Ready for a career change?     Want to study for fun?

Independent self-starter?  Unsure whether you can handle college material?  Can’t afford high tuition costs?

If your answer is "yes" to any or all of the above questions, you are in luck. You can hitch a ride to college on the information superhighway, where you’ll find dozens of community colleges, professional schools and universities that offer hundreds of courses in a variety of fields of study. Just type the words "college courses online" or "continuing education online" into your favorite search engine and start perusing the catalogs for the courses you want.

Try one of these search engines: www.yahoo.com   or  www.metacrawler.com

According to "Diplomas Just a Click Away," an article in the Detroit News (June 22, 1999), "Nationwide, there are about 750,000 students taking 26,000 college-level courses online. Working adults with families and other obligations are deciding to go back to school because a growing number of employers are looking for highly skilled workers who hold advanced degrees. Many companies provide tuition reimbursement for online courses.

" Retirees are returning to college and starting new careers in large numbers, as well. As an illustration, suppose you decide to enroll for online courses at the University of California Berkeley Extension, which offers approximately 175 courses through America Online (AOL) and the Internet

Enrollment

Once you’ve signed up and paid the fees, you order texts and begin. The course syllabus maps out reading and writing assignments that you complete at your own pace, as long as you finish within one year of enrollment. Interaction with fellow students occurs via live chatrooms (with or without the instructor present), message bulletin boards, or email correspondence with the instructor or other students. Library resources, online databases and newsgroups that your instructor recommends are also accessible on the World Wide Web.

The Berkeley online program allows enrollment in a maximum of three college courses simultaneously. Additional courses can be added after substantial progress has been made with the first selections. Students can proceed at their own pace and thus have the benefit of individualized instruction, or they can request a structured schedule with fixed start/finish dates in order to learn with a group. Course accommodations are available on request for students with disabilities. Prerequisites may be required to take certain courses, but no formal verification is necessary. Thus, specific coursework or knowledge acquired through experience or independent study may serve as the prerequisite.

Costs

Online colleges don’t ordinarily offer loan or scholarship funds, but can steer prospective students to financial aid services. Fees for online courses are usually substantially lower than fees for courses taken "live" on campus. Prices at Berkeley online range from approximately $200-$500, depending on the number of credits earned (whether taken for credit or not). Many colleges accept online credits toward a degree, but Berkeley online does not itself award degrees. To earn a degree, credits have to be transferred to a degree granting institution. There are many external degree-granting schools that do not have residency requirements. Costs for non-degree, continuing education programs are far less (usually under $100).

Requirements

Most online courses require supervised final examinations that are heavily weighted in determining the final grade. Students can arrange with a local college or high school administrator for an acceptable proctor, who personally receives and administers the exam and returns it to the online school to forward to the instructor for grading.

From the privacy of your home, you can attend college at a fraction of the on-campus costs. Whatever your special interest, be it communications, literature, journalism, history, mathematics, alternative medicines, computers, religion, philosophy, test preparation, or the Internet itself, you can study it for college credits … online. When you hitch a ride on the information superhighway, you can travel the world without leaving your chair!

LINKS:

The place where higher education and technology come together on the Internet. www.ecollege.com

Helpful links for finding employment. www.career-design.com  

As the rapid progress of computer technology evolves into the new millennium, take a moment to pause and reflect on your first encounters with computers and cyberspace. Did curiosity and enthusiasm for learning motivate you? Did the frustration of being the "only" one not using a PC push you? Did watching your four-year old grandchild manipulate the keyboard and mouse inspire you?

Recently I asked my parents, now in their mid-seventies, to share some of their early computer experiences. We concluded that whether individuals were attracted to the computer age through natural inquisitiveness or reluctantly persuaded to participate, they often evolved into individuals energized with new information and resources.

As a nuclear engineer, my dad worked with mainframe computers before retirement. He recognized their powerful capacity to perform everything from CAD design to word processing to accounting procedures in the blink of an eye. A natural appetite for knowledge and a desire to stay mentally active prompted him to purchase his first personal computer in 1985. It wasn't long before his desire to stay current pressed him to buy a modem and subscribe to CompUServe, one of the first online services. Web pages were primarily text only and he surfed to locate product information and technical advice on both hardware and software. He quickly discovered that managing finances online proved quicker and more efficient than manually entering stock data from a newspaper.

Over the years Dad has upgraded to speedier and more powerful computers. The web sites he visits have integrated both text and dynamic graphics into their design. Accessing the Internet has become cheaper and faster. Today Dad corresponds regularly with friends and family via email and continues to explore the wealth of information available online. He is never bored and never without a new project to check out on the "net".

All this time we were encouraging Mom to try the computer, but she was content to watch Dad and listen to our conversations. Finally the frustration of hearing but not comprehending our continuous computer chatter compelled her to try it. As she first sat in front of one of Dad's old computers, she experienced both delight and fear. Could she do this? Would she break it? How was she going to learn? Would she ever win at Solitaire? She labored for two hours over her first email effort, only to have it returned. She cautiously played Scrabble and Mahjong and gradually her confidence grew.

A fierce loyalty to support her favorite men's and women's basketball teams guided Mom to online sporting sites. The instant feedback of reliable and current information tempted her to keep exploring. Soon, she was using search engines to access food recipes and medical data. When she spotted a compelling review of a new novel, she attempted her first online purchase. That success led to convenient online shopping for toys, clothes and other holiday gifts.

Now Mom talks the talk and walks the walk as she too communicates with the world through her new computer. Next in line for Mom and Dad is a high speed DSL connection and a home network. Children may have no computer jitters, but for older generations, the journey into cyberspace can be a combination of thrills and chills. Encourage a friend, who may not be computer literate, to go online and get connected!