September 2011

Other Digital Learning Worlds: The Google Art Project Lots of people have discovered how StraighterLine is using online learning technology to reinvent the world of education. And here at StraighterLine, we’ve been discovering some interesting things too. We’re not alone in using online technology to reinvent institutions that have been around for centuries. Take the Google Art Project, for example, Google’s effort to put the collections of the world’s most important art museums online. Even though the project is brand new, it is already quite incredible. If you visit the site, you will be able to take virtual tours, and review the collections of more than a dozen of the world’s greatest museums, including: the ...

Is Your Kid in College? Then Why Don’t You Start Too? If you are the parent of a student who has just started college, you are probably ready to kick back and relax a little. After all, applying to college was stressful for you too. You visited campuses, attended info sessions, filed the FAFSA form online, made a plan to pay the bills, bought all kinds of dorm paraphernalia, and then finally delivered your kid to campus and drove away. That is a lot of stuff to go through, for sure. But here’s a suggestion. Instead of just relaxing, why not take some courses online too, just to share in the experience of learning? I did just that after our daughter started college. She is now in her senior year, and I have taken three courses online ...

Why Computer Learning Makes Your Education More Risk-Free If you’ve been reading the StraighterLine Blog, you already know that you can save a lot of money and time by studying online. You can even whittle the cost of a year of college year down to just a few thousand dollars. Plus, complete your coursework at a pace that’s just right for you. And if you haven’t stopped to think about it, here’s another benefit. You can take your classes, anytime, anywhere, and in any way that works best for you. But you might not have considered another benefit too. Online study actually cuts the cost of failure in your college work, because you can retake courses, or repeat units or lessons, until you get them right. And as you know, failure c ...

U.S. News College Rankings Hit the Stands Again U.S. News has again published its annual rankings of colleges and universities. And in publications from coast to coast, reporters are again taking aim and blasting away at everything that is wrong with them.  Like the first day of duck hunting season, it happens every year. I was about to write a post about why I dislike the rankings too. But then I started to poke around online and discovered that many intelligent observers of American education have already written about this year’s rankings. Let’s take a quick look at what they have to say . . . Valerie Strauss, who writes about education for The Washington Post, just wrote an article called “The problem with the U.S. New ...

Busted Myth of the Week: You Can’t Start College until You’re a Civilian If you're a member of the U.S. armed services, you might have heard the common misconception that you have to delay college until after you return to civilian life. Not so! In fact, a growing number of servicemen and servicewomen are discovering that it is possible to get a start on college studies while they are still in uniform by enrolling in online courses for college credit. Then when they return to civilian life, they can enter college with a head start over other veterans who put their educational goals on hold. When you stop to think about it, there are many advantages to starting college while you are still in the military... You can start right no ...