Becoming An Online Distance Learning Teacher

I was in my late 20s and already had a few years experience as an instructor in accounting and finance for a state college in Seattle when I decided to become an online distance learning teacher. I read the specific details for becoming an online distance learning teacher from online articles and from the websites of the professional distance learning associations and organizations. Based on the materials I read, I found out that my teaching skills and qualifications made me well-suited for an online teaching job.

One of the essential skills for becoming a distance learning teacher is to have the computer knowledge for creating one or several forms of online distance learning classes. It was a good thing that when I was in college, I took extra subjects in computer software applications and computer graphics and design. I also had a master's degree and had complete professional teacher certification, and I continued to use the IT skills I learned in college in my present job as a college instructor.

The final step was enrolling in a distance learning certification program from an accredited college or university. I searched the Internet for colleges or universities that offered distance learning certification programs, and I chose a university that offered a certification program and I made sure it was accredited by a regional accreditation organization that was recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. I am now currently taking two distance learning certification courses in accounting and finance and since the courses are online with a flexible schedule, I did not have to give my full-time job as a college instructor.

Recent Post: Continuing My Early Childhood Education Course
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Continuing My Early Childhood Education Course

It is just a few more weeks before I will finish my early childhood education course in October this year and I am already thinking about the review studies I will do for the state certification exam that I will take after finishing the course. But besides reviewing for the certification, I will also plan to inquire from the university if they have any on the job training programs that could place me in an actual working environment such as a daycare center or preschool facility in or around the Portland area. I have learned that gaining actual skills and hands-on training in applying the principles that I have learned from my course could contribute in making me a well-rounded early childhood educator.

Since October of 2009, the things I learned about the physical and emotional development in early childhood that have made an impact on my plans to be a professional early childhood teacher. So far, I have learned that the development of the motor skills and brain are crucial in the early years of a child's life. With the first three years, a child's brain is shaping into the specialized areas for the development of the organization, memory and function.

Even as an infant, the development of the motor skills are starting with the baby learning to roll over, grasp and let go of objects, and to sit up on his own. The emotional development begins to develop when the child forms an attachment or bond to the parent or other individuals who are close to him. I have learned that when a child starts forming attachments, he is ready to begin the early learning process.

Recent Post: Educational Learning Strategies For My Kindergarten Class
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Educational Learning Strategies For My Kindergarten Class

It was September 2009 when I started with my job as a preschool education teacher for a kindergarten class consisting of children ranging in age from five to six year old. It was my first teaching job after graduating from my college course in 2008 and passing the state license exam in the same year. Although I already had a major in Early Childhood Education, I decided to learn more by doing research about different educational learning strategies or methods for preschool children.

In my research, I learned about several educational learning strategies, but there are two strategies that are recommended by preschool educators and experts for use in a preschool classroom.

It is fact that preschool children have a short attention span and within a span of a few hours, they could forget or not remember the things taught to them. Under the Repetition learning method, I would have to make some learning goals for the academic year and repeat them as often as I can. This method teaches that I have to explain repeatedly some things because they could be complicated or the children are unfamiliar with those things.

Fine motor skills are the coordination of small muscle movements, especially the fingers, in coordination with the eyes. The Fine Motor Skills method says that preschool children are still developing their fine motor skills so that it is the teacher's duty to guide a child in developing his motor skills. I can do that by creating activities that encourage the children to use their eyes, hands, lips, toes, and tongue.

In my research, I also learned that an effective preschool teacher should not just rely on the educational learning strategies or methods that he learned in college and from the curriculum prescribed by the school where he is teaching. An effective teacher should continue to educate himself by learning about other learning strategies that could be applicable and relevant to use in his classroom.

Recent Post: Identifying Educational Activities
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Identifying Educational Activities

Educational activities are not limited to school related exercises or degree earning requirements. Using various aspects of education, a person can identify an educational activity.

Basic education refers to the set up of students learning several subjects from teachers in educational institutions. Students instructed by professors on a specific subject in institutions of higher learning comprise the term schooling. However through the years, various alternative means of acquiring education has emerged including outside world or real-life education. Education can be earned through the Internet or in libraries or museums as well. This means that educational activities are not limited to activities within the classroom or activities outside the classroom which are supervised by a teacher.

Any human experience or action that causes human thinking, values or faculties to develop or change is part of education. That is philosophically putting things into perspective. Therefore, educational activities include day to day activities in which a person derives learning.

Education comes from the Latin words “educare,” “educere,” and “ducere.” These words mean “bring up,” “bring out,” “bring forth what is within,” “bring out potential,” and “lead.” Deriving from this, we can safely conclude that any human activity which brings up an issue, bring out a secret, bring forth a sentiment or lead to something is an educational activity. A simple Internet messaging that brings out personal information from a friend is an educational activity.

Education is the activity by which a community systematically passes on collected moral values, skills and knowledge throughout generations. Attending festivities in a town anniversary allows a person to learn something new to one like the customs and traditions of the visited locality. The new knowledge form part of the person’s education and thus he has engaged in an educational activity.

Recent Post: Taking Online Learning For My College Degree
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Taking Online Learning For My College Degree

Since I was busy working as a full-time office receptionist at an advertising agency, I decided that the only way to fulfil my goal of getting a four-year college degree in Business Management was to take an electronic or online learning course. I only took a two-year associate degree course in office management after graduating from high school and I have been in my receptionist job for two years, but I had figured that I had more prospects for career growth if I had a bachelor degree course.

I also said to myself that since I was working in an advertising company, I should also major in advertising or marketing for my online degree. I decided that online learning is the learning method that is most suited for me because I had a full-time job and I had little time to attend traditional classroom classes in a college campus. I had a computer at my apartment with a fast and reliable Internet connection. I also believed that an online degree was also much cheaper and cost-effective compared to going a classes with all the commuting that I have to do from work, classes and home.

So I searched and researched the Internet for the best schools offering online degrees and I found a university based in Phoenix that offered online learning courses in business and marketing. The university was well suited for my situation because it credited the subjects from my associate degree so that I only have two years to finish my online degree. I am now in the last year of my online course and I feel I have more career opportunities by the time I graduate.

Recent Post: The Forms of Online Learning Communication Technologies
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The Forms of Online Learning Communication Technologies

If you have decided to continue or pursue a higher education course through electronic or online learning, your next step is to choose the appropriate and relevant electronic learning method or form of the communication technologies you would use. The communication technologies used in electronic learning are categorised as asynchronous, synchronous and blended methods.

The synchronous communication of online learning is an activity occurring in real time when the communications between the students and the online instructor or faculty are instantaneous, interactive and happening at the same time. The exchange of ideas, knowledge, skills and other information is happening at the same period of time. The examples of synchronous communication includes an online chat session and virtual classroom.

The asynchronous communication is an activity in which the communications between the instructor and students are not occurring instantaneous and in real time. The interaction of the instructor and students in the exchange of ideas, knowledge, skills and other information can happen without all the participants necessarily present within the actual and same time period. The examples of asynchronous communication includes video/audio conferencing, online blogs, discussion forums or message boards, and wikis.

The blended or hybrid learning is a mixture of using online learning technologies together with traditional campus-based educational learning methods. In the blended learning, the students would take several lecture sessions in a classroom located in the campus of an educational institution and they would also participate in campus-based activities such as laboratory experiments and workshops. The students would also take online learning classes such e-mails, online forums and take their exams online.

Recent Post: Teaching Strategies In An Online Learning Environment
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