still makes taking on part-time work almost necessary towards staving off debt issues. With this in mind, online undergraduate degrees allow an individual to delegate time towards learning course material before, during or after their daily work obligations.

Online Undergraduate Degrees Offer another Option

Online undergraduate degrees allow individuals to secure a more successful future by pursuing further education before entering their chosen career field. Individuals seemingly without options should look towards online undergraduate degrees as a way to open up doors to success in their career field. Statistics show, whether in possession of online undergraduate degrees or local university degrees, an individual will be 20% more successful in their chosen career field.

Tips To Earn Online Associate Nursing Degree

2008-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

By: Ekta Jain

Online associate nursing degree is in fact a fast track course to be a certified nurse, allowing you thus to obtain associate nursing degree by e learning in shortest time.

In order to become a registered nurse you need to have certified a nursing degree. Online associate nursing degree is an undergraduate degree, which is prerequisite for entry-level employment in nursing. You can go for nursing training either by taking admission in a fulltime regular course or can study online, At the end of academic session for online associate nursing degree course, you have to pass the examination like any other course, whether having taken admission in fulltime course or opting for studying online.

The requirements for admission to online associate nursing degree differ with college, but secondary level schooling is prerequisite. In order to enter into the rewarding and challenging career of nursing, you can choose online associate nursing degree program of any reputed nursing school. Just meeting the minimum standards for admission does not guarantee admission to the Nursing Program.

Online associate nursing degree truly allows a flexible learning path and therefore you are in great advantage to study or upgrade your nursing skill from home and without leaving your present job. Thus this facility to earn standard nursing degree provides you an exciting option to learn while you earn. You can even search on the web, a reputed college that offers online nursing degree course.But ensure to select a good online school which has centpercent placement on passing out, submit your request for admission and prepare for a new career.

However , Online associate nursing degree with most accredited online colleges and schools will help you to apply for financial aid, govt. funding and grants. You should speak to school counsellors and administrators for admission and other information relating to financial assistance , which you may require in order to complete your training programme.Once you get your associate degree which normally takes approximately two years to complete, you can subsequently go ahead and seek admission for online bachelor degree in nursing.