Prospective Students can Browse Samples of Online Lessons
Carlsbad, California – Jan. 27, 2006 – The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has created a free online demonstration course whereby prospective business students can sample the online learning environment and coursework of the GIA School of Business.
The demo course shows examples of the business school's actual online courses and selected lectures, case studies, presentations, and syllabi. Students can also see samples of lessons and learn about course grading, policies, and resources.
The demo course lets visitors see how online students and faculty interact with each other just as in a normal course setting. It also showcases a sample of threaded discussions, which replace the face-to-face classroom interaction and can make up a large portion of a student's grade in the online courses.
GIA created the demo to give students the flavour of how the online community works and to introduce them to the school's faculty and staff, said GIA School of Business Dean Dr. Mink Stavenga. "There have been a number of requests from students of other countries who would like to experiment and see how the online courses work. Through this demo course, anyone can log in and observe discussions, lectures, case studies, and learn from actual lessons taken from courses in the school."
In the first example of the demo course, Eric Carstensen, MBA, selects two different lectures from his Accounting course, where students learn to identify and analyze several types of fixed assets. Vilma Vallillee, MBA, demonstrates the Ethics and Law course through case study samples and introduces her "Am I Ethical?" series. David McKinney, PhD, provides two presentations on global aspects of the jewellery industry, and Tim Malone, PhD, takes visitors through the first week of the school's Fundamentals of Marketing course.
GIA created its School of Business Jewelry Business Management (JBM) diploma program to teach the business of gems and jewellery to students who may want to start their own businesses or become executives in the industry. Recently, the Institute announced that will it will begin offering a college degree, a Bachelor of Business Administration, through the GIA School of Business in October 2006.
State Street Jewellers manager, Sookie Lehman, JBM, G.G., of Illinois, said the online courses were convenient and flexible—especially helpful with a full-time job and three children. "My education is already paying off," she said. "The classes were jewellery-specific, and geared toward what I do. I literally applied what I learned in the class to my job the next day."
Visit http://www.schoolofbusiness.gia.edu/ to enter the GIA School of Business' new demo course. Call +44 (0) 207 813 4321 for more information about the school, its new demo course, or the Executive Training Programme.
About GIA: An independent non-profit organization, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is recognized as the world's foremost authority in gemmology. Established in 1931, GIA has translated its expert knowledge into the most respected gemmological education available. In 1953, the Institute created the International Diamond Grading System™ which, today, is recognized by virtually every professional jeweller in the world. Through research, education, gemmological laboratory services, and instrument development, the Institute is dedicated to ensuring the public trust in gems and jewellery by upholding the highest standards of integrity, academics, science, and professionalism.
16th March 2006