Ajarn Donald's Blog

Presented By: Online Colleges The  Johns Hopkins University  is joining a group of elite universities that will offer free online courses through a company called Coursera, a collective leap that could open higher education to a broader audience. Though Johns Hopkins already offers courses online, Coursera is considered a potential game changer, because its classes will be available to unlimited numbers of students around the world. Some experts believe so-called "massive open online courses" could de-centralize higher education. Hopkins officials say the courses will offer a mere taste of the education offered to full-time students. "It isn't really comparable to coming and taking a full degree program," said James Yager, associate dean for academic affairs at the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health . But Yager said that the effort could be "transformative" in distributing public health information from Bloomberg to peopl...

Brought to you by: BestCollegesOnline.com Teacher tenure is the increasingly controversial form of job protection that public school teachers in all states receive after 1-7 years on the job. As of 2008, 2.3 million teachers have tenure.  Proponents of tenure argue that it protects teachers from being fired for personal or political reasons, and prevents the firing of experienced teachers to hire less expensive new teachers. They contend that since school administrators grant tenure, neither teachers nor teacher unions should be unfairly blamed for problems with the tenure system. Opponents of tenure argue that this job protection makes the removal of poorly performing teachers so difficult and costly that most schools end up retaining their bad teachers. They contend that tenure encourages complacency among teachers who do not fear losing their jobs, and that tenure is no longer needed given current laws against job discrimination . Teacher tenure is the increasingly con...

Created by GoEd Online - Teaching Materials Studies prove that a great teacher can impart a year and a half’s worth of learning to a student in one year.  Good teaching over a sustained period can [help students] overcome the disadvantages of poverty.  77 percent of U.S. adults feel teaching is among the most under-appreciated professions in the U.S.   76 percent agree that many of the smartest people in society don’t go into teaching because being a teacher doesn’t pay enough.   46 percent of teachers in public schools leave the profession within five years.   14 percent of teachers leave the profession each year; in urban districts , the turnover is higher: 20 percent.   High turnover of American teachers costs our country over $7 billion every year.   Teachers are priced out of home ownership in 32 metropolitan areas.  Only 4.7 percent of college juniors would consider teaching at the current starting salary. 68 percent of college stu...

english language logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) As Promised! Only a Matter of Days Before We Make Our Major Announce- ment.   You Can Get In On The Action Now! We are Giving Away Free Prizes All you need to do is enter your Name      & Email.  You must be a resident of Thailand. All winners will be  announced on Mother's Day  12 August 2012.  We are excited to say that we are partnering with a large English Language Online Interactive Company to offer learners of English, teachers, schools, universities and private companies  the world’s first 100% entertainment-focused online resource for helping people around Thailand improve their English language skills. Full details coming soon. The site enables learners to move the lexical items seen in the learning units from short-term into long-term memory - the only way to truly retain them - thanks to a range of addictive Learning Games that provide rep...

This image was selected as a picture of the week on the Malay Wikipedia for the 26th week, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Fourth of July : A Day to Remember Polls reveal that Americans know surprisingly little about their country's history. Education World remembers --- and celebrates America's struggle for independence with 13 patriotic activities, one for each of the original colonies!  See additional lesson ideas on our special  Fourth of July Holiday page . In a recent Constitution Poll commissioned by the National Constitution Center , fewer than 50 percent of the respondents knew how many U.S. Senators there are; only 6 percent could name the four rights guaranteed by the First Amendment ; and 84 percent thought the Constitution states that "all men are equal."   An  American History quiz  among 1000 adults in the United States revealed that two-thirds of respondents didn't know that the Declaration of Independence w...