You are currently browsing the Regional Education blog archives for February, 2012

Most College and University Students Spend

February 25, 2012 College and University
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First of all, size. To make a proper decision, in terms of the size of your laptop – you need to ask yourself: ‘Will I need a bigger screen or is a small one OK?’, ‘Will I be taking this laptop around college/university or is it going to sit most of the time in my room?’. After you have answered those two questions, it’s easy to decide – if you answered ‘small’ and ‘I will be taking it around school from class to class’ – choose one of the laptops with smaller displays (in our opinion between 9 and 13 inch displays perform the best in the ‘small laptops’ group). If you don’t mind a smaller screen but you won’t be taking the laptop with you – we would advise something in the 14-inch range. Obviously, if would like a laptop with a larger display and you won’t be taking it with you, you can shoot for one of the largest models – 15.6 or even 17 inches.

Next, you need to ask yourself what are you going to use the laptop for. Are you going to do a lot of writing and/or programming on it? Then certainly check if you like the keyboard (both the layout and the “feel” of the keys). Things such as CPU, RAM, Graphic Cards etc. don’t really matter here – any computer can start up a Word Processing program or (for example) a C++ compiler. Your typing comfort is by far the most important. If you’re into graphic design – you need a significantly more powerful machine. I think it’s pretty obvious that you need a good Graphics Card – after all, you’re doing graphic design. For gaming you need a fast CPU, around 4GB of RAM or maybe even more (depends on the game) and if you want to enjoy the game/games even more – a powerful graphics card. This makes gaming laptops the most expensive.

The last thing you should look at is price – however, we definitely recommend you skip this part – unless you are on a really tight budget. Remember – the laptop that you are going to buy is most likely going to serve you for years and years to come. You are going to work on it quite often – actually, most college and university students spend as much as 4 hours (or more) on their computers – per day! It is very important that you buy the laptop that suites you the most – without thinking “Oh, this one is $70 cheaper, I’ll buy it”.

In the last part of our article, we would like to show you some sample computer specs depending on your needs – you can enter these as ‘Filters’ while browsing through laptops on websites such as BestBuy, Amazon and eBay.

The Early Childhood Years Witness

February 25, 2012 Childhood Education
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During the early years of a child’s life, there needs are considerably different compared to older, school-aged children. This is due primarily to the fact that the early childhood years witness the most significant amount of development and growth and when the brain is rapidly developing as well. It is that period in their lives when moral foundations, self-esteem, talking, visions of the world, and walking, are established.

Additionally, these early years are also critical to intelligence, personality, and social behavior development. Brain development research studies have revealed the importance of critical mental, physical and social capabilities. If these specific fundamental abilities are not established well from the start of their development, and should there be any neurological damage, the learning potential of the child could be affected adversely. It follows then that early childhood has its own specific issues and practices to deal with.

For the purposes of this content, we are establishing that the age of early childhood is extended to the age of 8. This provides us with an opportunity to reinforce our views of the continuum of childhood development. It also assists us in the interaction that occurs between the preschool and school years. Therefore, the concept of early childhood education calls for including early childhood years and the first two to three primary education grades. These are oftentimes referred to as the key “survival” grades.

Early childhood education is also based on what is oftentimes called the five interrelated developmental domains of the child. They are referred to by using the acronym known as the SPICE of life as follows:

- Social – refers to the ability to cooperate and share, create long-term relationships, form attachments, or play with others

- Physical – the development of fine or small and gross or large motor skills

- Intellectual – the process wherein the child learns how to make sense of the world surrounding them

- Creative – refers to special abilities resulting in the creation of specific talents such as art, music, reading, singing, and writing

- Emotional – coping with and understanding feelings while at the same time developing self-awareness and self-confidence

In closing, early childhood education also plays a critical role in specific psychosocial aspects including cognitive, emotional, and social development. The four stages of cognitive development include the sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operations, and formal operations stages. These four stages span from infancy through age 12 and beyond.

Human Resources Department or Staff

February 25, 2012 Career Management
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The overall recruitment industry consists of various types of services. There are four types of agencies – employment agencies, recruitment websites, executive and professional head-hunters and niche recruiters. There are some companies that prefer to use in-house recruiters rather than hiring an external agency. They usually have a department internally that is trained and specialized to handle the recruitment process. It is usually part of their human resources department or staff.

To begin with, a recruiting agency will try to source out potential candidates that would be a fit for the position in question. This is usually done through methods like advertising, whether online or traditional, and some sort of search process, possibly even through social networking sites like LinkedIn. The next step in the process is generally to screen any potential candidates that are found. It’s important to ensure that these candidates at least qualify for the position and its requirements before moving further with the process. This stage of qualification and screening is usually done through tests and interviews.

Next, once suitable candidates have been screened and qualified for the position in questions, comes the selection process. Based on the results of the testing and interview process the “winning” potential employee will be chosen to fill the position. The person will be contacted and offered the job based on their performance during the recruitment process. If the candidate accepts, they begin working in the position.

Normally, once the new employee is on board there will be a follow-up process that tries to ensure the candidate is able to work in the new position effectively. This is an important part of the process since the effectiveness of the recruitment agency is dependent upon how well the new employee fits the position they were hired for. Making sure that the person is able to fulfil their responsibilities effectively is imperative. If it is not the case, the entire process of recruiting becomes useless. Needless to say, a recruiting agency’s worth lessens considerably if their chosen candidate turns out to be a flop.

Recruitment and recruiting for jobs is an important industry. As mentioned earlier, it is like match-making for business. The idea is to find the best possible candidate and top-quality talent to fulfill vacant roles within an organization. The ability to do this effectively contributes in a big way to a company’s bottom-line. It is why many recruiting agencies are paid big bucks when they know what they are doing.

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