Certification - June 2008 - (Page 21)

home at a certain time, or they will lose that access to the professor and instead attend a recorded session. Online degrees with synchronous learning provide a completely online program, so the student will not need to plan to attend in-person classes but still will participate in real-time online sessions. These programs attempt to offer students a balanced learning environment. While students are not required to appear on a traditional campus, they still must plan to “attend” some classes online during certain times offered as video broadcasts, usually supplemented with a chat or voice channel to allow students to ask questions. Many institutions that use this synchronous learning environment for online students will also offer “office hours” — posted times when a professor is available to answer a question quickly — roughly analogous to when a student at a traditional university would be able to come and ask a question of a professor. While many synchronous learning programs will provide better real-time support for students and the ability to directly ask questions and get answers, students interested in one of these programs will need to be careful about scheduling and will need to balance work or other family demands against the times classes are conducted on the computer. More and more common these days is asynchronous online learning — the completely independent self-study method. In a self-study environment, the student is completely responsible for learning, and the institution takes more of a mentoring role, connecting students with resources for study material and textbooks, ways to get help and grading exams. As the student is completely responsible for his or her own learning, the course can be self-paced and there is no time that the student is required to be available to attend an online class. Stephen Gatlin, president of Gatlin Education Services, a provider of learning content to online organizations, described the independent self-study method. “Students can create their own study schedule and complete Interested in pursuing an online degree? Check CertScope to read 30 CertMag articles and link to 96 Web sites covering “online degrees.” courses in their own time,” Gatlin said. “The instructional design is such high quality that the actual learning experience is rich and interesting, as well as effective.” These kinds of programs offer the most flexibility for the student but the least direct support for the student’s learning. Students often can look forward to online Web-based forums or e-mail for learning assistance. Online Degrees Fit in the IT Industry With online degree programs’ relatively recent introduction to the IT industry, many students are unfamiliar with the level of acceptance of online degrees offered and how certifications fit into the degree programs. This varies by institution and can be based on the location of a learning institution’s headquarters and the university’s technology partners. These are key questions students should ask the PREPARED 100% Transcender® IT Certiﬁcation Preparation Program Confidence Certification Dear Test Administrator/Neighboring Test-Taker/Witness to Glory: Name ,the intellectual gladiator who handed you this card, has completed the Transcender IT certiﬁcation preparation program. What does this mean, you ask? It means this person is about to have their way with this exam. They are about to ﬂourish and ﬁre their six guns at the feet of this exam, while this exam dances to their furious, merciless beat. It means that this person has Transcender’s industry-best 100% guarantee—they will pass this exam. So take a good look at this champion, because they won’t be here very long. Transcendent’s Signature Date , 20 © 2008 KAPLAN IT, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TRANSCENDER® KAPLAN IT, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.CertMag.com http://www.transcender.com

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Certification - June 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Academic Connection Dear Techie Virtual Village Online Degrees: Are They Right for You? Inside Certification New Opportunities and Challenges: Are Application Developers Ready? Interface Where Have All the Help Desks Gone? Ad Index Endtag

Certification - June 2008

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