Education TBC

The Sandhill Research and Education Center is a 600 acre facility on the northeast side of Columbia, South Carolina. The center is owned by Clemson University and is used as an agricultural research facility and lab. Its environmental conservation researchers develop best management practices for agriculture and forestry. The facility also provides garden information as part of its cooperative extension services.
While the research going on at the center is important, many visitors to Sandhill REC come for other reasons. The public is able to access the facilitys hiking trails and childrens garden, as well as purchase fresh produce at the seasonal farmers market. All of these activities are free to the public. Sandhill Research and Education Center also hosts several festivals and community events each year, including the long running Sparkleberry Country Fair in April.

Visitors will find two hiking trails at Sandhill REC. The Hardwoods Wetlands Trail begins at the lake. Heading downhill from the earthen dam, the trail crosses a stream via a wooden bridge. The 1 mile loop trail takes hikers through a mixed forest of pines and hardwoods. The forest floor is carpeted with ferns, which provide habitat for wildlife including deer and a variety of birds. The Conservation Station Interpretive Trail is a .5 mile loop trail. Visitors can enter the trail through a wooden door in the fence at the parking lot. Six educational kiosks highlight information on geology, forestry, soil, wildlife, water quality, and air quality. Hikers can walk out on a dock in the lake to view the lake habitat. They may see turtles, frogs, fish, snakes, and even alligators. Swimming and fishing in the lake are not permitted. The trails are open from 8am-dusk.

Children will love the Sandhill REC Childrens Garden. This area is actually several environmentally themed garden rooms. There is a Butterfly Garden, a Bird Garden, an Alphabet Garden, the Carolina Fence Garden, Mr. McGregors Garden, the Dinosaur Garden, a Rain Garden, and the Three Bears Homestead. The gardens are self guided and may be explored anytime during open hours. Visitors are welcome to bring lunch or a snack to enjoy at the picnic tables. Children will also want to play at the nearby Pooh Garden Playground.

The 2012 Sandhill Farmers Market will be open every Tuesday afternoon from May 1-November 20. Hours are 1-7pm. Visitors will be able to purchase the best in local produce, meat, eggs, butter, cheese, honey, baked goods, flowers, and plants. Many organic products will be available. Attendees will also be treated to live music and healthy lifestyle demonstrations.

Sandhill REC is located at 900 Clemson Road. Take I-20 East to Exit 80 and drive north for 2.5 miles. The facility is near the intersection of Two Notch Road (US Hwy 1).

The Bachelor of Science Degree Program in Game Art & Design program is designed to provide students with every challenge, course and assistance that will help them prepare for a career in the exciting game design programming industry.

Enhance Your Game Art & Design Skills

The multi-billion dollar video game industry is continually advancing as developers compete to come out with the latest and greatest in graphics, performance, creativity and more. This means that the industry is constantly looking for fresh talent armed with the most advanced training and skills so they can create the next games that will captivate audiences – and generate revenues.

The Bachelor of Science Degree in Game Art & Design program at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division is designed to provide students with every challenge, course and assistance that will help them prepare for a career in the game design programming industry.

Students will find that classes and instructors are there to help them sharpen and strengthen their core art and design skills, as well as provide them with the advanced game design programming skills that will be needed upon graduation.

In this program, students will have the opportunity to learn how to design game play and backgrounds, create characters and their environments, and apply their knowledge of video and computer games to evaluate products. They will also study video game programming, learning the coding, production, artistic concepts and game play strategies that create the video games that are enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Career Portrait

Expected growth will be due to increased demand for animation and visual effects in video games, movies, and television. However, it will be slowed by companies hiring animators who work overseas.

Consumers will continue to demand more realistic video games, movie and television special effects, and three-dimensional movies. Video game studios will require additional multimedia artists and animators to meet this increased demand. In addition, an increased demand for computer graphics for mobile devices, such as smart phones, will lead to more job opportunities.-

The School of Game Design is one of the top game design schools in the nation. Our classes are taught by industry professionals who are among the best in their respective fields. Our hands-on, interactive curriculum prepares each student for creative success.

Graduates of our program will have a well-rounded education in the arts, particularly in fundamental game art principles such as game engine technology and both pre-production and production environments. Students will develop an exceptional portfolio that demonstrates skill in traditional drawing and painting as well as 3D modeling, texturing, animation, rigging, and time management.

Courses introduce and build upon the foundations of traditional drawing, painting, and storytelling to broaden students’ conceptual skills for video game production. Our curriculum emphasizes key techniques in 3D modeling, animation, and lighting to prepare students for the challenges of innovative game mechanics and complex 3D technology.

Using state-of-the-art game engines to prototype games, students gain hands-on experience with industry standards. Collaborative projects foster communication and organizational skills crucial to student success.

You May Qualify For Financial Aid.

These days, who’s got time to sit in a classroom? Between working hard all day, or night, and other responsibilities, finding the extra time to attend a traditional campus to further education is a dream that may never come true. Because of the Internet however, online learning is becoming the wave of the future, and the future is catching up when it comes to education.

More and more schools and universities around the country and the world are offering online learning courses to students and adults who have long ago put their educational needs on hold. For many, attending a school campus for classroom instruction is just not feasible, or possible. Now, a farmer from China or a home business owner in Oregon or anywhere else in the world can log on and study to their heart’s content on the Internet, thanks to the growth of online coursework offerings available today. While some distance learning courses may be simple and consist of one subject, others offer complete course loads for certificates to degree programs. More people today than ever before are earning Master’s degrees online, which is convenient for busy work schedules and obligations. Whether you want to take a course in home business management, computers, or medical terminology as a course unit or as part of a larger program, there is an online school out there that will cater to your goals and desires.

When searching for any distance-learning course however, the first thing to do is to make sure that a national recognized accreditation board properly accredits the school you’re looking at. Online schools are held to the same standards of quality and course requirements as traditional colleges and universities, so don’t worry that your certificate or degree from an online school won’t hold water. Did you know that more nurses are able to advance their careers and education through online universities and programs that specialize in medicine? The same is true for those seeking careers in education or other medical careers, and we’re not just talking dental assistants.

Distance learning has become the preferred method of attending school for millions of students around the United States as well as the world. As long as enrollment requirements are met and coursework grades can be transferred, students can also attend foreign universities and distance learning programs that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to take advantage of, thanks to the World Wide Web. With a computer or a laptop, men and women are now able to access the degree program they’ve always dreamed of, and the best part of all is that they can do so when it’s convenient for them and not the other way around.

There’s no longer any reason not to pursue the degree that you’ve always desired. Student financing and payment methods are available to online students as well as those who attend university programs. If in doubt, call the online school that you’re interested in and ask them about student financing, loans and payment methods they offer. Remember, a college education will earn higher wages, bigger promotions and open doors that have otherwise stayed closed for years. Taking distance-learning programs can change all that.

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The demand for an education degree has been on the increase in recent years. This has been necessitated by the increasing competition for jobs in the education sector. This problem has especially been exacerbated in the past few years as the economic recession bites. Many people have now been forced to return to classroom in order to better their credentials make them competitive for jobs.

Of course, one need not be a teacher after obtaining an education degree but it is equally important to note that the main career path of those with educational degrees is to become a teacher. Some however join the corporate sector and some professions such as training, talent development and human resource (HR).

As the world gets interconnected, one can now pursue an education degree from the comfort of their homes. All you need is a working and reliable computer and internet connection. An online degree is preferred by many because of the flexibility that it offers. In todays fast paced world, one may not have the time to attend a college fulltime and hence an online degree may be the best option. In addition, many do not wish to forego their incomes simply because they are studying. Unless you obtain a scholarship, attending a college often involves a huge financial outlay. You may also have to forego your income for the duration that you are going to attend college. Some people cant quite cope with this.

It therefore becomes easier for them enroll in online degree programs. Some may also have children or other day to day bills to pay and hence cannot afford to forego their day to day. Similarly, some international students want to obtain degrees from reputable universities without having to travel physically to attend the college. They may be afraid to fit in a completely new environment and the attendant culture shock that may follow.

Before enrolling for an online program, it is essential that you ascertain the quality of the program. This can be done by checking the quality of the faculty. You should check whether the college professors are well respected among their peers. This respect may be gauged by how they publish in the academic papers and other peer review journals. Publications I such journals usually indicates whether the professors are regarded as an authority in their field.

Another important gauge that can be used for quality is the success of the past alumni. Check on their employment trends and how easily they got job offers after graduation. Their starting salary as compared to graduates from other colleges should also be ascertained.

One can choose many career paths after obtaining the online education degree. For instance, one can become an elementary school teacher. This will require that you master a little bit of many disciplines in order to become attractive disciplines.

A high school teacher on the other hand, only needs to master two or three disciplines in order to be attractive to employers. For instance, an English teacher could double up as a journalism teacher or a creative writing teacher. On the other hand, a math teacher can double up as an accounting teacher or a physics teacher. A foreign language teacher can double up as a multicultural teacher given that she knows a couple of foreign languages and cultures.

Others choose to pursue careers in the corporate world. Many human resource professionals hold education degrees as well as corporate training managers.

A bachelors degree in education is usually enough for one to obtain a decent job. However, some people choose to get masters and doctorate degrees in order to stay competitive. A masters degree will help you secure jobs as head of a department in high school or get an administration position in the school. On the other hand, a doctorate degree helps one to secure teaching jobs in universities and colleges. Many people prefer such jobs because they are tenured positions hence providing a high degree of financial independence.

Forward-looking colleges and universities are embracing CRM in their business processes to recruit and retain the most desirable students. These are challenging times for institutes providing higher education, and to compete successfully it is important to adopt best practices that can enable them to consistently interact with their diverse stakeholders (Students and corporates) in a highly personalized manner. For Universities and business schools, students are their customers, but as CRM usage is widespread in the corporate sector, higher education is far behind with CRM implementation. CRM in higher education encompasses the methodologies and software that help institutions develop and manage relationships with different constituents. Institutes are also looking to improve their conversion ratios, from prospect to enrolment and reducing the number of lost applicants/opportunities.

Many higher education institutes, universities began restructuring and reengineering their operating processes to cut costs. Many turned to enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. ERP helped them automate and optimize their internal business processesin areas such as finance, grants management, student information, inventory management, and human resourcesand freed them from some of the day to-day operations. The focus is currently shifting from improving internal operations to concentrate more on their customers Students, Corporations, and Alumni. Proactive institutions are now adjusting their practices by refocusing their efforts externally. Because of the need to concentrate more on customers, many institutions are once again turning to technologythis time to customer relationship management (CRM) software. Similar to ERP, CRM solutions focus on automating and improving processes, although the focus is on front office areas, such as enrollment, marketing, customer service, and support.

Modules that manage different touch points of the student lifecycle

Admission – With competing institutions just a click away, prospective students expect prompt responses to online inquiries, emails and phone calls. Manual tracking of enquiries could result in leakage of leads and since each enquiry represents a potential business opportunity, this would translate into high value business loss. Enquiry management module in a CRM ensures that all the enquiries generated from marketing activities of the institutes are tracked effectively till the admission stage.

Placement – Attract new corporations for campus placements basis the past successful placements and students profile like education, specialization, summer training etc., and run vertical specific customized campaigns to attract corporations and increase visibility in the corporate world

Alumni – Connect with Alumni, to promote alumni programs that can generate contributions, and participations. Target the right alumni for the right opportunity and promote continuing education programs by identifying those who are likely to have high levels of interest in executive level courses.

The value proposition
Higher application and enrolment rates
Higher brand awareness with prospective students
Higher outreach to corporations across different verticals leading to higher placements
Develop lifelong relationship with Alumni

A well – designed CRM software enables the institution to build deeper relationships with different constituents of the student lifecycle by managing student enquiries, corporate relationships and alumni communications from a single, intuitive interface. The end result is a stronger knowledge of these audiences and better admissions and alumni relations outcomes for the institution. Whether you’re looking to recruit more students, shape your enrollment funnel, retain students or engage alumni, a CRM solution is a must early in the student engagement lifecycle.