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Using Validity and Critical Thinking On a Daily Basis

On a daily basis , we hear claims of how this product leads to weight loss , how we should support someone’s awe-inspiring cause , and where we should be spending our time. Invalid arguments are familiar and knowing how to determine whether or not an argument is truthful can help us make choices that lead to better outcomes . Life is full of people who want you to buy something, sell something, get on a team , and convert to their cause . The list of invalid arguments are nearly endless.  Most of us come across inaccurate and invalid arguments that are designed to stir our emotions but have little substance . Knowing valid from invalid arguments helps us see the truth behind the words . An argument is valid if the premises are true , and the conclusion is not  false . Main points should lead to and support the conclusion . In situations where the premises are true but the conclusion is false th

Why Industry Experts Won't Turn Their Back on Online Education?

Professionals wont turn their back on online doctorates because it provides them one of the only feasible ways to obtain a terminal degree. People with decades of experience don’t often go back to get a doctorate because of the years of time and investment that would pull them away from their business duties. Online doctoral education can marry professional experience and theory in ways that would be difficult for traditional schools to fulfill. Online doctoral education has four purposes (Radda & Mandernach, 2013).: 1.       Prepare the doctoral community to develop knowledge and skills for the 21 st century. 2.       Capture the collective intelligences and knowledge of individuals. 3.       Deepen scholarship and practical application of that scholarship. 4.       To further the interests of scholar-practitioners. Online education has come a long way over the past 20 years and research has shown that the modality is growing in terms of benefits and effectiv

Bearing the Time it Takes to Learn New Skills and Become a Life Long Learner

Learning new skills is not easy and comes with a level of stress. It doesn't matter if discussing sports, work or college as the process of learning requires the ability to work to new levels of mastery. The difference between those who are successful and those who are unsuccessful are the ones that bear the difficulties of the learning process. Think of when you started a new job or tried to do something you never did before. It took some time for you to learn how to complete the task. At first you were lost and then you were able to complete the function a few times with each subsequent time becoming easier. With more effort you will eventually reach a point where many of the actions became automatic. Learning comes with stress and frustration for many because it requires significant energy to continue trying after failure. Yet failure is not really failure unless you stop trying. Each time you put effort toward something you will learn from that effort regardless of the ou

The Footprints to a Solid Career

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your career. Successful careers take a consider amount of effort and time to develop and may not always end the same way you planned when you started. As the market changes and adjusts it is beneficial to roll with the changes and seek out opportunities to learn and develop. At various stages of your life you will be in different career positions that can contribute to your professional development. Young graduates often assume they are going to conquer the world solely through elbow grease. This enthusiasm manifests itself in excitement, motivation, and participation. Even though the pay is not high the new job offers a level of independence, a new apartment, a car, and lots of other goodies that were previously out of reach. Eventually that enthusiasm will wane as they become accustomed to their new money and find out that what they earn is not nearly to feed a family and still live a comfortable lifestyle. They may start to move

The Skills that Lead to Employment in Undergraduate Online Education

In higher education employability has come to the forefront of the debate. Arguments revolve around graduate success in finding employment.   Research by Silva, et. al (2013) helps highlight which skills seem to encourage employability in the market based upon the perceptions of students and teachers at a public university that offers online classes. The report indicates that the societal function of higher education is to encourage the highest employment readiness but cannot determine actual employment itself which is dependent on market factors.  The study was based upon perceptions of employment skills needed for successfully navigating the market. Research subjects were drawn from an online learning center from the Universidade Alberta to help determine the most important employment skills and those skills to be developed in the online undergraduate system.  It is beneficial to understand what the purpose of higher education is within society. Knowing how higher educ

Constructing Knowledge Through Experience-A Teaching Method

Constructivism is a concept that entails all learning as a building process that creates knowledge through mental processes derived from the social and communicative process. When students are reflective they are able to learn from their experience and apply new information to these concepts. A paper by Abdulla Al Mahmud moves into the concept of learning through a constructivist perspective by fostering knowledge building through experience to create better student learning (2013).  In a constructionists perspective all learning comes from experiencing the world and reflecting on those experiences.  The concept was mention by John Dewey in his 1910 book How We Think, “ Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at hand, seeking and finding his own solution [not in isolation but in correspondence with the teacher and other pupils] does one learn .” People live within a social environment and use their experiences and the knowledge of others to learn. To understan