The Benefits of Online Learning

While there are all kinds of benefits that are associated with learning and furthering your educational goals there are even more benefits to those who wish to pursue online learning in order to achieve those goals. I hope you will find that many of these benefits are quite enlightening and carefully consider whether or not online learning for your secondary education needs will be in your best interests.

1) Convenience. This is a word we are quite familiar with. Right along with instant gratification. We are a society of people who have lived with drive thru banking and fast food and are rapidly moving in the direction of drive thru pharmacies and dry cleaning. We live in a fast paced world and when we can work education into our busy schedules and on our own terms we find that this is something we tend to like a lot. I recommend that you watch for a growing number of online classes and online students in the coming years as more and more professionals decide to further their degrees and their careers.

2) Flexibility. You can take these classes or do the work during your lunch break, while the kids are practicing soccer, or while cooking dinner (depending of course on how well you multitask). You do not need to be in the classroom every night at 6:00 pm for the next five years in order to get the same degree of education. This by no means indicates that you will not have to do the work. The work will not change nor will the fact that you have a limited time in which to complete the work. What will change is that you will have the option of doing the work in the morning, afternoon, or after those 2 a.m. feedings when you can't seem to get back to sleep.

3) Location. There isn't enough that can really be said about this. Online education comes to you wherever you happen to be able to connect to the Internet. Whether you are at home, at work, or your favorite Internet café you can have the convenience of taking your work with you and enjoying the environment in which you are completing your work.

4) Less Expensive. No more convenience meals, childcare expenses, or gas guzzling trips to a college campus that thirty minutes away. You can now enjoy in your own home the benefits of an education without many of the financial hardships that are often associated with attending college. Internet access seems like such a small price to pay when compared with all the reasons mentioned above.

5) Believe it or not, online courses help you brush up your online abilities. Seriously. You will be better at dealing with email, bulletin boards, online research, and you will learn countless other skills along the way that you probably never realized had anything to do with the courses you are actually taking-because they don't. In other words, you are getting more of an education than you bargained for when it comes to online learning.

6) Individual attention. Online students often have more one on one interaction with their professors than students in a classroom. The online classroom is virtual and correspondence through email is essential in this particular learning environment. For this reason it is quite possible that your professors will know more about you and your learning patterns and needs than they will know about most of the students they see two or three times a week in their classrooms.

While these are just a few of the benefits of taking online classes you should carefully weigh the benefits with the things that may be problematic about this particular type of learning situation before you take the plunge. Learning is a lifelong process but if you are seeking a degree you do not want to jeopardize that by taking a course that will not address your specific learning needs. If you feel confident that you can be successful in this particular type of learning environment than I feel you will truly enjoy the experience and the flexibility it brings to the educational process.

Forest Industry Export Results Predicted Down 20 Percent

Strict competition and the scarcity of the supply business of raw materials has resulted in decline in export value of forest products industry during the year 2008 compared to 2007. If the world economy never improved, can be ascertained the value of exports will be more terpuruk

As JPNN released, the Department of Reporting and Information Industry of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir Aryanto MSi Seno said, the export value of forest product industry in the year ago 2008 show that a slight decrease compared to the year 2007. "In the year 2007 is able to penetrate a number of U.S. $ 3.76 million, while in 2008 only able to reach U.S. $ 3.65 million," said Aryanto when found in the office, on Thursday (12 / 2).

According to him, other than strict competition langkanya and raw materials, international economic conditions also memperngaruhi decline in export value. The results of the export destination countries affected by the forest crisis.

"The main purpose we export to the United States and Europe. However, the economic situation in the United States itself has not been stable. So if there is reasonable reduction. I need to be back, the decline in export value of this special commodity in the forest products only, not including the plantation. If added to the results plantation, in 2008 the export value is increased when compared with the year 2007 of Rp U.S. $ 10.04 million. tayun While 2008 is U.S. $ 12.47 million, "he said.

He explains, if economic conditions do not change there, then can be predicted will continue to decline in 2009. "Penurunannya may be about 20 percent," he said.

On the same occasion, also revealed that Aryanto commodity pulp production also decreased in the year 2008. Number of target production of pulp is determined that the government in the year 2008 of 6.15 million tons per year, the results only reached 5.91 million tons per year. "Or, achievements can be just as much as 96 percent," he said.

According Aryanto, the decline in production figures could be due to buying power and supply an increasingly scarce wood. Meanwhile, for paper production in Indonesia during the year 2008 also experienced a decline that is only able to reach 8.25 million tons per year.

"It is recognized, we also still have to import the raw material of paper itself. For pulp only, we also still have to import from Europe. Why? Because the pulp in a pulp that has a short fiber. Meanwhile, in the production of paper pulp should use the fibrous long. Even at this time the producers of paper using a mixture of raw materials, ie, wood or fiber from the pulp and paper used. This is done to push the production cost is expensive, " he said.

KEK Dumai Masih Belum Pasti

DUMAI - Keinginan Dumai menjadi Kawasan Ekonomi Khusus (KEK) masih ada kepastian. Saat mengunjungi Dumai Rabu (11/2), Menteri Perdagangan RI DR Mari Elka Pangestu masih belum bisa memastikan KEK tersebut bisa direalisasikan. Mendag hanya mengungkapkan Dumai merupakan kawasan yang sangat strategis.

Saat ditanya wartawan terkait Dumai menjadi KEK, Mari Elka Pangestu hanya menyebutkan Dumai merupakan daerah yang sangat strategis. "Oleh karena itu sudah layak untuk menjadi KEK. Apalagi persyaratan untuk KEK itu sudah mulai dipenuhi, mengenai infrastruktur, istrik, air dan telekomunikasi," ujarnya. Tapi menteri tidak menyebutkan kepastiannya.

"Saya semakin yakin, Dumai memiliki potensi yang cukup besar untuk dikembangkan menjadi Kawasan Ekonomi Khusus (KEK). Apalagi pemerintah daerah sangat tanggap dan membantu pembangunan infrastruktur di daerah ini," sebutnya.

Mendag terpeleset berbicara, meminta gubri mentraining beberapa SDM untuk kelangsungan menuju KEK. Tetapi ketika gubri mengucap KEK bakal disetujui, Mari Elka Pangestu mengalihkan pembicaraan. "Ya, kalau profosal yang masuk sampai sepuluh, maka harus lebih selektif lagi," ujarnya memberi harapan.

Mendag RI Mari Elka Pengestu didampingi Gubernur Riau H Rusli Zainal, Wakil Walikota Dumai H Sunaryo, Kadis Perindag Riau, H Herliyan Saleh, serta muspida Dumai meninjau dermaga KID, selanjutnya dermaga Pelindo, Roll On Roll Off (Roro) Dumai-Malaka untuk melihat dari dekat kesiapan menuju KEK.

Dumai merupakan daerah sangat strategis, bahkan 40 persen ekspor CPO berasal dari Dumai. Tidak hanya itu, di Riau ini juga terdapat pabrik kertas dan migas. "Dari posisinya Dumai strategis berdekatan dengan Malaysia. Mengenai faktor pendukung KEK seperti, infrastruktur jalan, listrik, air solusinya ada. Bahkan pemerintah daerah mendukung penuh pembangunan dan percepatan realisasi KEK. Selain itu, Mendag dalam satu kawasan terdapat pengelola kawasan sehingga tercipta situasi kondusif," kata Mendag.

Proyek PAB Rp233 M, Sumber Air Dipaksakan

Proyek pembangunan infrastruktur air minum Dumai secara perdana diresmikan Walikota Dumai, H Zulkifli AS, Jumat (6/2) di Jalan Kelakap Tujuh. Diresmikannya proyek air minum dengan sistem teknologi reverse osmosis (RO), Dumai menjadi satu-satunya daerah di Indonesia yang menyediakan air bersih langsung minum bagi masyarakatnya.

Pembangunan proyek yang menelan dana lebih dari 233 miliar dana APBD tahun jamak, menghilangkan keluhan masyarakat terhadap kebutuhan air bersih selama puluhan tahun.

Pembangunan bersumber dari APBD Dumai 2008-2011 sebesar Rp 233 miliar akan selesaikan dikerjakan oleh tiga perusahaan BUMN yakni PT Waskita Karya, PT Nindiya Karya, dan PT Adhi Karya (Persero) akan selesai dikerjakan selama 730 hari.

PT Waskita Karya (Persero) akan melaksanakan pemasangan pipa distribusi, sekunder tersier dan sambungan rumah (SR) dengan anggaran Rp 69 miliar lebih.

Sementara PT Adhi Karya (Persero) yang memenangkan tender sebesar Rp 83 miliar lebih akan melaksanakan pembangunan instalasi air minum dan PT Nindiya Karya (Persero) melaksanakan pembangunan uprating IPA dari kapasitas 40 ltr/detik menjadi 80 ltr/dtk di Jalan Jendral Sudirman dan pembangunan baru IPA kapasitas 250 ltr/dtk di Bukit Timah dengan anggaran mencapai sekitar Rp 70 miliar lebih.

Keberadaan proyek ini dinilai sangat diperlukan warga. Hanya saja yang menjadi pertanyaan besar akankah air Sungai Mesjid itu mampu menyediakan kebutuhan air, terutama di saat musim kemarau. Dari survei yang dilakukan terdahulu, diketahui air sungai Mesjid tidak mampu untuk itu.

Atas dasar pertimbangan tersebut, direncanakan sumber airnya dari Sungai Batang Rokan yang mengalir di Kabupaten Rokanhilir. Sumber air mana yang juga dipergunakan Pertamina UP 2 untuk kebutuhan kilang dan perumahannya.

Belakangan tidak dicapai kesepakatan perihal hitung-hitungan dengan pihak pemerintahan Rokanhilir. Semenjak itu, sumber air yang akan digarap diaihkan ke Sungai Dumai. Prosesnya kembali dilaksanakan, didapatkan pemenang tender, disebutkan pula kalau sumber air tidak masalah, dan dimulailah pembangunannya. Dengan demikian, terkesan sumber air Sungai Mesjid tersebut dipaksakan untuk dipergunakan.

The Benefits of Online Learning

While there are all kinds of benefits that are associated with learning and furthering your educational goals there are even more benefits to those who wish to pursue online learning in order to achieve those goals. I hope you will find that many of these benefits are quite enlightening and carefully consider whether or not online learning for your secondary education needs will be in your best interests.

1) Convenience. This is a word we are quite familiar with. Right along with instant gratification. We are a society of people who have lived with drive thru banking and fast food and are rapidly moving in the direction of drive thru pharmacies and dry cleaning. We live in a fast paced world and when we can work education into our busy schedules and on our own terms we find that this is something we tend to like a lot. I recommend that you watch for a growing number of online classes and online students in the coming years as more and more professionals decide to further their degrees and their careers.

2) Flexibility. You can take these classes or do the work during your lunch break, while the kids are practicing soccer, or while cooking dinner (depending of course on how well you multitask). You do not need to be in the classroom every night at 6:00 pm for the next five years in order to get the same degree of education. This by no means indicates that you will not have to do the work. The work will not change nor will the fact that you have a limited time in which to complete the work. What will change is that you will have the option of doing the work in the morning, afternoon, or after those 2 a.m. feedings when you can't seem to get back to sleep.

3) Location. There isn't enough that can really be said about this. Online education comes to you wherever you happen to be able to connect to the Internet. Whether you are at home, at work, or your favorite Internet café you can have the convenience of taking your work with you and enjoying the environment in which you are completing your work.

4) Less Expensive. No more convenience meals, childcare expenses, or gas guzzling trips to a college campus that thirty minutes away. You can now enjoy in your own home the benefits of an education without many of the financial hardships that are often associated with attending college. Internet access seems like such a small price to pay when compared with all the reasons mentioned above.

5) Believe it or not, online courses help you brush up your online abilities. Seriously. You will be better at dealing with email, bulletin boards, online research, and you will learn countless other skills along the way that you probably never realized had anything to do with the courses you are actually taking-because they don't. In other words, you are getting more of an education than you bargained for when it comes to online learning.

6) Individual attention. Online students often have more one on one interaction with their professors than students in a classroom. The online classroom is virtual and correspondence through email is essential in this particular learning environment. For this reason it is quite possible that your professors will know more about you and your learning patterns and needs than they will know about most of the students they see two or three times a week in their classrooms.

While these are just a few of the benefits of taking online classes you should carefully weigh the benefits with the things that may be problematic about this particular type of learning situation before you take the plunge. Learning is a lifelong process but if you are seeking a degree you do not want to jeopardize that by taking a course that will not address your specific learning needs. If you feel confident that you can be successful in this particular type of learning environment than I feel you will truly enjoy the experience and the flexibility it brings to the educational process.