Online education is here to stay!

The number of students taking online classes, part time or full time, in the United States is increasing everyday. But interestingly enough, another market is slowly developing: online tutoring. The benefits? Get tutored sitting in your home with personalized lesson plans at a cost about one-fifth of what personal tutoring charges. What do you need? Just a PC with internet and headphones.

The tutor communicate over the internet using Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) technology. The voice quality is crystal clear and just like having a telephone conversation. This interactive service gives students enough flexibility to pursue other extracurricular activities as their time is not wasted in being driven to learning centers. Most online tutoring programs offer convenient hours so students can balance their time between study and other activities like music and sports.

There are many websites offering this but one that I tried, in order to furnish my math skills before taking my GMAT, was www.clickandclimb.com . Though they didn't have a seperate program for GMAT then, (though they have one for SAT I think) they were kind enough to taylor a program to suit my needs and schedule. I only took specific math lessons and was happy with their service. I gave them my schedule for the whole week and they tailored sessions accordingly. The tutors too were patient and understanding. All in all, it was a good experience.

This makes me wonder whether online education can replace the traditional classroom system in the secondary and post-secondary level. But with the growing number of students opting for online classes and tutoring, I think that it is here to stay.

Ubuntu - Linux

After using Windows for over ten years, I finally gathered enough courage to bid it good bye; well, not completely, so what? I recently installed Ubuntu - Feisty Fawn on my system and have never been happier. The installation hardly took thirty mins and pop came 'Ubuntu' on the screen. The speed is phenomenal and so is the stability, security etc. It barely takes half a minute to boot and about ten seconds to shut down! I mean expecting that from Vista will be very far-fetched. Ubuntu has its own version of programs which we r so used to in Windows so its not much of a problem. It plays all the audio, video and picture files as in Windows. I was particularly impressed that it could auto-detect my wireless network and other things. Linux is not what u thought it was like anymore.

So basically, if all u do on ur PC is browsing, emailing, listening to music, viewing pictures / videos / movies, doing a little MS office, then Ubuntu is for u. And whats more? It's FREE!