Seems to me what the President needs to do more of is “explain the why.” Explaining the why is one of the leader’s most valuable tools in the citizen or employee engagement game. Explaining the why pulls people in, creates a common understanding of the situation or crisis, and helps everyone absorb how the change relates to them. Sometimes there’s no real need to explain the why – it’s either plainly obvious why we all need to pitch in (disaster in Haiti) or the call to action is logical and produces a “of course we’re with you” type of response (creating a set of core values for the company).

But President Obama (and you, perhaps) often face more cloudy motivational issues. Here’s just a few of the topics that the administration is dealing with that could use a health dose of “why” – Afghanistan, health care, the financial system bailout, and, coming soon (gulp), probable tax increases. Given his oratory skills, it’s surprising that Obama hasn’t taken his case for each of these changes directly to the American people in plain, easy to digest language (I’ll never understand why Presidents don’t literally hold a monthly “all hands meeting” with 300 million of their closest friends to say “here’s what we accomplished this month, here’s why we worked on that, and here’s what we’re going to work on next month” – why would that be so hard?). Seems like you become President and you forget Rule # 1 of being a leader – communicate, constantly!

Jack Welch used to talk about the need for leaders to be relentless and boring – to repeat, repeat, repeat the message until it resonated, helping people make sense of what was going on, how they fit in, and why it mattered. That’s it, really – here’s what we need to do, here’s why, and here’s what it means to you. How hard is that? Yet most leaders completely under-leverage this communication trifecta – they may be relatively clear about what needs to be done, but they definitely don’t stress the why or the “what’s in it for you” nearly enough.

It’s easy to see where Obama could be explaining the why more often, but what about you? What are you trying to rally your people around that could use more explanation? Why are you asking them to change, work harder, squeeze costs, etc.? What’s that getting you (and them)? It might even be 2 or 3 layers deep – we have to do this, to get to here, which is important for achieving this goal, etc.

Start thinking more about “explaining the why” – it’s a powerful communications technique that never goes out of style. Every time (yes, every time) you communicate something, add the why; notice the difference in how the message is received. You can do this – it takes a little extra preparation, but the returns are worth it. And if you can’t figure out the why, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it (which is part of the problem with health care reform – average American’s can’t tell why Washington wants to change the status quo).

Let me leave you with this – leading is a lot like parenting, yes? You explain the why to your kids when they’re young, right (don’t touch the stove, because…)? Same thing with your employees. Help them understand why you’re asking them to do certain things… it helps them understand. Just don’t fall back on that old parenting standby (“because I said so!”) – that won’t go over too well with your team!

Actually, online colleges and online universities in America admit practically anyone and everyone who are seeking online degrees, irrespective of age, provided they fulfill the basic criteria required for online education in America. Here on this page, we have tried to cover online colleges and online universities in USA. We have tried to cover each the online colleges and online universities in each state of US. We have tried our best to provide accurate and updated information about the online colleges in USA and the online universities in the USA but if you encounter any discrepancy in the information provided, please do write to us about it. We would welcome any kind of feedback that would improve the quality of this page, a page that strives to provide the best information on online colleges in USA and online universities in USA.

.Online Colleges and Universities in Alabama

. Online Colleges and Universities in Arizona

.Online Colleges and Universities in California

. Online Colleges and Universities in Colorado

. Online Colleges and Universities in Connecticut

. Online Colleges and Universities in Delaware

. Online Colleges and Universities in Florida

. Online Colleges and Universities in Illinois

.Online Colleges and Universities in Indiana

. Online Colleges and Universities in Iowa

. Online Colleges and Universities in Kansas

. Online Colleges and Universities in Kentucky

. Online Colleges and Universities in Louisiana

. Online Colleges and Universities in Maine

. Online Colleges and Universities in Maryland

. Online Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts

. Online Colleges and Universities in Michigan

. Online Colleges and Universities in Minnesota

.Online Colleges and Universities in Missouri

.Online Colleges and Universities in Nebraska

.Online Colleges and Universities in New Jersey

.Online Colleges and Universities in New York

.Online Colleges and Universities in Ohio

.Online Colleges and Universities in Oregon

.Online Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania

.Online Colleges and Universities in Tennessee

.Online Colleges and Universities in Utah

.Online Colleges and Universities in Vermont

.Online Colleges and Universities in Virginia

. Online Colleges and Universities in Washington

. Online Colleges and Universities in Washington DC

. Online Colleges and Universities in West Virginia

. Online Colleges and Universities in Wisconsin

. The GRE is now only available as a computer-adaptive test. This is how it works: instead of having a pre-determined mixture of easy, medium, and hard questions, the computer will select questions for you based on how well you are doing. The first question will be of medium difficulty; if you get it right, the second question will be selected from a large group of questions that are a little harder; if you get the first question wrong, the second will be a little easier. The result is that the test automatically adjusts to your skill level. The Tough questions have more credit than easier ones.
.You can still earn a very high score even if you answer several questions incorrectly. Correct answers to Harder questions leads to large score as compared to easier questions. This means to Get large score more difficult questions has to be answered.
.Some (Very few) Universities may demand Subject GRE.
. After completing your exam you can send your scores (free!) to four Universities so be prepared.
. Your GRE scores are valid for 5 years.
.You may appear again in GRE after one month.
Total testing time is up to three hours, not including the research section. The directions at the beginning of each section specify the total number of questions in the section and the time allowed for the section.

The Analytical Writing section is always first. For the Issue task, two topics will be presented and you will choose one. The Argument task does not present a choice of topics; instead, one topic will be presented.

The Verbal and Quantitative sections may appear in any order, including an unidentified unscored section. Treat each section presented during your test as if it counts.

Section Number of Questions Time
Analytical Writing 1 Issue Task 45 minutes
Analytical Writing 1 Argument Task* 30 minutes
Verbal 30 30 minutes
Quantitative 28 45 minutes
Unscored** Varies Varies
Research*** Varies Varies
* For the Issue task, two essay topics are presented and you choose one. The Argument task does not present a choice of topics; instead one topic is presented.
** An unidentified unscored section may be included and may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section. It is not counted as part of your score.
*** An identified research section that is not scored may be included, and it is always at the end of the test.

Some Facts

. Maximum score for sections Verbal, Quantitative is 800. An analytical writing score will be reported on a 0-6 score scale, in half-point increments.
. GRE is generally required by universities in North America (USA and Canada).
. Most Universities require General GRE for admission to MS and Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences.
. Generally for engineering Students score above 1200 (750+ 450+ 4) is considered good for admission for middle order universities ranked between 40 to 90 .There may be some deviations.
. For all engineering Students GRE Q is most important for best results GRE Q must be well above 740 ,GRE A above 650(A>4.0/6.0), GRE V above 450.
. GRE score can considerably improve University Ranking. TOEFL is most important. TOEFL score must be well above 213.Generally
. Top 50 ranked Universities may require GRE>1300(770+,530+,>4/6) and TOEFL>250.For International students Verbal section is quite difficult. So they must prepare hard on vocabulary.

Note: Work hard in GRE Quantitative. Work on Permutation/combination, probability, mean/median/mode… etc.

IELTS is accepted by universities in UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It has become a mandatory test for study in Australia.

You cannot be granted an Australian student visa without an IELTS score, TOEFL is not accepted.

All other study destinations either require you to take the TOEFL or IELTS. IELTS is however not accepted by most universities in USA. In many Canadian Universities either of IELETS/TOEFL would work.

IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand academic institutions. American academic institutions are increasingly accepting IELTS for admissions purposes.

. IELTS assesses your English language ability. A good score (usually 6.0 and above) is an entry requirement for many colleges and universities worldwide.
.You can repeat the test as often as you like, but only at intervals of at least 90 days between test dates.

What is the format of the test?
The test has four parts:
Listening ? 30 minutes
Reading ? 1 hour
Writing ? 1 hour
Speaking ? 13 ? 15 minutes

A list of cities where TOEFL iBT is being introduced is posted in the Learners and Test Takers section of this Web site. This list is updated every week.

TOEFL iBT introduction dates have not yet been set for some countries (PDF). When these countries are ready to implement TOEFL iBT, a message will be posted on this Web site. To provide continued access for TOEFL and TSE test takers in these areas, ETS will offer the paper-based TOEFL test and the TSE test until TOEFL iBT can be delivered.

What Is Happening To The Current TOEFL Tests? The computer- and paper-based (CBT, PBT) versions of the TOEFL test will be given at a particular location until the Internet-based version is implemented.

TOEFL-iBit
The TOEFL® Internet-based test emphasizes integrated skills and measures all four language skills, including speaking. The content on the test is authentic, and the language is consistent with that used in everyday, real academic settings.

The test has four sections

Reading measures the ability to understand academic reading matter.
Listening measures the ability to understand English as it is used in colleges and universities.
Speaking measures the ability to speak English.
Writing measures the ability to write in a way that is appropriate for college and university course work.

Test content is based on a “corpus,” or database, of spoken and written language that currently contains more than 2.7 million words, collected from educational institutions throughout the United States.

The spoken language in the database was collected from
lectures and interactive classes
labs
office hours
study groups

everyday service interactions (for example, at the bookstore or registrar’s office). The written language was collected from sources, such as textbooks and course materials.

Listening and reading texts in the test conform to the characteristics of the language in the database.

Internet-Based Testing
Your TOEFL test payment entitles you to

one printed and one online examinee score record up to four official score reports that ETS will send directly to the institutions or agencies you designate when registering for the test Score recipients can be added or deleted online up until 10:00 p.m. (local test center time) on the day prior to the test date. ETS will send an examinee score record to you and official score reports to institutions 15 business days after you take the test. The printed score report that is mailed to you will contain all of the final section scores as well as your total score.

In addition to numeric scores, your examinee score record also includes performance feedback that indicates your performance level and a description of the kinds of tasks that test takers within the reported range can typically do. Your scores are based on your performance on the questions in the test. You must answer at least one question in each Reading and Listening section, write at least one essay, and complete at least one Speaking task to receive an official score report.
. TOEFL score is valid for two years.
. You can take TOEFL once in a month.
.You can request paper for writing section, but it may delay your score report.
. TOEFL may not be required by students of those countries whose native language is English .

OLD TOEFL Test: CBT Structure and Scoring
Section Questions Duration
Listening 30/49 15/25
Structure 20 15
Reading 44 70
Writing 1 essay 30