Furthering your career

One of the most interesting things about the Internet is the way it continually evolves. What started out as a dodgy, text-based, cyber-hassle is now a massive social and economic aspect of society that facilitates the generation of billions of dollars in revenue.

Of course, it's good for research, buying a toaster oven or perhaps even playing a few rounds of Quake III. But more than that, the Internet is now a way to get ahead and perhaps even find a new career.

At present, most online universities, if we can call them that, are based in the US, but because they're online, most can access to them. While the quality of the teaching, even the methods employed are largely unknown, the fact that something like this is occuring at all is good news for educationers. In Australia, at least, there is a shortage of teachers in schools and new online learning applications could ease the burden.

Without further ado, let's take a look at a few of the online learning centres.

Free-Ed.net is a completely free website, offering around 120 different courses in areas such as Photography 110 and Health Occupations 410x (aka Medical Terminology). Having a quick whizz through the courses, the bulk of the training is taken up with reading. Considering it's free, this is no bad thing. It's unlikely that after a few months with one of the courses you'll be a full-fledged brain surgeon, but the getting a head start in your desired field is a smart move.

Online Distance Education Courses offers cyber-students the chance to take a self-assessment test, to judge perhaps if an online course is the right option. This simple idea is a great way the owners of the site to see if you really want in, but it also identifies what skills you'll need, like moving a mouse pointer, for instance. Also, questions like "Do you stay on task without direct supervision or do you work best when someone is there to help keep you focused?" allow both sides to evaluate the best level of training needed.

The courses themselves consist of things like Scriptwriting KSA210, promising that students can "...write a marketable script in 10 weeks with final draft." Sure, it's a bold claim, but with a bit of patience and a good pair of reading glasses, anything is possible. The Online Distance Education Courses can even customise courses for those who just can't decide, but don't want to be studying for decades. There are more than 100 courses, spanning almost all industries and most cost around $US250. Some cost nothing and the most expensive cost about $US1300.

Mind Edge is one of the more professionally set up learning websites. You can choose to study BioTechnology, in the field of "contemporary chemical and biological agent threat" at George Washington University. Through Mind Edge, such an under graduate/graduate course will set you back about $US1250, or $2448, which isn't too bad for when you consider the campus time at spent at George Washington University.

If the course is already in progress, or you missed out on the current application timeframe, you can get the Mind Edge people to notify you via email as to when the next course starts. A lot of the Mind Edge website is devoted to offering real courses in various colleges and universities, but it is still a step in the right direction.

Math Courses Online is a fairly straightforward site, offering visitors the chance to have a good look around at the many courses, starting at $US70 and going up to $US100. The courses aren't overly long, but the website states that many schools across America use this site for their maths curriculum.

To get a handle on what courses are offered, Math Courses Online offers a really practical 'demo' area, where potential students can give four different areas a shot:

• Basic Math/Pre Algebra
  
• Elementary Algebra/Algebra l
  
• Intermediate Algebra/Algebra ll
  
• Geometry

While the site looks decidedly 1990, the content is very thorough and the demos will be an invaluable tool for teachers, even students, wanting to evaluate the courses.

So, there we have it. A veritable smorgasboard of online education sites. While the majority of these sites are still in the early stages of development, expect this sector of the Internet to take off in the next few years. Prices will change, courses will change, but the future remains very bright for online learning.

Those in remote areas will benefit greatly from websites like those listed above and there are many students in situations that won't allow them the mobility to head off to an established uni or college each and every day. Perhaps this will be the way of education in the future. The possibilities are intriguing.

IQ Tests

Math Courses Online

Mind Edge

Online Distance Education Courses

Free-Ed.net