Thursday, April 23, 2009

How to Buy a Laptop

The most highly evolved species of computer, the laptop (aka notebook) computer allows you to work without being tethered to an office. Portability and good performance make laptop PCs an essential part of the daily lives of millions of people, from college students to business travelers. Even the least-expensive of today's laptops are well equipped for everyday work.

The Big Picture
There are more laptop choices than ever. We'll identify and discuss the available options--including screen size, weight, battery life, and communications ports. more

The Specs Explained
Do you need a superfast CPU? Or a huge hard drive? We'll guide you through the choices and tell you which features are most critical. more

Laptop Shopping Tips
Looking for a powerful, versatile notebook at a reasonable price? Our advice will help you find the right laptop

Friday, April 3, 2009

What is a Virtual school

A virtual school or cyberschool describes an institution that teaches courses entirely or primarily through online methods. Though there are tens of thousands of commercial and non-accredited courses available online, the term "virtual school" is generally reserved for accredited schools that teach a full-time (or nearly full-time) course of instruction designed to lead to a degree. At the primary and secondary level, accreditation means that virtual schools tend to receive public funding; some publicly funded and private universities also provide accredited online degrees.

All student services are conducted through Internet technology. The virtual school differ/contrasts from the traditional school through the physical media that links administrators, teachers and students and is an alliance of public distance learning schools. Many states in the United States have their own virtual school, and many of them have students numbering in the thousands. By providing a student's social security number the person is then entered into a database where they can choose which classes they want to take.

There are many different virtual school instructional and enrollment models. Instructional models range from fully independent self paced courses to semester based, teacher facilitated courses. Class sizes range widely with anywhere from 25 students to as many as 200 students in each class section. Students keep in contact with teachers and collaborate with other students through web communication tools provided in the course delivery platforms like Blackboard or Moodle . In some cases students communicate by phone with instructors. To help with communication many virtual schools have implemented their own system programs to help build courses and maintain student profiles. There are also many books and training manuals to aid in the development of such schools and courses