Thinking of Taking Online Classes? What to Know Before You Start

Thinking of Taking Online Classes? What to Know Before You Start

My new book is now available . . . to see full press release, click here.
“Here’s something you should know – Dr. Hamilton has provided the most comprehensive “soup to nuts” book about online education on the planet. It’s a real hand-holder to get you started, guide you to a degree and beyond into the workforce.” Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant “Stuff You Should Know” Podcast

“Here’s something you should know – Dr. Hamilton has provided the most comprehensive “soup to nuts” book about online education on the planet. It’s a real hand-holder to get you started, guide you to a degree and beyond into the workforce.” Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant “Stuff You Should Know” Podcast

Quote start“Nearly 12 million post-secondary students in the United States take some or all of their classes online right now. But this will skyrocket to more than 22 million in the next five years.(Campustechnology.com, 2010)Quote end

Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) August 17, 2010

College and university fall-semester classes will be starting soon. With the popularity of online education, many courses are now being presented in an online format. This has left students looking for answers for how to be successful in the online classroom. Are they getting the help they need? According to Dr. Diane Hamilton, author of The Online Student’s User Manual, many students could use more helpful advice.

There is no mistaking the popularity of online education. Even Bill Gates praised online learning in his 2010 Annual Letter stating, “A lot of people, including me, think this is the next place where the internet will surprise people in how it can improve things.” With a predicted 22 million students taking some form of online courses, are students getting the help they need to understand this new form of learning? Apparently they are not, if the dropout rate is any indication. Karen Frankola with BNET (2010) reported, “Chronicle of Higher Education found that institutions are seeing dropout rates that range from 20 to 50 percent for distance learners. And administrators of online courses concur that dropout rates are often 10 to 20 percentage points higher than in their face-to-face counterparts.”

As online learning becomes the future of education, more and more students are finding they have plenty of questions about online learning but many are not receiving the answers. There is no shortage of books that explain the value of an online education. However, the typical book about online learning leaves out helpful advice about how to be a successful online student. This has left learners floundering in their first year of college.

“Other books for the online college student have failed to explain some of the most important skills that the new learner will have to possess once they enter the online classroom” explained Dr. Hamilton, who has also written books about understanding personalities in the workforce and how to reinvent your career. “I have taken my many years of experience teaching first time students and compiled what I’ve learned into The Online Student’s User Manual. This book is designed for those who are looking to understand key terminology and want answers to questions that other books about online learning have neglected to answer. For the first-time online college student, this book contains all they need for optimal success. For the experienced online student and online professor, this book is also an excellent resource, with tips on time management, goal planning, test preparation, writing guidelines, and document preparation techniques.”

There are plenty of books that will help you decide on the right school or find the money you need to finance your higher education. But if you want answers to all your other questions as well, The Online Student User’s Manual takes you where no other manual has gone before—deeply into the online learning experience. Not sure if you have enough computer skills or know how to navigate in cyberspace? Intimidated by all the new terminology? The Online Student User’s Manual will allay your fears and frustrations, as it provides you with information that will make you able to successfully traverse the online halls of learning.

About the Author
Diane Hamilton currently teaches bachelor-, master-, and doctoral-level courses for six online universities. Along with her teaching experience, she has a Doctorate Degree in Business Management and more than twenty-five years of business and management-related experience. To find out more about her writing or to schedule an interview, visit her website at https://drdianehamilton.com or her blog at http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/. Review copies are available.

The Online Student’s User Manual–August, 2010 ($14.95/Amazon). ISBN: 0982742800/9780982742808 Approximately –184 pages

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New Audio Blogging

Click on the play button to hear my most recent audio blog . . .

Howstuffworks “Stuff You Should Know Podcast”

­­Why can’t robots get married? Are exorcisms real? Listen in as­ Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant take a look at astonishing facts from across the globe in this podcast. They’re world travelers, too — take a look at the image gallery of their trip to Guatemala. Don’t forget to check out their Stuff You Should Know blog while you’re here.

via howstuffworks.com

I am a huge fan of Josh and Chuck’s “Stuff You Should Know Podcast” . . . You can find them on Itunes or click on the links above to find out more about them. I often refer to many of their podcasts in my courses I teach. These guys are entertaining and educational at the same time. Check them out!

Top 5 Sources of Emotional Intelligence Information

 

Emotional Intelligence or EI has received a lot of attention thanks to Dr. Daniel Goleman and others.  There are several definitions of EI, but one of the most basic definitions is:  The ability to understand your own emotions as well as those in others. I have a lot of my doctoral students working on dissertations involving emotional intelligence. 

 

I know that there are a lot of books about EI, but I thought I’d share with you some of the ones that I find most helpful.  If you are interested in finding out more about EI, I suggest you check out the following:

 

  • General Resource of Understanding Emotional Intelligence:  Emotional Intelligence:  10th Anniversary Edition;  Why it Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman  . . . click here.
  • Great Resource to Compare 3 Models of Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence:  Key Readings on the Mayer and Salovey Model by Peter Salovey, Marc Brackett and John Mayer . . . Click here  – Excellent resource for those doing research on EI that want to compare the basics of Mayer & Salovey, Bar-On and Goleman’s work.  There is a great table on page 88.
  • Important Work by Reuven Bar-On: The Handbook of Emotional Intelligence:  Theory, Development, Assessment, and Application at Home, School and in the Workplace by Rueven Bar-ON and James Parker with a forward by Daniel Goleman. . . Click here.
  • Good Resource for Emotional Intelligence at Work: The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace by Cary Cherniss and Daniel Goleman . . . Click here.
  • Exercises to Increase Emotional Intelligence:  Emotional Intelligence in Action by Marcia Hughes, Bonita Patterson and James Bradford Terrell . . . Click here.  I received my EI certification training through Marcia Hughes’ group.

I know I said I would include the top 5  . . .  but for those of you interested in my dissertation:  Examination of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Sales Performance . . . Click here.

 

Distance ed students forming college clubs online – USATODAY.com

By Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed
Feeling isolated as an online student? Join the club.

Or rather, join a club. At a handful of institutions, students working toward degrees online are meeting outside of class via the Web. These extracurricular organizations offer online students what many feel they are missing: the social and professional opportunities that historically have been part of the college experience.

“When you’re on campus, you have opportunities to engage your faculty and your peers,” says Debra Ann Mynar, 39, an online psychology student at Pennsylvania State University‘s World Campus. “When you do distance education, you don’t have those similar opportunities unless you make them.”

via usatoday.com

Some online college students may feel like they are all alone out there. This article by USA Today explains that there are some things that online learners can do to connect with other students. I set up chat rooms, in my individual classes that I teach, where students can interact. I see some students who feel at ease starting up a conversation . . . while others are more timid. I have noticed some of the schools are including more ways for students to become more visible to one another by allowing them to post profiles with pictures. Due to the popularity of social networking, there is no reason an online student should feel alone. I like sites I have seen from schools like the University of Colorado where students can blog about their experiences online. I hope more students who desire interaction take advantage of these sites or set up social networking connections on their own to become connected.