Back to the Books
by Tom DiFrancesca III

It recently dawned on me that the “back to school jitters” is no longer a malady suffered by young people only.

All across North America, middle-aged folks and savvy senior citizens alike are returning to the classroom. A high percentage of those are also taking classes online as the number of colleges offering degrees through the Internet rises steadily.

If you are interested in earning a degree online, just jump on over to
www.WorldWideLearn.com, where you’ll be able to search by degree level, subject matter, or college location — there’s something there for everybody.

If you are in fact planning on taking college classes this year, whether or not it’s in person or on the web, you are going to need the required books for each subject. Have you experienced yet the high prices charged for college-level books? Even the used book prices at most college bookstores are often overly inflated and are intent on quickly deflating your wallet.

But there’s no need to fear, Amazon is here — just jump to www.Amazon.ca and find the used college course book that you need. Even after counting the shipping costs, you’ll almost always come out on top.

NET OF KNOWLEDGE
No matter the type of school (physical or virtual) or grade level, the one common denominator is the Internet. Whether you’re looking for answers to homework, for music while you study, or for motivation to become a better student, nothing beats the resources on the Internet. (I’m willing to bet, though, that a couple of librarians reading this column won’t readily agree with me on that statement. And so that debate rages on.)

No matter the age though, if you’re like me, you enjoy listening to music while you study. I love many music genres and am always interested in discovering an individual or group that I’m not familiar with.

I’m a big fan of two particular websites, www.Pandora.com and www.Last.fm. Both free sites basically do the same thing, but in different ways — they provide you with a radio station composed of music created by your favourite artist, plus the music of similar artists and styles.

For example, if you love listening to Kenny G while hitting the books, then you would just type in his name at one of those sites. Not only will you be able to listen to Kenny’s smooth grooves, you’ll also be able to listen to the music of others who have similar styles.

STUDY STAPLES
So now you’ve got the tunes playing. But what happens if you don’t feel motivated to hit the books? For one thing, you might need to learn some good study habits. And there’s no better site for this than the blog postings at www.Study-Habits.com. Besides the useful blog, there are hundreds of Internet resources indexed to help you along your educational journey.

Math — now that’s a scary subject for almost everyone. That’s why the
www.Math.com website was created and is so popular. What you’ll find there will be invaluable to you no matter what your math skill level, and there are lots of great online calculators and formulas available as well.

As a matter of fact, almost every teachable subject matter that has ever existed is represented on the Internet, so it’s just a simple matter of finding them. For example, a really informative site is www.CanadaHistory.com; the site address (URL) speaks for itself. No matter how unique the subject, if you use the Google search engine, you’ll find a website dedicated to it.

Now I’ll broach the subject of homework. Calm down, it’s not such bad a thing, especially with free sites such as www.HippoCampus.org and www.PathWHelp.org to help you out. It’s just all a matter of finding the right site for your needs.

Alright folks, I’ve now given you some valuable Internet resources to start your school year off with a real bang. So go hit the books, grow your brain, and have fun preparing for your future!

Tom DiFrancesca III has written hundreds of articles about computers and the Internet. His latest novel, ‘Boomerang,’ the first book of the Clovis Chronicles series, is now available at www.ClovisBooks.com

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