10 Keys to Designing A Personal Lifelong Learning Process

A helpful piece by Catherine Franz, a Business Coach, specialized in writing,
marketing and product development over at Go Articles. You can also find more of her work at her blog Abundance.

A Lifelong Learning Plan is a conscious, continuous engagement in acquiring, assimilating and applying knowledge and skills in the context of authentic, self-directed growth and challenge. It is rare for individuals to take this initiative. Most people operate on a "what they need now" plan and typically attend educational institutions for their training.

Lifelong Learning is a philosophy of approaching learning as an integral, inseparable part of our life's activities. Here are ten guidelines to help you formulate your own personalized Lifelong Learning Process.

Presidential candidates lay out lifelong learning plans

From PR Newswire …

As the conflict in Iraq continues to dominate headlines during this Presidential election season, many believe the candidates need to devote more stump time to important domestic issues like education.

As laid out on their respective election websites, the candidates are surprisingly in Accord on education initiatives. For both, lifelong learning is a cornerstone to their education approaches, and they believe it is critical to helping Americans stay competitive in an increasingly global workplace.

A Cross-Cultural Perspective to Interactive Learning

From the e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology (e-JIST) …

For centuries traditional university education has primarily focused on building foundational skills in particular disciplines via the transfer of knowledge from instructor to student. Today however, simply being able to reproduce knowledge is no longer adequate; students must also be able to apply their knowledge to changing, real world contexts.

By sharing lessons learned and drawing parallels across cultural boundaries, the University of Antwerp, Belgium and the University of arkansas, USA provide additional insight into how to effectively teach students these skills. Topics that are addressed include: the concepts of powerful learning, interactivity, adequate dialogue, and the post-development evaluation and effective use of e learning environments.

What I wish I’d known before taking online courses

Here are a few good comments from a number of Bellevue Community College students who took online courses recently. Much of it may apply to courses you would take through any online university program.

This is my fourth quarter taking online courses, and my second english class online, so I already knew what I was in for. However, when I first signed up for an online class, I wish I had realized how much time it took. All of the discussions can take a lot of time. In my class this quarter for instance, there have already been over 2,500 postings, and now people are posting about 75 a day, since it's nearing the end of the quarter. I also wish I had known how much self-motivation it takes to do well in an online class. By now I've gotten it down, but it was hard at first to treat it like a normal class and sign on at least once a day. When I first began I only checked every few days, now I have to check multiple times a day so that I don't become overwhelmed.

Minnesota Online

In this article, Computer User magazine takes a glance at the use of online schooling in Minnesota.

Online education is a rapidly growing part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. About 2,300 online course sections and 70 online programs now are offered by the 32 state colleges and universities, working collaboratively as Minnesota Online. linda Baer, senior vice chancellor for academic and students affairs in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, talked about the system, and what it could bring for the state's students.

Penn State World Campus

Penn State World Campus has added live e-learning to its online curriculum, reported at T.H.E. Journal.

Two years ago, the World Campus was challenged to support its asynchronous, Web-based courses with a synchronous tool – one that enabled students to hold real-time small group discussions and also allowed faculty to conduct interactive tutoring sessions and keep virtual office hours. We also wanted a collaborative environment that supported both PC and Mac platforms. In addition, while initial price points for some synchronous tools appeared low, the cost increased when a phone bridge was required. As a result, we focused on evaluating solutions that offered integrated, high-quality VoIP technology so students wouldn't need two phone lines or a high-speed connection.

Is an MBA worth it?

An obvious question that needs answering for anyone contemplating enrolling in an MBA program. Online Journal has an ongoing discussion by people who have gone through MBA programs and what benefits (or not) these programs have been.

Andre Denman started a discussion about online, part time and distance MBA programs, which you can access here.

High level execs telecommuting

From the Wall Street Journal Online …

Telecommuting, once primarily the domain of lower-level and technical employees, increasingly is moving into the senior management ranks. The reasons driving the trend are diverse: Faster broadband Internet Connections between home and office; the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, which made companies recognize the value of placing executives apart geographically to help reduce disruptions; and managers' increasing comfort with the idea of working remotely.

The number of Americans employed by a company — and who work from home at least one day per month — rose to 24.1 million this year from 23.5 million in 2003, according to a recent study. At the same time, the number of people telecommuting full-time shot up 41% from last year, to 12.4 million from 8.8 million, according to Dieringer Research Group, a Milwaukee, Wisc., market-research and consulting company that conducted the study on behalf ITAC, a Silver Spring, Md. telework association.

Distance and open universities in India

From the Government of India Department of education, lots of links for Indian students of open and distance university education.

Go here.

Congress may close loan loophole

Via The New York Times and Distance Educator …

The secretary of education called on senior members of Congress yesterday to close a loophole that has allowed Student Loan companies to collect more than a billion dollars in excess federal subsidies, saying he lacked the authority to stop the escalating payments anytime soon.