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You know you're onto something hot when
you look over your shoulder and see Donald Trump smiling with the same
idea. I could not have been happier. Ah, but wait, I'm getting ahead of
my story.
A hundred years ago school was serious
stuff. Everything had to be memorized. Students wrote on stone slates
with slate pencils. In one-room schoolhouses they were seated by grade;
boys on one side, girls on the other. Discipline was strict and
punishments prompt. All students walked home or in rare cases, rode
horses.
Today, children go to school by bus to
modern buildings. Every class has a different teacher who is stationary
in their own classrooms. Discipline is slack and laws make punishment
nearly void. The only serious concern students have is their threads and
popularity. The dropout rate is blamed on indifference or pregnancy, not
the old reason of "needed on the farm"
Three years ago, a pilot program
implemented by a school district in Salem, Oregon created a new vehicle
for learning in their community. This online high school served an
eclectic group of teenagers from dropouts to brainiacs, and of course
the popular "home schoolers". All students accessed courses on the
Internet, submitted their homework assignments via email and
communicated with their teachers by phone as needed.
This is one example of providing
alternative learning options for kids today and is a great safety net
for at-risk students. Allowed to work at their own pace, they are
closely supervised to make sure they attend their cyber classes on a
regular basis. Real benefits include attending classes at any time of
the day, seven days a week.
This a excellent opportunity for teen
parents or medically challenged students when traditional learning
options haven't worked. When the kids finish high school and begin
planning their continued education a new idea is coming into fruition:
Webucation!
Most new terms beginning with Web-
have been short lived but Webucation is showing signs of survival.
Distance Learning is an idea seen to have great potential and has the
close attention of nearly all educational institutions. Everyone is
clamoring to be in the right place at the right time.
It would seem that the the one-room
schoolhouse has been reborn. These days it is in the dining room,
upstairs guest-room, or the converted garage. Some of the students are
teen parents but there are an increasing number of stay-at-home moms and
jobless dads. Add to this the thousands of nine-to-fivers who feel their
jobs are shaky at best.
If you saw this trend coming, as did
Donald Trump publishing Trump University online, you would definitely be
in the right place at the right time. Public education needs a lot of
help and this may well be in the form of web-based education. I can
think of fifty reasons why this would be advantageous for primary and
high school grades, but in this case it still has miles to go.
Career courses are exploding as this
trend matures and becomes the next billion-dollar industry. Villanova,
Tulane, Notre Dame are only a few offering degrees online boasting:
"accelerated, affordable, accredited, anytime training, anywhere
knowledge". Streaming video lectures - just watch and listen to
Professors on CDs and review as many times as desired. Learning doesn't
get any easier than this.
Fortunes were made selling shovels to the
gold rush miners. Obviously you don't have to have quality material that
would make online courses worth publishing... sell the shovels, or in
this case sell the courses. Hard to sell? Not at all! On-the-job
experience doesn't go half the distance of a degree or certificate.
Demand for skilled professionals has never been greater than it is
today.
The idea of Webucation appeals to busy
adults. It is perfect because unlike conventional courses with set time
schedules they will be buying courses the other way around; adjusting
them to fit their spare time. And all from the comfort of home or on the
go. With a degree or certificate in hand they will be a much
sought-after skilled professional and their earning potential increased
tenfold.
Here's a bonus: sell these educational
courses and take advantage of that by getting certified yourself. While
you certainly can make a fortune selling the "shovels" it doesn't hurt
to arm yourself with new wisdom on how to use this new wealth. A degree
in Financial Planning, Tax Preparation or Real Estate will make you the
person to see in a crowded room.
And if money talks you'll make great
conversation.
© Esther Smith 2005
About
the Author: Smith has published numerous articles and writes a blog for
all artists:
http://the-self-taught-artist.com/blog.html
She also coaches new students on how to leave the time-for-money trap and set up
Leveraged Income for life.
http://thepermanentventure.com/dcc.htm If you can’t sing or ride a
bull, you better learn how to make your money work for more money.
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