Key Tips For Finding The Right Tutors Online

Online tutoring is one of the most important technological advancements in education. It made the study process a lot easier, more flexible, and more affordable. Today, the online tutoring industry has grown rapidly to include both verified and non-verified providers.

Students who unwittingly subscribe to non-verified providers inevitably get less value for the services they paid for. Hence, it’s become important for prospective online students to learn tips on how to find the right tutors online. In this article, the key tips for finding the right online tutors are discussed.

 

  1. Have A Specific Learning Goal And Need In Mind

The first step to finding the right tutor is to have a specific study need and goal in mind. For your study needs, you need to know your desired course level, including basic, medium, or expert options before searching for a tutor. 

Your learning goals should be focused on what you wish to get from the course. Some goals to consider include:

  • Clearer understanding of specific subject topics
  • Help with study plans and materials
  • Expected score in an exam

With both your needs and goals in view, you can determine an online tutor’s suitability based on qualifications, experience, certifications, and other determining factors.

 

 

  1. Identify The Focus Area Of Various Platforms

Online tutoring platforms have focus areas but often market themselves as being able to adequately cover several subject areas. These focus areas may be influenced by topical demand, the staff’s area of specialization, and how courses align with a platform’s mission. Your subjects of interest should be checked against these focus areas to determine which one is best for you.

Some of the focus areas you’ll encounter are:

  • Information Technology (IT): IT is a highly sought-after topic in the 21st century, and most of its subject lessons are offered strictly online. On platforms focused on IT, you can find different tutors including a CSS, Python, and R tutor.
  • Creativity: Creativity lessons are next to the IT learning rave. It’s an online learning path many adventurous and creative minds can use to develop their DIY abilities while learning at their comfort. Topics on such platforms include bead making, knitting, and baking.
  • Education: Educational courses are offered by accredited tertiary institutions online. Most online educational courses have peer physical courses running on campuses. This allows individuals that don’t have the means of traveling to take educational courses from their respective locations to get certified.

 

  1. Confirm The Details Of The Host Platform

The details of a tutor’s host platform should be confirmed before choosing an online tutor. Online education startups tend to market their platforms above their deliverables. Hence, it’s important to correlate the marketing information of platforms with facts about them. Some details you should confirm include:

  • Accreditation: The right online tutoring platforms obtain approvals as dictated by State laws. Such approvals and accreditations can be confirmed on a platform’s website interface and governmental databases.
  • Years Of Existence: The number of years a host platform has been in business can play a role in determining its ability to provide services successfully. Conventionally, a higher number of years in existence attests to service quality compared to younger tutoring platforms.
  • Technologies: There are modern technologies that are affiliated with the best online coaching platforms. These include low latency video output, neural networks, and offline services.

 

  1. Determine The Type Of Online Learning Adopted On A Platform

Different types of online learning are defined by the learning structure adopted by a platform. Student learning preferences and differences make it important to consider the type of online learning available while looking for the right online tutors. The various online learning types include:

  • Synchronous Online Learning: This learning method allows both participants and tutors to interact in real-time. It’s one of the highly interactive means of tutoring, which helps tutors track multiple students’ progress. It’s beneficial for student groups that desire personalized learning and can work with strict learning times.
  • Asynchronous Online Learning: This is the opposite of synchronous online learning, wherein study materials are made available and accessible to students at any time. It allows students who have busy schedules to adopt a self-paced learning path.
  • Interactive Online Learning: This is the peer-to-peer version of learning. A single tutor and student interact in real-time, adding more personalization to the learning process. It allows students to express themselves freely to tutors, but also requires fixed meeting times.

 

  1. Confirm The Tutor’s Experience And Qualifications

Be sure to read through the profiles of various tutors on online tutoring platforms or personal websites. The basic qualification to expect for an online tutor is a bachelor’s degree. Further qualifications to check for include graduate degrees, past student ratings, professional certificates, years of experience, and areas of expertise. 

Host platforms also tend to rank tutors in a descending order, allowing the best tutors to show up first. The number of students who have taken a course might also prove how relevant the course has been to students with similar needs.

 

  1. Get Recommendations And Read Reviews

Recommendations are another way by which you can find the right online tutor. A recommendation is synonymous to a vote of confidence for the service of a tutor. You can ask colleagues, schoolmates, and neighbors who have a prior experience with specific online tutors if they’ll advise you sign up for their course. Ensure to ask about both the pros and cons of taking such courses.

In addition to individual recommendations, you should read reviews online. Check websites like Yelp, Google search results, and Glassdoor for reviews on any recommended online tutors and platforms.  

 

  1. Take Note Of The Costs

A major attraction of using online tutoring is the lower cost compared to physical lessons. Some online tutors charge per hour, per lesson, or require students to pay a bulk fee at once. Students must confirm they can afford an online tutorial they wish to sign up for.

However, you must take note that lower or higher costs don’t guarantee good services. Therefore, you must do your due diligence and make pricing and your budget a final deciding factor.

 

Final Thoughts

Your learning goals and needs must be clear before searching for an online tutor. The next set of considerations include the focus area of the learning platform, its operational details, the type of learning method adopted, and the tutor’s qualifications. 

Individual reviews and tutorial costs must also be considered. Having made these considerations, you can easily choose the online tutor you deem right for you.

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Top Tips for New College Students

Well, you did it. You graduated high school, applied to college, and got accepted. Sooner than you know it, you’re going to be in the thick of it. You learned a lot of things from kindergarten through senior year, and not just from teachers and textbooks. You also learned the ins and outs of school life itself.

Well, college is a whole new ball game. Not every tip and trick you used to get the most out of high school is going to work in college. You’re going to have to learn a few new ones. Here’s some good advice that we wish we’d had when we first started college:

Fill Out the FAFSA

What is FAFSA? It stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. In other words, it’s a way for you and your parents to save a whole lot of money on an otherwise highly expensive education. College isn’t cheap; we all know that. But FAFSA allows incoming students to apply for all kinds of financial aid services all at once: grants, loans, work-study opportunities, etc.

Instead of forcing you to go into the world searching for help, filling out the FAFSA enables the help to come right to you. Following a review of your application, you’ll receive detailed information on what financial aid programs you do and do not qualify for, and it puts you on the fast track to getting the help you need.

Buy Used Textbooks

“No problem,” you think the first time a college instructor hands you a list of required textbooks, “how much could this could me. After all, they’re just books.” Believe it or not, college-level textbooks are among the priciest things you’ll pay for in college—in some cases even more expensive than a new laptop! And, best of all, you have to buy several new ones… every… single… semester.

While your financial aid package might help cover textbook costs, it’s a good idea to focus on used copies instead of new. Many college bookstores will even have used editions right next to the news one, though these often sell out fast. In that case, look for older students who took the same classes you’re in now; they might be willing to part with their textbooks for cheap. Looking online can be helpful, too. Best of all, used textbooks are usually a better investment, as many still feature helpful highlighting and study notes from their previous owners.

Make Time for Yourself

The most important thing to do in college is also often the hardest thing, and that’s staying sane. Juggling multiple classes, work-study programs, internships, a paying job, clubs, sports, student organizations, and more can be daunting. In fact, if you don’t guard yourself, it’s a pretty definite recipe for burnout.

College is full of great opportunities which you shouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of. It’s so full of opportunities, though, that you shouldn’t feel obligated to try to do everything. Making room in your week for downtime is vital not only for studying, but also for recharging your batteries. Many new students stack their class schedules without leaving themselves time for breaks. Two or four years doing that, though, is hard to maintain.

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8 Tips for Writing Exam Essays

Written assignments on any exam usually earn the most points. However, the majority of students hate dealing with these tasks and for them, to write a college essay and develop a good science paper. If you can guess the right answer in the A/B testing, luck is unlikely to help you write an essay. Luckily, you can always upgrade your essay writing skills and learn how to pass exams with flying colors. We talked to experts from a well-known essay writing service and made up 8 tips for you to successfully write an essay on the exam. 

Think about who you write to

The key to a good essay is its integrity and style. When you start writing an essay, imagine to whom it could be addressed. Think about how to interest a fictional reader? What kind of vocabulary is suitable for “communicating” with him? What grammatical constructions will be close and understandable to him? Even a made-up target audience will help you make your essay comprehensible, clearly convey your thoughts in plain and beautiful language.

Strive to express a thought rather than impress the examiner

A good essay is not defined by the number of words or complex constructions used in it. It is about how beautifully and elegantly your idea is designed, which will reveal the topic of the essay and be clear to any reader. Bizarre words or turgidity are unlikely to surprise anyone if they do not carry any semantic load. Do not intentionally use complex and bizarre words in your essay that you think will impress the examiner. Beauty is in simplicity. In addition, you risk using a complex word in the wrong place, which will be considered a serious mistake.

Active is better than passive

Readers perceive passive voice worse. Convert your phrases to active voice, if possible. This will make your narrative easy to comprehend. 

Avoid using jargon and colloquialisms

Jargon is certain encryption, a code. Words that appear in order to limit the range of people who will have access to the meaning of statements. Young people invent and use jargon to hide their conversations from the older generation. Professional jargon provides employees in a particular industry with comfortable professional communication that will not be available to non-professionals.

Thus, colloquialisms and slang expressions may not be understood by your reader, the examiner. This can lead to a misinterpretation of the meaning of your message, which is certainly not a plus for you.

Simple sentences work better 

Try to express complicated things with simple words. The cluster of terms and complex constructions will make your essay heavy, unreadable. The examiner will read simple sentences quickly and easily, and you will have less chance of making a grammatical mistake.

State, not negate

Readers always perceive affirmative sentences easier. When you notice that you are using double negatives, you should correct the situation.

Do not check it until you finish 

If you have enough time, be sure to use a draft. Do not focus your attention on grammar or correct sentence construction, forget about spelling for a while, do not worry about synonyms. Just outline your thoughts, let the text appear, and make sense. Once you’ve written the text, make a serious correction, leaving the main idea untouched. 

Read what you wrote with an intonation

Reading the essay, even to yourself, but with the right intonation and speed will help to identify text problems that you have not noticed while writing. For example, a heap of consonants in neighboring words. Perhaps you will find unnecessary words that just fill in the gaps and do not make sense in your essay. Get rid of them.

When you read your work, imagine you’re hearing it for the first time. Try to look at the arguments you have put forward as objectively as possible. Is your essay convincing? Is your main idea clear? Do all of the above statements relate to the topic and reveal it logically?

Conclusions 

The only way to learn to write a good essay is to write one. Make it a rule to write small essays systematically and regularly. Learn to formulate your thoughts so that they lie well on paper and are clear to your potential reader. Practice will help you get rid of the fear of a blank page and turn essay writing into your favorite academic activity.

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6 Reasons to Pursue a Postgraduate Degree

Earning an undergraduate degree is a huge accomplishment, but earning one does not mean that your academic journey should end there. Millions of graduates as well as people who already have a career going often choose to further their education by pursuing a postgraduate degree. There are lots of reasons why you should pursue one, as having one affords you so many benefits.

But What Is a Postgraduate Degree?

Before we look at why you should pursue one, we need to answer the question, “What is a Postgraduate degree UK?” As Uni Compare explain, a postgraduate degree is one undertaken after you have completed a Bachelor’s degree. If you already have a Bachelor’s degree and need to pursue a postgraduate degree, Uni Compare can help you find the right university and degree. They do this by helping you compare different universities and their courses, giving you in-depth and up to date information on each of them so it becomes easier to choose one. They also show you the rankings for different universities so you can choose the right one based on impact and success.

Now that you understand what a postgraduate degree is, here are the reasons why you should pursue one.

Increase Your Career Prospects

A Bachelor’s degree used to be the minimum requirement for most jobs. That is no longer the case as companies and businesses have changed their education requirements in favour of people with postgraduate degrees. Some companies still require that you have a Bachelor’s as the minimum, and even in those cases, you still need to stand out among all the other potential hires. A postgraduate degree gives you this advantage by showing you are better qualified than other potential hires. What this means, therefore, is that if you want an edge during the interview process, you need a postgraduate degree.

It Makes Changing Careers Easier

Postgraduate degrees do not only help you land a job, but they can also help you change careers. Most postgraduate degrees do not have a stipulation as to what Bachelor’s degree you should have, which makes doing things a lot easier. This means that if you have a law degree and want to pivot into business, you can take a postgraduate degree so that you can follow that path. 

A postgraduate degree can also help you pursue areas you become interested in while undertaking an undergraduate degree or at your first job. For instance, if you have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, you could take a postgraduate degree in law enforcement so you could go into criminal justice.

To Get a Promotion

Many businesses and companies require that you have a postgraduate degree to be promoted to certain positions, usually positions that require the management of fellow employees or your own team. Acquiring special skills, knowledge and experience while pursuing a postgraduate degree also means that you have skills ready to take advantage of any openings that arise. The welcome side effect of this is that the promotion might come with a sizable income bump.

Develop New Connections

Postgraduate students have the opportunity to meet like-minded researchers, academics and professionals. This gives them the chance to expand their professional and personal networks that consist of fellow students, faculty members and academics.

These connections can become important in helping you get into rooms that you otherwise would not. This way, you not only get to expand your world, but you also open yourself up to opportunities that would otherwise not have been available.

To Make a Difference

A Bachelor’s degree gives you an opportunity to become a positive force in the community you are part of and the communities you will become part of in the future. By getting a postgraduate degree, you can make a difference in your community by providing solutions that would otherwise not be obvious or available to you if you just had a Bachelor’s degree. 

Intellectual Stimulation and Personal Fulfilment 

When you are passionate about a specific area or topic, a postgraduate degree will help you get a deeper understanding of that particular area. Becoming an authority in one area of study or a topic is something a lot of people want, and a postgraduate degree is the first degree in doing just that. 

If you are looking forward to a career that requires you have an advanced understanding of a particular area of study, getting a post-graduate degree will get you well on your way there. This happens for a lot of people who want to go into research or academia.

Getting a postgraduate degree is becoming the minimum academic qualification for most jobs. A postgraduate degree can also be an avenue for much more as you can also get the postgraduate degree for personal reasons, and if you are interested in academia, drilling down on a single area of study will be largely aided by having a postgraduate degree first.

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8 Tips for Writing Exam Essays

Written assignments on any exam usually earn the most points. However, the majority of students hate dealing with these tasks and for them, to write a college essay and develop a good science paper. If you can guess the right answer in the A/B testing, luck is unlikely to help you write an essay. Luckily, you can always upgrade your essay writing skills and learn how to pass exams with flying colors. We talked to experts from a well-known essay writing service and made up 8 tips for you to successfully write an essay on the exam. 

Think about who you write to

The key to a good essay is its integrity and style. When you start writing an essay, imagine to whom it could be addressed. Think about how to interest a fictional reader? What kind of vocabulary is suitable for “communicating” with him? What grammatical constructions will be close and understandable to him? Even a made-up target audience will help you make your essay comprehensible, clearly convey your thoughts in plain and beautiful language.

Strive to express a thought rather than impress the examiner

A good essay is not defined by the number of words or complex constructions used in it. It is about how beautifully and elegantly your idea is designed, which will reveal the topic of the essay and be clear to any reader. Bizarre words or turgidity are unlikely to surprise anyone if they do not carry any semantic load. Do not intentionally use complex and bizarre words in your essay that you think will impress the examiner. Beauty is in simplicity. In addition, you risk using a complex word in the wrong place, which will be considered a serious mistake.

Active is better than passive

Readers perceive passive voice worse. Convert your phrases to active voice, if possible. This will make your narrative easy to comprehend. 

Avoid using jargon and colloquialisms

Jargon is certain encryption, a code. Words that appear in order to limit the range of people who will have access to the meaning of statements. Young people invent and use jargon to hide their conversations from the older generation. Professional jargon provides employees in a particular industry with comfortable professional communication that will not be available to non-professionals.

Thus, colloquialisms and slang expressions may not be understood by your reader, the examiner. This can lead to a misinterpretation of the meaning of your message, which is certainly not a plus for you.

Simple sentences work better 

Try to express complicated things with simple words. The cluster of terms and complex constructions will make your essay heavy, unreadable. The examiner will read simple sentences quickly and easily, and you will have less chance of making a grammatical mistake.

State, not negate

Readers always perceive affirmative sentences easier. When you notice that you are using double negatives, you should correct the situation.

Do not check it until you finish 

If you have enough time, be sure to use a draft. Do not focus your attention on grammar or correct sentence construction, forget about spelling for a while, do not worry about synonyms. Just outline your thoughts, let the text appear, and make sense. Once you’ve written the text, make a serious correction, leaving the main idea untouched. 

Read what you wrote with an intonation

Reading the essay, even to yourself, but with the right intonation and speed will help to identify text problems that you have not noticed while writing. For example, a heap of consonants in neighboring words. Perhaps you will find unnecessary words that just fill in the gaps and do not make sense in your essay. Get rid of them.

When you read your work, imagine you’re hearing it for the first time. Try to look at the arguments you have put forward as objectively as possible. Is your essay convincing? Is your main idea clear? Do all of the above statements relate to the topic and reveal it logically?

Conclusions 

The only way to learn to write a good essay is to write one. Make it a rule to write small essays systematically and regularly. Learn to formulate your thoughts so that they lie well on paper and are clear to your potential reader. Practice will help you get rid of the fear of a blank page and turn essay writing into your favorite academic activity. 

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How to Spot a Fake Essay Writing Service Review

So, you’ve decided to order a paper. Needless to say that if it’s your first time, you’ll want to search for a well-reviewed essay writing company you can really entrust your assignment to. However, how can one be sure that a review website is telling the truth? As with the rising demand for custom assignments, the number of scams and fraudulent review sites has been rising as well.

Well, the best advice would be to trust your gut and use essay writing services that are legit and proven to be safe and reliable. Still, we have singled out 7 tips that can help you to spot fake essay writing service reviews to help you tell a fake review and a genuine one apart.

7 Tips on How to Detect an Essay Review is Fake

1. Follow the “Too good to be true” Rule

First and foremost advice would be not to trust reviews that are too great. If there are 5-star comments only, and they sound too ‘superlative’ and written with ‘CAPITALS’ it may sound suspicious. If you feel like you’re smelling a rat when reading words ‘amazing’, ‘life-saver’, ‘best service ever’, you’re not wrong. What is more, usually such reviews don’t have enough description, and are just about сomplimenting the service. Here’s how such a review might look like: ‘The best service ever! AMAZING writer! GOT an A+, guys you’re a life-saver!’

2. Is It Too Short?

Another tip that may help you detect an artificial review, is examining whether they’re too short. Certainly, some people are quite laconic and hate beating around the bush, when it can be explained with one word only. However, if all the reviews at the website are too short and not specific, they’re likely to be fake. Such reviews will again include phrases like “Good service”, “Excellent”, “Nice work”, and “Got a good paper”.

3. Does it Sound Like an Advert?

Have you ever read an advert? Do you remember how it sounded? You’ve probably been asked a question and offered a solution. Moreover, the language used was to make you buy trust and buy something. It works the same way with reviews. In case you detect a comment or a review sounds too advertised, it’s probably because it’s artificially written by an essay writing service itself. Have a look at the following review:

“I have never ordered an online paper before. I was too scared I would get bad quality. However, after I turned to you guys, I realized that custom writing can be safe and 100% unique. Thanks a ton!”

So as you can see, such a review sounds like a person advertising a company rather than explaining their sincere feelings. Plus, there’s an overuse of ‘I’ as they’re desperately trying to make it sound more personal. 

4.Analyze the Style of Several Reviews

It would also be a good idea to read several comments at the website and compare their style. Do they look the same? Do they have something in common? Usually, fake reviews are crafted by one person, so the writing style will be distinct. There will probably be similar vocabulary choice, and peculiar grammar constructions. In fact, it’s quite easy to detect. What is more, you might spot the overuse of some words like ‘I’ or ‘my friend’ relating to some ‘non-existent’ friend who ‘recommended the website’ in fake reviews written by the same person.

5. Examine the Review Website Itself

In case you’re reading feedback on the review website, make sure you study the site itself. As it often happens, the website is fake. Creating fake review sites and generating fake reviews is a common practice among business owners. By this we mean that the overall idea of such a source is to promote particular essay writing services, posting the reviews that are all artificial. 

It’s not rocket science spotting a fake review source. First, you may examine the owner of the website. If the owner of the review site is the same owner of the linked essay services, such a website is fake. Or it’s even better to say artificial, as the essay company designed a review website to drive traffic and promote its services. Secondly, you may also examine the affiliate links. If you detect a referral code in URL, it’s likely a reviewer gets money for leaving a comment about this or that service, rather than being honest about their experience.

6. Is it Specific?

One more tip you can rely on when looking for fake reviews is the content of feedback. An honest and sincere comment is often quite specific and detailed. Certainly, a client won’t go too much into details as they don’t want to compromise their activity of ordering a paper online. Still, they will definitely include some peculiar details like page quantity for instance, the type of paper, the amount of time required to complete the assignment etc. Otherwise, if a comment is too wishy-washy as if it can be used for anything whether it’s a custom paper or a new ice-cream flavour, it’s probably fake.

7. Are There Any Negative Reviews?

Last but not least, if there are no negative comments, or even slight dissatisfaction, there must be something wrong with such feedback. As it’s impossible that all the clients are completely satisfied with everything. If all the reviews on the website are positive, or even ‘too positive’, it’s likely because they’re all fake.

Final Words

Summing up, reading online reviews about an essay writing company is actually no different from reading any other type of review online. You should remain skeptical and analytical, so that you won’t fall for artificial comments with the only purpose to persuade you to order custom assignments at this or that company. We hope that our list of 7 tips will be of great help and you’ll feel more confident when examining reviews and trying to spot the fake ones. Wish you good luck!

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How to Help Your Child with Virtual Learning

 

Typically a new school year can be stressful, and there are potential risks that parents have to think about.

For example, bus safety and pedestrian safety are big issues parents think about when it comes to the logistic of their child going to school. Now, heading into the 2020-21 year, many parents have a different concern—COVID-19.

States and school districts around the country have opted to take different approaches to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For example, some states are having kids mostly go in-person. Other districts are doing a hybrid model to keep the number of kids in the building low at any given time. Then, some districts are for at least the first semester, going entirely virtual.

You may also be in a district where there’s a choice parents can make between in-person or virtual learning.

It’s leaving parents wondering how to make it work, not only with their job demands but also how to ensure their child gets a good education when they’re learning from home.

If you’re not an educator, the idea of facilitating your child’s learning can be scary and overwhelming, but the following are tips for parents to help their kids right now.

Get Familiar with the Content and the Technology

Your child’s teacher should be the one leading during remote learning, and you should allow them to do that freely in the way they see fit.

With that being said, it’s likely that your child is going to be doing some of their work independently throughout the day, and they aren’t going to have guided instructional time nonstop.

That’s where you might be needed.

To best help your child in these situations, before school starts, get familiar with the technology your child will be using.

You should also try and familiarize yourself at least a bit with the curriculum. You don’t have to be an expert, but it helps if you have some idea of what your child is learning or studying at any given time.

Knowing what’s happening with their education will also help you hold them accountable.

With all that being said, while you should be available if your child needs you, you shouldn’t be sitting in on their classes. You wouldn’t pop into their regular classes and sit and watch in most cases, so don’t do it with virtual learning. Instead, keep a hands-off approach during instructional time, and only step in when your child is asking for help.

If you want to communicate with the teacher or school staff, do so through email or a phone call and outside of class time.

Schedule and Encourage Intervals

If you’re working from home or you’re staying home from work during this time, you have the opportunity to help your child structure their day.

If you think about what it’s like for children at school, they aren’t engaged in instruction all day. They’re also doing other things, like socializing and going outside to play.

Breaking up learning into intervals and encouraging other activities throughout the day can help your child stay more focused when they are in learning time.

It can help reduce boredom and distractions.

Encouraging physical activity is really important for kids who are learning virtually. There are dedicated chunks of time at school for kids to be active, and they need something similar when learning at home.

Staying physically active is good for not only your child’s physical health but their mental health as well.

Enlist Help

If you’re working full-time, whether at home or not, that could be your biggest stress as far as your kids learning virtually.

Enlist help wherever you can.

Some parents are opting to create their own “pods.” The idea is basically that a group of kids come together for virtual learning, but the circle is still kept small and contained. It would be helpful for all the parents whose kids are in the pod to be likeminded as far as their thoughts on social distancing.

Then, the pod pools its resources to hire a tutor or someone to help guide the kids through their virtual learning.

Depending on the work schedules of parents, you could also have the parents swap off helping the kids throughout the week.

Another option is to turn to a family member to at least be with your child while they’re learning virtually and making sure everything is going smoothly.

Communicate with Your Child’s Teachers

While school may look different for many this year, teachers are still teachers. Your child may be interacting with them over a computer screen, but they are there for guidance and as a resource.

If you feel like your child is having difficulties, whether it’s with the virtual format or with the material itself, don’t be afraid to talk to their teacher.

They may have ideas and ways to help that you wouldn’t otherwise think about.

Create a Dedicated Learning Space

If at all possible, create a dedicated learning space for your child. If you have multiple kids at home doing virtual learning, try to keep them separate.

Choose areas out of the way of the main traffic flow in your house. While natural light can be good, don’t have your child facing a window because it can be distracting.

Make sure the learning space is only for school work, and at the end of the learning day when it’s time to sign off, have your child leave the space so they continue to see it as only for that.

If you can avoid having it where your child sleeps, that’s helpful.

You want an area that’s clean, quiet, and free of clutter.

Finally, don’t forget to take care of yourself during this time. You have a lot on your plate, too so you can help foster a better learning environment for your child by relaxing and reducing your own stress as much as you can as we navigate a new school year.

 

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How to Find the Right College

Image Credit: Pixabay

Searching for colleges is one of the scariest things a young adult has to face. The college you choose to attend will likely define the future opportunities available to you, putting an immense amount of pressure on you. Unfortunately, you have to shoulder this pressure at an extremely young age and at a time where you have little expertise. Thankfully there are some things you can do to help in your college search and allow you to find your perfect match. So how can you set yourself up to get into the best psychiatry residencies after an amazing undergraduate education? Here’s how to find the right college. 

Start Early

One of the most important parts of finding the right college is starting the search early. Looking for a college to attend can be a long process, so it’s important that you don’t start too late. Beginning your search late might result in you missing out on a few things like tours or special admissions events, and could only allow the time to research a small number of schools. The earlier you start looking into colleges, the more time you have to branch out and do your due diligence. In addition, many schools have incentives for considering them early, including early acceptances and extra scholarships. The old saying “the early bird gets the worm” applies to many scenarios, but it is especially true when it comes to finding the right college.

Make a List

Another thing that you can do to make finding the right college a little bit easier is to rank your potential schools in a list. Make a list containing all of the schools that you’re interested in, and rank them in terms of interest. What are each school’s pros and cons? What did you like about each campus? These are all important aspects that you need to consider. As time goes on and you gain more information, your list should become shorter and shorter. Eventually your list should be down to just a few schools, making your final decision that much easier. 

Put In Work

If you want to find the right college, then you’re going to need to put in the necessary work. If you slack off during your college search, then you can easily find yourself making a misinformed decision. Searching for the right college can involve lots of time, including conducting research, talking to representatives, going on college tours, applying for scholarships, and filling out applications. All of these events can take a considerable amount of time, especially if you have several schools on your list. Finding the right college is critical to your future, so it’s important that you put the necessary time and effort into the process.

Go With Your Gut

When it comes time to make a final decision on a school, you may struggle to make a choice. Multiple options may look attractive for you for different reasons, so choosing between them can be quite difficult. However, you should go with your gut and choose the option that feels best to you. Was there a school where you just felt at home the moment you walked on campus? Is there a school you have always dreamed of attending? You’re going to have to deal with your decision for four years or more, so making one that makes you happy is crucial. As a result, you should go with your gut and choose the school that makes you feel best and most comfortable.

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Choosing the Right Trade for Your Career

Picking the right career is a huge decision to make in your life. This decision could impact your happiness, finances, and possibilities open to you later down the line. Finding your calling in life is one of the pursuits that people spend their entire lives striving for. You want something more than just a job. It has to feel like you’re really doing something important. While there are several career choices you can make, you might be considering something in the trades and are interested in the hands-on side of the work world.

Trade jobs are numerous and varied in their responsibilities. Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, metal fabricators, and HVAC technicians are some of the more popular career choices for trades workers. These careers hold a lot of value not just because of the salary potential, but also because they offer a lot of value in the work being incredibly useful for society. Trade jobs often get a bad reputation because parents want their kids to go to school and get office jobs instead, but the trades are always in demand. Finding the right career in the trades might be exactly what you need, and here are the choices you have to make.

Electrician

Electricians are one of the most important trades today because of our society’s commitment to electricity as our primary power source for just about everything. Whether it’s to power a microwave or light an entire city, without electricians, we’d be living a much different life than we are now. Working on power outages to restore power, feeding and connecting new power supplies and sources, and rewiring buildings and homes to ensure they are safe are among the many responsibilities of an electrician on a daily basis. Helping provide the primary source of power for hundreds and thousands of people, knowing you’re making a difference, and looking proudly at your work is a major draw for those who want to get into this field of work. 

Plumber

Not as glamorous as some other careers out there, plumbers are usually overlooked when it comes to their importance. How often has a leak happened in someone’s home, and they are at a loss on what to do to fix it? That’s where a plumber comes in handy. This job can get messy sometimes because you’d be dealing with water and possibly some less than desirable stuff, and considering there’s drainage and toilet waste involved. Even with these possible concerns, plumbers can make a very respectable annual salary, which can offset even the most disgusting of jobs. Plumbers come in all shapes and sizes, too. From commercial to residential, the duties change, and there are tons of room for change. Plumbing, like many trades, also comes with the added bonus of opening up the world of potentially starting and running your own business. Likewise, plumbers are always in need.

HVAC Technician

HVAC, which stands for, “heating, ventilation, and air conditioning,” is a trade that involves the installation and maintenance of a home or building’s air properties. By combining the central air conditioning, furnace heating, and ventilation of a home, you can help turn someone’s home into a much more efficient and comfortable place to live. HVAC technicians have become more important in the past 10 years because many new homes are starting to opt for better, energy-saving ways to heat, cool, and ventilate living spaces. These technicians are responsible for turning a home or building into a much more livable place due to the improvement to those areas of its ventilation, heating, and air conditioning. HVAC work is also a fairly safe trade to get into because there’s less work around dangerous compounds or tools. Residential work is considerably more relaxing than many shops, which is why it suits some people’s desire for a less stressful trade career.

Construction

When people think of trades, construction is one of the first things that pop into their minds, and for a good reason. Construction has always been a fundamental need for the world because we need new buildings more now than ever. With a growing population, advancements in architecture and engineering, and cities evolving in style, construction is key to achieving these changes in a productive manner. Constructing new buildings is no easy task, and that’s why construction workers are some of the toughest tradespeople out there. Whether it’s industrial, commercial, or residential, there’s always something that needs to get done. Construction jobs take place outdoors, which might be something that appeals to you if you enjoy being in the fresh air. They also offer a lot of flexibility in responsibilities. Concrete pouring, demolition, woodworking, metal fabrication, and many more jobs within the job are a part of this trade, so there’s always something to do.

Welding

Welding, and the craft of metalwork, is a trade that’s also adapting because of new advancements in engineering. As with most trades, there’s a lot of pride to have in looking at something and knowing you had a part in crafting it, and welding is certainly in that category. Repairing damaged materials or crafting something new entirely is just part of this trade’s appeal, and it goes beyond that as Craftsman IND shows just how far welding can go when it comes to the potential for a career or business. Most people imagine small welding shops or garages, but welding has the potential for some incredible projects. This trade goes hand in hand with construction and the industrial because metalwork is so crucial to the process of building or maintaining foundations and the like. Welding can be a grueling career in the trades, but it’s certainly worth it for those that can handle the heat day in and day out and want to feel accomplished in creating something new. 

Carpentry

Carpentry is almost as old as our human civilization because of the accessibility of the materials involved. Wood, nails, and screws are really the only pieces you need. Obviously, we’ve evolved beyond just these three simple ingredients, but they still remain the basics for carpentry work, which makes it fun for some. The simplicity of it all is deceiving as joints, hammers, saws, measuring squares and tape, levels, sanders, trimmers, and so much more has made carpentry into what it is today. The amount of equipment needed today is certainly a lot more extensive than before, but this has made the job much easier as well. Being able to craft homemade projects as a qualified carpenter allows you to renovate your own home with ease, which is a big bonus for those considering carpentry as a potential lifelong trade career. Math, especially geometry, is a skill that’s going to be key to surviving as a carpenter because it involves precise measurements for cuts, weight distribution, and volume. 

Mechanic

Although almost all trades are practical at home, mechanics can take pride knowing they will likely never, or rarely, pay for repairs on something. Most mechanics are involved in the automotive industry as there’s always a need for a handy person who can fix a vehicle. Even small engine repair is a mechanic trade that can be done at home as well. In any case, mechanics provide a service that’s incredibly important for daily life. Our world is dictated by automotive as our primary source of transportation, so it goes without saying that their expertise is needed to keep engines running for society to function properly. Being able to fix your own car at home with the right equipment is going to make your wallet happy as well, so not only would your career serve a huge benefit to others, but also to yourself. What more could you want from a fulfilling career?

There’s an astounding amount of jobs out there, but what people want is more than just a job. They want a career. Finding that calling in life that we’re passionate about that can also pay the bills is what many of us are still seeking out, and it can take some time before you find it. The last thing you want to do is limit what you think you want to do. For many, the trades aren’t something they even considered because they have been told to find something in an office.

The unfortunate reality is how many people ignore how lucrative and rewarding careers in the trades can be. These careers are hands-on and certainly tough, not without some risks as well, but they can provide something that many fields lack – purpose. Being able to work at something that gives you purpose isn’t to be taken for granted, and the trades are for people who want to get dirty and use their hands to make it happen. Whether you’ve been considering the trades as a career path for you or not, these potential lifelong pursuits are something to look into.

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Calculating the Best Value for a College Education in the United States

With the price of an average college education spiraling out of control, students are trying to find the best value for their money. Considering all of the various hidden fees that students might run into, this isn’t that easy of a task.

Certain aspects of the college experience might be overvalued as well. For instance, people might think that having a diploma from a famous university could help when it comes time to find a job. However, this recognition might not be worth anywhere near as much as it used to be.

According to financial experts, the cost of a college education has gone up by around 200 percent in a single generation. As a result, students are likely to forego well-known programs if it can help save them some money.

Fortunately, there are some high-quality opportunities that don’t cost nearly as much as you might imagine.

Best Value Colleges for the Price

Tuition costs are only one of several criteria that have to be considered when looking at a specific college program. Earnings potential is perhaps a far more important metric. Numerous students have found that certain degree programs from otherwise prestigious universities don’t translate into a good job offer because they’re not in an industry that’s currently in need of new recruits.

According to education site Authority.org, notable alumni and a high graduation rate certainly factor into any reasonable ranking system, but at the end of the day the average net price has to be weighed against all of these other considerations. They ranked Stanford as the best value in America, perhaps because it has a number of notable graduates while charging an average net price that’s less than $13,300 for degree programs.

Interestingly enough, they also ranked the US Military Academy at West Point quite highly. Those who are interested in a military career can attend the college without having to pay any tuition, and it’s certainly a recognizable name to future employers. That being said, West Point is notoriously difficult to get into.

Naturally, students who don’t shy away from a challenge will also want to consider the other service schools, since these also waive tuition costs for those who’re able to get in. While they traditionally only prepared students for technical and administrative careers, each of these schools now grant psychology and philosophy diplomas as well.

Life-long civilians might want to instead take a look at the sometimes wild world of distance education.

Evolving Education Paradigms in a Changing World

An overwhelming majority of colleges that make the top lists now offer at least some form of distance education program, and most of these started long before the COVID-19 pandemic forced remaining schools to reconsider how they provided credits to those who were enrolled in their institutions.

Top colleges like the various schools that make up the University of California system have consistently ranked highly, as have schools like the University of Washington’s Seattle campus. These organizations have worked to bolster their graduation rates. Completion percentages have dropped at all levels in recent years, which has necessitated this change.

At this point, even most Ivy League schools offer at least some classes online, and these schools have traditionally ranked highly though they might not be the best value for the money due to their comparatively high levels of tuition. Students who are looking into these kinds of programs will find that state schools, especially those in the west coast, offer some of the best values for their money.

For-profit schools, by comparison, have traditionally been viewed as less than helpful options. Some specialists have started to rethink this trend, enrollment at this schools fell by nearly 20 percent in 2018-2019. That means more students will probably want to look elsewhere for a good value.

Nevertheless, distance education programs offered at least by public universities are here to stay. Educational experts are studying trends in the field to identify patterns that could help them further refine their degree programs.

Considering the pressure on public officials to reduce costs and help provide a safe environment for students who are returning after the lockdown, it looks like these studies will be taken to heart by many in the near future.

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