UC Berkeley announced Tuesday that it is joining the new online education website founded by Harvard and MIT that offers free, not-for-credit courses to a worldwide audience. The addition of UC Berkeley will give edX its first expansion into a prestigious public university and a foothold on the West Coast away from its Cambridge, Mass., base, officials said.

UC Berkeley will offer two courses, one in software engineering and the other in artificial intelligence, on the edX platform in the fall. Those classes will closely follow the on-campus versions, although without the personal contact with professors and the in-depth research projects that UC students usually do, professors said. Five other courses will be offered by Harvard University and MIT in such topics as solid state chemistry and computer science.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said the not-for-profit, non-commercial edX platform, which has an initial $60 million in funding from Harvard and MIT plus other donations, matches his school's "mission and values."

Birgeneau said he did not think joining edX would undercut the University of California system's own early steps into online education because those concentrate on for-credit courses for tuition-paying UC students, not the worldwide audience that edX seeks. The UC campus, which has been feeling the strains of the state budget woes, is not contributing any money to edX but instead will allow it to use some open source technology that UC Berkeley professors have developed and already use for parts of their courses, officials said.

Birgeneau said that UC Berkeley professors could still link their courses to Coursera, a for-profit rival to edX that was founded by two Stanford University professors. Stanford offers courses on Coursera, as do Princeton University, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.

Although it won't offer college credits, the edX website is expected to give certificates to students who complete courses and to charge for some of those certificates in the future. Birgeneau said that some California community colleges later may use UC Berkeley's edX courses as part of their regular campus classes that would give students credits to transfer to a UC.

Anant Agarwal, president of edX, said that he was delighted UC Berkeley was joining and that he hoped to announce more partner schools in the near future.

"UC Berkeley is an extraordinary public institution known not only for its academic excellence but also for its innovativeness. With this collaboration, edX is now positioned to improve education more rapidly both online and on-campus worldwide," Agarwal, an MIT computer science expert, said in a statement.

larry.gordon@latimes.com

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UC Berkeley to offer free online classes through edX

UC Berkeley announced Tuesday that it is joining the new online education platform founded by Harvard and MIT that offers free but not-for-credit courses to a worldwide audience. The addition of UC Berkeley will give the edX online effort its first expansion into a prestigious public university and a foothold on the West Coast away from its Cambridge, Mass. base, officials said.

UC Berkeley will offer two courses, one in software engineering and the other in artificial intelligence, on the edX site in the fall. Those classes will closely follow the on-campus versions although without the personal contact with professors and the in-depth research projects UC students usually do, professors said. An additional five courses will be offered by Harvard and MIT in such topics as solid-state chemistry and computer science.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said the nonprofit, noncommercial edX platform, which has an initial $60 million in funding from Harvard and MIT plus other donations, matches his schools mission and values.

Birgeneau said that UC Berkeley professors could still link their courses to Coursera, a for-profit rival to edX that was founded by two Stanford professors. Stanford University offers courses on Coursera, as do Princeton, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.

Though it wont offer college credits, the edX website is expected to give certificates to people who complete courses and to charge for some of those certificates in the future. Birgeneau said that some California community colleges later may use UC Berkeleys edX courses as part of their regular campus classes that would earn students credits to transfer to a UC.

Anant Agarwal, president of edX, said he was delighted that UC Berkeley was joining and said he hoped to announce more partner schools in the near future. UC Berkeley is an extraordinary public institution known not only for its academic excellence but also for its innovativeness. With this collaboration, edX is now positioned to improve education more rapidly both online and on-campus worldwide, Agarwal, an MIT computer science expert, said in a statement.

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UC Berkeley joins online education platform of Harvard and MIT

A recent study shows similar outcomes between traditional learning and interactive online learning.

Critics of online learning claim that students are exposed to an inferior education when compared to traditional in-class instruction, but a recent study from Ithaka S+R, a strategic consulting and research nonprofit, questions this notion.

The report, "Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials," notes that students who utilize interactive online learningor hybrid learningproduce equivalent, or better, results than students participating in face-to-face education.

[See why some college professors fear the growth of online education.]

Monitoring 605 college students taking the same introductory statistics course at six public universitiesincluding the University at AlbanySUNY, SUNY Institute of TechnologyUtica/Rome, the University of MarylandBaltimore County, Towson University, CUNYBaruch College, and CUNYCity Collegeduring fall 2011, researchers split the students into two groups. One group completed the course in a traditional format, while the second group completed an online component complemented with an hour of in-class instruction each week.

Students were asked to complete a series of tests before and after the course, and researchers found that "hybrid-format students did perform slightly better than traditional format students" on outcomes including final exam scores and overall course pass rates, according to the report.

[Learn why blending online and in-class instruction may be most effective.]

The report's authors note that while the students who participated in the hybrid group performed marginally better than students in the traditional group overall, the differences in learning outcomes are not "statistically significant" between the two groups. And although the researchers were able to successfully randomize students in both groups, based on factors including age, gender, ethnicity, academic background, and family income, they could not control for differences in teacher quality.

Students learn more from active discussions than from traditional lectures, and they need instructors who can engage them in the material, notes Diane Johnson, assistant director of faculty services at the Center for Online Learning at Florida's St. Leo University, who has spent more than 12 years teaching online, traditional, and hybrid courses.

"Teacher quality is still a very important part of success in an online course, but so, too, is the course design," Johnson says. "Despite the delivery mechanism of the class, faculty members need to show students they care and that they aren't just a number. The ones that do this will help students to learn."

Link:
Study: Online Learning Outcomes Similar to Classroom Results

MYFOXNY.COM -

It sure feels good to cool off in an air conditioned building. But would you believe that some folks like to beat the heat by stepping right into it for a hot yoga class?

So I say what the heck and I join the 30 brave people for a little mid afternoon yoga at temperatures that soar to (what does that class thermometer say?) 110 degrees. An hour-long hot yoga class at Pure Yoga East is booked solid everyday, whether it's 30 degrees and snowing outside or in the 90s. In fact, these yoga devotees thrive in the summer sweltering heat.

Heidi Fuld, a yoga practitioner, said your body is already used to the heat when you're outside.

So we go through the usual poses: downward dog, child's pose, sun salutations. Five minutes in and I could feel the sweat starting to roll down my face.

I had to stop and wipe my face. Wow, and I'm just beginning. We had about 50 minutes more of this. But then I could feel something happening as a teacher gently pressed on my back: I feel more relaxed, calmer, and my muscles started to go with it.

Then I wondered: Could this be healthy at 110 degrees?

"What's great is that you don't have to acclimate your body going back and forth," said Tanya Boulton of Pure Yoga. "You're already sweating when you come in and sweating when you leave."

And what about if you have injuries? There's actually a school of thought that believes hot yoga can help that, too.

"The heat expands and make muscle tissue more malleable," said Kaykay Colvio, a Pure Yoga instructor. "And that's the theory behind hot yoga."

Excerpt from:
Hot yoga on a sweltering day

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

YOGA has been part of one's fitness program for so many years now, and yet only a few have really embraced it and made it a part of their fitness program. Thus with the current resurgence of interest in yoga, people are now filling the classes.

After all, not only does yoga clears the mind but it also conditions the body at the same time. With this in mind, and after months of attending yoga in the gym, a group of clients from Holiday Gym decided to do yoga outside the confines of a gym and have a relaxing surrounding to add to the experience.

Get updates on President Benigno Aquino III's address to nation.

With the cooperation of Waterfront Hotel, the yoga session was finally held outdoors last July 7. Abbie Salvador led the yoga class, and after the session, a sumptuous breakfast were shared by the group. Indeed bringing fitness outdoors brings about may benefits (aside from that of health-related ones)- enhances camaraderie, resets circadian rhythm and balance hormones, and sun exposure provides a dose of vitamin D that provides significant prevention of osteoporosis and heart disease.

Holiday would like to thank its clients and members for their support of the yoga classes and for organizing this outdoor session, and special thanks also to Joanne & Zosimo Co, as well as Roel Rodrigo, for the beautiful pictures.

For more information regarding the schedule of yoga classes, call Holiday at 222-3041 or 222-4207.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on July 24, 2012.

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Outdoor Yoga

ZANESVILLE -- Bea Alwood has two guiding principles for her water aerobics class -- have fun, and if she can do it, so can you.

Alwood, 92, has been teaching water aerobics at the Fieldhouse Family Sports and Wellness Center for 13 years. Her class meets for an hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

During a recent session, Alwood bobbed around the pool calling out instructions and encouragement to a class of about 25.

"Keep moving those feet!" was a common refrain.

The group counted and cheered together, waving their arms and legs, running in place and hoisting plastic foam weights above their heads.

"It's a lot of fun, but we work," Alwood said after the class. "... You meet new friends. I think that's real important."

A former ballroom dancer, Alwood first got into water aerobics after her husband and dance partner, John, died in 1999. She loves teaching and plans to do so "as long as the good Lord lets me," she said.

Alwood teaches one of more than 10 water aerobics classes at the Fieldhouse, said Alainna A. Durfee, director of marketing and corporate welfare. The classes are divided based on intensity and impact.

Alwood's class has anywhere from 25 to 30 people, and the average age is 80, Durfee said.

"They feed off Bea's energy," Durfee said. "They're saying that people are living longer, and it's because of exercise and healthy living."

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Local resident stays in shape through water aerobics at 92

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- Hubert Davis always wanted to coach but had never thought much about actually doing it, and that was the case all the way up until the morning on which he was offered a job at his alma mater.

Roy Williams called and asked Davis to drop by the office.

He said he needed a favor.

"I thought his favor was going to be asking me to change the date of my Christian basketball camp that's been held at the Smith Center the past 15 years," Davis said.

"But I told Hubert," Williams added with a smile, "that I needed a little bigger 'favor.'"

And that's basically how Davis went from being an ESPN analyst to a North Carolina assistant -- one who spent this weekend evaluating prospects at the Nike Peach Jam. He watched games attentively, scribbled notes on pieces of paper and mostly blended in here on the Georgia-South Carolina border while adjusting to his new life that will require he spends more time teaching basketball than talking basketball. More important, it'll let Davis spend more time near his Chapel Hill home than he does on campuses away from it, and that was a crucial factor in his career-changing decision.

Yes, Davis liked his ESPN job and being on television, but he never needed that job or the ego trip that comes from seeing your own face on TV. What Davis said he needed (and wanted) was to be able to spend more time with his family while staying involved in the sport, to be able to make an impact at home and on the court. So when Williams called from North Carolina -- a place where Davis played from 1988 to 1992 and helped the Tar Heels win two ACC titles -- and presented such an opportunity after Jerod Haase left UNC to become the head coach at UAB, Davis didn't take long to consider it. He got his wife's blessing and told Williams he would join the North Carolina staff.

Suddenly, home and work were in the same zip code. It's an ideal way for a man who prioritizes things in such a way to work.

"This is a win-situation for my family," said Davis, who had been living in Chapel Hill with his wife and three children for the past eight years anyway. "I was gone five nights a week when I worked for ESPN. All anybody sees is that you get to go on television and talk, but I was going from campus to campus, gone five nights a week. I was gone a lot. But this keeps me home. I'm home a lot more now. I mean, my sons come to practice."

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Hubert Davis leaves TV for North Carolina assistant coaching gig

INSPIRATIONAL coach Donna Hankinson, who helped create the award-winning North East Manchester Hawks Handball Club, has been won BTs Coaching for Life Coach of the Year 2012 competition.

Donna was chosen from over 120 entries for her dedication to promoting the Olympic sport.

She has recently added a string of successes to her name, including coaching the Hawks boys under-18s and girls under-18s teams to national league and cup doubles.

Donna also led Great Britains under-20 womens team to their first World Championships in Poland earlier this year and was a finalist in the Coach of the Year category at the One Future Oldham Sports Awards last month.

Donna said: Im really honoured. This prize is all down to the great people I work with and the amazing youngsters who make coaching worthwhile. We have some international-level players in the Hawks squad, and having the chance to talk to a former Olympic athlete has inspired them to keep training hard to achieve their dreams.

Donna, a sales manager at Turner Bianca in Oldham, helped form the Hawks in 2010 following a pilot project in schools across Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside.

Follow us on Twitter - @OldhamChronicle

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Donna wins BT coach of the year prize

(PRWEB) July 23, 2012

Holistic Learning Centers. Inc. (HLC) is the only life coaching certification school that offers the HuMethod, a proprietary, clinically proven, results driven training system that, after three decades of research and 15 years of clinical field-testing, has evolved into an empowering life coaching healing modality. Their newest educational video explains how Life Coach Certification students can earn an average of $83,000 per year.

HLCs video explains that Price Waterhouse Coopers, one of the most respected accounting firms in the world, discovered this about life coaches in their 2007 global career research project:

HLCs video shows potential life coaches how they can build a successful, part or full time life coaching practice, while earning a substantial income.

HLC has taken the philosophies of nationally known self-help authors such as Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson and Louise Hay and created a life coaching healing modality that will help certification graduates create a successful life coaching practice.

HLC life coach graduates build a successful referral-based practice and charge over $100 per session by using HLCs life coaching success system that has been clinically proven to create the permanent changes for thousands of HLCs life coaching clients.

Upon graduation HLC recommends that its life coaches charge no less than $100 per life coaching session. Sabrina Rose, HLCs Executive Director states that $100 per life coaching session is fair market value, especially since the national average of the similar industry of massage therapy charges $85 per session.

HLCs video reveals that HLCs life coaching certification graduates combined field experience, which exceeds 50,000 life coaching field hours, has shown that a typical coaching client will register for 30 life coaching sessions. Based on HLCs statistics an average life coaching client is worth $3,000 to the certified HLC life coach.

The video also reveals that HLC approves 98% of Financing Applications no matter what the students credit score. This means almost everyone who applies for HLC financing can receive the professional Life Coaching education that they deserve.

HLC has released their newest video to the public in the hope that it will assist aspiring life coaches in identifying whether or not life coaching is the right path for them. Interested parties are invited to view the life coaching certification video on HLC's YouTube channel or by clicking the video thumbnail in this release.

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Holistic Learning Center’s Newly Released Life Coach Certification Video Features Valuable Information on Life Coaching

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3xGPtraG-w

23-07-2012 16:30 Here is some of the staff showing off the gym and all the special features,including our classes and our cardio cinema room. Our facility is an amazing 4500sq ft and holds more life fitness equipment then any NCAA college. Classes include yoga,Pilates,cycling,body pump,tai chi ,and more. We also have personal trainers to help reach any goals that you may have. Come visit us this month for our July special. Be sure to ask for Thomas or Ryan. (850) 484-2740

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Omni Health and Fitness facility tour pensacola - Video