Earn Your Degree in Public Relations

When you become a public relations specialist, your work will involve advocating for various businesses, universities, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations in order to maintain their positive reputations. You will do this by handling organizational messages that involve media and consumer, industry, community and governmental communications. You will likely draft press releases and interact with various forms of media, be they broadcast or print, as well as establish speaking engagements. You might need to prepare speeches and talking points for the officials of the organizations for which you work. Essentially, you will be acting as the intermediary between your employer and the public and act as the “face” of the company.

To succeed in the field of public relations, you must possess excellent oral and written communication skills. When working toward your degree, you will focus on courses such as marketing, journalism, writing, and communications strategies. You may also take specific courses in marketing principles, public speaking, consumer behavior, social media, business, and technical writing.

Elective courses should be chosen with your ultimate career goal in mind; do you prefer a nonprofit, business, or public (i.e. hospitals, clinics, etc.) arena? Carefully choosing a focus for your degree will better equip you for a position in your desired sector when you graduate.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs in the field of public relations will increase by 18 percent from 2006 to 2016; however, the competition for entry-level positions is expected to be high. Graduates with higher degrees and greater experience will have the greatest opportunities and earn higher salaries. The median annual salary for a public relations specialist in 2007 was $49,800 (the top 10 percent earned $94,620).

Become a Teacher!

Education and the teachers who are employed within our schools are vitally important to the growth and development of our society. Today teaching is a noble profession that can be considered the primary element of helping to formulate a well-educated society. Teachers have a major influence on nurturing children’s minds and play an effective role in shining the light of knowledge on youngsters all over the world.

Recent studies show that enrollment in the teaching field is at an all time high, which is a good thing. With the increase in schools and secondary colleges, the demand for well-trained teachers has increased as well.

As a teacher, you are the primary person who will educate and help children become knowledgeable citizens of tomorrow. A teacher is the heart of a class and the beat that keeps lessons lively and engaging. Teaching as a career, of course, is filled with numerous challenges, but it also has its own rewards that can’t be overlooked.

Here are some of the advantages of choosing to enroll in a teaching program:

Realistic Hours – One of the key benefits of choosing teaching as a career is working with students six to seven hours a day. With the 8-hour workday rapidly becoming the 10 to 12 hour day in other occupations, a teaching career leaves you with more time for family, friends and other interests.

Paychecks – those who think becoming a teacher doesn’t offer decent paychecks should probably rethink this. Though teaching is not a get-rich-quick profession, in most cases the starting salaries are in line with other graduate professions. Moreover, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public teachers are actually paid somewhat more than the average professional worker. Additionally, this career also offer opportunities for progress and increased pay over time.

Job Security- In many communities, teachers are a scarce commodity. While requirements may differ from state to state, once you establish yourself as a good teacher, you will always find there are good jobs available. You will find as well that layoffs and downsizing are rare occurrences in the field of education.

Apart from these major benefits, it is also important to understand that this profession requires commitment, perseverance, and patience. Attaining a teaching degree from a top university can help you teach more efficiently and properly. Most teaching programs facilitate earning a teaching certificate, which most schools require teachers to hold.

Becoming a teacher is a fulfilling career for anyone who enjoys sharing a terrific learning experience. It is no doubt a career that will continue to grow due to our ever-changing society and the growth in demand for innovative teaching methods.

Earning an Online Liberal Arts Degree

If you are trying to decide between a vocational degree or one in liberal arts, you may be asking yourself which type of education will be a better choice in terms of the global marketplace.

Here are some reasons why a liberal arts program is the better choice:

Real World Skills

Seven things that educational and economic leaders consider essential for competing in a global marketplace, as outlined by Tony Wagner in the October 2008 issue of Educational Leadership are:

• Curiosity and Imagination
• Collaboration of leadership
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Effective oral and written communication
• Accessing and analyzing information
• Agility and adaptability
• Initiative and Entrepreneurialism

Most of the companies you will interview with after graduation are looking for employees who possess the type of skills learned through brick-and-mortar or online liberal arts programs. Business leaders want you to come prepared with these skills; they can then train you to do your specific job within the company.

What a Liberal Art Degree Program Teaches Students:

• How to think, not what to think. You will be trained to think independently and analytically along with the ability to do so empathetically and with self-control.
• How to learn. As Albert Einstein once said, “…The value of liberal arts degrees is that they train the mind to think.” (Frank, Phillip. 1947. Einstein: His Life and Times. 185. Alfred A. Knopf.)
• How to be more interesting. The more knowledge you possess, the more you will be able to express your creativity, wit, and wisdom – something employers desire.
• To develop the tools necessary to continue learning new things throughout their lives.
• To better their entire lives, not just their work lives.

If you have an interest in becoming a person of broader knowledge, who is well educated in a wide variety of areas, and who possesses skills desired by business leaders of today, a liberal arts degree is definitely the way to go.

Earn Your Teaching Degree

With so many career choices available – often at a higher rate of pay than that of teachers – fewer and fewer individuals have enrolled in programs that offer a degree in education. The need for teachers at the elementary and secondary levels, therefore, has actually increased in recent years. After all, economic crisis or not, we must have teachers to educate our children.

If you love children and believe you might have a gift for helping them learn, you should consider a career in education. Whether you’re just beginning your education or are looking for a career change, earning your teaching degree online can save you money by being able to hold a job and study from home at your own pace. If you are diligent and work hard, you may even finish your degree more quickly than you would if you attended classes on a college campus.

Many earn their bachelor’s degree in education with the sole intention of teaching, however, to stay in the field longer and receive higher annual raises, it’s best to also earn your master’s degree. If you are interested in teaching at the college or university level or work in an administrative position, you will need to continue on to earn your doctorate degree.

Individuals often cite poor salary as a major reason for not teaching, but you need to consider that good teachers (particularly after you’ve taught for a few years and have your curriculum down pat) do not always work 8-hour days, have several vacations each year including two months off in the summer.

Teachers are expected to participate in extracurricular activities and attend sporting events to a degree, as well as help advise clubs and meet with parents, which can all lead to putting in some long hours. All this extra time is not compensated for, so many individuals decide to pursue other careers with higher salaries and lower time commitments. Most students do not earn their teaching degree online for the salary, however; they earn it to work with students and make a difference in the lives of children.

If teaching is your dream and you want to follow that dream by pursuing the education necessary to become an educator, earning your teaching degree online is a cost- and time-efficient way of doing so.

Students with physical, mental, and psychological disabilities must be given the opportunity to learn by being taught by professionals who have been trained to help students with special needs. As mandated by state and federal law, all students, regardless of their disability, are entitled to an education suitable to their needs.

The concept of special education began with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – a federal law enacted in 1974 – which set forth requirements for special education with which states had to comply. This law has consistently framed the role of the special education teachers in this country.

If you have an interest in becoming a special education teacher, you must complete a degree program that will prepare you to work with children who have special needs. This will include specialized coursework, classroom training, and completing your teacher certification. The Department of Education in each state governs the requirements for university course content, in-class training, and certification.

Teaching

Special education encompasses all academic subjects and almost any given life skill, thus a special education teacher must become well educated in a wide variety of subjects. All special needs students are different and the setting in which the educator serves them constantly changes. Most degree programs will, then, include coursework in general education in addition to the specialized classes that deal with various disabling conditions.

Law

According to federal and state law, every student is entitled to be educated in the “least restrictive” environment possible. This could mean that some special needs children will be able to spend some, if not all, of their school day in a typical classroom, as stated by the IDEA , “To the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities [should be] educated with children who are not disabled.”

Some students’ needs will be too great for integration into a regular classroom, however, so special education teachers must be exposed to a wide range of the environments in which they might find themselves teaching.

Education

Most degrees in special education are at the master’s level, though some bachelor’s degree programs with specialization in this area are available. Online master’s degrees in special ed are increasing in popularity allowing working teachers to earn their advanced degrees without needing to forfeit their tenure to attend school.

Undergraduate degrees in this field will typically begin with courses in general education and/or psychology with child development classes added during the second year. Third-year students will begin specialized training that will allow them to acquire their degree with a focus on special education. During the final year, students prepare for certification and do a semester of student teaching.

Many states do require special ed teachers to obtain a master’s degree as well as specialized training in order to achieve licensing Those who choose to teach special education will usually undergo longer and more intensive training periods.

If you complete your bachelor’s and master’s degrees, you may consider earning your PhD as well. A doctorate degree will open doors for those who want to transition into an administrative position or would like to pursue a role in academic research. PhD programs prepare individuals for leadership positions, so if you are interested in eliciting policy changes at a higher level, you should consider pursuing a doctorate degree.

Help Students Learn - Become a Teacher

Do you long to become a teacher, but feel you just don’t have the time to attend a campus-based university? Earning your teaching degree online might be just the right way to follow your heart without taking up too much of your limited time.

You can relatively easily pursue your calling to become an elementary school teacher, middle school teacher, high school teacher, special education teacher, principal, superintendent, private tutor, reading specialist, music education specialist, or ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor.

To work in any of these positions, you will need to achieve a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in education; you can then specialize in any of these fields and/or continue studying to earn your master’s degree. You can continue even further if you wish by earning your doctorate online as well.

Many colleges and universities offer online degrees for individuals whose family and work obligations make it difficult, if not close to impossible, to find the time necessary to earn a degree by commuting and physically attending classes.

Current teachers can also benefit greatly from online learning by taking their continuing education courses (those needed to keep their teaching licenses up to date) online. Teachers work beyond school hours, so the need for an easier way to take classes is very much necessary for them as well.

You should easily be able to find online classes offered by most of the top universities and will be able to access the courses and presentations online – often at your convenience. Standard textbooks will likely be used in addition to the information provided to you online. Generally students are provided with a list of textbooks required for each course as well as a syllabus of what the expectations are for each course, when assignments will need to be turned in, and when and how you will be taking exams.

You can find a number of the best online education degree programs by visiting here.

If you find the field of medicine intriguing and desire a career in this lucrative area, you might want to consider a job as a diagnostic imaging technologist. Imaging techs, better known as sonographers, help doctors and nurses do non-invasive forms of imaging to study patients’ internal organs. One of the most well known types is, of course, the x-ray. In many instances, though, the radiation can be harmful to patients, so doctors desire other ways to examine for disease or injury. Sonography is one of the ways to do these internal examinations, because it uses sound waves to create images, it is not as harmful as an x-ray could be.

As a diagnostic medical sonographer, you will utilize special equipment to send the sound waves into patients’ bodies; these waves then create reflected echoes, which are sent to the equipment to form images of the internal organs.

Job:

You will be responsible for explaining the procedures to the patients as well as recording their medical histories. You spread a gel onto the patients’ skin to aid the transmission of the sound waves using a “transducer” (a machine that transmits sound waves). You will then closely examine the images to identify any areas that could be unhealthy. You must then analyze them and present them to the patients’ doctors along with your initial findings.

Many sonographers work in obstetrics and gynecology using ultrasound to check female organs and fetal growth. There are other purposes for sonography, however, including:

• Abdominal sonography (liver, kidneys and other abdominal organs)
• Breast sonography (breast cancer and other problems)
• Cardiac sonography (heart)
• Neurosonography (brain and nervous system)

Salary:

Most sonographers in the U.S. make an annual salary of between $53,000 and $74,000. As an entry level sonographer you could expect to make approximately $43,000; you will earn more when you have gained more experience.

Education:

You can acquire your training at a hospital, vocational school, or the armed forces. You may also consider pursuing your associate’s or bachelor’s degree in sonography as well. You do not need to be licensed in the field of sonography, but the higher your level of education, the more money you can expect to make.

You will likely take courses in the following areas:

• anatomy
• instrumentation
• medical ethics
• patient care
• physics
• physiology

Associations:

• American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
• American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
• American Society of Echocardiography
• Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
• Society for Vascular Ultrasound

If you enjoy science, are a good problem solver, have strong analytical skills and working with laboratory equipment, you will likely enjoy a career as a Medical Laboratory Technician. Medical Lab Techs study cells and bodily fluids in a laboratory setting. Technicians handle the less-technical aspects of the tasks related to lab work; they prepare samples and typically work with automated analyzers.

Job:

As a Medical Lab Tech, you will probably work in a hospital lab under a medical technologist’s close supervision. You might also find work in a public health lab, a university, pharmaceutical company or the military as well. If you do work in a hospital, you will be required to work various shifts as most are open 24 hours a day.

You will need excellent oral and written communication skills and be able to work under pressure in this field of medicine.

Your assignments will likely include the following:

• Analyzing samples for bacteria
• Monitoring tests
• Preparing blood (or other fluid) samples for testing
• Studying the chemical makeup of specimens
• Testing drug levels in blood
• Typing and matching donated blood for transfusions

Salary:

Your salary will depend on where you are working and how much experience you have; according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you will earn an average salary of about $35,000. With experience, many lab techs earn $52,000 or more.

Education:

To work in a medical laboratory, you will need to earn an associate’s degree in medical laboratory technology. The program you choose will include hands-on clinical experience in addition to your coursework. After you complete your courses, you will need to take an exam to become certified by the National Certification Agency for Medical Laboratory Personnel.

Associations:

• American Medical Technologists
• National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians
• National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel

Do you love technical, highly complex information and working with computers? Becoming a technical writer may be right for you. Technical writers work in a variety of fields, but are particularly needed in the field of medicine.

As a technical writer in the medical field, you will consult with medical technology experts to collect raw technical data by doing research. Once the information is collected, it must be arranged in a logical pattern and simplified into language that can be understood by an average reader. You may also need to determine whether or not to include charts, graphs, or diagrams.

To be successful in this field, you need to have outstanding written and verbal communication skills and be detail oriented as well as a good problem solver. You need to be comfortable working with complex technological equipment such as computers. You will have to have a strong understanding of medical technology as well if you decide to work in the field of medicine.

Salary:

The median salary for technical writers in the U.S. is approximately $61,620 annually. Most will earn somewhere between $47,000 and $79,000 per year. When you are new to the field of technical writing, you can expect a salary of around $36,500 depending on what part of the country you reside. If you proceed with your education and training and gain the necessary experience, you may earn as much as $98,000 or more. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates technical writing jobs to grow faster than average between 2008 and 2018, at a rate of 18 percent.

Education:

A minimum of an associate’s degree is required to earn a certificate in technical writing. Certificate programs can usually be earned in a year. You will typically need to take six to eight courses, which would include:

• Business writing
• HTML
• Internet writing
• Publishing
• Software writing
• Technical editing

Job prospects can be much better, however, if you pursue your bachelor’s degree, particularly if you pair it with a minor in medical technology or another technical field of your choice.

Associations:

Groups and associations that exist for technical writers include:

• Association for Business Communication
• IEEE Professional Communications Society
• National Association of Science Writers
• Society for Technical Communication

Alberto Retana of the U.S. Department of Education, is to hold a meeting at the San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch today, Monday, March 08, 2010 to discuss with the community funding available to California. The intention is to provide funds in order to turn around the lowest-performing schools in the state. The DOE plans to award $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement grants. How the award is given to each state will be determined using a formula; California is eligible for $415.9 million for local education agencies to utilize for school improvement.

“California is currently taking a hard look at its lowest performing schools to make tough decisions about where to invest millions of dollars that will be available to them this spring,” said Retana. “Monday, we will meet with San Francisco community leaders, school board members, parents, teachers and union representatives to discuss what needs to be done to pave the way for change.”

To qualify under the Title I School Improvement grant program, each state must identify its lowest-performing schools and then use one of these four intervention models to transform them:

• Restart model: close and reopen or convert a school it under a charter school operation, charter management organization, or education management organization selected through a rigorous review process.
• School closure: Close a school and enroll students who attended that school in other schools in the LEA that are higher achieving.
• Turnaround model: Replace the principal and rehire no more than 50 percent of the staff, after which the principal will be granted sufficient operational flexibility (including in calendars/time, staffing, and budgeting) to completely implement an approach that will substantially improve student performance and outcomes.
• Transformation model: Implement these strategies: (1) replace the principal and do what is necessary to increase teacher and school leader effectiveness; (2) institute extensive instructional reforms; (3) increase learning time and create community-oriented schools; and (4) provide flexibility of operation and provide full support.