In recent years, colleges and universities have made their online presence a true force to be reckoned with.  Currently, there are thousands of degree programs available to suit the needs of any type of potential student.  Whether you want to earn a degree in English, marketing, criminal justice, or get and advanced graduate degree—all of these things are now possible online.  Read on for how to make the most of these online educational opportunities.

Time is on Your Side

Without having to move or make the commute to a college campus, you have far more time to dedicate to your studies than in a traditional college environment.  Set up a schedule for yourself each day and use your time wisely.  If you can harness your true potential by making the most of your time, you will surely be successful in your classes and beyond.

Studying Advantages

Many online colleges and universities offer podcasts and video lectures to supplement the coursework and online classrooms.  Use these technological edges to your advantage; revisiting a lecture whether on video or through your mp3 player on your down time could certainly mean the difference between an A or a B on a test or the entire course.

Communication on your Terms

With email, you can contact professors or classmates for points of clarification and this can help ensure your level of success when it comes to the class.  Professors may send you links to sites and articles that can enhance your knowledge base for an upcoming exam and may even be able to help you with essays and term papers with editing suggestions and tips.  Use electronic communication to your benefit and stay in the loop.

Use Outside Resources

In addition to having a whole wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, the fact that your education takes place online shouldn’t get in the way of seeking out supplemental materials locally.  Visit your local libraries and meet up with other students virtually or in person to discuss reading assignments, locate materials that may not be available online, and use these opportunities to enhance your online educational experiences.

In years past, studying the ancient world meant looking for clues in ancient texts, visiting far-off places to learn from local legend and folklore, and using a combination of intuition and skill to locate long lost artifacts and relics.  While these things are still required in the modern world, the process has been sped up and streamlined by the use of technology. 

While technology isn’t the be-all, end-all in the study of the ancient world, it certainly does help move the process along.  Some of the benefits of using technology to study the ancient world are listed below.

More Certainty Before the Dig

Technology and the use of a wide variety of technology applications have made aimless digging less and less frequent.  From the use of radar and sonar to infrared and other imaging technologies, locating the right spot to look for clues from the ancient world are becoming increasingly easier to locate.

Rendering Capabilities

Once you have located your site and established perimeters, measurements can be easily plugged into certain types of software that allow archaeologists and anthropologists to actually “see” what a dig site may heave looked like in the ancient world.  Rendering capabilities of these programs continue to be developed, ever assisting those hard-working scientists to be able to do their jobs in a more efficient manner.

Network with Others in the Same Field

With the advent of social media and other Web 2.0 innovations, finding others in the same field of interest is easier than ever.  Collaborative tools abound on the web and communication along with the sharing of documents for translations and other collaborative projects are helping scholars in many different fields to work together to come to an answer in record time.

Sophisticated and Specific Measurements and Pinpointing Locations

Using technology to find specific locations and make precise measurements is another perk for people studying the ancient world.  Using global positioning systems (GPS), it is far simpler to find remote locations after doing the appropriate research.  GPS is accurate within a few meters, which means that precision when initiating a search of a wide area is more manageable and can ultimately yield more consistent results.

Advanced Researching Capabilities

Some of the greatest libraries on the planet are working at a fast pace to get all of their collections online for researchers around the world.  No longer will it be necessary to travel halfway around the world to feast your eyes on a particular document—researchers are now able to access crucial material for their studies from wherever they log onto the internet.  This ultimately saves time and resources better put to use in the field.
 

In today’s work environment, how important is education in helping you secure employment that you feel worthy of your talents? Or is it enough that you have relevant work experience? Let’s consider the two scenarios briefly:

When experience trumps education:

If you’ve decided that four years of undergraduate study is enough and you’re ready to face the work scene, then you’re the kind who values experience over education. Among the pros of this situation:

    * You get a head start over those who prefer to continue with their education for two or more years.
    * You start earning immediately and are able to pay back your student loans sooner.
    * You don’t have to spend more towards further education.
    * You don’t have to experience the uncertainty that’s associated with job hunting.
    * You don’t have to worry about the state of the economy in a couple of years’ time when you’ll finish your graduate degree.

 
When education scores over experience:

Although work experience does have its plus points, there are times when it pays to continue your education and wait to enter the working world. This is when:

    * You tend to get a better and higher paying job if you’re qualified enough.
    * You finish your education in one go rather than waiting a few years to go back to school to enhance your career prospects at a later stage.
    * You learn more about the subject and are more knowledgeable as a result.

 
As you can see, both situations have their own pros and cons, so it’s up to you to decide which option best suits your needs and circumstances. There are some employers who allow you to continue your education even as you work for them, so if you’re looking to kill two birds with one stone, this is the best option for you.  

Getting students to play math games in order to increase their abilities is fun and interactive, and helps to sharpen skills necessary to move forward with more difficult mathematical processes.  What follows is a list of some sites where educational mathematical games can be found and played for students of all ages and skill levels.

Funbrain:  Funbrain has games for students in grades K-12 that are fun and challenging.  Students can expect to increase their abilities in basic math with the games available and have fun while honing these much-needed skills.

Aplusmath:  The folks at aplusmath have a variety of games for students of varying ages and abilities.  Java and non-Java versions of these games are available for play, and include games for basic multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction, as well as higher-level games for algebra and geometry.

Coolmath4kids:  This particular website has games for math students of varying ages and includes on-screen flash cards and many other fun and interesting games to increase students’ math skills.

Math Playground:  Math Playground is another fantastic website with many games for students of mathematics.  Percentage games, algebra games, and basic geometry games are available, as well as games that help students with more basic math skills.

Gamequarium:  For many practical mathematical applications, Gamequarium is a go-to website for math students.  From money games and problem-solving games, to more adavanced math games, this site provides learners of all ages with many opportunities to learn while gaming.

Primary Games:  The Primary Games website has fun and interactive games that help introduce younger math students to advanced problem-solving and logic, as well as basic math skills. 

Of course, the use of games in mathematical instruction should be supplemental, and cannot replace the value of classroom instruction.  However, try utilizing some of the games on the sites listed above as a fun way to help students to enjoy the learning process while honing skills and getting in much-needed practice at the same time.

Extracurricular

Search blogs, games and even forum postings for non school-related information and fun.

1. Bloglines: The search engine on Bloglines can find "billions of articles" and posts going back to 2003 from blogs, comics and more.
2. FindSounds: Web workers and procrastinating students can use this search to find sound effects in all kinds of file formats, channels and resolutions.
3. Nicado: This free search helps you find e-mail addresses and phone numbers for old friends and out-of-touch family members.
4. Omgili: Type in a subject or keyword to find forum posts and discussions on the Web on the same topic.

Quick Answer Guides

Head to these search engines when you have a specific question that needs to be answered quickly.

6. Answers.com: Type in your question to this search box or answer other users’ questions about politics, automotive issues, TV shows and pop culture, health, technology and more.
7. AskMeNow: Use this site to do a quick Wikipedia search from your mobile phone.
8. Lexxe: Type in your question to this search engine, which pulls answers from its database of URLs added by users.
9. Powerset: Powerset is another question and answer search engine that searches Wikipedia articles
10. AskWiki Beta: This semantic search engine finds answers to your questions in Wikipedia articles.

City Guides and Travel

Get to know your college town a little better, or plan a vacation or study abroad trip with these search engines.

11. Google Local: Many don’t realize that this popular site is also a search engine. Find local businesses and addresses here.
12. MSN City Guides: Click on a city to get started or type in a general location or activity to let this search engine find fun things for you to do in your area.
13. Aardvark Travel: This site helps you in "sniffing out travel sites from around the world." Browse by location, type of vacation, travel activity, flights, hotels and other topics.
14. Kayak.com: This aggregate travel search engine finds the lowest air fares, cruise vacations, car rentals and hotel stays available through the Web that match your travel requests.
15. Ask City: Search special events, entertainment guides and maps for your city on this site.
16. Mobissimo: Search MobiDeals or enter in your travel information to let this site find attractive airline tickets, hotel reservations and car rentals.
17. Trabber.com: Trabber.com searches 31 different websites to bring up cheap flights based on the schedule you submit.
18. Local Search Guide: This mega search engine connects you to local maps and directions, businesses, phone numbers, movie times and weather information.
19. Search.Travel: This beta search engine finds information on travel deals and transportation, events and activities to do in the location you search, and more.

Shopping Search Engines

Find customer reviews, product information and shopping sites with these search engines.

20. MySimon: This fun site lists shopping specials and gift ideas for holidays, and it lets you search within a specific category or conduct a general search.
21. Shopzilla: Shopzilla is super easy to use. Enter in the keywords or product description for the item you’re shopping for, or browse the categories on the right, to bring up results from online retailers like Amazon.com.
22. DealTime: DealTime is a comparison shopping search engine that has information on flowers and gifts, computers and technology, home and garden items, cars, music and movies, sports equipment and a lot more.
23. Google Product Search: "Search for stuff to buy" on the Google Product Search, which connects you to everything from beauty and fashion items to DIY home improvement shopping to gifts and furniture.
24. Kelkoo: Shop by category or answer the search question "What are you shopping for?" to find product information and deals on all kinds of items. You can also search by brand or store to narrow down the search.
25. PriceGrabber.com: Conduct an advanced search by shopping different categories or type in exactly what you’re looking for on PriceGrabber.com.
26. MSN Shopping: This comprehensive site lets you first browse by category to narrow your search or type in keywords to bring up something more specific.
27. ePublicEye: This online shopping search engine specializes in finding safe, positively reviewed e-commerce sites. It also offers information on safe online shopping tips and online scams.
28. BizRate: Compare prices of clothing items, household appliances, gifts, accessories, technology and more when you use this search engine.

Business

Business students and those interested in staying current on business news and trends can take advantage of these niche search engines to help them prepare for class and life after graduation.

29. Bloomberg: Bloomberg.com connects you to business news through its search engine, breaking news articles and market data updates.
30. ThomasNet: ThomasNet’s dedication to "connecting industry" results in this broad search tool, which lets users browse categories including products and services, as well as search for specific companies or brands.
31. IFACnet: Accountants can use this search engine for industry news and "access to global resources and information."
32. Nexis: LexisNexis users can use this business search to find legal resources, industry news and information about other professionals and organizations.
33. Business.com: Entrepreneurs and business students can browse categories like software, startup, transportation, jobs, office management, real estate and health care to "quickly find anything for [their] business" and find a job.

Academic and Reference

Find reliable and authoritative sites here to help you with homework and class projects.

35. Librarian’s Internet Index: This site brings together "websites you can trust," on subjects like media, law, communications, consumer research, health and more.
36. Scirus: This scientific search engine claims to be "the most comprehensive scientific research tool on the web" and indexes over 450 million science-related resources.
37. Google Scholar: Search journal articles, abstracts, academic papers and bibliographies, and other scholarly publications here.
38. Intute: Social Sciences: This division of the online search tool Intute connects you to quality information about government policy, geography, law, economics, anthropology, business management, social welfare, psychology, politics, women’s studies and more.
39. CiteSteer: Computer science and IT students can use this "scientific literature digital library."
40. Online Journals Search Engine: Find indexed science materials and resources on this site.
41. Google Books: Search classic literature, non-fiction books, poetry, short stories and other books at Google Books.
42. Research Crawler: Type in your keywords in the general search box or use the Research Quick Links to find articles, textbooks, RSS feeds, podcasts and more to help you with your project or paper.
43. Translation Crawler: This directory has sites indexed for sign language, education, interpreting and more.

Social Media and People

User-generated content and user-driven sites like these often result in more relevant search results for you.

44. wink: wink is "where people find people." Search by location, name, interests, school or any other category to help you reach old friends and family members.
45. Sproose: This user-driven site can perform a Web search or video search.
46. similicio.us: Discover similar sites when you copy/paste a URL into this search engine.

Multisearch

These search engines offer more than just ordinary searches. Enjoy using features like shared searches, saved memory and specific search options.

47. Trexy: Trexy can help you "blaze search trails" by saving your search memory, share your searches with the Trexy community, and add a TrailBar button to your toolbar for fast searches.
48. MsFreckles: MsFreckles can search the entire Internet or just pages from the UK. You can also filter your search by file type, search several sites at once, only search through certain domains, search only blogs, or choose other advanced options.
49. Clusty: Use Clusty to search the Web, news sites, images, Wikipedia or blogs.

TV, Video and Radio

Look up video clips for class presentations or discover new radio sites and web streams through these search tools.

50. veoh: Find millions of online videos by searching this site.
51. blinx: blinx digs into the Web to find "over 26 million hours of video" and bring up relevant results.
52. ZippyVideos: This beta search engine is also a media sharing site, so you can upload your own videos as well as search for others.
53. Radio-Locator: Search for over 10,000 different radio stations and 2,500 web streams from radio stations all over the world.
54. Pandia Radio Search: This massive search site offers a radio search too.
55. Radio Directory: The radio directory search on this site can connect you to radio stations’ web sites and radio information from all over.
56. altavista: Use this video search to find MPEG, Quicktime, Avi, Windows Media, Real, Flash and many other types of videos.
57. Truveo: Truveo lets you search for videos from different web sites. You can also browse categories like Most Viewed Today and Highest Rated.
58. Snipp.TV: Find video and audio content from this easy-to-use beta search engine.

Medical Students and Health Search

This list will not only help medical students research authoritative journals and publications, college students wanting to do more than just Google their symptoms can find health advice and medical resources by using these search engines.

59. Entrez: Search life sciences publications and research materials here.
60. PubMed: This search tool is sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
61. Healia: Healia claims to be "your guide to healthy decisions." Search the Web, PubMed, or the Clinical Trials option.
62. PubGene: Find biology and genetics materials by searching this tool.
63. Healthline: With Healthline, you can "search the Web’s best health sites." Browse topics like ADD/ADHD, heart disease, depression or allergies, or type in your own symptoms.
64. OmniMedicalSearch.com: This site has been named a Top 5 Medical Search Engine by About.com and is lauded by The Washington Post. Search the Web, images or forums to get connected to quality health and medical information.
65. MedNets: Medical students can try out this tool, which searches databases, journals, books, jobs and medical societies. You can also customize the engine for your particular field, like internal medicine, dentistry, family medicine, nursing, pulmonary and others.
66. American Hospital Directory: Find a nearby hospital fast by typing in your telephone area code, zip code, city or state.
67. DrKoop.com: Research your symptoms, access a health encylopedia, or take advantage of the Web search engine powered by Healthline to find all kinds of health information.
68. MedicineNet: This organized search engine displays your results according to different categories, like News, Symptoms, Procedures and Tests, and Medications, so you can quickly find the most relevant results.

Law Students

Law students gain access to court rulings, history and political sciences resources, and other law material here.

69. MegaLaw.com: Here, you can "look up law sites on the web" without having to search multiple times.
70. FindLaw: Find attorneys and answers to your law questions by searching here.
71. History Crawler: Find history references and more on this site.
72. Meta-Index for U.S. Legal Research: Search judicial opinions, federal regulation, legislation and more on this site.
73. World Law: Search opinions, news legislation, lawyers and law libraries from all over the world.
74. CataLaw: This search engine can find information and resources about all types of law, including consumer law, sexual harassment cases, family law, banking, criminal law, cyber rights and much more.

Metasearch and Megasearch Engines

The following search engines work extra hard to bring you information from other search engines at the same time, including Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and others.

75. Dogpile: Find information from "all the best search engines" here.
76. Excite: This metasearch engine also shows you the latest sports scores, stock ticker, featured games and videos, and more.
77. Mamma: Mamma is "the mother of all search engines," and she can search the Web, news, images, video and the Yellow Pages.
78. HotBot: This search engine can pull information and material from Yahoo!, IyGO.com, and MSN.
79. MetaCrawler: "Search the search engines" with MetaCrawler, a tool that lets you search filtered, family-friendly material or access unfiltered results.
80. Info.com: Info.com retrieves information from Google, Yahoo!, LiveSearch, About.com and Ask. You can also choose to search the Web, Research, News, Images, Video, and other options.
81. Myriad Search: This search engine searches four different engines, but only if you want it to. You can choose to require information from a particular engine or exclude the engine altogether.

Photos, Images and Visual Search Engines

Make your search a more visual experience by checking out these tools.

82. Kart00: This visual metasearch engine displays results like a map with mini preview images of the sites themselves.
83. Grokker: Grokker searches Wikipedia, Yahoo! and Amazon Books, and then displays your results in an outline view or a map view.
84. Picsearch: Use Picsearch when you need to add images to a project or presentation.
85. Fagan Finder: This site outlines different search engines, photo sharing sites or stock photography sites so that you can find everything from clip art to medical images to photoblogs.
86. Netvue: Netvue is a no-frills image search engine that brings up animation, graphics and photos.

News Searches

College students need to stay current on business, technology, cultural and political news, so use these search engines to guide you through homework discussions, projects and more.

87. News Lookup: Find news stories from all over the world, or just search a particular country or news topic.
88. Google News: On this site, you can "browse 4,500 news sources" for up-to-the-minute information.
89. AlltheWeb: Use the News search tool on this site to find relevant stories from newspapers, TV stations and other news sites.
90. Yahoo! News: Search sports, entertainment, business, technology, world and U.S. news here.
91. Ananova: In addition to providing a comprehensive news search, this site also posts the day’s top headlines on the front page.

Jobs and Real Estate

Turn to these search engines to help you with your search for a summer internship, your first apartment or a job post-graduation.

92. Hotpads.com: Find homes and apartment listings for sale or for rent around the country with this tool.
93. RightMove: This UK-based site will direct you to properties for sale or rent, including vacation homes and properties in places like France, Spain and Bulgaria.
94. Juju: This easy-to-use job search engine lets you type in a keyword and location. You can also search by company name.
95. indeed: indeed is a metasearch engine that lets you perform one keyword and location search to find listings from all over the Web.
96. Simply Hired: Search over 6 million jobs posted on the Web in industries like customer service, accounting, transportation, software, paralegal, PR, government and others.
97. Dice.com: Technology students and professionals can search for jobs on this site, which connects to more than 86,000 listings.
98. REAdb (Real Estate Agents Web Directory): This site links to both people (real estate agents) and their listings (property). Seems to mostly archive agents in the US and Canada.
99. WhereToLive.com: WhereToLive.com is "the real estate search engine," letting you search homes on an interactive map.
100. Internship Programs: Look for internships after you log on to this "internship search engine."