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Passage
A
Internet and Education
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Education plays a very important role in everybody's life. We
go to school because we want to know more about the world around
us and at the same time extend
our horizons
of thinking. The typical
classroom used to be the place where teachers and students were
working and exploring
the wonderful world of knowledge together, but now everything
has changed. Technology
is taking over those interactions
and introducing us to a whole new approach of learning.
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 Online
education
Millions of people have rejected traditional education
in favor of E-learning. And many universities have
set up E-learning centers. Online-learning enrollments
are growing 33 percent a year and are expected to
hit 2.2 million by 2004.
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Wages for teachers
According to National Faculty Salary Survey in Private
Four-Year Colleges and Universities(2000-01), the
highest-paying discipline/major field is  Law,
in which the overall average salary is $108,450. The
other disciplines/major fields in the top five are
Public Health, $89,706; Financial Management and Services,
$89,523; Chemical Engineering, $82,878; and Electrical,
Electronics and Communications Engineering, $80,848.
A wider salary survey by the American Association
of University Professors (AAUP) found a 3.5 percent
increase in average salaries for faculty at public
and private institutions in recent years.
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Register for classes
Students register their classes with the help of their
teachers. They  are
encouraged to register early, as class sizes are usually
limited to a certain number of students and are filled
on a first-come, first-served basis. They may register
through the mail, by phone/fax or in person at the
Center. Today, it is widespread at colleges and universities
to register through the Internet, so it is no longer
a phenomenon that students stand in a long line waiting
to register for classes at the registration center.
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Online life
It is certainly true that life online is inescapable.
Colleges that have  invested
a great deal in online learning have often discovered
that the extra work for the teachers has been more
than they expected, and so have some of the financial
costs thus far. However, online education is quite
new, and in the future the author's optimistic predictions
may all come true.
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The Internet is one of those approaches. Learning via
the Internet
is a new style that many people believe is more successful than
the conventional
form of teaching. The Internet allows schools to develop a large
amount
of learning material that is accessible
for students online
anytime. There are so many choices of courses and subjects or
time frames
that completing a program is not an issue
for students anymore. We found that online
education gives us excellent sources of information,
saves our time, money and it is extremely convenient.
Not long ago we used to go to the library every time we needed
information and spent hours searching for the right sources.
Today there is a "library" in our house and it is
available 24 hours a day. From my personal experience, as a
first time mother, I found that using information online is
very helpful. While I am at home with my baby, I am still able
to connect to the world and search for any educational materials
I need. I am also able to exchange
thoughts, opinions and information with my classmates without
leaving my house.
The Internet is not only a big information provider but also
saves us money and time. People are predicting
that education will be much cheaper in the future because of
Internet access
to information. The cost of land, buildings and wages
for teachers are continuously increasing and that makes
conventional education more expensive than online education.
In addition, regular courses (offline)
depend heavily on books and other traditional
paper-based materials while online education posts lectures,
notes, and assignments
electronically
and that saves thousands of dollars every year. There is also
no need for the classroom itself because most programs online
require participation
in discussion and group projects
via e-mail.
The Internet classes and courses are also very convenient because
there are no physical
restrictions
as in conventional education like space and time limitations.
First, in classroom-based education there is a limitation on
the number of students that are allowed in each class while
Internet education is available to everyone because a classroom
is not an issue there. Students don't have to struggle in order
to register
for
the classes they like. In addition, there is no time limitation
so students can repeat exercises as many times as they need.
Education will spread out more and more online and students
will have more choices on how and when to take their courses
and classes. They will easily be able to take the classes they
want and repeat material on the Internet as many times as they
need. The Internet is a wonderful opportunity to have a good
time but also to learn something in a convenient and less expensive
way. In
my opinion online life in the future is simply inescapable.
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