Saturday, February 07, 2009

On my ride today...

I met a horse.

Photobucket

It was still all about me!
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Friday, February 06, 2009

Online Continuing Education

Have you thought of taking an online course to have fun, learn a new skill or hone one you already have? Many community colleges have online courses these days that are fun and easy to take. They can also be inexpensive.

But inexpensive is relative. Shop around.

What? Shop around for an online course? Why?

Here's why. Because it's online, you don't necessarily have to take it from the local school if you are not trying to get credit for it, especially since the course might be supplied by a company such as ed2go. Because of the varying tuition between different colleges, the course price can vary significantly from one college to another, even though the courses are exactly the same--down to the instructor.

For example:

From ed2go, you can take a course called "Secrets of better photography" taught by Beverly Schulz.

ed2go


The price: $139

Wow, she teaches at the college near me, Front Range Community College, too...

Front Range Community College


The price: $89

...And at Brookhaven College...

Brookhaven College


The price: $100

...And at Wake Technical College.

Wake Technical Community College

The price: $55

She sure gets around.

If you look, the classes are exactly the same except for a college specific template. As you can see the price range is from $55 to $139, this is significant variation between schools. Why take the class for $139 when you can for $55 --unless you wanna support your local school. You can take another course with the extra money saved.

Of course the ultimate is to find online courses or tutorials that are free. But sometimes it's nice to take a course with good instructor interaction.

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