This online course will provide valuable information and assistance to anyone, especially first time students who plan to pursue a college degree online and will also offer the basic skills needed to become successful students.

What Exactly is Distance Learning?

Distance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the technology and instructional systems design that are effectively incorporated in delivering education to students who are not physically “on site” to receive their education. Instead, teachers and students may communicate asynchronously (at times of their own choosing) by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time (synchronously). Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason including the taking of examinations is considered to be a hybrid or blended course or program.

Types of Distance Education Courses

• Correspondence conducted through regular mail
• Internet conducted either synchronously or asynchronously
• Telecourse/Broadcast where content is delivered via radio or television
• CD-ROM where the student interacts with computer content stored on a CD-ROM
• PocketPC/Mobile Learning where the student accesses course content stored on a mobile device or through a wireless server

Stephanie, the Skills for Learning instructor, has an MBA in marketing/business administration and graduated from Ashland University. She works full-time in the financial industry and part-time with Columbus Public Schools teaching in the Adult Basic Literacy Education/GED preparation program. She has a comittment to life long learning and is thankful to LVS for the opportunity to fulfull a desire to teach on-line.

Check for updates on Stephanie’s class blog.

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The Building Self-Esteem and Confidence online class is a very straightforward and personal approach to increasing your self-esteem and confidence. It is presented in an extremely conversational way without psychological terms and babble.

WHAT ARE YOU WORTH?

Regardless of the shape you are in, what you look like, or what your skills and abilities are, you are a worthwhile individual and should be treated as such. You have wants, needs and emotions like everyone else and you are entitled to them! Every human has the same basic needs and rights.

In our society, there is a tendency to cast aside anyone who is different or doesn’t quite measure up to some arbitrary standard. People with mental or physical handicaps are regularly placed in institutions. Even people with only minor handicaps are segregated from the general population and placed in groups with similar disabilities. Now, I’m not saying this is completely wrong, because many times it helps to be with others who can relate to your problems. But, more times than not, the participants are there because the rest of the world ignores them. Society doesn’t give them the chance to prove their worth.

The mixed message is very confusing. On one hand we are told that we are all (and should be) unique. However, if we are different in any way, it seems we are shunned, ignored or sometimes even made fun of, all of which can eat away at our self-esteem and confidence.

This type of segregation starts at a young age and will continue as long as a person lets it. Remember your 6th grade gym class? When it came to picking teams, you may have been the last to be picked, and the captain of the team who ended up with you may have seemed really burdened to take you on. You might have been great in mathematics, but if you weren’t athletic (which is so highly valued when you are young), it was almost like you were an outcast. By the time you reached Jr. High school, you may have found the way to avoid this humiliating experience…skip gym class. With this problem out of the way, another major problem was approaching. In high school, the senior prom was the highlight of one’s social calendar. So much emphasis was placed on this one event. If you couldn’t find a date for this one, you must have been a dog, a weirdo, or…fat. I recall feeling so tense as the day approached. The daily question was, “Do you have a date yet?” Each time I said no, I felt like a part of me died. It was so humiliating. My mother kept suggesting that she could call my aunt and see if they could convince my cousin to take me. About one week from prom night, I started telling people that I didn’t want to go to any dumb prom. I said I already had a date with an older man to go out to dinner and then dancing at the Hilton. It was a big lie. On the night of the prom, I hid so no one could disprove my story.

This is a valuable course for anyone who feels they are less valuable than others around them or for anyone who is just ready to do a bit of self-examination. If you would like to read more, register for the Building Self-Esteem and Confidence Online Class

Cathy, the Building Self-Esteem and Confidence instructor, is a published author and screenwriter. With a Bachelors of Science in counseling, her conversational style of writing makes for enjoyable reading in any genre. Her experience in counseling ranges from hospital work to working in a prison with inmates and their families.

Her first published fiction work, Admission of Guilt is an interesting look inside the walls of a prison at the dark sub-culture that dominates. She has another book that was published and released for sale in Spring 2008. She says her inspiration comes from many sources, but always from people she has known, places she has been, and things she has learned.

One of her pet peeves is the rights of individuals and the dignified treatment of all. She believes we all bring something of value and importance to the table and she wants all of us to celebrate that.

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The great thing about the .NET architecture when it comes to databases is that you can practically use any database with ASP.NET. So for ASP.NET Web Development Database Course Frank teaches how to interact with 3 separate databaes: SQL Server, MySQL and MS Access.

This online class will show you how to use the different data controls that are available and how efficiently they do most of the “grunt work” for you. Although in order to create truly flexible database web applications you need to understand how to use many of the data objects (Connection, Command, DataReader, DataSet) with C# as well.

In this course, you will learn many of the different ways data can be displayed and filtered on a web page just like many of the commerical sites out there.

Frank Stepanski is the instructor of the ASP.NET classes, as well as the ASP, and Javascript classes at LVS Online.

Frank currently works as a web developer at an advertising company and a part-time faculty member at a local community college. He has taught a number of different web related classes over the years focusing on topics such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP and Flash.

Frank is also taking classes for his Masters in Software Engineering. In his spare time Frank loves traveling and photography.

Frank wears many technology hats - learn more about him at his website, JavaScriptWorkshop.com

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Each session students in the Joomla! Fast Track online class are eligible to win this prize courtesy of Artisteer. At the end of the session, students submit their vote anonymously for the student that they feel has been the most help on the class board either by asking good questions or helping others.

The instructor of the Joomla! Fast Track online course, Hils Cheyne says this of her student Pat, “she was brilliant and worked so hard to finish the course!”

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Many people are acquainted with some elements of composition, but not the necessary skills to succeed in a college level course. Why waste $200.00 - $400.00 on a college composition course only to fail and have to pay again to retake the course? You can successfully take this course for a fraction of the cost and then accomplish your goal in a college composition course!

The focus of this online class is to provide the student with the necessary skills needed to accomplish writing effective college and work essays. This will be accomplished by active participation in the lessons:

• Introduction Composition
• Composition and Research
• Research Process
• Compare and Contrast Process
• Critical Analysis Process
• Argumentative Process

This will provide you with more confidence in your writing skills, which in turn will improve your writing skills.

The writing process consists of several elements which include invention and free-writing. Other aspects are organization shelling, outlining, drafting, and revisions. Other areas of focus will be on clarity and supporting evidence for your thesis.

Connie Densmore, the English Composition online class instructor, began teaching at an Elementary School in 1991. In 1997 she decided to teach college level.

Connie received a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Language and Literature with World Literature Concentration, Fine Arts Drawing and Painting, and Humanities from Central Michigan University. Her Bachelors Thesis is a critical analysis of a select few of Harki Murakami’s fiction.

Connie received a Master of Arts in English Language and Literature with a 20th Century Concentration. Her Master Thesis is a critical analysis of a selected few of Toni Morrison’s academic and fictional novels and the title is Toni Morrison: Silence, Revealed, and Spoken.

Connie has over 7 years teaching various online courses as well as over 11 years of teaching college level courses. She has over 18 years of published writing and presenting her writings.

Watch for Connie’s updates on her English Composition class blog.

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Brian continues to have several students in his retirement and now plays piano duets with Barbara Pearce from Armadale Western Australia. In 2004 they were awarded the Associate Diploma of the St. Cecilia School of Music in Pianoforte Duet Performance. The duet repertoire includes mainly classical including works by Mozart,Brahms, Debussy and Faure, also a work for two pianos by Mozart.

Brian teaches the Music - Piano/Keyboard Intro and Music - Piano/Keyboard Advanced courses at LVS Online Classes.

The Music - Piano/Keyboard Intro class is for beginners who would like to learn to play the piano or keyboard. Students learn to read music and play some notation which may be heard and played along with short sound files.

If one of the items on your “To Do” list was to eventually learn to read music, why not try a stess-free instructor led online course? With this online course you’ll be astonished at the level of creativity you possess just waiting to be released!

Below is the course outline for the Music - Piano/Keyboard Intro class:

The Music - Piano/Keyboard Advanced class is for students who have already started to learn to play the piano or keyboard. Each week will include a number of short pieces to learn. These pieces may be heard on sound files, which occasionally include a duet or piano accompaniment.

Below is the course outline for the Music - Piano/Keyboard Advanced class:

Follow Brian’s music updates on his Piano/Keyboard class blog.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @bridra

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What is Event Management?

Everyone has attended a birthday party, wedding, and concert at some point in their lives. These events do not just happen. There is someone behind the scenes who organizes how and when the event takes place. That person is an event planner. Most of us are natural born event planners and don’t realize it.

An event planner’s job is to arrange special events on behalf of individuals and organizations. As an event planner, your main goal is to ensure that an assigned event goes as intended.

Individuals and organizations host events for various reasons. Some events focus on the milestones a person has achieved in life such as a: Birthday, Graduation, Marriage, or Retirement.

Other events have a specific purpose and are targeted towards a specific crowd. This may include: A music concert, a job fair, or a business conference.

Even still other events can be corporate events such as: product launches, conventions, meetings, incentive programs, holiday tours, banquets,holiday events, award ceremonies, etc.

Whatever the reason for the event, you need to be dedicated to making the event memorable as well as a success.

An event planner is basically organized. You will meet with a client to establish what type of event the client wishes to have and work to make their wishes a reality.

Maintaining your clients budget is essential to your relationship with your client as well as your final profits. Be sure to document all changes that affect the scope of your event. Create an Additional Services Form and review your budget on a regular basis.

As an event planner you may be given a budget or asked to create one for a specific event. With that budget, you have multiple responsibilities.

To learn more, register for the Event Management Online Class

Upon completion of this class the student will have the skills necessary to manage any event!

Sandy, instructor of the Event Management Online Class brings a wealth of event-related expertise to the area and is excited to share her working knowledge with the online community as a whole.

Throughout her career, Sandy has traveled extensively through the U.S. and internationally; managing events in Germany, England, Scotland, Austria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada. Her repertoire includes BMW of North America, Toshiba Systems, Lincoln Mercury, Siebel Systems, Toyota Motors, Allergan Pharmaceuticals, AmeriQuest Mortgage, Cornerstone Financial Services, Corning Nichols, Penny Saver, and Small Times Media Group.

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Children’s behavior is so individual; they show their own personal responses to life. They relate to people in ways that express their original nature. Yet, the similarities of children in any group are striking. The more they are different, the more they are the same. There are differences, yet there are common characteristics within the age groups. There are enough standard behaviors common to a particular age group that allows for some generalizations about children s behavior. Three universal characteristics that unite children of the world are:

1. they all have the same needs, the most important of which are food, shelter and care;
2. they all go through the same developmental stages;
3. they all have the same developmental goals, although the timing and the cultural designations may be different.

Basic Principles of Human Growth and Development

• Development is a function of genes and environment. The child possesses a capacity for personalized growth and specific expressions of both unique and individual character. But the environment contributes to determine how these expressions will develop.
• Development is best assessed in terms of individual milestones and achievements, rather than through reference to chronological age. Time only offers us a quick easy reference.
• Development is a spontaneous process, facilitated rather than controlled by experience. As the child matures, she experiences herself through interactions with people, events and places. These experiences will facilitate the process of development.
• Development is facilitated through adequate physical and nutritional care and emotional support.

To learn more, register for the Understanding Child Development Online Course.

The instructor, Marilyn is an Educational Consultant and Family Counselor. She has been lecturing at undergraduate and postgraduate university level for the past nine years. She teaches courses in human development, special education, human relations, and educational research, conflict resolution and mediation. As an educator, consultant and parent she has traveled around the globe doing workshops and so has become an expert in human development.

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Remote perception is the mind’s ability to perceive aspects of a target site that is very remote in terms of distance, obstructions and time. It is a wonderful, little known and hardly understood capability.

Remote perception employs an eyes open procedure that requires an hour or so of your time in a quiet location, a comfortable setting, a settled mind, a pen and some paper.

A good bit of practical exploration and application in remote perception was done by the US Government during the latter years of the Cold War. John, the instructor for this course, was largely responsible for the initiation of the Army’s initial analytical exploration of the phenomena. Later, after the Cold War ended, the CIA stopped using remote perception and declassified the related non-operational documents.

He feels that more people need to have the opportunity to experience this intriguing and unique capability of the human mind. In order to do that, and to not compete with the several experienced remote viewers that are offering extensive remote viewing courses in other venues he decided to develop an on-line course within the LVS framework. A course presenting the basic procedures that are used in the remote perception community.

The Remote Perception course is to be a fun exercise in mental exploration. It presents a necessarily structured format that is in-line with that which was developed by the original developer of remote perception procedures, Ingo Swann. That remote perception process is one of increasing focus on the target and its characteristics.

The lesson one procedure starts with perception of the overall gestalt of an uncomplicated target and the procedure builds through the succeeding lessons to a procedure for obtaining a somewhat detailed perception of a complex target in lesson six.

The class discussion board is used to present the “address” of the remote target of the lesson on Monday mornings and on Thursday evenings to disclose the remote target. Students are encouraged to share their remote perception of the target-of-the-week on the class discussion board before that target’s disclosure on Thursday evening.

A Remote Perception Workshop/Studio is planned to be offered in a future session for those who have completed the introductory course.

The instructor does not claim that you will be able to remotely perceive after taking this course, but he will be very surprised if you don’t remotely perceive at least a few aspects of the remote targets presented.

Try it and see!

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Adobe Photoshop, by comparison, is a great program, but it was designed for people who use photographs, not necessarily for photographers. Photoshop itself is still very powerful program for working with photography but it was designed originally as a graphics program. Lightroom was designed from the ground up for digital photography and offers new approaches that are more intuitive and often more efficient for photographers. Within Lightroom you’ll be able to organize your photographs in the Library module, optimise them in the Develop module and publish them to the web, or to print. You will find all the photographic tools from Adobe Camera Raw in Lightroom as well as the organizing Power of Adobe Bridge at a third of the cost of Photoshop.

In this class we’ll cover all the tools available in this innovative new application.

Upon completion of Digital Darkroom with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom online course you will be able to do things with your images that even a skilled photo finisher with a well equipped darkroom would find difficult, time consuming, and often impossible!

Ron Lacy is the instructor of the Digital Darkroom with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom online course. Ron first got seriously involved in photography in the mid 70s when he bought his first 35mm SLR. Shortly after he set up his own darkroom to gain more creative control over the craft. In the late 90s Ron took the plunge into digital photography using a transparency scanner to digitize 35mm slides and now uses it almost exclusively and has become fluent in the digital darkroom techniques of Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. As well as the digital photography classes he teaches Adobe Photoshop For Digital Photographers. He co-wrote Paint Shop Pro 8 Zero to Hero, published by Friends of Ed, with fellow LVS instructor Sally Beacham and in the past wrote articles for About.com and PSPPower.com.

Ron makes his home with his wife, MC, in the country just north of Thunder Bay Ontario. Being semi retired from the heavy construction industry he has plenty of time to spend on digital photography. His other interests include sailing, scuba diving, photography and, during the very long northwestern Ontario winters, downhill skiing.

Visit Ron’s website at borealphotography.com/

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