Top 8 Tools for Free Online Education

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Just about everyone knows about online education nowadays, because many are taking advantage of continuing education online and earning online degrees to obtain their goals in life. What most are not aware of is how many free online educational tools and resources that are available on the internet. Here are the top 8 free online educational tools as voted by teaching professionals that are made available online:

1. Twitter

Twitter is a social networking and micro blogging service which lets you send and get messages known as tweets. Tweets are text posts that can be only 140 characters and are sent to subscribers also known as followers. Tweets can be sent or received from Twitter website, SMS (short message service), or apps (applications) for smart phones. It currently has over 100 million users.

2. Delicious

Delicious is a social book marking online service for keeping, sending, and finding webpage bookmarks. The free service has over 5 million users and more than 100 bookmarked URLs.

3. YouTube

YouTube is for online video file sharing that lets people upload, share, and watch videos. You can watch movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur videos. Most of the videos on YouTube are uploaded by regular people but some big media corporations post material also.

4. Google Reader

Google Reader is an online aggregator, that can read Atom and RSS feed on the web or offline.

5. Google Docs

Google Docs is a free, Online Office suite made available by Google. It lets people to make and edit documents online and collaborate in real-time with other people.

6. WordPress

WordPress is a free CMS (control management system) source; used mostly for blogging it has a lot of features that use plug-in architecture and templating systems. It is the most popular blog software around nowadays.

7. Slideshare

Slideshare is a slide hosting services that is web-based and lets users to upload, look at, comment on, and share slideshows made with presentation software. It is the most popular slide hosting services on the web.

8. Google Search

Google Web Search is an online search engine and is the most popular search engine on the internet passing Yahoo the previous number 1 some year back. Google get hundreds of millions of search everyday through its many services. The main purpose is to find text online in website around the world.

Friends, do share more such resources which you feel are missing from the list above.

Tags: Free Tools for Online Education, Google, Online Degree, Online Education, Twitter
Posted in Online Degree, Online Education, Social Media | 5 Comments »

Job-hunting made easy with Facebook

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Facebook has grown from just a social network where old friends catch up with each other or just to play Farmville. Facebook has now become a major target for recruiters who tap into the endless supply of profiles to find individuals who fit the profile of individuals they want to employ.

A recent study commissioned among human resource professionals and recruiters revealed that 32% of them actually search the internet and social networking sites such as Facebook for potential employees. The study also showed that of the remaining 68%, another 48% showed an indication they would take that route of Facebook search in the future.

Facebook offers efficient job search

With over 200 million active users, Facebook has become a serious contender for the most popular social networking site in the world. With this knowledge, recruiters target Facebook to find employable individuals based on their posted profile. The profile of Facebook users gives an immediate insight into the personality of individuals and their interest. As a result, recruiters can do targeted search by entering certain keywords that brings up only individuals of a particular area of interest. By using Facebook, they can increase their efficiency by eliminating the practice of wild searching to find that perfect employee.

Brand You-How to Capitalize of Facebook

Your profile is the pathway between you and the recruiter. Pump up your profile that recruiters can automatically attracted to you. Treat yourself as a company and you are marketing a product, which is you of course, to the public. Include all professional information such as contact details, qualification, capabilities, extra-curricular activity and work experience if any.

One of the main forces of attraction for recruiters is the use of keywords. Do a Google search for keywords related to your profession and ensure that these words are included into your Facebook profile. This will enable your profile to be at the top of the heap when the recruiter does their Facebook search.

Another job-seeking tool available on Facebook is the opportunity to setup your own group. Jobseekers can easily establish a group that targets individuals with similar interest. Numbers bring power, so by knowing that a large group of individuals exists in a particular group, they can easily go there instead of open searching in order find potential employees.

Job seekers can also make their own websites or blogs where they can display their talents. They can then create a link on Facebook. When any one visits their Facebook page, they can easily click on this link to visit their personal site.

Facebook Video Upload

The video upload tool available on Facebook is a powerful tool that can tilt the employment scale in your favor. Facebook allows you to upload a video resume that will be a face-to-face introduction of yourself to your potential employer. This video resume must be professionally done, as recruiters will use this introduction to conduct their preliminary assessment. One thing for sure, a video resume shows a concerted effort to present yourself in a professional manner.

Tags: Career, Facebook, Jobs, Social Networking
Posted in Career Guide, Social Media | 5 Comments »

Searching Job through Social Media – A new way to success

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

The advent of social media has revolutionized the way in which individuals seek out employment opportunities. Gone are the days of writing and physically submitting a job application letter, then hoping that by some stroke of luck you will get a reply.With internet now buzzing with social network platforms and an employment rate hovering at just 1.3%, job seekers have realized that this is an easier way of interacting with individuals in their domain and use this medium to get jobs.

Many individuals are turning to social networking to find new jobs as they create a more interactive atmosphere in which employers can get an idea of applicants even before they decide to call them for submission of personal information.

How to use Social Networking to get Jobs

To be successful at using social networking to land jobs, one has to be smart and proactive. It takes diligent planning and patience. Not all methods will work in any one case, but by combining strategies, I am sure you can get the brand “you” out there in the public domain.

Make yourself a Brand: Look at yourself as a brand and you want to market that brand to the public. This will allow you to do targeted job applications as opposed to blanketing the internet with online job applications that are going nowhere. Use this brand to target particular companies that you would like to work for. Seek out and add individuals of influence who work for these organizations to your list of contacts. Then start making positive posts that are in line with the objectives of these organizations. These individuals will be able to see your post and upon applying for a job, these posts can prove to be a major advantage on your behalf.

Be active on Twitter: With the availability of unlimited twitter tools more and more jobseekers are using twitter as a means of reaching out to recruiters and potential employers. This phenomenon is due to several factors. For starters, twitter is free and reaches millions of individuals worldwide. Then, when registering on Twitter, you must first fill out a profile that is a short bio on your location and interest. Recruiters can easily go to this link and read this bio and determine right there if they are interested. By growing your number of followers, by just clicking “need a job” you will get many responses of job opportunities in your fields.

Video Resume: Making a video resume and placing it on YouTube is another way of reaching millions for free. Be professional, concise and confident, as you will be speaking directly to your potential employers.

Using LinkedIn: LinkedIn is one of the most popular search engines where individuals can go to seek out employment opportunities. LinkedIn is 100% free and is utilized by many top professionals. Individuals simply complete the membership application by supplying the requisite information. Then the import all their contact from other social networking sites to build their contact list. Paying for a premium account brings you even closer with recruiters who are in direct contact with employers.

Tags: Career, Jobs, Social Networking
Posted in Career Guide, Social Media | 14 Comments »

Google Buzz – Simplifying Education Solution

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Google has finally broken into the world of social networking. Not to say they did not have social networking sites before. Their social networking sites such as Orkut or OpenSocial were not such a hit within the online social networking community. With these sites, they were following the same mold of Facebook and Twitter who fan base started from scratch and then grew with popularity.

What Google have now done is simply a stroke of genius. They have embedded Google buzz into their Gmail service. As a result, the fan base is already existent and studies show is growing at an average 176 million visitors each month. Although Google buzz is new, its impact is huge as users of the service gave access to all the gadgets of the Gmail service including streaming of status updates, links, videos and buzzes. To fathom the impact of Google Buzz, one would have to imagine cramming Twitter, Yammer, Yelp, Facebook and Foursquare into one social network.

Uses of Google Buzz in Education

The open source approach that Google has adopted in the development of Google Buzz has increased the excitement level in the secondary application development market. The flexibility of Google Buzz has brought with it many useful applications outside of the direct social networking world. After close examination, we have seen where Google Buzz has many ways in which it can be incorporated into the educational system. Some of these methods include:

Users of Google Buzz are able to conduct Facebook and twitter like conversations. Students can use this forum to communicate easily with their peers without having to sign into another social networking site while checking their Google mail. They can even throw open questions much like a Facebook status message but with a more interactive flavor.

Being embedded into Google Gmail service, teachers can easily conduct research on any topic without losing sight of the happenings of fellow teachers and linked students.
With Google Buzz, teachers are now able to maintain a closer relationship with their online students.Teachers can now easily with one application use their Gmail embedded Google Buzz to disseminate and collect assignments and then make immediate comments either generally or to specific students. This will certainly reduce the hard copy paper work at school, as all messages can be easily stored on request.
Unlike Twitter, with Google teachers are able to select who can see particular buzz they upload. Therefore, if they want to address only a part of the class you can do so using Google buzz without fear of general exposure.
Google buzz has brought with it an easier method of promoting ideas or items to the public. This is a great opportunity for research doctors at universities to promote their ideas. What Google has done is to give users of the Google buzz the ability to make public posts that are included into their general Google search engine. As a result, professors only have to include keywords that will attract traffic and direct this traffic to your post.

Tags: Online Education, Online Students, Social Networking
Posted in Accredited Online University, Online Education, Online Students, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Social Networking Profile & Your Employers – Bad Invasion of Privacy!

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Do you know about social networking sites? Well, if you don’t, you shouldn’t feel bad because not so many people are even aware of the concept of social networking sites. Social networking sites are online platforms where you contact your friends online through the site. Online information about your availability and sharing of photos makes your virtual life closer to reality. In addition to regular social networking websites, professional networking websites are also available and allow for the interaction of professionals and sharing of professional opportunities.

Employers and Your Social Networking Profile – Is there even a need?

While social networking had previously been used only for casual reasons, it has becomes a source for prospective employers to know more about candidates who have applied for positions with their company. In fact it is being said that many companies are keeping track of their employees through these social networking websites.

There are cities where candidates applying for city jobs are required to give their usernames and passwords for any of their social networking websites including their chat room passwords. The concern among job seekers is whether such requirements are legal and how far it should be complied with as it amounts to invasion of privacy.

While it is true that employers object certain activities of their prospective candidates like illegal behavior, offensive statements and instances of bad mouthing, it is most unlikely that such a behavior can be traced through social networking websites.

Social Networking Profiles in Working Environment…

While some find referring to social networking websites offensive, some like Jon Yarbrough, partner at Constangy, Brooks & Smith law firm are of the view that there nothing wrong about it. In some states, it has even become a law that it is no employers’ business to check out what an employee is up to after office hours.

While the general law is that you can do anything and everything lawful during your non-office hours, the question is whether the law covers even applicants to jobs and what really matters to employers about what an employee is engaged in non-office hours where there is nothing unlawful.

You may never know what is in store, so it is best to clean up your profiles, just to ensure nothing will cost you a dream job. It is also possible to create two profiles, one for personal use and the other for employers to see as a public face.

Do you think sharing personal information with your prospective employers is a good idea? Should we be more open about it? Or this is just another way to breach into someone’s privacy?

Tags: Career Guide, Employers, Privacy, Social Networking
Posted in Career Guide, Social Media | No Comments »

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