[O160]Online Computer Certification Training

A recent national poll indicated that only about 60% of Americans thought that young people should be encouraged to work hard and study diligently. One writer commenting on this finding attempted to portray it in a positive way by disclosing that the figure was lower than 40% in Europe. Of course, there is one group of people today where support for hard work and hard study is nearly unanimous. This is the group of people who have decided to learn computers through online training.

With the advent of the ?virtual world? of cyberspace since the early 1990s, a whole parallel world has taken shape, except instead of wood and cement the ?buildings? are constructed of bits and bytes. Throughout the 1990s and the maturing of the World Wide Web, the grocery store on the corner, the movie theater in the mall and the bookstore down the street all ended up in cyberspace. It didn't take long for educational institutions of all kinds to make the move, too. Today people of all ages have a choice of driving to a campus for one, two or four years or studying in a more flexible way, from home and/or office, to get online computer training.

Lower-cost alternative

Getting up to speed in a new discipline is not an easy thing to do, online or on campus. Research indicates that people who goes to online sources for training, whether it's for a degree or not, are less likely to drop out, miss fewer sessions and assignments, and get higher grades. Interestingly, these were the same findings some 35 years ago when educational researchers analyzed junior college (JC) student bodies. Because they were somewhat older, more determined and knew what they wanted in life, JC students, like today's online students, were more focused, more motivated and, ultimately, more likely to achieve their educational goals.

Both economic and practical reasons make getting online computer training a very popular option these days. Lower-cost online alternatives help many people overcome the high cost of a traditional college education. Mothers (and, increasingly, fathers) of young children that had no time available for traveling to a campus can now study online, from home. People who had to keep working to support their families are now able to arrange online classes on evenings, weekends or other available times.

Public benefits of online training

Online trade schools, training institutes and colleges perform a true public service by bringing the opportunity of learning, in the form of online training, to more people. Computers are used in every industry, by every company and for every business goal imaginable, so online computer training can help prepare people for a wider choice of careers than almost any other curriculum. This new source of education is seriously expanding the talent pool (the ?human resources?) available to American business. Computer-savvy employees will help American industry continue making technological advances, and the training clearly raises worker productivity, which will ultimately lead to improved economic forecasts and an increase in gross national product.

Despite polls that claim to show that some 40% of Americans no longer respect the value of hard work and lifelong study, there are plenty of people who do. To keep our country going and growing, as many people as are interested should be encouraged to enroll in online computer training. People who work through personal hardships and adversities to start or finish their compute education online are, in fact, the same kind of people who work hard, continue to learn, act as great role models for others and, by so doing, make a difference in this world.