Distance Learning is a popular choice for many college students these days. After all, what could be more convenient than taking a college course from the comfort of your home (or dorm … or office …) computer?

While distance learning has grown tremendously over the last few years, it is still a relatively new means of instruction.

And teaching online requires different skills and expectations than teaching in a classroom. Many faculty members are hesitant to learn these skills. But simply putting a few notes and other materials from a classroom does not make for a very effective online experience.

What are the 3 most important skills that you need to be a truly outstanding online teacher?

1) You must communicate frequently with the students.
Frequent communication does NOT mean that you must be online every hour of every day. But it does mean that you need to be in contact with students frequently. How frequently? At least every other day. Rather than teaching in 2-4 hour blocks in a single day, like you would with many college classes, spend 15-45 minutes a day answering emails and monitoring your online course. At the end of the week, the time spent teaching online should be similar to the amount of time spent teaching in a classroom.

2) Be organized & be clear
Let students know from the beginning exactly what is expected of them. And set the ground rules for the course. Let students know how often you will be online, so they don’t expect an immediate response regardless of the time of day. Explain to students how they will be graded, how quickly they will receive feedback, how they should submit assignments, how they should contact you, etc. The more students know ahead of time, the less time you’ll spend responding to problems.

3) Engage the students in the learning
Lecturing and testing are standard in many campus classes (not they there necessarily promote effective learning, but that’s another story!). Teaching online offers the opportunity to reach students in many different ways - projects, discussions, comparing ideas, sharing knowledge with other students. Use as many different ways as possible to engage students, and promote active learning. Without the confines of time that are present in a campus course, and with the ability to share and discuss ideas online, not making good use of these opportunities leads to lost “learning moments”.

There is no better way to learn how to teach online than to learn online - so, before you decide to teach online, take an online course yourself.

You’ll understand what it is like to learn from a distance, without an instructor standing in front of you. You’ll understand what it is like to have to wait for answers to your questions. And you’ll learn more about how the technology can HELP you teach.

You certainly DO NOT need to be a technical expert to teach online. But you should be:

• comfortable with the Internet
• familiar with sending and receiving email
• ready to spend some time setting up your course for the first time
• aware that becoming an effective online teacher takes some time (often several courses)
• excited about learning a new skill that will help you!

Some will say there is no substitute for seeing the student’s faces. Others will realize that many students will flourish because they have more time to prepare thoughtful answers, and won’t be fearful of speaking up in front of a large group.

Teaching online can be very exciting, and very rewarding, as long as you are prepared!

Kris Bickell is the owner of www.Hi-Speed-Internet.com, and the Director of Distance Education at a private University in Connecticut. Sign up for the free course 5 Simple Ways To Increase Your Computer Speed

Let’s be honest with each other. Some things you find on the internet can be a little short of reputable. That’s reasonable isn’t it? What about getting yourself a Master’s Degree in 5 days? Probably there’s a catch there somewhere. But what about obtaining valuable skills that can give you a great advantage in landing a job that you’d love? Hmmm, its starting to sound a little more realistic isn’t it? Probably depends on the field. Well, online computer degrees are one of the offers online that can deliver exactly what they promise.

The fact is that businesses in every single field of work and in every location rely on computers. Another fact is that computers are highly complex machines. This leaves their users with two problematic issues to contend with. One, computers will inevitably breakdown or suffer from some type of glitch occasionally. The second issue is this, the great majority of people have not the ability, knowledge or resources to solve these problems themselves. Guess what, this is the time that your acquired skills from online computer degrees program is going to make you money.

By getting the online computer degree, you will now be a computer engineer skilled in several areas of computer maintenance, repair, diagnosis and many others. With this title and its accompanying skills your ready to work for firms such as, banking institutions, governments, law enforcement agencies and any other fathomable industry.

If you already have some knowledge about computers and their related issue, that’s even better, you can begin your online computer degree at the level that you currently are at. So, start from the beginning or compliment the knowledge that you already have to become a competitive, skilled worker in a field that is greatly needed with online computer degrees.

Nelson Widrow is an author who’s written multiple articles about online degrees. Read more of his articles including: online accredited degrees and online computer degrees.

Reducing murder to manslaughter is a task that presents itself in many murder cases. Depending on your state or jurisdiction you may be able to reduce murder to manslaughter by eliminating the element of “malice.” Classically, this is where the defendant acts by being provoked into a sudden quarrel or into a state of mind known as the “heat of passion.” The mental state of “heat of passion” is not just one emotion. It can be anger, jealously, or any other agitated state of mind in the normal range of human behavior.

If a person is intentionally killed but the defendant was provoked or was in the heat of passion due to some provocative circumstance of the alleged victim, the killing is said to be mitigated to voluntary manslaughter. The defendant cannot just set up his or her own standard of conduct. The situation causing the heat of passion must be such that a reasonable person under the circumstances would have been provoked to act out of passion rather than logic. The classic example given in law schools is where a person comes home unexpectedly and finds their spouse in bed with another person. This is the type of act that could cause any reasonable person to act out of passion and emotion rather than logic.

Usually these cases happen in times of great stress and emotion and a psychologist or psychiatrist should be employed to see if any factors of the mental state of the defendant or victim can be used to reduce the offense to manslaughter. How mental state factors can be used depend upon the laws of the jurisdiction in which the case is being tried.

If it can be shown that the killing was unintentional, but reckless, in some states the case can be reduced to involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter carries a significantly lower penalty than voluntary manslaughter. Sometimes what looks like a murder, an intentional killing, is really an accident under extremely stressful circumstances. Note that in some states an unintentional killing, if extreme enough, can be murder. Generally that type of act must be more than recklessness. Typically, to make an unintentional act murder there must exist a callous disregard for human life. In some states those types of acts are called “depraved heart murders.”

As an example, a female was charged with murder when she stabbed her husband in the chest with a steak knife. They were in the kitchen making dinner and got into an argument. Because the knife hit a major artery near the heart, he died within minutes. The defendant told two different stories about what happened. She said it was an accident and she didn’t mean to kill him. She was prosecuted for murder and taken to trial.

The defense noticed that the location and angle of the wound seemed odd for an intentional stabbing. The blade went in at an angle rather than vertical. This didn’t seem consistent with how a person intentionally stabbing another would have stabbed. Also, the blade went right between the ribs in a soft area of cartilage. It seemed unlikely that a non professional could have known this vulnerability and hit it so precisely.

The defense retained a well-known pathologist who totally agreed and testified that all of the circumstances were consistent with an accident and inconsistent with patterns of known stabbings. A psychiatrist also testified to the woman’s exaggerated startle response because of beatings from a prior relationship. The defense theory was that she accidentally stabbed her boyfriend when he quickly advanced towards her in the argument. She over-reacted and, without consciously knowing it, thrust her knife hand forward. The knife went through the butter-soft cartilage and pierced the artery. The jury found her not guilty of murder and found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Had she not been under the influence of drugs, the jury might have found the act to be a pure accident and totally excused her.

To show that a killing is either voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter, a thorough investigation, analysis, and reconstruction is mandated. Even if the act was not the type that would justify reducing a murder to manslaughter, the fact that the defendant was in the heat of passion could eliminate premeditation and deliberation and reduce the degree of the murder.

William F. Nimmo is a highly regarded San Diego criminal defense attorney who has successfully defended residents statewide for nearly three decades. He has been a San Diego criminal trial lawyer of the year and has been awarded the Directors’ Award for Excellence by the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association. See www.nimmolawgroup.com/ for more information.

As insurance rates keep going up, auto owners are looking for discounts on auto insurance. There are many assorted types of deductions available and if you can save some money, then why not? Below is a list of general deductions that may be available to you. Check with your insurance underwriter to see if you’re eligible.

Personal Car Insurance Discounts

Person-related price reductions are ones that depend on the driver’s own personal situation, status and driving history.

Car-Related Price Reductions

The type of car you drive can be a huge factor in defining the price of automobile insurance. There are also extra features that you can add to your car to make it less expensive to insure.

1. Car Air Bags. There are several types of airbags: front, rear, side-curtain, etc. The better you’re protected, the bigger the discount you may be able to receive.
2. Anti-Lock Brakes System (ABS). Many automobiles on the road today are equipped with ABS. Many insurance firms offer price reductions if your car is fit with this type of braking system and many states even require the insurer to do so.

Having Anti-Theft Devices Installed. Any type of add-on to dissuade somebody from breaking into or stealing your automobile can also provide you with cheaper insurance costs.

Financial Aid is a wonderful program to help with the cost of college. It is a program that helps to supplement the cost of education and offers opportunities to those who otherwise may not have the means to further their education.

The first step to receiving financial aid is to filling out the free application for federal student aid. This is the agency that determines what the family contribution should be. The difference between the cost of attendance and expected contribution for a student, determines how much funds should be awarded based on need. There are some programs that are based on merit or are non-need based and can replace expected contributions from a family source.

By applying early, several funding sources for assistance can be considered. An eligible student with demonstrated need should not be denied the opportunity to attend college. Though the maze of financial aid can be intimidating, if it is taken on a step at a time it’s as easy as drawing a line from A to B.

Begin by determining your eligibility to participate in federal, state and local financial aid assistance. Once you have determined that you are a good candidate for eligibility, apply for and receive your financial aid. After your initial application for Federal Student Aid, the remainder of the process should be completed at your prospective college or university. The Financial Aid office can be very helpful with this process.

To ensure your success, plan a college education budget. Understand the policies and procedures that will affect your financial aid experience; and if a student loan is part of your budget be sure you understand all the repayment options. Another important financial aid opportunity that you can’t afford to overlook is the work-study program. Often you will be given a part time job within your college or university to help you with expenses. With proper planning, nearly anyone can obtain a good education.

BT has brought about some changes to its Total Broadband Fair Usage Policy for its ISP plans. These changes include the over usage charges being increased from 58p per GB to £1 per GB, and the Option 2 monthly package download limit to be increased from 15GB to 20GB. There is no cheer in store for the Option 1 and Option 3 plan users though, as their download allowance will remain at the older level. All the changes will be applicable from April.

Over usage has been bothering most broadband customers with a limited plan, and with the increase in these charges, customers have to be even more cautious while carrying out downloads. However, BT has offered to help, as it plans to send emails to its customers on their registered mail ids when they exhaust 80 percent of their download allowance. This ensures that the users can be alert, and make an informed decision about crossing their monthly cap.

A better facility that can help prevent over usage is a data meter. Software such as BitMeter2, are freely available on the internet and allow the user to track his or her data transfer. Most of these software also have inbuilt alarms to warn you when your usage reaches a pre set limit. This can be an extremely convenient way to prevent over usage.

Ultimately, the best solution to prevent over-usage is to click here for Broadband Genie

You don’t have to go school anymore to get an education. Home schooling programs exist all over the country and have been growing in numbers and popularity for many years. Alternative high schools have also been around for decades and offer a minimum amount of class time combined with work experience and dance and musical experimentation. Some parents even take their kids out of school for a year or more just to travel the world and learn by seeing how other cultures live and survive.

Learning in the workplace is now a hodgepodge of seminars and workshops, classroom training, coaching and mentoring, tele-classes, e-learning, and the latest wave of distance and web-based learning. It’s getting harder to find traditional training programs outside of the formal education system and even there school districts across the country are engaged in testing and refining a variety of new and non-traditional learning methods.

Distance learning is one way of this new type of thinking and learning that has really gained a foothold, particularly at the college and university level. Millions of Americans are now engaged in their first or second attempt to get that long sought goal, a college degree through distance learning. Almost every university and college now offers some form of online degree granting program and some even have graduate studies that at least partially can be taken through distance learning.

It’s easy to understand the growth of this type of training as it parallels the growth of the personal computer and the World Wide Web. All that was missing was a technological connection between the users and the academic institutions and the emergence of relatively cheap and really fast Internet access was the key that unlocked the door.

Non-traditional learning methods like distance learning have forced administrators and legislators to react quickly to meet this growing demand. For students of all ages it has meant many more options are open to them and it allows them to easily overcome the barriers of time, money and distance that have held them back for so many years from the degree and the accompanying accreditation that will open new doors for their careers and their futures.

Distance learning, like so many other non-traditional ways of learning, were developed and expanded to knock down the virtual walls that surround some of our academic practices. For many people it can’t happen fast enough and they welcome the changes to date and are looking for more innovations in the future.

The UK PM has announced a recent recovery project to help the stability of the banks, and to increase confidence in the market. The new financial bailout includes an insurance scheme to protect banks from another crisis. The banks covered will pay for the insurance policy, with money, no shares allowed. However all this means the price of life would fall, deflation will increase saving and this can diminish the British economic crisis.

UK property values are supposed to fall dramatically, with the country’s largest mortgage lender, Halifax, declaring, more than 16 % yearly decline in during 2008. Prices have already fallen twenty per cent from their peak in 2007 and further declines are likely as approvals for future home loans are very low, as reported by bank data.

The number of job seekers increased past 1 million in at the end of last year. climbing at a fast rate since 1990 The financial crisis has forced lots of job cuts in different sectors, with some forecasts of 3m+ unemployed by the end of 2010. High Street shops have gone bankrupt last year. Stores have been cutting prices to be able to pay their bills.

The economy policy resolutions of British Prime Minister are mainly concentrated on reinforcing the financial system but not the currency. This means GB sterling will probably keep to drop. Markets will see the raise of the pound however forecasts for pound is indeed still negative.

Rumours amongst financial analysts showed an 80 percent chance the Bank of England will cut interest rates to 1.25 % from 2 %, dragging the Bank rate to its lowest since 1694 Money exchange opportunities may be passing you by right now - talk to Foreign Currency Direct.

This means a lower return for the investors who then move their funds from Sterling to a currency with a higher return, since the value of the pound is down.

Some policymakers have announced the bank will have to cut the rates to zero and resort for easy solutions, basically producing new currency to push the financial situation. This appears to tie in nicely with the government plan of attempting to spend their way out of the recession problem, which is the opposite of most European countries decisions, which is a possible explanation for the big drop in Pound compared to the and US$ Dollar.

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Looking for different methods like college scholarships to pay for a degree can be difficult and lengthy. Scholarships are not the same as a normal student loan because the funds are a grant, so it doesn’t need to be paid back. While searching methods to fund your university education, investigate the more other options, such as scholarships especially for southpaw students. Left-Handed Scholarships

A left-handed grant may seem a bit crazy, but do consider this: Julius Caesar was left handed, as is President Obama. Raphael, Da Vinci, Bob Dylan also J.F. Kennedy Jr were also lefties. Close to 11% of the population are southpaws. Regrettably in the past left handers experienced discrimination, now they are considered to be gifted intellectually and more artistic. Stigmatization is now a thing of the past and lefties are no longer thought of as different, and may have many things in common with the famous individuals mentioned previously.

If you are lefthanded and searching for grants specifically for southpaw scholars, some left-handed grants are accessible which you could acquire. A Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship for funding up to $1000$1k is presently available at Juniata College in Huntington, Pennsylvania. For students of Juniata College and it was established in the 1970’s, this unique scholarship helps many left-handed scholars get a college degree.

Whilst you are searching for scholarships, do be mindful that a few grants may have prerequisites and limitations. In some cases certain grades can be asked for or particular monetary guidelines must be met. Do go for for the maximum amount of scholarships feasible to increase your prospects of financing a college education with as small a school debt when you graduate as possible. Clubs, hobby related groups and even community organisations may provide grants. Southpaw bursaries are not a isolated case; programs are available in numerous different instances such as the students from military households or if you have a disability.

Searching out college scholarships may be time consuming, yet the advantages will always be worth it. Utilised along with student loans, they are effective in cutting the inevitable debt that a college education generates. Be very thorough in researching every source of funding. The above-mentioned funding is only one of many options — list all your local associations and don’t forget to utilize every available resource. If you even think you may meet the criteria, then apply, you may keep any debt minimal, also you will probably be looking at a more positive financial outlook when you finally graduate.

Perusing fly fishing articles is a great way to learn more about
the passion of fly fishing. The library of fly fishing
literature rivals other forms of fishing even though in sheer
numbers fly fisherman are out numbered by almost all other forms
of fishing. There are terms in fly fishing literature that are
thrown out frequently without explanation or definition. One
such subset of these terms is the classification of fly fishing
rivers. One can read for years and hear about freestone rivers,
tailwaters, and spring creeks, without elaboration of what these
terms actually mean in general and to fly fishers in general. We
will attempt here to explain these classifications a little bit.
This first in a series of articles will go into the spring
creek.

Spring Creeks are infamous in the United Kingdom, long credited
as the ancient birthplace of fly fishing. Specifically, in the
UK and the Midwest United States, are the limestone spring
creeks. By definition spring creeks are fed obviously by
springs. What this means for HREF="http://www.bigyflyco.com/" rel="nofollow">fly fishing is that the
water temperature will most likely remain stable year around,
ideally in the high forties to low fifties on the Fahrenheit
scale. Stable temperatures allow for a healthy environment for
aquatic insects to grow, which doesn’t take a huge amount of
mental power, to make the jump to the thought that this is also
great for the growth of fish.

Not only do the water temperatures remain steady but the volume
does as well. Unlike other rivers that depend upon snow melt,
and/or dams, spring creeks water comes bubbling up from the
surface, and is fed by springs and smaller spring creeks as it
works itself downstream.

When one thinks of spring creeks, one thinks of, meandering
hills, gentle slopes, meadows, and wide shallow valleys.
Although spring creeks can occur in mountainous regions as well,
carving out a niche that is usually reserved for freestone
streams. They typically are at lower elevations.

The characteristics of spring creeks, leads to some special
considerations when selecting your arsenal of HREF="http://www.bigyflyco.com/" rel="nofollow">fly fishing flies. The
meandering of the typical spring creek, with all its stable
features lends also to vegetation growth. Therefore insects that
feed of vegetation are the rule here. Also the banks tend to be
cut into the earth, perfect habitat for mud dwelling grubs,
worms and nymphs like the hex. There also tend to be abundance
of scuds, sow bugs, as well as midge patterns. Since the terrain
is likely grassy, look for terrestrials like hoppers and
crickets. And in the riverbank itself will be ants and beetles.
Terrestrials make a good bet all summer long. A good selection
for spring creeks will include, patterns imitating species
above, as well as some small classic dry flies, like Adams, BWOs
and PMDs.

Spring creeks are likely to be small and certain tactics need to
be remembered. Everything is more likely to be noticed by your
wary prey. Including your approach, your colors, your
silhouette. It is best not to wade, it is best to approach from
upriver, and you are likely only going to get a few casts, and
then moving on is your best bet. With gentle gradient the spring
creek will have many, many holding areas for trout. Using tippet
down to 7x is common, as is long leaders. Perfect presentations
are required, and it is a great time to practice your accuracy
and line management. Bring your 4x or smaller for precise fly
placement, mending if necessary must be done early in your drift
and without ruckus.

Many think of the spring creek as the epitome of fly fishing.
And with good reason. Their very nature, evokes relaxation,
tranquillity, and all the things fly fishers love.