I admit it – when I first saw the “Zoey the Zombie” commercial for MyEducation.com, I was a little creeped out. I mean, all that zombie makeup looked a little too realistic for my liking! After I got over the creep factor, I couldn’t help laughing out loud at the over-the-top antics of the office zombies. Then, after being thoroughly entertained, the truth of the matter really began to resonate. I mean, how many of us have been stuck in jobs that we hate, jobs that suck the very life out of us? I don’t think life was meant to be lived that way.

Zoey the Zombie says, “I never thought I’d be just like everyone else – no direction, stuck in a dead-end job, lifeless…” If that’s true for you, we want you to know there is hope! You don’t have to stay stuck where you are.

That’s where education comes in. Take a look at just a few of the many, many ways education can help you “come alive”:

• Job opportunities galore. Occupations that only require on-the-job training are getting harder to come by. In fact, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that by 2018, 63 percent of U.S. jobs will require some form of postsecondary education or training. So if you want to get out of your dead-end job, your best bet is to go back to school. A degree can open the door to your dream career!

• Better health. Not only is education good for your brain, it’s good for your body. According to the College Board, those with higher education levels are less likely to smoke and suffer from obesity and more likely to exercise. One good decision leads to another, and education is a decision you’ll never regret. Why be like a zombie when you could go back to school and join the land of the living?

• Mo’ money. Money can’t buy happiness, but being able to afford the things you need can certainly keep stress levels low and add a little extra incentive to go to work every day. And the Center at Georgetown reports that bachelor’s degree holders make 84 percent more over a lifetime than those with only a high school diploma. That’s a difference that can really make a difference.

Are you convinced yet? If you’re starting to get psyched about the life-giving properties of education, here’s your chance to show it – and win! MyEducation is sponsoring a “Come Alive” contest, where you’re invited to join Zoey the Zombie and transform your future with education. All you have to do is create and upload a video showing how education can help you come alive. Be creative, be original, and invite everyone you know to visit your video channel – you could win $2,500 for your efforts! And stay tuned for fun bi-monthly challenges to win a $100 American Express gift card.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

–Robyn Tellefsen

If history shows anything, it’s that new ways of doing things often bring about myths and misconceptions. That’s true for e-learning.

You may enter into an online program or class with ideas – either from your experience in the classroom or talking to other online students – that you quickly may discover are untrue. Those misconceptions could impact your success as an online student.

We’ve uncovered the truth behind five popular online learning myths.

1. You don’t have to work as hard.

If you think online learning is easier than learning in a traditional classroom, you’ll be surprised to find that’s not the case. The format may be different, but you still will be required to do extensive reading, and hours of homework and exam preparation. Here’s a good guideline from Eastern Iowa Community Colleges: Expect to spend six to nine hours per week in a online course worth three credit hours, in a variety of ways, including participating in online discussions and completing readings and other assignments. You will have due dates and deadlines, but the plus is that you can do them at any hour of the day. Since you aren’t required to physically be in class (although some online courses do have attendance policies), you’ll be putting your time-management skills to use to get everything done.

2. You may be able to cheat and not get caught.

Online students don’t have a professor physically watching over them as they complete the assignment, but schools have savvy systems in place to catch virtual cheaters. According to Franklin University: Statistics show that cheating is no more prevalent in an online environment than in an on-campus environment. E-learners do and need to show the same commitment to academic honesty as students in a traditional class on campus.

3. Your online degree will be viewed as less valuable.

Employers recognize – and many appreciate – that learning online is a part of the education process. The flexibility of an online degree is a big reason why about 5 million people are learning online. Showing that you completed an accredited online program should not make you less qualified for a job than a student who has a degree from a traditional program. But if this is something you’re concerned about, see if the online program offers the same curriculum as the traditional classroom program. Most do, and they are held to the same standards as on-campus programs.

4. You won’t have interaction with classmates or the professors.

Sure, you may be hundreds of thousands of miles away from your peers or professor, but the virtual world provides plenty of opportunities to interact with and learn from them. You won’t be anonymous and even can get personal attention from a professor. There’s online chat, video conferencing, discussion boards, and other tools offered by the school. Plus with e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, you’ll be just a quick key stokes away from a conversation. And some programs blend time in a traditional classroom with online learning, so there are opportunities to meet classmates and your professor in person.

5. You will learn about computers and tech skills in an online class.

Don’t expect your professor to spend time on basic computer or Internet skills. Be prepared to work virtually, so you may need to take courses from a local computer store or business or online before the course begins, to make sure you have the basic knowledge about accessing the Internet, using e-mail and web browsers, and creating documents such as spreadsheets. If your class will use specific software or blogs, your instructor should go over those, but otherwise, the course time will be spent learning about your subject, not technology. Also, don’t expect computer problems or lack of tech skills to be an acceptable excuse for not completing an assignment.

Those are just a few of the myths about online learning. What other types of misconceptions have you or your friends had about being an e-learner?

-Lori Johnston

Whoever said there’s no such thing as a free lunch must not have heard about the latest offerings at Stanford’s School of Engineering. This fall, Stanford is going out on a limb and offering three online courses for free – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Introduction to Databases, and Introduction to Machine Learning. The AI course in particular has attracted the interest of thousands of students around the world – more than 120,000, by one approximation – and it hasn’t even started yet.

At first I thought this was no different than what MIT has being doing for years with its OpenCourseWare initiative. But at closer inspection, there are major distinctions. OpenCourseWare is a free publication of MIT course materials, but students don’t register for the courses because they are not credit-bearing in any way. Also, there is no access to MIT faculty. This doesn’t diminish the incredible impact and reach of the 2,000 courses MIT has published over the last decade, but it does put Stanford’s experimental offerings into perspective.

Though the curriculum for Stanford’s artificial intelligence online course will be drawn from the popular on-campus course, it will still function as a “real” online course – with pre-recorded video lectures, homework, quizzes, exams, an online discussion board, and feedback on assignments. The two instructors and leaders in the AI field, Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig, will be active participants in the general discussion forum and will answer top-voted student questions. (It would be impossible to answer individual questions from thousands of students!)

The 10-week AI online course runs from October 10 to December 18 and is being offered in two tracks, basic and advanced. In the basic track, students will watch the lectures and take basic quizzes, but will not complete the full course requirements. The advanced track is the whole shebang. Tip: If you enroll in the advanced track and find it too challenging, you can always switch back to the basic. Upon successful completion of either track, students will receive a Statement of Accomplishment signed by the instructors, but no official Stanford certificate or credit. If you’d like, you can watch the lecture videos without enrolling, but you won’t have access to any other features of the course.

Musings on Massively Open Online Courses
Stanford’s artificial intelligence course is the latest entry into the growing marketplace of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC), an exciting experiment in making education accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. It does pose some interesting questions, though. Anyone can participate, but will the average joe be equipped to handle the rigor of a Stanford course? A solid understanding of probability and linear algebra are required, in addition to a commitment of 10-15 hours per week to complete the coursework. In light of that, I’m curious to see how many of the thousands of students enrolled will actually complete the course requirements.

The other concern that comes to mind is that of control – how can you effectively monitor an online course of this size? How will Stanford guard against spammers and trolls who might attempt to ruin the experience for everyone? And is the technology equipped to handle such a large discussion forum as well as the challenges of grading?

Managing a massive course like this is sure to bring some headaches, but hopefully, it will be worthwhile for instructors and motivated students alike. In any event, Stanford should be applauded for this effort to share the educational wealth. And I, for one, look forward to finding out about the outcomes!

-Robyn Tellefsen

While acceptance of online education has grown significantly over the last decade, it still has a long way to go – especially when it comes to convincing the general public of its merits. The upside, however, is that online learning is finally getting its due in the higher education arena.

According to new survey data released by the Pew Research Center in association with The Chronicle of Higher Education, 51 percent of college presidents say online courses provide equal educational value to brick-and-mortar courses. Compare that to just 29 percent of American adults who believe the same thing, and it’s clear that online education still has a way to go in the PR department. Interestingly, though, adults who have actually taken a course online have a more positive view of the format – 39 percent of those in the know say the value of online courses is equivalent to the value of traditional education.

It seems that the more experience people have with online education, the better they like it. That’s true even among college presidents, as online learning is more common in some sectors of higher ed than others. Ninety-one percent of presidents of two-year colleges say their schools offer at least some online courses; two-thirds of those presidents say online learning is comparable to traditional education. When it comes to four-year schools, 89 percent of presidents of public colleges and universities report that their school offers courses online; 50 percent of those presidents say online learning is comparable to face-to-face instruction. Four-year private colleges are the ones that offer the fewest online courses, and also the ones whose presidents are the least convinced of the merits of online education – 60 percent of private school presidents say their school offers online courses, but just 36 percent of those presidents believe the quality of online education matches that of traditional education.

The Explosive Growth of Online Education
No matter the degree of skepticism, online education is here to stay – and it’s growing in leaps and bounds. According to the most recent Sloan Survey of Online Learning, the number of students at degree-granting postsecondary institutions taking at least one online course increased by 21 percent from the fall of 2008 to the fall of 2009. Compare that to a total higher education enrollment increase of just 1.2 percent from 2008-09, and it’s plain to see that online education is outpacing traditional education by far.

College presidents are well aware of the expansion of online education and are confident of its continued growth. While just 15 percent of presidents say most of their current students have taken an online course, 50 percent predict that in 10 years, most of their students will be taking online courses.

Along with the growth of online learning comes an expectation for a boom in online education tools. Sixty-two percent of college presidents anticipate that in 10 years, more than half of students’ textbooks will be digital. The rise of e-textbooks could be good news for students, translating into lower costs and lighter backpacks.

Not everyone is convinced of the value of eLearning, but with more higher-ups in higher education casting a positive vote, the tide may be turning in favor of the online format.

-Robyn Tellefsen