Job Outlook for College Grads in 2011

There is some good news for college graduates right now.  Employment numbers have improved for this group.  The WallStreet Journal reported that college graduates are, “more likely to be working: Unemployment among college grads is 4.2% vs. 9.7% for high-school grads. And they make more: The typical full-time worker with a four-year degree is earning 65% a week more than a high-school grad.”

CNNMoney reported, “College grads are getting offered bigger paychecks for the first time since 2008. Students who will graduate this spring are receiving job offers with starting salaries averaging $50,034 per year, up 3.5% from last year, according to a survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. ” Those obtaining business degrees saw the biggest increase. 

Simply hired lists the average college graduates’ salary at $46,000.  They offer a calculator to find out specific salaries for individual jobs.  Click here for the link to that salary calculator.

The following demonstrates the kind of information this calculator provides based on two jobs that require degrees.  The following are the results for a pharmaceutical sales representative and a high school teacher:

Things may be looking better for college graduates, but there are still 1 out of 6 who have a bachelor’s degree and are unemployed.  These numbers are worse for more recent graduates than those who have been in the job market for a while.  This has led to some pessimistic views by some graduates.  There are those that worry about the country’s economic future and its impact on their own financial future. To read more about this, check out:  Gloom Widespread as College Grades Face New Math.

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Which Degree Will Make You The Most Money

 

If you are considering going to school or going back to school, check out some of these figures gathered from over 11,000 graduates.

via online.wsj.com

How Are Online Degrees Perceived?

I often get into Linkedin group discussions about the pros and cons of online learning.  I address it in depth in my book, The Online Student’s User Manual.  I thought eLearners.com had a pretty good article about the acceptance of online degrees.  To read the entire article click here.

via elearners.com

 

In that article, hiring managers were asked how they felt about strictly online learning environments.  It was close to 50/50 in terms of whether they felt it was favorable or not.  The acceptance got better with the schools that had both regular classes and online classes offered. 

I have taken both traditional and online courses.  I personally prefer online learning.  I think it will become more and more the norm.  I feel I learned more and had a much better experience in my online business classes because I was not forced to be in as many group-related activities.  In my traditional university experience, I witnessed a lot of business majors getting their bachelor degree based on being in groups where they contributed nothing and got A’s because the rest of the group did the work. 

I think a lot of people are slow to accept technology because it is a big change. However, online learning is here and it is growing.  I work for many online universities where I see very strict guidelines enforced.  I have people monitoring my classes constantly.  I get feedback and direction to be sure I am staying on track and offering only the highest in quality education. 

Perhaps a lot of the perception is due to the profit or non-profit status of schools.  I think a lot is name recognition.  Big-named schools like Harvard now offer online courses.  To find out more about that program, click here. I think as more schools like Harvard add distance education, it will only improve the perception of online education.

Number of College-Educated Workers Increases Nearly Every Year

All of the increase in employment over the past two decades has been among workers who have taken at least some college classes or who have associate or bachelor’s degrees—and mostly among workers with bachelor’s degrees. The number of these college-educated workers has increased almost every year. Over the 1992–2009 period, the number of college-educated workers increased from 27 million to 44 million. In contrast, the number of employed people with only a high school diploma or without a high school diploma has remained steady or decreased.

via bls.gov

Keirsey’s Results Show Wealthy Extroverts Are Happiest Americans

In Dr. Grupta’s blog, he wrote about: Who are the happiest Americans? According to a new study, they may be extroverted, earning more than $75,000 a year, healthy, and engaged. The analysis was conducted by Keirsey Research, an organization that looks at how personality relates to a person’s preferences in  consumer choices, political opinion, and a variety of other factors. Click here for the rest of Grupta’s article.

In our book about personalities, my daughter, Toni Rothpletz, and I discuss Keirsey’s temperament research.  If you are interested in reading more about the results of Keirsey’s study that showed “Wealthy Extroverts are the Happiest Americans” click here.  Some highlights from the results of this study showed:

• Personality. 63 percent of Americans rate themselves as very or somewhat happy. Extroverts (74 percent), however, are much happier than introverts (56 percent).
• Wealth. In general, the higher the household income, the happier the individual. 72 percent of those with an annual household income of $75,000 or more are very or somewhat happy, compared to 59 percent of those with an annual household income of $50,000 or less.
• Love. Not surprisingly, being engaged promotes above average happiness (71 percent very or somewhat happy). Those who are separated but not divorced are least happy when it comes to love (48 percent).
• Age. Americans get progressively happier as they get older, with one exception. Happiness takes a dip between the ages of 35-44 (58 percent are very or somewhat happy), when parental and career pressures are typically at their peak.
• Family. “Empty nesters” are most happy (73 percent very or somewhat happy), while those who are divorced and sharing custody are least happy (56 percent). Individuals who do not have children cite average happiness (62 percent).
• Education. In most cases, more education means more happiness. There was no difference, however, between the happiness of those with a bachelor’s degree and those with a graduate degree (68 percent very or somewhat happy).
• Politics. Democrats and Republicans are equally happy (roughly 70 percent very or somewhat happy), while Green Party affiliates are the least happy (52 percent).

Top 50 Online Buzz Words Explained

If you are considering taking an online college course and feel intimated by the terminology, here are 50 of the top buzz words and terminology you will hear in the online environment. If you are wondering what a rubric is . . . you are not alone.  I have alphabetized them to make definitions easier to find.  To find information like this plus a whole lot more, check out The Online Student’s User Manual by clicking here. 

1.     Accreditation – Quality of the education provided meets the U.S. Dept. of Education standards. There are nationally recognized agencies that the U.S. Dept. of Education recognizes that accredit universities.

2.     ACT – American College Testing Program – test given to high school students to measure education and ability to do well in college.

3.     APA Format – American Psychological Association Format is a guide for formatting students’ papers, including how margins, fonts, citations, etc. should look.

4.     Asynchronous – Not at the same time. In college courses, if a course is asynchronous it means that everybody does not have to participate at the same time.

5.     Attaching Files – When submitting assignments, attaching or uploading is similar to sending an email with an attachment or an uploaded file.

6.     Attendance – Usually a student is considered in attendance on any given day should they post anything to any area of the classroom to show they were there.

7.     Blackboard – Software that many schools use to access the classroom.

8.     Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence – Learners express themselves through movement.

9.    Chat Room – An area in the online classroom where students can talk about things as if they were in a hallway or relaxation area in a regular school. Topics must be clean but do not have to be related to the course.

10.   Critical thinking – According to the Foundation for Critical Thinking (2010), critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

11.   Curriculum – Educational courses offered.

12.   Diploma Mill – A higher-education institution that gives diplomas based on less-than-quality education for a financial return.

13.   Discussion Board – Area in the online classroom where students post responses to questions posted by the professor.

14.   Doc Share – An area within the software program eCollege where students can upload their documents so that others within the course can see and respond to them.

15.   Dropbox – An area within the software program eCollege where students can upload their documents so that only the professor can see them.

16.    eCollege – An online learning software platform used by colleges.

17.    Emoticons – A group of characters used to convey intended tone, e.g. a smiley face.

18.    e-Portfolio – An electronic way to assemble a collection of work you have done, including writings, pictures, blogs, etc.

19.    Extension – In software, the extension is the part of the filename that comes after the period. For example, if a file is named “Sample.doc” then the extension is “.doc”.

20.    Feedback Area – An area in software platforms such as Blackboard where students can see input from the instructor as to how they are doing in the class.

21.    Font – The typeface that is chosen for a document.

22.    Forum – An area within certain software packages such as OLS, which is like a classroom or place that a student will go to find information.

23.    Grade Scale – Explanation for what percentages equivocate to certain grades. For example, 90% may be an A, 80% a B, and so on.

24.    Grant – A way to finance your education, unlike loans in the fact that they do not have to be paid back.

25.    Header – The area at the top of your paper where you might include details such as page numbers or other information about the assignment.

26.    Logical-Mathematical Intelligence – Prefers to think with logic, reasoning and numbers.

27.    MLA – Modern Language Association. A style of writing that schools may use. Most commonly, they use APA.

28.    Musical Intelligence – When music and hearing help with learning, a student is said to have musical intelligence.

29.    Naturalistic Intelligence – When being around outdoors, plants and animals helps with learning, a student is said to have naturalistic intelligence.

30.    Netiquette – Combination of “Internet” and “etiquette”, meaning how to behave properly and not be rude in the online environment.

31.    OLS – Online Learning System software offered by universities to allow students to access their online classes.

32.    Participation – Posting something of substance in a course, usually in response to discussion questions posted by the instructor. Unlike attendance, there must be quality to the posting.

33.    Peer-Reviewed – Peers of the writer of an article have reviewed the document.

34.    Plagiarism – Taking someone else’s work and trying to submit it as your own.

35.    Platform – Software that universities use for online courses to enable students to have access to classes.

36.    Retention – The ability to retain or remember things.

37.    Rubric – Rules for how one will be graded.

38.    SAT – Scholastic Aptitude Test given to high school students to assess intelligence and readiness for college.

39.    Search Engine – Software that searches the Internet for specific things. Examples include Google, Yahoo and Bing. Educational examples include ProQuest and EBSCOhost.

40.    SQ3R – Stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. It is a process that students can use to study and have better retention.

41.    Syllabus – A summary of course requirements or expectations.

42.    Synchronous – Attending class at the same time as your fellow students and instructors. 

43.    Thread – A posting in class where students and the professor continue a conversation.

44.    TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language – Test to evaluate English skills.

45.    TurnItIn – A software platform that colleges often use to test students’ papers for plagiarism.

46.    Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence – When spoken or written words help students learn better they are said to have verbal-linguistic intelligence.

47.   Virtual University – An online university.

48.   Visual-Spatial Intelligence – When pictures or visual aids help students learn better they are said to have visual-spatial intelligence.

49.    Wiki – A software platform that allows multiple users to input information.

50.    Wikipedia – An online encyclopedia site where students can go to discover basic information. It is important to note is that this is a good place to start looking for information, but not a good source to use when you start to cite references. Because it is a wiki (see definition for wiki), the information on it can be manipulated by numerous users, and therefore can be unreliable.