The developments in online education continue to rock the world as there are developments almost every day. The online education is indeed giving back to life the lost hope of international students they cannot compete worldwide because they are left with lots of problems as far as education opportunities abroad. It as only when online education started to take center stage when international students also realized this with the opening of the internet in 2000. This means they are being vindicated of their dreams to compete globally because of the internet.
Just recently, the University of Massachusetts and Philadelphia both have tremendous successes online. In both states, there was the reported surge in enrollment from the last two years – having a total enrollment of over three million in just one online class. With this development, the University of Massachusetts has also announced tie up with a foreign university for the time. Officials said this development is very important with the UMassONLine offering its doors to the thousands of students in China. There are reports that UMassOnline is going to offer credit courses to students in its offers for certificate and degree programs throughout China. The report says there are about forty courses to be offered by UMassOnline ranging from certificates, and degree programs.
Pres. Jack Wilson of the University of Massachusetts said they are very proud their company was chosen by their partners in China. This is very possible since their company has developed one of the best education programs online. UMassOnline has been in the forefront of achieving the highest rating as far as online education and they’ve been in the business for many years. There is no doubt the company will be able to achieve good performance as what China did to choose them. The online education is also seen by China as one of the best promoter of best education and the experts based in Massachusetts have proven this. There were even reports that online education in this country is high having total enrollees of over Three Million in just one online class. This fate is also experienced in Philadelphia which had also displayed good performance in online education.
SPRING is usually the time of the year when college students go back to their hometowns and have a jolly good time partying. But others who are so excited would rather take up a one-week online crash course in just about anything else. Just take a look inside the Web and you’ll find out an enormous number of new fields to learn.
Take me as an example. Right now, I am enrolled in Georgetown here in Washington, DC, taking up a degree in international relations. But I’m originally from Hartford and this weekend I’m going back to my hometown but I’m not gonna be partying there. For seven days, I’ll be immersing myself learning French.
Ever since being enrolled in Georgetown three academic semesters ago, I have been fascinated with the French language. There are dozens of French students here who are also taking up degrees in international relations and although they have denied it, reports have it that they are actually employees of DGSE or the intelligence service of the French government, roughly equivalent to our CIA or NSA. I don’t believe they are fresh high school graduates from France because they are already in their mid-20s. I am fascinated by the way they move, they look very suave. It reminds me of Nikita although the American TV version of Nikita here is English.
Of course, my decision to take up a crash course in French was heightened with the winning of Marion Cotillard as best actress in this year’s Academy Awards. Marion is French and she portrayed the legendary French singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. As a 19-year-old Roman Catholic woman coming from Hartford, Connecticut, I’m not gonna emulate Edith Piaf’s promiscuous life but I still certainly want to learn French.
However, it’s not just learning French that you may do this spring break. You may want to learn French cooking for example. Remember, French cooking is not just all about bouillabaisse or ratatouille. There are lots of facet of French cooking especially in the French Riviera where there is an abundance of Mediterranean seafood. Of course, who cannot forget the very vintage French wine called rose. Of course, there are still numerous other one-week courses that you can learn during spring break. There are courses in welding, shipbuilding, sewing and other indigenous handicrafts.
MOVIES and music can certainly entertain us but they have another noble purpose – they bridge the world that separates the academic from the students. However, not all movies, music and novels educate. Some of them are stepping stones by criminals to emulate. Writers who pen song lyric, movie screenplays and novels are great thinkers but criminals ultimately use them. So writers must have a great social responsibility – that their product’s purpose is to solely educate for the good of society and not the reverse.
Let’s now review at some of the good movies released this week and how they have educated us in some way. It is notable to state that not all movies at the top of the box office fall into this category. Consider Fool’s Gold, The Eye and The Hottie and the Nottie. What redeeming factor can American audiences have when watching these movies? The answer is zero. There’s one movie released this week in the United States which particularly interests me. It’s The Band’s Visit. The Band’s Visit is all about the official police band of Egypt rendering a concert in Israel. They are supposed to play in Tel Aviv but due to a misfortune, they end up in a nowhere town where only the Jewish Israelis are found. In short, they look like aliens from outer space, mingling in with people from another culture, because they are Muslims. This movie tries to explore the successful formula that has already worked in past movies – Babel, Lost in Translation and Crash. What’s surprising here though is this movie isn’t a Hollywood production. It is an Israeli production. The movie is trying to educate us to be culture-tolerant.
Since I have already mentioned Babel, Lost in Translation and Crash, I may as well tell you why I like these three films too. Although Babel is a Hollywood production, its director is Mexican. And its cast are Moroccan and Japanese and movie scenes are really shot in Morocco and Japan. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu introduces us to the reclusive Moroccan and Japanese cultures. In the movie, there is a Japanese hunter who goes to Morocco and has befriended a Moroccan hunter. To seal their friendship, the Japanese hunter gives his rifle to his Moroccan counterpart. The rifle is being used to accidentally shoot an American lady by the Moroccan hunter’s son. This sparks a Moroccan-American diplomatic row. And then there are subplots of the movie – the toddlers of the shot American wife are being kidnapped by their Mexican nanny who sneaked them illicitly across the border to Mexico. The second subplot involves the daughter of the Japanese hunter who is struggling in her own coming-of-age stage vis-à-vis the strict Japanese culture. Morocco, Tokyo and Mexico – we can learn lots of things with what is really happening in these countries just by watching the total of 90 minutes in the movie. For Lost in Translation and Crash, rent it at your nearest Blockbuster outlet. You will surely have a wonderful and entertaining weekend ahead.
