Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Reading Comprehension Rockets With Audiobooks

Some people hate reading because they can't read fast and moreover, they don't grasp the context of the material they read. So, how do you improve your comprehension? Studies show that speed reading can improve your comprehension. Here are some articles on speed reading.
 
 
Here is an article by Bob Jenkins on reading comprehension.
 
Love of reading and reading comprehension go hand in hand, and audiobooks have proven to promote increased reading activity -- and advance reading comprehension, something many people struggle with on a day to day basis.

For students, audiobooks stimulate the imagination, help build vocabulary skills and enhance pronunciation. Also, whereas a thick-paged book might be intimidating to a student, most are familiar with computers, iPods and stereo systems - and are adept at using them. So why not give them an option that merges traditional reading enjoyment and comprehension with the high-tech universe they're immersed in?

Audiobooks can quickly become a source of pleasure for the student and can mean the difference in viewing learning as a fun activity or as a necessary annoyance to be avoided at all cost. That isn't to say audiobooks should replace traditional reading activities altogether, but they can contribute to the student's education and advancement.

Students who find themselves failing in the classroom can use audiobooks as a source of valuable information to help them catch up and forge ahead on almost any subject by increasing their comprehension. Audiobooks also offer the individualized attention that will ultimately increase a student's understanding of a subject.

Gifted students can also avail themselves of audiobooks to increase their knowledge of a subject or expand the volume of books they can read during a certain amount of time. With a teenager's schedule, there's often limited time to pursue academic activities, and audiobooks can be devoured on the go.

A rapid increase in language comprehension can also be obtained by the used of audiobooks. The connection between text and speech becomes clear with the use of audiobooks, helping the student to improve his reading and vocabulary skills.

Audiobooks are increasingly being used to help special needs students grasp the key between speech patterns and reading. Once this connection is understood by the student, he experiences a new level of self-esteem. The audiobook serves as a supplement to the educational tools the student already uses to gain clarity for a topic.

The activity of reading becomes a much more joyful and useful experience when enhanced by audiobooks. Students can visualize more readily the actions of the words in the book and it becomes much more stimulating to the mind of the reader.

Once a student perceives audiobooks as an enjoyable hobby, he or she can make the transition to consuming print books on subjects they feel will entertain or educate them.

Bob Jenkins is the founder of Hear2Read.com, an audiobook superstore with an unmatched member rewarsd/affiliate program. Bob brings ten years of high school teaching experience to his business. Visit Hear2Read.com for your next audiobook purchase.
http://www.hear2read.com

The Advantages Of An Undergraduate Online Education

Why Online Education?

After a hectic time in high school, most graduates want to take some time off and have plenty of fun and unwind. A few also take jobs in order to pay for their education later - and others just want take the time to find out what they want to do. However, all of these delays are only hindrances to obtaining a degree and can have a negative effect on economic stability and future prospects.

It is well known that a bachelor's degree is prerequisite to getting a lucrative job in any industry - and the earlier one has it, the better it is in terms of career growth. So with all these choices to make, online undergraduate programs are becoming more popular than ever.

The Advantages

With the Internet maturing day by day, the quality of online education is improving, removing all possible barriers to higher education. The primary benefit of an undergraduate online education program is that physical presence is not required to take a course. So with a busy lifestyle for a time consuming job, if a person has the zeal to pursue further education, the online option gives students the opportunity to do both.

When work takes up most of your time, even after a few hours of socializing and doing chores a few hours to spare, online education makes it easy to progress in your chosen career field. For those who cannot pursue a degree because of geographical constraints, pursuing an undergraduate education online enables them to attend classes from their home computer and saves them time and gas.

Other Advantages

Pursuing an undergraduate online education offers a similar level of education that is provided in regular classes. Students can work on their program of study at their convenience. Studies never interfere with travel plans, employment and basically any activity that couldn't be done on the campus. Undergraduate online education is unique. They are more facilitative, as discussions are quick and easy to understand. Classes are held through chat, Internet meetings and email, as well with the subject coordinator and other students. There are virtually no shortcomings in online interactions.

Another advantage of undergraduate online education is that it is different from traditional education and benefits students by giving them access to develop technological competencies and exposure to telecommunication technologies. Also, online education gives students an exceptional experience in education, irrespective of age and geographic location. It provides psychological support by shedding introvert behavior and slow learning processes. With online education, students have time to prepare notes and other information discussed in the virtual classroom because all the subjects discussed will be posted online.

The best and most valid advantage of undergraduate online education is that there are a limitless number of courses by many educational institutes. From courses in fine arts to medical science, most are provided online and these e-learning courses are as simplified as possible.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six
sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Wolfram Mathematics Demonstrations Project

Wolfram Mathematics Demonstrations Project
The Wolfram site is associated with Wolfram's well-known Mathematica, but it is not necessary to have the software to explore the demonstrations. Instead, visitors can download a free Mathematica player. I explored a number of the music demonstrations since I have a special interest in synthesizers and electronic music composition; the Jazz Voicings, Piano Keys, and MidiKeyboard Limits demonstrations were instructive and impressive. All demonstrations include access to the source code.

The Wolfram site is a good example of a resource site that combines a free service with advertising for a product; they provide free mathematical demonstrations (for teachers and students of mathematics, and for hobbyists) while advertising software that can be purchased by institutions that choose to purchase the full Mathematica package. ____JH (Thanks to Helge Scherlund's eLearning News for this initial information about this site.)

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"Conceived by Mathematica creator and scientist Stephen Wolfram as a way to bring computational exploration to the widest possible audience, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project is an open-code resource that uses dynamic computation to illuminate concepts in science, technology, mathematics, art, finance, and a remarkable range of other fields.

Its daily-growing collection of interactive illustrations is created by Mathematica users from around the world, who participate by contributing innovative Demonstrations.

Interactive computational resources have typically been scattered across the web--requiring specialized programming knowledge that's made them difficult and expensive to develop. As a result, their coverage has long been limited, and progress has been slow.

In many ways, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project introduces a new paradigm for exploring ideas. The power to easily create interactive visualizations, once in the domain of computing experts alone, is now in the hands of every Mathematica user.

Demonstrations can be created with just a few short lines of readable code, powered by the revolutionary advances in Mathematica. This opens the door for researchers, educators, students, and professionals at any level to create their own sophisticated mini-applications and publish them online."



mLearning-World

mLearning-World
The byline of this blog is "Education for the iPod Generation." I haven't explored much in this mobile computing world, but this Christmas I received an iPod as a gift and my daughter received an iTouch. Now that I've had an opportunity to see some of what is available for entertainment and education I'm more of a believer than I was previously. Certainly the convenience of carrying these devices and the easy access to wi-fi spots for their use makes them inevitable tools for multi-computing and communicating now and in the future. There's simply no comparision between lugging a laptop and carrying an iPod or iPhone. Students growing up with these tools will have learning styles and learning preferences that are very different from those of us who grew up in the typewriter era. It's certainly useful to have a blog devoted to tracking developments in this arena.  ____JH

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"Introduction 2.0
The widespread introduction since the 1980’s of the personal computer, the internet, and now ubiquitous mobile devices, has allowed large amounts of information to be carried and accessed wherever a learner goes. Policy responses to these developments has ranged from widespread adoption, to the banning of websites and devices. What future developments this 'always on' access to local networks and the entire internet, combined with the digital storage capabilities of todays devices will lead to has yet to be determined."

A snapshot of young voters

-- Young voter turnout rose in the 2004 and 2006 elections. In the 2004 presidential election, about 20.1 million young people, ages 18 to 29, voted. The turnout rate was 49 percent, up 9 percentage points from 2000. The turnout rate in 2006, a non-presidential year, was 25 percent, up 3 percentage points from 2002. Read the rest ...