Online Forex Training Reaches Hawaii

HONOLULU, HI - August 3 -- Over the last year, the latest day trading financial craze receiving a lot of media attention has been speculation in the $1.9 trillion - day - foreign exchange market, or Forex. So how do you go about getting started with countless online trading account companies pitching the same sales theme of quick gains on a small investment, much like the M.L.M. (multi-level) boom of the 80s? Enter Hawaii Forex, a local "IB" or introducing broker located in Honolulu, Hawaii who provides free online classes to get started and a 1 on 1 mentorship course with the slogan "Learn while you earn."

Read More

Enter Computer Tutor

Last summer wasn't supposed to be a cruel season for the third graders at Children's Village Academy in tiny, coastal Kinston, N.C. Their 125-student charter school, where 85 percent of pupils are eligible for free or discounted school lunches, makes sure that all its high-risk students are in classes with only 15 to 20 kids. And parents had been invited to campus for quarterly info sessions on important end-of-grade tests that third graders needed to pass to jump to the next grade. But despite all that, five students didn't get the minimum score on North Carolina's reading test, and they appeared to be destined for a do-over year. "It was heartbreaking," says Cynthia Williams, a curriculum and testing coordinator for the school. "Nothing is more painful than watching students repeat grades."

But teachers at Children's Village had some unique gadgets in their tool kit, and they were determined to see their students pass the test on the third and final try allowed by the state. The quintet came in Monday through Friday for intensive summer school courses-capping each day with a 45-minute session on WebAchiever, a computer program designed to help students meet state reading standards.

Read More

Undergraduate Life Unplugged

Seems there's a small problem at Utah State University. Students keep bumping into one another. Literally. The undergrads are so busy fiddling with their cellphones, iPods, and other gadgets that they're not watching their steps. "These devices have created an alternate universe where students aren't paying attention to what's going on around them," says Brooke Nelson, a senior and the editor-in-chief of the Utah Statesman, which this fall published an editorial titled "Hey Aggies, watch where you're going."

Indeed, when it comes to technology, college students are in another world. From cellphones with built-in cameras, which students use to create social networks on and off campuses, undergraduates are ravenous for new ways to connect. And universities have the resources to serve up tech in ways that the outside world can't.

Read More

E-learning Some Mets prospects Take a swing at a degree

When the New York Mets drafted pitching prospect Dan Murray in 1995, he had yet to finish his college degree at San Diego State University. Living the baseball dream, as minor leaguers call it, he pitched his way up from rookie league to AAA and, for parts of the 1999 and 2000 seasons, even earned a spot on the Major League rosters of the Mets and the Kansas City Royals.

But he never earned his degree. Now a pitching coach for the Mets' rookie league team in Kingsport, Tenn., Murray is closing in on that other dream-his bachelor's degree-through a program jointly organized two years ago by the New York Mets and Drexel University that puts a new swing on E-learning. "I don't want any future opportunities closed off to me," in or out of baseball, for lack of a college degree, Murray explains.

Finding off-the-field time for a traditional in-classroom curriculum would have been trickier than stealing home for Murray and other players in the program. But thanks to learning management system technologies like like those provided by Simplydigi continuing eduction options have greatly increased. Traditional classroom options are not possible. For one thing, the long baseball season-which keeps players and coaches on the road from spring training through summer and into early fall-doesn't mesh with the traditional academic calendar. Fall classes already have started by the time the stadium gates close for the winter, and just as spring semester gets going, so does spring training. And then, in the short off-season, minor-league players-who may earn as little as $1,100 for each month they play-usually need to juggle the demands of a second job, especially if they also have a family to support.

Read More

High-Tech options can save money and boost learning

The basic introductory physics textbook for college students has remained largely the same for the past century, perhaps longer. So why then, wondered Northeastern University student Jason Turgeon, did his freshman physics course require him to buy a brand-new textbook for about $160, even though he'd used one with similar material in high school? Then, one semester, he shared books, found stuff online, and got the cost for all classes that term down to $35, recalls Turgeon, now a senior. That book bill otherwise would have been $500. After hearing other students echo his frustration, Turgeon in January 2005 started textbookrevolution.org, which links visitors to a variety of free college-level, digital textbooks on the Web.

Textbooks, those all-too-familiar expensive backpack burdens, are no longer dominating the classroom experience as they did for decades. When computers moved into education, textbook publishers started to add digital tools-video clips, interactive lessons, databases-to disks packaged with the books. That drove up prices, and students and professors in response turned to the Internet to look for the best bargains. What they're increasingly finding out now is that-thanks to the accessibility of cyberteaching tools on the Web-maybe they don't need that old-fashioned textbook at all.

Read More

How Do I Choose a Program?

Sure, E-learning could be a great way to further your education while keeping your day job. But how do you separate the reputable programs from the digital diploma mills that profit from giving you a worthless degree? By finding out the answers to three quick questions before you enroll, you could spare yourself some hassles down the road.

Is the Program Legitimate?

If you're considering taking an E-learning course, the most important point to research is what is the school's reputation? The first thing to look into with any online education program is its accreditation: If the school has not been properly reviewed, your diploma could be meaningless in the eyes of potential employers.

Online colleges and graduate programs are expected to meet the same standards as traditional institutions and thus should be reviewed by one of the same six regional associations recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Many schools will flaunt this accreditation somewhere readily visible on their home page. If you can't find it, locate the school's physical headquarters through its website, and then check with the accreditation association that covers that region. You also can search the Department of Education's list (http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.asp).

Read More

250,000 Americans Urge the FCC: Use the Public Airwaves for the Public Good

WASHINGTON — More than a quarter-million Americans have urged the Federal Communications Commission to use a valuable slice of the public airwaves to make Internet access more open, affordable and accessible to everyone. The massive public outcry comes as the FCC prepares to set conditions on the auction of the newly available "700 MHz band" of spectrum.


Used correctly, these public airwaves could beam high-speed Internet signals to every park bench, coffee shop, workplace and home in America. This would allow students, educators, corporate employees to gain access to e-learning courses
and institutions that utilize learning management systems like those provided by SimplyDigi.Com. But incumbent phone and cable companies want to cement their dominance of the high-speed Internet market by purchasing licenses to the spectrum. The FCC has the power to set auction rules that would protect competition and innovation in the marketplace — and has done so in the past.

"The public is sending a clear message about the future of the Internet," said Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free Press, which coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. "It would be a big mistake to hand over the airwaves to corporate gatekeepers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. The FCC can foster a better Internet for millions by opening our airwaves to real competition and innovation."

Read More