The world of education is a vast one, with differing specialties and age groups. In all grade levels of education, however, specialized teachers are needed to help students that require extra attention due to a learning or behavioral disability. Some more common ones include speech or language impairments to the more severe cases such as traumatic brain injuries. A teacher that has taken online education classes, or even traditional classes, that offers a degree in special education opens the doors to many more opportunities in the job market. With more focus on teachers than ever before and the need for more as our population continues to grow, those that have added degrees give themselves a competitive edge over those that do not. Not only that, special education can be a very rewarding career, since the education of a student with disabilities relies solely with the teacher trained to help them.
As online higher education gains popularity, online education programs are being designed for younger students and are helping to increase high school graduation rates and prepare students for college—even students who once considered dropping out of high school.
Pearson, one of the largest education publishers worldwide, has adapted to the nation and world’s technological cross over by offering eBooks and digitalized versions of their other education materials and resources. With the continual influx of online education programs, Pearson has taken yet another step in the digital direction in an effort to “expand beyond publishing into more segments of the e-learning industry” and has recently decided to offer online courses designed to instruct professors who teach online courses.
A recent report conducted by the Campus Computing Project and Managing Online Education Study found that traditional barriers to online education- federal student aid restrictions, state regulations, faculty resistance, and employer bias amongst others- are no longer considered viable hurdles when implementing online degree programs. Instead, the study found that internal barriers are to blame. And, say online education supporters, “institutions that are being sluggish about growing their online programs have no one to blame but themselves.”
Sharon Beverly, athletic director of Vassar College in New York and a Ph.D. graduate from an online university, Capella, has recently been named Administrator of the Year by the Eastern College Athletic Association (ECAC).