GED Study Tip: For Real Knowledge, Reinforce the Learning Process

Once GED students discover how to activate the learning process, it's equally important to reinforce learning since real learning happens when you use knowledge, especially if it's fresh. And since learning is really a lifelong process, lessons on how people learn -- and continue to learn -- are good ones to understand.

Learning is a Self-Controlled Process

People learn faster and better when they control the speed of learning. In most classrooms, it's the teacher who controls the material. So its important for GED students to determine their own learning speed, and to devise methods or a study plan that accommodate that speed.

Self-guided study is a good way to control the speed and pace of learning. But when self-directing a study program, it's important to make study a habit, whether short periods for studying are set aside for each day, or longer periods two to three times a week.

In classroom situations its more difficult to control the speed of learning since instructors follow lesson plans. So talking to the instructor may help. Just explain that you need a different learning pace. Some students may learn better by moving more quickly through material, while others need extra time.

Regardless, once a student understands that they need to control their own learning -- and the speed in which it takes place -- learning is easier. They can then identify the most comfortable speed, and consequently, learn faster and learn more.

Learning Requires Rapid Feedback

Feedback is a critical part of the learning process, one that's often overlooked. The more immediate and meaningful the feedback is, the quicker people learn.

Consider how many classroom situations work: Information is presented over days or weeks -- or sometimes over months. Then students are tested. Until they see test results, students may not know whether their learning is effective.

The best learning situation gives the learner immediate feedback on their progress. A good GED study program should include continuous opportunities and methods for students to connect their learning efforts with their outcomes. This way, students can quickly identify whether they've learned material or need to learn it better. Meaningful feedback also reinforces the learning process because information is used quickly and frequently. It's the key to keeping new information -- retaining it instead of just remembering it.

Real Learning Means Real Knowledge -- Use it!

Once you learn material and gain new knowledge, use it. Use it every chance you get. Using new knowledge ensures ownership, and enhances critical-thinking skills, the most important skills measured by the GED.

Here is a good example of how one successful PassGED student gained real knowledge through the application of it:

Maria, studying for the GED Language Arts reading test, encountered an unfamiliar word in a literary passage, the word 'superfluous.' Initially, the word just seemed confusing. She wanted to check the word in a dictionary, but remembered that she wouldn't be able to take a dictionary to the official GED test site. And she had learned in her online GED class how to look for context clues to find word meanings, especially if the word seemed to be key to the passage. Maria found three words that seemed to point back to 'superfluous.' One word was 'extra,' another 'over-abundant' and the other 'excessive.' Maria also saw that superfluous had a root of 'super,' which seemed very similar in meaning to the other three words. So she was sure that she was right. Her dictionary confirmed it.

Through the next few weeks, Maria began using new words she was learning during conversations. After a short time, these new words came to her more naturally -- she developed complete ownership of her new knowledge. Not only was her vocabulary expanding, she discovered that it became easier to move through Language Arts passages. Her feedback scores were climbing. Also, the essay portion of the exam suddenly seemed much less challenging.

Maria was delighted. She wasn't just pleased at her new ability; her studies now seemed more like a hobby instead of a chore. And she wasn't the only one impressed.

Summary

Maria's story is an excellent example of all three principles that speak to reinforcement of the learning process.

When Maria first encountered a difficulty, she controlled the speed of her learning. She moved through the material at her own pace. She used a test-taking technique she had learned to provide immediate feedback. And it wasn't a test that initially provided the feedback. Similar words provided the feedback she needed, and a dictionary confirmed it.

Then, Maria used her new knowledge. By using it in everyday situations and conversations, she quickly became the rightful owner of the knowledge. This new knowledge further helped her in her GED study program -- reflected in her test scores, improved critical-thinking skills and in a more willing attitude with benefits well beyond the GED.

What The Students Say - Partial Results From The Woodbury Reports Parent/Student Survey

For the past few years, parents and former students of private, parent-choice, residential schools and programs have voluntarily submitted surveys to Woodbury Reports, Inc. These schools and programs are specifically designed to meet the special needs of their students. To date, we have received 404 completed surveys, 52 (13%) of them were from people who had personally attended one of these residential schools or programs.

With the accusations floating around that these schools and programs are harmful, abusive and only in it for the money, the former students who answer the survey questions provide information that shows how they personally view their program experiences. Though the surveys from the 52 former students gives some hint as to what kind of experience these students had, it is still only a small sample of the thousands of students who have attended one or more of these programs over the years.

At the end of each survey, participants are asked to give an overall rating of their experiences on a scale from zero to five; with zero meaning they thought the experience affected them in a negative way, and five indicating their experience was very effective and appropriate. Of these responses, the average was just a shade over three, indicating the average experience, in their opinion, was helpful. This average was mildly positive, neither a ringing endorsement nor a condemnation of the industry as a whole.

Comparing the comments from the former students was very interesting also. For example, I looked at the comments from two students who attended the same boarding school at approximately the same time period. It is likely these two students were exposed to the same program, the same staff and pretty much the same peers. The student that rated her experience a zero described the school as "emotionally abusive" and "depressing, traumatic, painful, sad and deeply disturbing." However, the student who attended the same school at approximately the same time period and rated her experience a five, described it as "hard, thoughtful, life changing, physical, demanding and the best time of my life!!!!" It is clear that these two radically different subjective reactions describe the respondents more than they describe the school. It suggests that the one student was in a place that was wrong for her, while the other was exactly where she needed to be. It describes the appropriateness, or not, of the placement more than it describes the school itself.

To take a closer look at the collection of 52 surveys and evaluate the differences between them, I'll compare the group who thought their experience was harmful and gave it a zero with the group that rated it a five because they felt the experience was very effective and appropriate. The following two tables will explore the statistical differences between the groups, as well as some thoughts on what these statistics might be telling us.

Overall Rating of Zero--13 Surveys (25% of student responses

Female--8 (62%)

Male--5 (38%)

Students who exited a Program 7+ years before filling out the survey--8 (62%)

Graduated the Program--7 (54%)

Left Early--6 (46%)

In the Program more than one year--8 (62%)

In the Program less than one year--5 (38%)

Overall Rating of Five--22 Surveys (42% of student responses

Female-- 17 (77%)

Male--5 (23%)

Students who exited a Program 7+ years before filling out the survey--4 (18%)

Graduated the Program--19 (86%)

Left Early--3 (14%)

In the Program more than one year--16 (73%)

In the Program less than one year--6 (27%)

Remaining Breakdown of Student Ratings:

Four Rating--Five students

Three Rating--Four students

Two Rating--Five students

One Rating--Three students

(After the survey was discussed and debated on the Fornitz website a few months ago, we received a rash of submissions from former students. This is a site that tends to be very critical of these residential schools and programs, and the site participants were encouraging people to express their negative views in our survey. Ironically, these recent submissions hardly changed the average at all for former students, since the high ratings balanced out the negative ratings).

The first observation is that almost twice as many former students gave the top rating as those that gave the lowest rating: 22 (42%) to 13 (25%). This alone suggests that those former students that were positive about their experience significantly outnumber those that were negative about their experience. It also appears that females are slightly more likely to give a positive rating than males.

In looking at those finishing the program more than seven years before filling out the survey, there is a significant difference between the two groups. Of those who had finished their program more than seven years ago, 62% indicated a zero and only 18% rated it a five. This might suggest that the longer a student has to reflect on their experience, the more negative the experience becomes to them. However, when looking closer at these results, it showed that almost half of those giving a zero rating also indicated it had been 15-20 years or more since they had finished, whereas, none of the students rating the experience a five had been out of a program for that long. This suggests that much of the criticism and feelings of it being a negative experience comes from former students who were exposed to a different type of program such as Straight, Inc. Although they were in style many years ago, programs like Straight are harshly criticized by many of the current programs who see their approach as radically different

The survey results from those who graduated as opposed to those who left early, shows another significant difference. A ratio of 46% to 14% respectively, indicates that those rating it a zero were much more likely to have left early, in comparison to those rating the experience a five.

The comparison between those in a program for more than or less than a year doesn't seem significant, which indicates the length of time for a program does not seem to have much relationship to whether attitudes toward the program are positive or negative.

School for Children with Social Difficulties

Choosing a school for children with social difficulties is a very difficult task. Parents know that the school they chose will have a big impact on their child's self-confidence, their ability to learn and their childhood experiences. Get it right and you can help them learn and overcome many barriers and many difficulties they may have. Get it wrong and it can become practically a daily nightmare.

What are the options?

There are four ways to teach children with social difficulties:

o Home Education or Private Tutoring

o Special Schools for children with learning difficulties

o Private Education

o Regular State School that has special needs facilities

Each of these schools will have their own set of benefits and disadvantages. If you are looking for a specific type of school that teaches children with social difficulties then you may be lucky to have one close by or unfortunate to find that the closest one is 100 miles away. So your options are limited to what's available or what you are prepared to extend to.

Which option will be best?

This depends on the child as well as the schools that are available to you in your local area. To determine which school is best, parents have to see what their child needs the most and what is going to the best learning experience. Once the parent has a good idea about which school will be best then it is worth giving it time to allow the ups and downs to settle from the initial change. Even if parents make the best choice there may still be problems. Certainly moving children from one school to another to try out the best option is going to cause problems with the constant change.

So the best thing to do to find out which school is best is to do your homework into what the schools are offering. Talk to the headmaster. Get them to be straight with you about what facilities they have, what experience they have with children with social difficulties, how they would handle behavioral problems if they occur. See what the schools are like, if they have places for children to go to when they are feeling bad or want to get away from the noise of the playground.

What are you child's needs?

Each of the school choices can be a valid option and will depend on the needs of the child. For example children that are suffering with social difficulties may chose home schooling where their interaction with others can be more closely controlled. Children that suffer with more severe learning difficulties or concentration levels may need more patient and understanding and so a special needs school may be best. The following is a good checklist for things to consider when considering what type of school may be necessary.

o Physical abilities

o Concentration level when learning

o Concentration level with others

o Ability to interact with others

o Ability to conform to rules

o Ability to deal with ridicule/bullying

o Ability to control own behavior and safety

o Ability to be unsupervised

o Self confidence and need for motivation

Some seem a little harsh to think about but these are serious issues that should be considered. For example, some children with social difficulties have a tendency to run out of class when their environment feels threatening, so you would not want to send them to a school where they can be easily lost or could spend time unsupervised. Some children are overwhelmed by the size of the school or number of children so you may want to send them to a small school with a small number of children.

Whatever your options are the choice is not an easy one. So if you are deciding between a specialist school that deals only with children with social difficulties, a private school that has a special needs program and achieves great results, a state school that has small class sizes (not likely), or even home education the choice may not be so easy to make. This is why the choice has to come down to the type of child because they could do great things in a low performing school or perform badly in a high performing school.

The best choice is a school that will make them feel the best, the most motivated, the safest and that they get the most from. So whether you chose home schooling, a special school, a private or even regular state school, if you choose a school that allows them to enjoy learning the most then you are not likely to go wrong.

Driver Education Online

Going online to take a driver education course is becoming very popular because it is not only convenient, it saves a lot of time and money. Compared to the boring routine of attending driver education classes, one can now study in the comfort of their home, at their own pace, whenever and wherever they want.

Online driving courses are designed to be fun, interesting and easy for people of all ages. It is especially convenient for young drivers who are ready for a driver's license, yet do not have time to attend an additional driver's education classes. Most online driver education courses do not have any fixed schedule or time line for completing the course, which means that there is no pressure at all. These courses can be studied using any computer; you do not need any fancy gadgets or special plug-ins. You can use any Internet connection.

There are a variety of accredited driver education courses available online offerings different options for different states and varying in prices and packages depending on the program you choose. Do an online search to find a recognized driver education school that is certified by the stated, study the course material assigned and complete each chapter at their own pace until they pass the final exam and receive a certificate of having successfully completed the course.

Here are some pointers on how to select the best online driver education program. First and most important of all make sure that the program you are about to take is recognized in your state.

Next look for programs that let you try the course before you sign up for the program. This is a good way to judge the program and see what you will be learning.

Finally, it's always a good idea to have the school's contact details because remember this is an online course so see if the website provides customer support or help numbers that you can call.

Driver education is extremely vital and essential especially for young and new drivers. These courses help in producing better and more responsible drivers who are not a danger to themselves or to society.

5 Tips to Choose the Online Nursing School Right for You

No one can tell you which online nursing school is right for you. As a rule, you must be the one who chooses which path to take and how you want to get there. The differences between the online nursing schools are varied and one needs to be aware that they all have their pros and cons. However, if you make a wise and informed choice then you are half way to your goal. If a nursing school fits with your schedule, needs and personality than there is nothing stopping you from succeeding.

Bear in mind that no matter which online school you choose you will still need to take part in clinicals which require 'in person' teaching to complete your degree. So before you have earned the degree you will need to transfer to a land campus school.

1. First and foremost check out the fees that the online nursing charges for their courses. This is probably the most important part of choosing an online nursing school. It is the common practice of all reputable online nursing schools to be up-front with their fees. They realize it is important to new students to know how much they will be paying for the course. This will help to build trust in the school as they put fourth the effort to respect their students by offering their fees in an honest manner.

2. You will need to check out the course requirements before signing up for anything. Each school has different requirements that must be met before entering their program. These may include a high school diploma, previous nursing courses, or specific course studies from other schools. All of these requirements are easily located in the prerequisite area of the course description.

3. Time available is very important when choosing an online nursing program. You will need to check and make sure that you have the minimum amount of time that is required by the school to dedicate to class and course type studies. Most of the schools that offer online programs operate on the same premise of standard schools and require that students complete a minimum number of hours in class room study to be eligible to graduate. All of the time that is required will be listed in the course description during the review process.

4. Degrees offered is another area where one should put fourth some effort in research. If the online program does not offer the degree that you need to get the job you want then it is useless to you as a school. Through most of the online nursing schools you can choose the type of degree that you wish to obtain and enter the course of study as set down by those guidelines.

5. Finally you should determine if the school you are looking at fits the individual needs that you have. If a school does not fit the most basic needs than it will not be of much worth to you as a student. If you have special needs or require an aggressive course study you should check with the online schools advisor to ensure that they can accommodate such a need or desire.

Test Taking Skills Comparing Low and High Performing Students

In a previous article I wrote about the impact of expectations on student test performance. It was determined that major impacts in student achievement can be made merely but adjusting what we believe to be true about a particular student or group of students. Upon further reflection it seemed there must be some particulars other than positive thinking on the part of the teacher that would also impact student performance.

This article provides a brief examination into those characteristics that separate high achieving and low achieving students.

Here are some of the common characteristics of high achieving students and their lower achieving counterparts.

High achieving students have positive self-esteem and greater self-confidence in their abilities than lower achieving students.

High achieving students do not feel intimidated by tests and feel well prepared for all types of tests, low achieving student express opposite beliefs.

High achieving students are more persistent with regard to their school work and doing well on tests.

High achieving students are more likely to use appropriate strategies when taking tests.

High achieving students are more "test-wise" than low achieving students.

Test wise is defined as adept at demonstrating the following skills.

They are more able to follow instructions and directions.

They are more familiar with test formats.

They are more adept at avoiding common mistakes.

They know how to use their time more effectively and efficiently.

They can optimize their scores by taking informed, educated guesses.

They can apply test-taking strategies to solve different kinds of problems.

Lower performing students are noted to state they feel little information is provided about tests, the purposes of testing, how the tests will be utilized and what the results mean.

Lower performing students are more likely to state their teachers do not go over test results with them or explain what those results mean.

Lower performing student are more likely to state they are not made aware of upcoming standardized test in advance.

How to Cope With Distance Education?

There are a few drawbacks of distance education. You will not be able to develop personal relationships with your friends, teachers or other associates, but it is desperately needed to enhance your learning process. This method of learning can bring success, provided a set of guidelines is followed.

1. Follow a regular schedule, choose a proper place to study and determine a goal to be achieved: As you will not have any superiors, it is your duty to sincerely set a timetable and follow it accordingly. Choose the time that suits you the most. Do not give up the refreshing activities such as jogging, relaxing or playing. Do not work at a long stretch. Take a few naps in between and spend your time with some light snacks and water.

Strive hard towards the targeted goal by using different techniques of fast learning and thus make your lessons more interesting. Do not add stress your mind in this process by learning too many concepts at a time. Do not just study for the heck of writing an examination, but see to it that you have learnt a valuable lesson for your life.

2. Increase your level of interaction through discussions: Maintain contacts with people belonging to your stream. If you are specializing in the field of finance, meet financial advisors, chartered accountants or any other finance professionals who will enrich your knowledge. Even your friends play an important role in this regard. If you have completed an assignment get it proof read by them as they may pinpoint your trivial mistakes. Find a suitable mentor who will clear off all your doubts. Use the Internet facility to enter into chat rooms and discuss the relevant matter with someone online who is familiar with your topic. You are solely responsible for building your strengths and coping up with your shortcomings when you are studying through correspondence.

3. Congratulate yourself for your success: Do not hesitate to celebrate this happy occasion. You should be proud for the efforts and you should celebrate when successful.