SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Santa Clara University joins the world of open online education with the premiere of a business ethics course exploring the common and difficult decisions that confront professionals. This course will explore such daily dilemmas as pressure from management to falsify reports, resume white lies, and bullying rivals to get ahead.

Partnering with the new Instructure open online platform Canvas Network, Kirk O. Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at SCU, will teach Business Ethics for the Real World. The network is another outlet for the growing popularity of Mass Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The idea is anyone with Internet access can enroll in courses taught by some of the brightest minds in the world.

We look forward to pioneering the MOOC concept both for Santa Clara and for the topic of business ethics, says Hanson. We can give the public a feel for the quality of education Santa Clara University students receive every day. Were also thrilled the ethical framework we developed at the Markkula Center will be highlighted.

While MOOCs have primarily focused on math and science, Business Ethics for the Real World will explore the role of ethics in business and offer practical advice on making decisions in the work place.

This course is more than a standard lesson in business. It is driven by what we have learned from tackling real ethical issues with Silicon Valley companies. Anyone from San Jose to Shanghai can participate in the ethical dialogue taking place in Silicon Valley, says Hanson.

While the course includes some ethical theory, it is designed to be approachable by anyone from the seasoned manager to someone just beginning their career. The course is the first of several being planned at Santa Clara. Future MOOCs will address additional SCU areas of expertise, including social entrepreneurship.

Enrollment will be limited to 500 people for the pilot course running Jan. 25 to March 25. The University and Instructure are hoping to launch classes with unlimited enrollment after the pilot. Ten other schools, including Brown University, are participating in the initial course offering. Enrollment is open now on Canvas.net.

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Santa Clara University Offers a Taste of the Silicon Valley Business World in New Open Online Course

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Udacity, a company offering free online courses and aiming to bring higher education to the world, will participate in a new global entrepreneurship training program beginning in November. The company will partner with Startup Weekend, TechStars, Startup America and startup guru, Steve Blank, and others to create Startup Weekend Next.

The innovative program, which blends free online courses and face-to-face education, aims to inspire, educate and empower some 30,000 entrepreneurs from 10,000 early-stage startups in over 350 cities worldwide. In a four-week class, founders will learn how to build a successful startup, using the basics of Business Model Design from Alexander Osterwalder and Customer Development from Steve Blank, delivered via Udacitys online classes and coached in live sessions by seasoned startup veterans.

Udacitys online courses will be delivered in a flipped classroom model by Startup Weekend, the global non-profit thats hosted more than 800 such events worldwide. Steve Blank provided the course content; his Lean LaunchPad class has been taken by more than 50,000 entrepreneurs online on Udacity.com. Startup America will leverage its network of 30 Startup Regions to engage entrepreneurial leaders throughout the country. TechStars will provide experienced startup mentors to coach the entrepreneurs.

Pilot tested in major cities from Athens to San Francisco, the program combines Startup Weekends experiential approach with the best of mentor and cohort-based accelerators. Startup Weekends Next program turns Blanks online class into an experiential hands-on class with face-to-face feedback, discussion and coaching from seasoned entrepreneurs. Upon graduation, participants will have a common startup language and understand the process needed to jump-start their startup ideas and turn them into successful, sustainable businesses.

The first four-week Startup Weekend Next teams start work on Nov. 28, in more than 25 cities worldwide. Visit swnext.org for more details.

Udacity's mission is to bring accessible, engaging and effective higher education to the world. We believe that higher education is a basic human right, and we seek to empower our students to develop their skills in order to advance their careers. Webridge education and employable skills with courses in Computer Science, Mathematics, Programming, General Sciences and Entrepreneurship at http://www.Udacity.com.

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Udacity Blends Online Course with Offline Education

by Alex Friedrich, Minnesota Public Radio

October 29, 2012

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ST. PAUL, Minn. In the past year, some of the nation's most prominent colleges and universities have begun offering online courses in a way that could transform higher education.

Online education isn't new. But it could soon begin to replace the traditional classroom setting for many.

A little or no cost to students, Stanford and Harvard universities, the University of Pennsylvania and others are offering easy access to online classes and they're doing it on a gigantic scale.

In higher education, such efforts are called massive open online courses, in which tens of thousands of students commonly take a class at the same time. One University of Michigan finance course has drawn upwards of 130,000 people.

The courses are designed to be easily accessible, College of St. Scholastica President Larry Goodwin said.

The most well-known online education players, however, are three companies: Coursera, edX and Udacity.

Coursera offers instruction through 33 partner universities, which create the free classes. After college faculty teach the course, Coursera offers them through an online stream.

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As colleges improve online course offerings, students are greatly receptive

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Oct. 31, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Education directors at associations and companies now have an easy way to find expert lecturers for their online education programs when they use WebinarGuestFinder.com, a free service.

"Many companies and associations that have educational programs need to find qualified experts to teach classes in distance education settings, such as webinars, teleseminars and podcasts," said Dan Janal, president of WebinarGuestFinder.com. "This new service is totally free for education directors."

To find guest lecturers, education directors simply sign up for the service and describe the kinds of lecturers and subject topics they are looking for. A personal, client service representative will be assigned to find experts who can teach the classes. There is no limit to the number of experts or topics. Seminar can be scheduled at any time for any time in the future.

Guest lecturers are not paid to present their classes. They do this to get exposure inside the organization.

"Lecturers want to do free seminars for associations and companies so they can 'audition' for possible paid speaking engagements or consulting or coaching," said Janal. "Other experts want to present information to spread their ideas and build influence. It's a win-win for everyone."

For information, go to http://www.WebinarGuestFinder.com.

About WebinarGuestFinder.com

WebinarGuestFinder.com was founded in 2012 by Internet entrepreneur Dan Janal, considered one of the Founding Fathers of Internet Marketing and Publicity. His PR LEADS services has helped thousands of authors, experts, speakers, coaches, consultants and small businesses get publicity in thousands of media outlets in the U.S. and across the world.

This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/10/prweb10071148.htm

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Education Directors Can Find Guest Lecturers With New WebinarGuestFinder.com Service

HERNDON, Va., Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --K12 Inc., the nation's leading provider of proprietary curricula and online education programs for students in pre-kindergarten through high school, today announced the winners of its 2012 Transformation Award, which recognizes schools, districts, and organizations that partner with K12 and have transformed education for their students through innovative online programs. Each winner was selected for a unique practice that resulted in improving the overall effectiveness, efficiency and success of online learning, ultimately leading to improved student outcomes.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110113/PH29436LOGO )

The winners were honored last week at the Virtual School Symposium, a conference hosted by the International Association of K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), in New Orleans, Louisiana. The awards were presented by John Olsen, Executive Vice President of Operations for K12, who said, "This year's Transformation Award winners are true stand-outs, as they are making their visions of individualized learning for their students a reality. We are very proud of what each winner has been able to accomplish through online learning." The following are K12's 2012 Transformation Award recipients:

A.B. Graham Academy (Ohio) Award Winner for Combining Blended Learning with Hands-on Support to Raise District Performance

Located in the nation's heartland, A.B. Graham Academy is a full-time, blended middle and high school with a state-wide charter. Since 2009, the school has provided the Aventa Learning by K12 online curriculum, along with access to five computer labs, to approximately 140 students each year. The school uniquely combines face-to-face instruction by district teachers within the school lab and classroom environments, allowing students to go at their own pace and still get hands-on help when needed. This model enables both teachers and students to focus on education by minimizing the day-to-day distractions that middle and high school students usually battle. Since implementing Aventa three years ago, the school has raised its District Performance Index, a measure of academic performance determined by the Ohio Board of Education.

Alexandria City Public Schools (Virginia) Award Winner for Increasing Learning Options and Graduation Rates by Further Extending Learning Opportunities

In 2010, the Virginia Department of Education designated T.C. Williams High School of Alexandria a persistently lowest achieving (PLA) school. With more than 3,000 students in grades 9-12, T.C. Williams has a vastly diverse student population including more than 50 percent of students eligible for free or reduced meals and more than 20 percent requiring English Language Learner (ELL) services. Further, the schools' population has grown steadily annually as a result of the school division's nearly 25 percent increase in enrollment over the past five years. As part of its transformation plan to address PLA issues, the school implemented a full program of online courses that include Advanced Placement (AP), core, electives, world languages, online tutoring, and health and life skills using the K12 family of curricula.In addition, Alexandria City Public Schools launched the T.C. Satellite Campus, the first comprehensive, non-traditional satellite high school campus in the metropolitan area. The satellite program provides an online curriculum, flexible scheduling, internships, and one-on-one interaction with content-specific learning coaches, all designed to help students that need to balance family or work obligations, or who want to accelerate their learning. Last year, the school's dropout rate fell, and 84 percent of graduates went on to college. This year, AP enrollment is at an all-time high.

Provo City School District (Utah) Award Winner for Leveraging Online Learning Success to Give Local Students a Global Outlook

Providing online learning for just three years, the Provo City School District has already been recognized by the state of Utah for the Provo eSchool, the district's highly successful full-time online and blended school for grades K-12. However, determined to arm its students with the skills they need to be competitive in a 21st Century global marketplace, the district was challenged to offer its students world languages. With limited resources, and its geographic location between two larger school districts, the district found that attracting and retaining qualified world language teachers was not easy, and not cost-effective for those languages that garner lower enrollment. Last year, the school decided to launch the Elite Language Academy, which offers students throughout the state multiple dual immersion and online programs spanning seven languages. The Elite Language Academy is based on curriculum from Middlebury Interactive Languages, a K12 subsidiary. Today, more than 400 students are taking world languages through the Elite Language Academy and Provo eSchool.

Salinas Union High School District (California) Award Winner for Flexible Time and Place Learning Options Raise District-Wide Credit Completion among At-Risk Students

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K12 Inc. Names the 2012 Transformation Award Winners for Innovative Use of Online Learning

Following pilot programs, Antioch University students will be able to take Coursera-provided courses for credit.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs), such as those provided by Coursera, Udacity, and edX, have risen in popularity in the past year by offering thousands of students courses from top-ranked colleges and universities at no cost to the user. The selling point for students had been an increased knowledge base and a certificate of completion.

Now, due to a licensing deal between Coursera, a for-profit online education provider, and Antioch University, Antioch students will be able to take certain Coursera offerings for college credit, at a cost less than a traditional, per-credit-hour course.

"Through this new partnership, Antioch University and the Antioch UniversityLos Angeles campus can reduce student costs to complete a four-year degree and expand course offerings through free online courses offered by the highly respected universities that have partnered with Coursera," noted an Antioch press release announcing the deal.

[See options for free online education programs.]

Coursera, which has partnered with 33 universities thus far to provide free courses on its platform, enters new territory in this deal with Antiochwhich becomes the first partner institution to provide Coursera courses for college credit. In this licensing deal, Antioch will pay Coursera an unspecified sum in return for the ability to use several courses delivered through the platform.

"Our hope is that this is a usage model that Antioch was the first to embrace, but that we're going to see at other academic institutions over the course of the coming year," says Daphne Koller, cofounder of Coursera. "This is a very high-quality curriculum that our partner universities have put together, and it offers up opportunities for academic institutions to provide a much better education to their own students."

In early October, Antioch UniversityLos Angeles launched a pilot program where students could enroll in one of two Coursera courses for creditModern and Contemporary American Poetry and Greek and Roman Mythologydeveloped by the University of Pennsylvania. In this pilot, Antioch is testing a course where a faculty member enrolls with his or her students and oversees progress and also interacts with students in a Coursera-created discussion group.

"I think there is a lot of value to be gained if you have the opportunity to have your interactions facilitated by an instructor who is an expert in the field and capable of answering questions," Koller adds.

[Learn why interest in online courses could be peaking.]

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Antioch University to Offer Online Coursera Courses for Credit

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --An increasing number of college students choose online education and the flexibility it offers them for scheduling as the method for earning degrees and certifications.

To better serve those interested in online learning, U.S. News University Directory now offers a Guide to Online Education that is available as a free download on the U.S. News University Directory website.

The need for a Guide to Online Education became clear as technological advances have improved online delivery platforms, making education possible for millions of students around the globe. In addition, more top-tier colleges and universities are offering online courses and degree programs, so students have greater access to high-quality education no matter where they live.

According to a study published by Babson Survey Research Group in 2010, nearly 30% of higher education students take at least one course online. An estimated 6 million students are enrolled in online courses.

However, as online education grows, the choices of programs and schools can be overwhelming.

"It can be confusing to navigate through the storm of information out there about online education and make the choice that is best for you," said Matthew Speer, Director of Sales and Marketing for U.S. News University Connection. "We're excited to offer our free Guide to Online Education to help people understand their options and give them the information they need to make informed decisions."

The U.S. News University Directory Guide to Online Education provides valuable information for future students, including:

The Guide to Online Education also provides links and toll-free telephone numbers students can access for assistance in finding the right online school. Interested students may visit U.S. News University Directory to download the free guide and begin the search for online opportunities.

About U.S. News University Directory

U.S. News University Directory provides comprehensive and unbiased information on more than 1,900 academic institutions directly from U.S. News & World Report, the most trusted source for college and university rankings since 1983. Prospective students can search America's best colleges and America's best graduate schools offering associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees, master's and MBA degrees, doctoral and PhD degrees, and certificate programs. And because U.S. News is the leading ranking resource for anyone seeking an on-campus or online degree, students who use the directory can be confident that they are getting the best education advice and information available.

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Free Guide to Online Education Available from U.S. News University Directory

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The Alex Project: Laws of Success "Initiative Leadership"
http://www.DrRickGoodman.com The fifth chapter of The Law of Success, written by Napolean Hill, explores the lesson of initiative and leadership. According to Hill, both of these qualities are much-needed in finding success in life. Initiative is defined in the lesson as "that exceedingly rare quality which impels a person to do what ought to be done without being told to do it." This is a characteristic which a person can make a habit, and gradually develop as it is utilized on a regular basis. As a person begins to possess the quality of initiative, Hill argues that the quality of leadership develops naturally. Leaders exercise initiative, have a definite chief aim or purpose, and possess the quality of self-confidence, all of which are the reasons why they make great leaders. One should be warned, however, of the major initiative killer procrastination. This is the one quality that a person must fight off in order to develop initiative, as a procrastinator lacks the quality of getting things done and taking action, regardless of being told to do so or not. In order to fight off this procrastination, Hill argues that you must form the habit of aggressively and persistently following the objective of your definite chief aim until you achieve it mdash; regardless of how long it takes. http://www.youtube.comFrom:drrickgoodmanViews:17 0ratingsTime:01:22More inPeople Blogs

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The Alex Project: Laws of Success "Initiative

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19gOK35HxCw

My brother,Napolean Hill giving me away to Benny
This video was uploaded from an Android phone.From:vanessahill91Views:15 1ratingsTime:01:47More inEntertainment

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My brother,Napolean Hill giving me away to Benny - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iA6UDXS8l0

The Alex Project: Laws of Success "Enthusiasm"
http://www.DrRickGoodman.com In the seventh lesson in Law of Success, Napolean Hill discusses the great importance of "enthusiasm", and how integrating enthusiasm into your life will ultimately lead to success. Hill defines enthusiasm as a state of mind that inspires and arouses one to put action into the task at hand." By constantly engaging in life with enthusiasm, the characteristic can be developed and used as a vital force in the work environment. In order to develop this potential enthusiasm, Hill argues that you must do the kind of work that you like, and make sure your actions are leading toward the achievement of your definite chief aim. Enthusiasm is a contagious characteristic, which magnifies its power. That is, it makes a large enough impression on others in order to make them become enthusiastic as well. Enthusiasm can mean using the same word choice but stated in a different manner, as people become more or less motivated based on how something is said to them. Hill emphasizes this fact, as it is not so much what you say as it is the tone and manner in which you say it that makes a lasting impression. In order to truly master the quality of enthusiasm, Hill stresses the idea of working for something that you believe in. This will naturally bring out the enthusiastic quality in yourself, as you will be legitimately interested in what you are doing. In his example, Hill discusses how he turned down the most money that was ever offered to him simply because he did ...From:drrickgoodmanViews:25 0ratingsTime:01:17More inPeople Blogs

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The Alex Project: Laws of Success "Enthusiasm" - Video