Adult Learners Handbook

You live you learn My favorite professors typically worked full-time in the field and taught part-time. Several of my GIS School professors fit that profile and it's part of why the UC-Riverside program is the best in the world.  One professor was a professional surveyor. You could see in his body language how he related to geometry as his body being a physical point in a giant triangle while recording satellite readings to establish the data sufficient to accurately mark a point in space to within a few feet. When I had a corporate job I frequently fantasized about working half time at my claims processing job and half time as some kind of educator or problem solver, trying to improve the job experience and work efficiency of the department. I never could figure out how that would work. Usually what happens is someone who used to do X retires and moves on to teaching. Sometimes because they can no longer do X. Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach. In some cases, that wo...

The Romans, whose civilization is a great grandfather of most Western cultures, didn't have a concept for zero. Their numerical system looks to me like it probably arose from making tick marks for counting. For tick marks, you make a straight line to record "1." For every instance counted, you make another straight line up to four. For the fifth instance, you make a diagonal line through the first four to group them together and for 6, you start a new group of straight lines.  The Wikipedia article for tally marks has an illustration of what "5" looks like in tally marks. And here are what Roman numerals look like: Roman Numerals  1 = I 2 = II 3 = III 4 = IV 5 = V 6 = VI 7 = VII 8 = VIII 9 = IX 10 = X 11 = XI 20 = XX 50 = L 100 = C 500 = D 1000 = M It was primarily a system for COUNTING and writing DATES (and their calendar had issues: October, our 10th month, translates as "month 8" and November, our 11th month, translates as "month 9"). T...

As a teen, I wanted to be a simultaneous translator and had aspirations of becoming fluent in seven languages (counting English). That never happened but I know a smattering of multiple languages  and I know a bit about learning another language. I never learned Farsi AKA the Persian language, though I wanted to and went through a chapter or two of EasyPersian.com and still have the link years later. In my teens, I wanted to become fluent in multiple languages and had a list: German, French, Spanish, Russian, Greek "and one more, probably something Asian or Middle Eastern." I've actually studied every single one of those languages though I've never achieved fluency.  When I lived in southern California, I sometimes watched the Spanish language channel with the English subtitles on because my German immigrant mother told me watching TV is how she learned English.  Link rot happens and I no longer have the list of German and Spanish resources I used to help fulfill the...

On at least a couple of occasions, I've taught myself a new subject.  At age fourteen, I bought a three-book set called "The Only Way to Learn Astrology" and most nights I studied them for thirty minutes to an hour before going to sleep. It was a persistent interest for years and I acquired probably a few dozen books over time, including an ephemerides and learned to hand cast charts at age seventeen.  At about age forty, a friend who already knew how to code sent me a book with a computer CD for learning HTML and CSS together. I was already a blogger and I went through the book and practice exercises on the CD. 1. Find good materials to learn from. My friend who already knew how to code vetted my self study course for me and it was a good program. I did choose my own astrology books but I was a strong student generally and already somewhat familiar with astrology. If you have no idea what constitutes a good course of study for the subject, try to ask around if possible a...

In the US, most colleges follow either a semester or quarter system. A semester system is two class sessions during the typical nine-month school year and the quarter system is three class sessions during that nine months. A standard full class in the semester system is three credit hours because you typically spend three hours a week in class for about sixteen weeks. The equivalent class in the quarter system is five credit hours because you spend five hours in class per week for twelve weeks. I have most of my experience with the quarter system. The typical load for a full-time student is three 5 credit hour classes per quarter, three quarters a year. It's not uncommon to have an additional class that's less than five credit hours, such as a PE class which is often two credit hours, or some kind of orientation to campus that's one credit hour. That means nine full time classes per calendar year, plus up to something like four less burdensome classes. Usually, you need to ...

The US military provides Basic Training and there are many military schools you may be able to attend once you are a member. It also has other educational benefits, including tuition reimbursement for active duty members. Military benefits are a moving target. If you're currently a member, the military is your best source of information on what is currently available. If you are considering joining, speak with a recruiter for the branch of service in question.  Some federal jobs offer training if you qualify. I have known people who went to such training, but I have absolutely no idea how you find something like that. I have a technical certificate paid for by the Fortune 200 company I once worked for. It was part of initial training for my entry-level job in a specialized industry that has trouble finding enough qualified applicants. Walmart, Chipotle and other large companies have tuition reimbursement or other college-related benefits for qualifying employees. If you work for an...

This is typically called credit by exam.  That may be a useful search term. I took college equivalent math classes from 8th through 11th grade. I qualified for a college level math honor society in 11th grade because of it, then took no math my senior year because I had completed everything normally offered and the only option I had was a specially credited "zero hour" class offered to me and two other students who qualified.  This would have required me to come in an hour before school usually started in order to participate. I have serious health problems that weren't yet properly diagnosed and was already missing the maximum number of days I could miss without being automatically failed for it, so that wasn't going to happen.  I started college and my first quarter enrolled in Calculus because it was the next class offered after all the college level math I already had. Having not done math in fifteen months, I was in over my head and withdrew from the class. I alr...

In the US, active duty members typically qualify for tuition assistance, many colleges charge in-state tuition fees for active duty members and their dependents and colleges typically give at least some credit for military experience.  If you have served in the American military, you probably will not have to take any physical education classes. You may also be able to get college credit for various military schools. Many military bases have an education center where you can get free or cheap services, such as free proctoring for tests and reduced costs for testingfor credit. This can come in handy for distance learning classes, for CLEP tests or similar tests for acquiring college credit via test. CLEP If you're a military service member, your CLEP exam may be free. CLEP and Military Benefits General Resources todaysmilitary.com Military.com

To my surprise, California proved to be my ticket to wrapping up my Associate of Arts, pursuing an online Bachelor's of Science (unfinished) and completing a Certificate in Geographic Information Systems from the world's foremost GIS program.  All I had heard was that California is expensive to live in and their universities have extremely expensive tuition.  But I was a military wife and most California colleges had agreements (called "SOFA" at the time) to charge in-state tuition to military members and their dependents and community colleges had extremely affordable tuition. My books typically cost as much or more than my tuition. My husband was active duty and getting 75 percent of his tuition reimbursed by the Army and tuition was something like $12 per credit hour, or $3 per credit hour for him after reimbursement.  Most California colleges are on a semester system and a full-time class under that system is typically three credit hours. So I was paying like $36 ...