My Boarding School Blog

Technology has certainly changed the way the world works. It has greatly influenced the various aspects of life and redefined our day to day living. Without a doubt, technology plays a critical role in our lives. Thanks to technology, many tedious tasks have become easily performed through automation. A lot of complex and critical processes can now be performed with ease and efficiency. The fields of education and industry are no exception. They have undergone a major change and surely have changed for the better.

Technology, particularly the arrival of personal computers and the Internet have revolutionized education. It has made it easier for the teachers to supply knowledge and for the students to understand it.

Computers have interactive audio-visual media. PowerPoint presentations and animation software programs can be utilized to render information. These result in inviting a larger attention from the students. These software programs can also serve as visual aids to the teachers. These audio-visual teaching techniques have brought about significant improvements in student attendance and concentration. Interactive media have proven to be helpful in enhancing the concentration of students.

The Internet is a huge information base. This could be one of the most effective tools in acquiring knowledge. All the students need to have is a search engine where they can type in their search queries. There are loads of different websites and web directories that offer information on a wide variety of subjects.

Today, computer education is a part of our school and college curricula. The wide range of different applications and computer programs has made it necessary for almost all of the students to become knowledgeable about these programs. Considering the advantages, it’s critical that every student at least have the basic knowledge in operating the Internet and different computer programs.

Technology has also given birth to online education and distance learning. Today, students do not necessarily require being physically present in classrooms. Many educational organizations offer online courses. Majority of the schools and colleges have online facilities where the students can perform and submit their assignments. There are universities that have programs that allow students and teachers interact with one another and access different reference materials via the Internet.

The importance of the computer and Internet technology in education cannot be stressed enough. The introduction of computer technology and the Internet in the educational field has made the process of learning and teaching an interactive and exciting activity. Computer and the Internet technology is indeed two of the most greatest inventions of mankind.

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Formal education is an important part of every person’s personal achievement, social formation, growth, and development. This doesn’t only include primary level of education. More importantly, it also includes the tertiary level in college or university.

According to Higher Education in the Unites States – An Encyclopedia, a college or university education, also known as tertiary education, is chiefly designed to develop the technical skills of the student in preparation for the professional or working life, with the hope that it is in line with the degree earned.

Colleges and universities offer comprehensive body of knowledge from many disciplines. These can be acquired by taking up degree or non-degree courses. Degree courses entail a longer period of studying. These courses are mostly concentrated on theories in their contents and instructions.

Theories and different schools of thoughts included in their respective curriculums are taught to ensure the knowledge and the skills necessary in the real practice of the field are acquired.

On the other hand, non-degree courses mostly involve a shorter period of studying. These include direct teaching of practical and actual trainings from vocational and technical courses.
Actual trainings and on-the-job applications of theories are usually performed under these types of courses. The schools that offer these courses are equipped with the real tools and machineries the students are most likely to utilize in the real job scenario.

Not all colleges and universities offer these courses. Actually, colleges have more specific types of degrees offered while universities have broader and wider choices of courses.

Vocational courses are exclusively offered by vocational and technical schools. However, these schools may also be part of a university. College, on the other hand, is specific in its category of courses offered such as College of Law or College of Medicine, such as the American College of Physicians. It is immediately implicated that the courses offered are related to medicine or law only.

As defined in the New World encyclopedia, a university consists of different schools or colleges. A university may have school of arts and sciences, college of education, or school of business. Thus, the university offers more courses while a college has a particular category or group of disciplines offered.

In realizing one’s dreams and aspirations, it is critical that the person has a specific path chosen to achieve such goals. These paths are through training and education. Without this, the person can only rely on either just instinct or trial and error methods. These methods are not only ineffective and unscientific; they are also costly and may prove harmful to one’s future. Therefore, it is imperative that every person decides on which type of course to enroll from a specific college or university that he or she considers as the one that can provide the necessary tools in achieving their dream.

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Standardized tests are examinations in which all students answer the same set of questions usually in a multiple choice format with only one correct answer per question. There are many debates arguing whether standardized tests can truly measure a student’s academic performance. Some argues that answering a series of questions by choosing the correct answer among the options does not cultivate creative thinking or create anything.

The reliability of standardized tests can be 100% reliable if the results are the same when taken twice. But for all tests there is what we call a measurement error. A measurement error is the variation of an individual’s score due to different testing conditions or the taker’s mental or overall state at the time the test was taken. Because of measurement error two individuals with different scores on a test today might get the same scores on the test given the following day.

Standardized tests cannot really measure difference between two individuals as they rarely cover different factors of an individual’s intellect furthermore a student’s overall academic excellence is not brought by just excellence in cognitive ability rather it is a combination of cognitive, analytical, creativity and skills. Students learn when they can actively extract meaning out of their actions then connecting this knowledge to something that they are trying to learn. Most standardized tests only concentrate on narrow skills and memorization on facts.

Listed below are the most common standardized achievement tests administered to students today.

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

A standardized test for college applicants published by the College Board, a non-profit organization in the United States is one of the most common tests high school students are preparing for.

American College Testing (ACT)

Is a standardized test for college admissions to screen applicants for higher education in the US produced by the ACT Inc. It is a multiple choice examinations covering subject areas in English, Math, Reading Comprehension and Science.

Standardized testing is faced with a lot of loop holes in fairly evaluating our student’s academic performance. A much better way to evaluate student achievement should be done by integrating teacher observation, student work and performance assessment. In these factors a student’s overall hard work is evaluated fairly. This is a good reference for companies that offer standardized tests so they can progress from the ancient testing method that we use today.

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The Grade Point Average or commonly called GPA is what most students are concerned about throughout their school days. A student’s hard work to get good grades will amount to his or her GPA at the end of the school year. GPA is a key into getting into a good school and in qualifying for a scholarship program. Since GPA is an important indicator of academic performance it is important to know how to calculate your GPA correctly.

All schools have a uniform accepted grading system for evaluating student performance in examinations. Teachers from different subjects assign a grade to each student in which these scores are computed into what is known as the GPA. These grades are represented in letters. The highest is A while the lowest is F. Some schools split the grades in three sub categories like A+, A- and A. Here is the grade point equivalent of the letters.

A – (3.5 to 4)
B – (2.4 to 3.49)
C – (1.5 to 2.49)
D – (1.0 to 1.49)
F – (0.0)

There are two methods to calculate GPA. The first method entails simple averaging. The second is computing for a weighted GPA. Since every subject has its own level of difficulty a simple average GPA may not show a true evaluation of student performance. Nevertheless with a good recommendation and good test results from standardized tests, a good GPA can boost your chances for getting in a prestigious college or university. The US News and World Report says that having a high GPA is necessary to those people who dream of getting in graduate schools like Harvard Medical School (3.8 average GPA), Stanford Business School (3.6 average) and Yale law (3.9 average GPA). Most colleges accepts freshmen students with a 3.0 average GPA.

It is a good thing that employers don’t specify a certain GPA when they accept applicants. But they tend to look at the university or college where an applicant comes from, most employers take into consideration the enormous load of school work a college graduate has besides the painstaking curriculum they also need to juggle extra curricular activities at the side to earn credits in overall academic performance. Employers are keen to look at experience in forms of internship and practicum where a high GPA is not necessarily required.

Calculating your GPA is easy. Make a list of the different courses you have taken for the semester then write the scores you acquired for each subject in their alphabetical form. On the side of each alphabetical score write the equivalent grade points for each subject to sum it all up. Divide the sum of the grade points to the total number of courses and you’ll get your GPA.

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Home schooling also known as home education or home learning is typically learning at home. Parents act as the teachers for their children instead of going to educational institutions run by government or private sectors. Home schooling is legal in most states in Canada and in 50 states in the U.S. There are a number of reasons why parents choose to home school their child like improved academic test results, lesser peer pressure, improved character, and inexpensive education compared to most private schools.

Home schooling dates back in the 17th century in Europe where families has resorted to home schooling their children due to lack of income. Nowadays parents have other reasons why they choose homeschooling instead of the traditional way of schooling. Parents are now starting to take a stand and gain control of how to develop their children’s abilities. Although homeschooling is legal in the US there are still laws that govern homeschooling, these are private school laws, home education laws and equivalency laws. Home schooling is growing in popularity among other countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Can I save with Home Schooling?

The common misconception is that more parents choose home schooling because it is cheaper. Although it can be a little less expensive compared to private schools if you know where to find resources and how to use them effectively, home schooling might just work well with your family budget. There are package curriculums available from various institutions it may run from a few hundred dollars to around a thousand. To give you an idea of home schooling curriculum here is an example, an elementary grade program from Calvert School can cost around 500 to 600 dollars and as high as 1,400 dollars from Laurel Springs. These are just estimates but if you would really want to give your child the best home schooling education you need to be resourceful and learn your way through the Internet because it can be a very rich source of information and most of the time it’s free or is widely available at a lower price.

If you are a hesitant parent and is concerned of your ability to teach your child at home you can seek help from other parents whose children are home schooled in forums and support groups available all through out the state. This will help you to choose among the different curriculums and where to get tips that can help enhance your teaching style and develop your child’s talents and skills more effectively than what traditional schooling can do.

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