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Adolf A Agbormbai, Ph.D

Abstract

This article reviews some major Internet contributions to educational problem solving, while elaborating on a promising contribution that offers a great deal to the reader. The article is directed at a reader who has an educational or learning problem bogging her and is looking for a way out of her predicament.

Introduction

The aim of this article is to review some major Internet contributions to educational problem solving (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html), while elaborating on a major contribution (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) that offers a great deal to the reader. The article is addressed to those readers who may have an educational problem bogging them and who may therefore be looking for a way out of their predicament. The reader may be a parent, child, or student.

It is a common fact of life that we all have problems and that we are often frustrated or we tend to lash out because of our inability to find accessible and reliable information about our problems.

To be of the greatest use to people a problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/) must combine pragmatic discussions of their personal or professional problem (http://www.triplacc.com/) with merchant products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html) that provide more detailed information. Typically, the web site will provide free information in the form of news, articles, and advice, which direct the visitor on what to do to solve her problems. Complementing this, the web site will also provide merchant products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html) which discuss in detail how the visitor can go about resolving her problem. This means that the most effective, visitor-oriented problem-solving site will be an information-packed commercial site (http://www.triplacc.com/).

The approach that we have adopted below is to review the major Internet contributions to educational problem solving (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html), while elaborating on a comprehensive contribution that offers a great deal to the reader.

Reader Profile

This article is intended to meet the needs of a specific type of readers, who have an educational or learning problem (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) bogging them. It is directed at both males and females, even though it is often convenient to refer to just one sex when writing.

The reader uses search engines to research information about her personal or professional problem (http://www.triplacc.com/), with the intention of finding solutions to it. Such a reader is serious about solving her problem and is therefore willing to buy products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html) that help her achieve her mission, provided that she can find reliable and honest information about relevant products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html) so that she can make an informed decision about which products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html) to acquire. This information will help her to apply her finances economically, and hence avoid wasting money.

The reader is intelligent (without necessarily being a genius), educated (without necessarily being a PhD), computer literate (without necessarily being a computer guru), and money-minded (without necessarily being a freebie hunter or an unemployed person).

The reader’s problem is not life critical, so that she can afford to investigate her problem and educate herself about it before seeking help from a consultant, if necessary.

As such the reader is self-reliant and can cope on her own by reading, digesting, and applying advice about her problem until she solves it or discovers that she needs help from a professional, at which point her acquired knowledge will help her to reduce her consulting fees. As a result of the knowledge gained, the reader will be able to assess consultants in order to avoid incompetent or fraudulent ones.

Contributions to Educational Problem Solving

The following are the top educational sites on the Internet, along with their offerings.

US Department of Education. It defines the US education policy and provides information on financial aid, educational research and statistics, grants and contracts, and teaching and learning resources.

Educational Testing Service. It provides a range of test resources.

FunBrain.com. It provides educational games for K-8 kids.

PrimaryGames.com. It provides fun learning tools and games for kids.

GEM. It provides educational resources such as lesson plans and other teaching and learning resources.

Education World. It provides advice on lesson plans, professional development, and technology integration.

NASA Education Enterprise. It provides educational materials and information relating to space exploration.

Spartacus Educational. It is a British online encyclopedia that focuses on historical topics.

Department for Education and Skills. It is a UK government department site that offers information and advice on various educational and skills topics.

Times Educational Supplement. It offers teaching news, teaching & educational resources, and active forums to help UK teachers.
All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:

1. They tend to cover only a very narrow segment of the educational market.
2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family.
3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis.
4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be.
5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor’s understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.

A Promising Contribution

We now look in some detail at what appears to be the most pragmatic and visitor-oriented educational problem solving contribution (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) on the Internet. This site seems to have followed the philosophy that to be of the greatest use to people a problem solving site must combine pragmatic discussions of their educational or learning problems (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) with merchant products that provide more complete information.

The site provides free information in the form of news, articles, and advice, which direct the reader on what to do to solve her problems. Complementing this, the site also provides merchant products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html) which discuss in detail how the reader can go about resolving her problem.

The site addresses a multiplicity of market segments, positioning them to address the various needs of a visitor over a period of time, and such that at any given time a customer may belong to one or more of the market segments. Aligned with the target markets are compatible products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html), a set of which addresses a particular market through a separate section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

There are three general classes of products offered: ClickBank products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html), Google products, and eBay products. Google and eBay products are presented on each page of the site. ClickBank products are grouped into product categories that match the target markets.

We look in detail at this educational site (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) by examining its problem-centred solutions, target markets, and product offerings.

Problem-Centred Solutions

The free solutions offered by the chosen site are organised in the form of pragmatic articles that are written by top experts. Each article addresses a specific daily problem, but does not go into detail. It explains the problem and tells the visitor what she must do to solve her problem. However, it does not tell the visitor how she must solve it – this is too much for an article. To find out about the how, the visitor must buy a product (usually an e-book or e-book set) that goes into greater depth.

The set of educational articles that the site offers, to provide initial solution to a visitor’s problem are as follows:

Signs of a Gifted Child (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/signs.html) – Informs parents on how to identify whether or not their children are gifted.

Essential Parenting Lessons for Enriching Your Child’s Education (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/parenting.html) – Teaches parents how to enhance their child’s education.

Using Positive Affirmations to Be a Better Student (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/positive-affirmations.html) – Teaches students how to use positive affirmations to improve their performance.

They Are Just Afraid of Writing (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/writing.html) – Teaches writing skills to students

How Can Parents Encourage Their Children to Read? (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/encourage.html) – Shows parents how they can improve their children’s reading skills.

Test Preparation Tutoring (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/test-prep.html) – Discusses the topic of tutoring students to prepare for tests or exams.

Test Taking Strategies (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/test-taking.html) – Discusses various strategies for taking and passing tests or exams

Playing and Winning the Scholarship Game (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/scholarship-game.html) – Describes how to win scholarships.

How to Get a Scholarship to a UK University (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/uk-scholarships.html) – Describes how to win scholarships to a UK university.

Saving Money for College (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/saving-money.html) – Instructs students on how they can save money in preparation for college.

Student Loans: When Your Educational Dreams Can’t Compete with the Cost (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/student-loans-0.html) – Explains to students the benefits of a student loan.

Education Loans Can Fund a Higher Degree to Boost Your Career (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/higher-degree.html) – Also explains to students the benefits of a student loan.

The Secret to US Department of Education Loans (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/usdoe-loans.html) – Teaches students how to get a US DoE loan to finance their higher education.

Student Loan Consolidation - Save Money, Pay Less, Spend More (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/student-loans.html) – Explains to graduates how to make use of loan consolidation to reduce their student loan repayments.

Higher Education: Finding the Right College for You (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/higher-education.html) – Explains to students how to find the right college or university for their higher education studies.

Mobile Learning – An Alternative Worth Considering (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/mobile.html) – Explains the concept of mobile learning and its place in education.

Online Degrees - Is Online Education Right for You? (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/online.html) – Analyses the merits of online learning as compared to traditional learning.

An Online College Education Overview (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/online-college.html) – Reviews the whole concept of online learning.

Finding the Right Quotation for Your Paper or Speech Online (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/quotation.html) – Shows writers and speakers how to find the right quotation to use in their writings or speeches.

Collaboration: An Important Leadership Development Skill (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/collaboration.html) – Explores the useful concept of collaboration and its role in leadership development.

At the end of each article is a list of merchant products that supplement the article’s content. A link is also included for accessing the educational product catalogue.

Target Markets and Product Offerings

The chosen site positions its market segments to address the various needs of a visitor over a period of time, and at any given time a customer may belong to one or more of the market segments. There are three general classes of products offered to these segments: ClickBank products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html), Google products, and eBay products. Google and eBay products are presented on each page of the site. ClickBank products are grouped into product categories that match the target markets. These categories and their markets are as follows.

Children and Parenting. This consists of visitors who want parenting solutions for improving their children’s upbringing. Their needs are met through the Children and Parenting section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Difficult Admissions. This consists of visitors who want to learn how to get admission into top universities. Their needs are met through the Difficult Admissions section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Esoteric Needs. This consists of visitors with unusual needs. Their needs are met through the Esoteric Needs section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Financial Aid. This consists of visitors looking for scholarships, grants, or loans. Their needs are met through the Financial Aid section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Leadership Skills. This consists of visitors looking to develop their leadership skills. Their needs are met through the Leadership Skills section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Learning. This consists of visitors who want to improve their learning ability. Their needs are met through the Learning section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Mental Speed. This consists of visitors who want to explode their mental speed. Their needs are met through the Mental Speed section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Positive Affirmations. This consists of visitors who want to transform their negative dispositions into a positive mindset in order to improve their performance. Their needs are met through the Positive Affirmations section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Speaking. This consists of visitors looking to improve their speaking skills. Their needs are met through the Speaking section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Tests and Exams. This consists of visitors looking to master exam technique. Their needs are met through the Tests and Exams section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Writing. This consists of visitors looking to improve their writing skills. Their needs are met through the Writing section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).

Conclusion

This article has reviewed some of the major Internet contributions to educational problem solving, while elaborating on a promising contribution that offers a great deal to the reader. The article meets the need of a reader who has an educational or learning problem bogging her and is looking for a way out of her predicament.