Start Learning Online Right. Now!
Are you thinking about giving online learning a whirl? Not sure where to start?
Then start here:
Start Learning Online Right. Now!The folks at Lifetime to Learn make it easy to get started. Their course,
Start Learning Online Right. Now! is geared toward new online learners. It introduces you to their classroom application by allowing you a chance to use it in a relaxed and supportive setting. The lessons walk you through how to turn in your assignments, post messages to discussion boards and more.
They also give you tips on how to be a successful online student. These include tips on time management and how to get the most out of your course.
You can try out the course for free to see what you think of their format. It may not be for everyone but it is a lot better than many I have seen.
Some advantages I have seen with the courses at Lifetime to Learn are:
- Patient, knowledgeable instructors to help you every step of the way.
- A chance to do hands on work instead of just reading and taking a quiz.
- A chance to interact with others to share what you all have learned.
- You leave the course with a completed project you can use!
Don't take my word for it - try it yourself! Join the Start Learning Online Right. Now! course right now!
Learning for a Lifetime
Since it looks like the rest of the gang has already posted their introductions, I better get to it before I get left behind!
My name is Jenny and I am the instructional manager for Lifetime to Learn. James and Marie Reed asked me to start this blog as a way of giving you a chance to learn more about Lifetime to Learn.
The goal of Lifetime to Learn is to make learning accessible to anyone, anytime, any where. Learning should not just be something that happens between the ages of 6 and 18 as we attend school, but something that happens throughout your lifetime. Learning may be for work or for fun or to learn a new skill to make your life richer.
We offer a broad range of courses from computer applications, web design and programming to personal and professional skills. And our offerings are always expanding. We have attracted people from all over the world who are interested in sharing what they know with you through our online courses.
In my posts I will be updating you on some of the courses we offer and our expanding offerings. Look for information soon on new Vista, Office 2007, Linux and
SQL Server 2005 classes.
If you have an idea for a new course or are interested in teaching or developing courses, let me know and I will put you in touch with the people who can help you.
E-Learning with Moodle
About 5 years ago as we were planning to launch our company we knew we needed a way to host our online courses. At the college where we were employed we used
Blackboard. I had experience using
WebCT from the classes I had taken in graduate school.
We knew as a start-up company that there would be no way for us to afford the licensing fees for either of these applications. So we went in search of other options.
I stumbled across
Moodle and installed it on my server at the house. After a little bit of playing around I knew we had found the solution we were looking for. It was easy to install, easy to maintain, easy to use and easy to customize. I found very quickly that I liked it a great deal more than any other e-learning platform I had used. The features are comparable to other e-learning platforms, and in my opinion, a great deal better in many respects.
At first we hosted our classroom with
Moodle Hosting and were very pleased with the service we got. We soon outgrew their hosting and moved to a virtual private server at
Verio hosting. Our plan is to move the site from their FreeBSD hosting to the Linux hosting in the next few months. The Linux hosting should be faster and more reliable.
I'll be using my space on this blog to keep you up-to-date on the status of the classroom and changes that we make to it.
If you have questions about
Moodle, or hosting or the
interactiveonlineclassroom.com website, please let me know!
Instructional Design for Online Learning
Hi! My name is Winona and I am an instructional designer for
IDEA Solutions. I earned my Masters of Education in Instructional Design for Online Learning from
Capella University.
The folks at
Lifetime to Learn asked me to write this blog to give you an idea of how their online courses are built since I designed their instructional strategy. We felt that the courses should be instructionally sound, honor student learning styles and provide lots of opportunities for student to apply what they are learning to projects of their own design.
In this blog I will post information about the courses offered at Lifetime to Learn from the instructional design perspective. Hopefully you will see that our courses are designed to help students the materials more effectively.
I look forward to sharing this information with you and conversing about instructional design for online learning.
A Student's Perspective
Greetings, All!
My name is Peabody McGillicutty.
Scientist recommend that people in my generation, the folks who are not only over the hill but very close to the bottom on the other side, continue to use our brains every day just to keep them functioning. I take the challenge to learn something new every day very seriously.
While I enjoy just poking around the internet looking for a new site, new information or a new software gadget, I also enjoy the more formal side of learning: participating in a class. Since I don't get out much, I have found online learning to be the way to go. From the comfort of my apartment at any hour of the day or night, I can go online, read some of the information my instructor has posted, try things out myself, post messages to my classmates in response to their posts and review and comment on my classmates' class projects.
My favorite part of the learning process is the tinkering. I am never really satisfied with just completing the assignment. I want to see what else I can do with what I am learning and what I can connect it to.
My second favorite part is viewing the assignments my classmates have turned in. I am amazed at what they are able to create and I always pick up something new.
I am currently taking an HTML class at Lifetime to Learn (http://www.lifetimetolearn.com/). I want to be able to do some of the cool things I see the others doing with their blogs.
The course goes through things fairly step by step. There are good examples posted. The instructor is always available to answer questions. She is great about teaching you tricks to make things easier and helping you to improve your work.
My classmates are a lot of fun and really do add a lot to the course from their own experience and the feedback they give me on my work.
Learn something new today! Go to Lifetime to Learn and sign up for a class. They seem to have something for everyone.
