Zombies getting Connected to Online Education through a Popular TV Show

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/15Tf60s

Where education stands as a highly serious topic, how can it connect zombies? Well, it’s no less a bulletin that a US television company, Edutainment is heading to establish a partnership with a top-notch Californian university for producing online courses in connection with a popular TV show.

With such an amazing initiative, digital boundaries created between academia and the entertainment industry will be blurred to a good extent. The course which will be based on the Walking Dead, the popular post-apocalypse drama series, will be launched in the next month. Although the television show comprise spin-off video games or merchandising, this drama in regard to surviving disaster and social collapse will now be having its own course.

University of California’s, Irvine who will set up the online courses said these are going to be academically rigorous and handle critical scientific issues in regard to the events included in the show. For instance,

·        Physicists will be investigating for the ‘Science behind decay’

·        Public health department will make use of the series to conduct studies on questions like, “What can we learn from past epidemics?”

·        Math lecturers will be analysing on how “Post-calculus maths can be utilised for epidemic dynamics as well as for modelling population.

A legitimate educational experience for online learners

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/11COO0c

Theresa Beyer, the vice-president of AMC says that this showbiz-academic partnership will help students and working professionals enjoy a pure and legitimate educational experience. Moreover, the partnership will also highlight another development in the Massive Open Online Courses that have been established extensively and have even made way to the Oxford online dictionary just a couple of weeks back.

Well, it was the previous year when millions of students signed up for online courses. This showed how demanding were these courses for completing higher studies. However, it was found that those millions failed to complete the online courses since they couldn’t accept the challenge of learning online.

MOOCs taking a new form

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/1b83bNo

Coming back to the zombie-based online course, this will comprise around 8 modules and one would be able to easily access it without paying any fee. On the other hand, universities will now be producing MOOCs. This means that students who will be enrolling in universities will grab the opportunity to give online tests and join discussion groups. However, students who will complete the course will not be getting any formal qualifications or credits. Therefore, the course will be designed for those who wish to pursue it as per their own convenience.

Despite, a question has been raised whether this online course will stand effective or not. University of California’s Irvine says that they have researchers who are Nobel Prize winners and they also contribute around 4.3 billion dollars to the local economy. In this context, Melissa Loble, the university dean of distance learning, said, “When we entered this partnership it was really important to make each of the modules as academically strong as they would be in our classes at UC Irvine... the lessons will be academically rigorous and rich....”

TV-based online courses might be a major hit

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/W7t5YD

University of Buckingham’s Alan Smithers who is the director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research here also have contributions towards strengthening the value of these TV-based online courses. Smithers said that building connections with a popular TV show might emerge to be a brilliant way of alluring students.

Josh Coates, head of In-structure said that he wants people to take the Walking Dead course as a fine example for connecting education and entertainment. In fact, the globalisation of this online course can lend a new meaning and significance to education through which one would find it easier to complete higher studies with ease.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23931078

2013 SHOWS BETTER PROSPECTS FOR ENROLLERS

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/11UQ4KF

2012 witnessed a more rigid clearing round potentially concentrating on budding students. Besides, it was found that record high applicants were actually able to achieve placements. Reports show that this year’s prospects are not less either.

It has been found that more than around 55700 candidates were able to gain their college or university position through clearing; while, 1329 students could gain their placement through adjustment. This prospective route is especially meant for potential candidates who strive for positions in more challenging scenarios. The adjustment number doubled that of 2011’s results.

UCAS’s relationship and management director, Andrea Robertson has said that several applicants came out with a smile because they were able to find a position in universities and colleges desired by them. 2012 was one of the luckiest years for aspirants. 

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/1dXiOZi

However the situation turned much challenging for the academic institutions. Earlier enrollment seats were limited. Since last year, placement applications came rolling in millions; especially for students applying for the AAB positions, which were unlimited. With most institutions barring applicants and also with the fall of grades like A and A+, a good number of universities and colleges were struggling to get a position in the Clearing. Meanwhile, the struggle made way for prestigious educational institutions. Several colleges and universities had made it to the Clearing list.

Furthermore it has also been found out that last year experienced a sharp hike in college and university fees. They had already paid a massive £9000 for tuition charges. The fee hike spurned a large number of enrollments. Thus, the total number of students slashed down by 46000 from 2011-2012. This however revealed that students took greater time to decide on whether or whether not to enroll into a college or university course.

Cathy Gilbert, the Birmingham University’s external relations director assumes that 2013 is going to be as competitive as the previous years. She has even asserted that placements in highly reputed universities would only contribute to the possibilities of receiving better grades.

Even this year, the fees will tend to remain high thus posing a threat for students. However there might be a slight alteration in the enrollment since universities are going to act leniently with students achieving ABB. Robertson says that there are positions left for aspirants who are ready to relocate.

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/15PDDm0

Today, there are vacancies available on medicines and several other related disciplines. While some vacancies will be filled up soon, others are going to be advertised by the month of September, this year. It is believed that applicants have to struggle to get a desirable position. However, students have to remember one thing that universities are equally interested in offering them vacancies as much as students are interested to fill the positions. The reports clearly show that distance learning has become one of the most sought after academic approaches making a mark in today’s word. Students are repeatedly seeking distance learning to comply with the much demanding employment scenario. Employers are highly considering candidates with specialized degrees; hence students are readily seeking courses online to achieve competence in various areas of specialization. 

Source: bit.ly/19P9PF8