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Five Reasons Why All Students Are Not Able to Pursue Higher Education is a guest post by Jessie Yarrow, a journalist and blogger from Hyderabad, India. Her’s is an interesting perspective on how traditional higher education is out of reach for many all around the world. She shares my hope that modern technology can help more people move up the learning and earning ladders.

Jessie Yarrow

• Jessie Yarrow is a passionate blogger and journalist. In her free time, she writes articles on various topics such as education, gadgets, and travel. As of now she is focusing on Univariety, which provides career guidance for the students. Her gravatar link is http://en.gravatar.com/yarrowjessie. She also tweets at @Univariety and is located in Hyderabad, India. How cool is it to collaborate with someone on the other side of the world? Thanks Jessie.

Introduction

• The 21st century is has ushered in the era of education and technology. Education has become the most powerful tool through which one can attain success in their lives. Education is divided into various phases. Higher education is the most vital phase as it enables students to hone their talents and focus them on one single career. In other words, higher education turns a person from literate into an intellectual and a professional. Although secondary education has become more widespread than ever before, even in developing countries, higher education faces a number of problems and hurdles all around the world.
• Despite the fact the there has been massive progress in both education and research in the last few decades, many problems continue to plague the educational system and a huge number of students continue to stay out of its loop. Following are some of the major reasons why students are unable to pursue higher education.

Financial Problems

• In many developing countries (and even in developed countries in some cases) higher education is an endeavour for which considerable financial resources are needed which many people do not possess. Even though there are numerous options to aid such students, many of them are not aware of them or are not confident to apply. In many instances, students have to start earning at a young age to sustain their families. This robs them off the chance of studying further.

Geographical Distances

• Due to the combined efforts of various NGO’s and governments, primary as well as secondary schools have started appearing in every locality and region. However, as far as the institutions of higher education are concerned, they are still scattered at faraway places geographically. Many times, students cannot afford to travel and live away from their home for a number of reasons and this becomes a reason why they cannot pursue higher education. Then there is also the fact that in many institutions, there are limited seats ever year. The competition for these seats is very high and many students are left behind.

Syllabuses

• Many students do not have aptitudes suitable for certain type of courses. Some students come from schools where the primary education they received was not at par with what they were to be taught in degree courses. For some, the sheer amount of coursework, assignments and the readings are too much. The result, they drop out.
  In countries like India, where the primary and secondary education can be taken in local languages, English becomes a barrier when they pursue higher education and they end up failing or dropping out.

Wrong choices

• One of the biggest problems students face in higher education is the lack of career guidance. A large number of students end up choosing a degree for higher education just based on immature advice. When they start their studies and realize that they are not suitable for the particular course, it’s already too late and they end up wasting their time. Many such students get so dejected that they stop the pursuit of higher studies altogether.

Commercialisation of Education

• Despite the increasing number of educational institutions cropping up everywhere, it has become impossible to pursue higher education without incurring huge costs. Apart from the costs, there is the worrying factor that many colleges no longer give importance to anything else than grades. Students who want to explore their creativity and new ideas are forced to limit their pursuit to grades.
• Apart from these issues, there are many other problems which are proving to be the stumbling blocks for students, making higher education seem like a dream which is not possible to pursue. The advent of technology and the Internet has opened new gates for learning and education which can be used to revamp the educational world and make it easier to access for everyone from every corner of the world. Let’s hope that the quality and availability of education that can result in a successful career with continue to improve to people all over our world.

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Four Easy Steps to Touch Typing by Adam Fort offers tips to improve typing skill for adults and children alike. In a day when efficiency can make the difference between success and failure, you can ill afford to be a less than proficient typist. With these tips, all you need is the commitment to practice.

Adam Fort

• Adam is an education strategist at ratatype.com. This project helps children and adults to learn touch typing via an Online Typing Test and lessons.

Introduction

• Fed up with how long it takes you to type an email or a document? Does your amateurish typing leave a lot to be desired? If typing efficiency is costing you valuable hours in productivity, maybe it’s time you start working on improving your touch typing efficiency. Computers or laptops have become an integral part of day-to-day life. From emails to presentations, from college assignments to office presentations, everything requires the skill of typing. Typing fast and accurately is a skill that proves absolutely invaluable for nearly every job. Follow these four easy tips to boost your touch typing speed and become a typing whiz.

Use correct techniques and position

• The first step is to use correct sitting position and keyboard positioning. It goes without saying that you work better when you are in a comfortable position. The same thing applies to typing. Choose a comfortable chair and sit straight with your back upright, and your eyes firmly fixed on the computer screen. If you slouch, you will get fatigued easily. Also, make sure the room has sufficient lighting and ventilation. (Doug: Also consider standing up like I do. You can now buy desks that go up and down so you can change positions while you work.)
• Position your keyboard in the correct position and use both of your hands for typing. Position your fingers on the home row keys. You should be able to move your fingers across the keyboard. With proper finger placements, you should be typing with all ten fingers including your pinkies. The goal of this proper hand placement is that you do not have to move your hands while typing. This way you can focus more on your touch typing accuracy and speed.

Avoid looking at the keyboard

• After you have positioned yourself comfortably, start typing. Assess your current typing skills so as to understand your typing speed and accuracy. This will also give you a fair idea about how much effort and time you need to put in improving your typing speed. The next step is to resist the urge to look at the keyboard while typing. While riding a bicycle, do you look at the pedals or road? Initially, it is hard not to look at the keypad. But, no matter how difficult it is, you need to eliminate the habit of looking down while you type. Adopt military level of discipline and look at the screen. Familiarize yourself with finger placements and let your mind guide your fingers to type correct keys.

Practice, Practice and Practice

• Just like in any other field, practice is the key to success. You need to remember that you can’t excel your typing speed in just one day; but you can definitely improve it drastically. However, it is important to practice in the right way. Practice as much as possible and do it with extreme patience. Make your practice more interesting by writing emails, chatting with your friends, or playing interactive typing games on internet. By the way, average typing speed is only 41 words per minute.

Use online typing tests

• The best way to practice your typing speed is by taking online typing tests. These tests are developed by typing experts and professionals for making your typing process smooth and fast. Some of these tests add extra remedial measures based on your assessments. These remedial lessons are individually tailored to focus on learner’s individual progress, and therefore speeding up and focussing the learning process. These online tests can be taken according to your comfortable timings. Ratatype.com, TypingTest, and TypingWeb for iPhone typing offer convenient ways to test your touch typing speed and accuracy. They also offer extra remedial measures that are tailored to individual’s progress and performance. These remedial measures are easy to understand and also help in keeping a track of progress. This allows the learner to speed up and focus the learning process.

Acquire the Skill

• Typing is not an inherent skill. It is an acquired skill, and with proper techniques and tools, one can improve his typing speed as well as accuracy. Apart from saving money and time, fast and correct typing offers several benefits. When your typing speed is good, you stay in a state of flow. This allows you to focus your energy on words and message, rather than on typing skill. Your mind works faster when you are typing without interuption. So, try the above mentioned four easy steps and you too can type like a professional.
• Doug: I may be hard to shift from the hunt and peck two finger approach, but it will pay off in the long run. An added benefit to typing faster is that you will end up writing more, which will improve your writing skill. The only other thing you will need is a skilled editor who gives honest feedback. This is the best way to lose bad writing habits. Thanks Adam.

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Technology Today: the Virtual Big Brother by Vaishnavi Agrawal offers a warning of how one’s Internet activity can result in negative consequences for anyone intent on even minor mischief. Her Big Brother metaphor is as scary as it is accurate. The good news it that the Internet has allowed me to collaborate with someone on the other side of the world (India).

Vaishnavi Agrawal

• Vaishnavi loves pursuing excellence through writing and has a passion for technology. She has successfully managed and run personal technology magazines and websites. She currently writes for Intellipaat.Com a global training company that provides e-learning and professional certification training.

Caring for Your Digital Fingerprints

• For last couple of years, it has often been suggested that you should not lie about yourself or your intentions online. You are not only leaving digital fingerprints on your device, but also on the device of every individual involved in the conversation. This also includes a number of other servers on the Internet. Considering the immorality of lying, one may argue that this particular advancement is not for the good. Under the veil of recreation, you may see information pertaining to a particular individual in immense quantity, which is more often than not voluntarily broadcasted. This means that we must consider the fact that our digital existence can supersede our organic one in many ways.
• For many of us, our digital lives make us seem better looking, more popular, better qualified, have a better profession and even a better lifestyle. This can make one wonder if it’s possible to fathom the relevance of this relatively redundant activity. I see that it is not just a matter of tangibility, but also of concentration and focus. Now the amount of time and energy that is dedicated to creating, maintaining, and sustaining a digital life eats away at the basic necessity of doing the same for the real one.

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