MY FIRST ONLINE (Edx) CERTIFICATE

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VNuLIs5J6XU/UnWW7s-121I/AAAAAAAAADs/mqHr9UWtJn0/s1600/295px-EdX.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="edx courses, logo" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VNuLIs5J6XU/UnWW7s-121I/AAAAAAAAADs/mqHr9UWtJn0/s1600/295px-EdX.svg.png" title="edx logo" /></a> Studying online for a certificate is still a unimaginable for many people out there. Whilst I didn't doubt the possibility of earning a verifiable certificate in an online course, like most other persons, I didn't hope it would be anything close to a "real-class" experience until joined edx. </div> <h4 style="text-align: justify;">  </h4> <h4 style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://www.akomst.blogspot.com/2013/11/study-online-for-certificate-at-harvard.html?m=1">Click hear to read more about edx, available courses and how to register</a>. For free! </h4> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Having successfully completed an online course (my first) and earning a certificate for my achievement, am excited to share personal experience with edx- the platform on which i enrolled as a "virtual student". Edx is among the hundreds, perhaps thousands of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) available on the internet except that it stands out. Courses available on the edx platform are diverse, covers several interest areas and are taught by some of the world class universities. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After an initial rush in which I registered for multiple courses relating to my interest, I eventually settled for just one course due to challenges which i didn't anticipate. Every course has its own requirements and prerequisites which every enrolling student must posses to be able to have course satisfaction and meet the minimum grade for the award of a certificate. I dropped some courses along the line as I discover that I didn't possess the necessary material and or prerequisites for those courses. But most importantly, are some peculiar challenges which relates to internet connectivity and time constraints. <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I finally opted for ColWri 2.2x : Principle of Written English which has a "soft requirement" but wasn't short of standard and quality. In fact, it was quiet engaging even for an English speaker like me. Like all other courses, lecture videos are released each week and every student is expected to watch the videos either through streaming or downloading and watching them offline. The challenge for me was in streaming the videos as the 3G network of all mobile carrier in my vicinity was either non-existence or unstable, so, I had to opt for downloading and watching the videos offline. But edx lecture videos are exceptionally of high resolution and quality, in effect, its video sizes are large thus, downloading a single video could take hours with multiple failed downloading attempts. The videos sizes also hold another constraint, since i depend on my android smart phones throughout the course, my monthly data subscription couldn't cope with a regular video downloading, so, i sometimes use my friends BlackBerry(BB) device to download videos since BB data subscription is relatively cheap and large in size. Even after downloading the videos, it took me quiet a while to figure out the way to watch them. Most phones default video players doesn't support edx video resolution and format and as in my own case, it took me quiet some time to understand this, not until I installed a third party video player (MX player) before I could watch the videos. Though, some courses do provide transcript of each video, however, transcripts are not always a substitute to watching the videos. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> Most videos are based on a topic and are often accompanied by homework. Each home work has a due date for submission and students may be required to read additional text material on the platform or on an external site whose link would be provided before being able to effectively answer the homework questions. These activities could be time consuming and in fact, time factor almost made me to want to unregister all of my courses. I eventually dropped all other courses except ColWri - as I was missing due dates for homework submission. As for ColWri, i was meeting up with assignment due dates since i devoted my weekends - when am less busy - to watching the videos, reading text materials and answering the home work questions, in the end, I got a certificate !</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> My experience with ColWri was thrilling, it totally change my perspective of online learning and also proved challenging, not in the context of internet connectivity and time constraint that i explained above, but of efforts, skills and intelligence expected of each students. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Asides the certificate, enrolling for ColWri brought me personal development, I was privilege to learn new things while improving on the ones I already knew. A post on this blog:<a href="http://akomst.blogspot.com/2014/02/education-sector-solving-unemployment.html" target="_blank"> Education Sector ; Solving the Unemployment Problem</a> was originally written as a draft essay and submitted for grades as it was required. It was edited multiple times, thanks to the innovative peer review assessment initiative of edx and the powerful editing techniques taught during the course. So, it was a journey of personal development and improvements. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Am currently enrolled for "Medicinal Chemistry" on edx and so far, I would say am learning ! I hope to also share my experience with you in the near future. As a way to show case my achievements and encourage more people to also enroll for a course of interest, am creating a dedicated page on this blog as a hall of certificates in online courses to show off my achievements. ( <a href="http://akomst.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html" target="_blank">Click here to view my certificate(s)</a> )</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Recommend reading</b> : You can feed and educate a child today, at no cost to your pocket. <a href="http://www.akomst.blogspot.com/2014/02/free-rice-free-education.html?m=1">Click here to learn how. </a></div> </div>

MY FIRST ONLINE (Edx) CERTIFICATE

Studying online for a certificate is still a unimaginable for many people out there. Whilst I didn't doubt the possibility of earning...

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2014 IMMIGRATION TEST QUESTIONS : THE KILLER TEST QUESTIONS

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Recruitment Exercise which resulted in lots of injuries and death has conveniently been titled " the killer recruitment exercise", " a show of national shame" , " job seeker's reunion and parade" and lots other titles. <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Equally disturbing was the service's "killer questions" served to candidates during the test exercise.Candidates were required to answer each of the 30 questions within a time frame of one minutes, yet in their confession, each question requires "critical reasoning and thinking on the part of the candidate" . </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Thus, most candidates - rather than leave the questions unanswered - randomly shaded options from each question before submitting. As one candidate remarked to me after his test : " Not even the Controller General of the service can answer these questions in 30minutes" <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Questions rendered below are not the complete set of 30 questions served to <b>university graduates </b>at one of the centres</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  You may however have fun brainstorming the question...</div> <h4 style="text-align: justify;"> <i><b>Start of the questions</b></i></h4> <ol style="text-align: justify;"> <li> A genealogist has determined that M, N, P, Q, R, S and T are the father, the mother, the aunt, the brother, the sister, the wife and the daughter of X but she has been unable to determine which person has which status. She does know :</li> </ol> <div style="text-align: justify;">     P and Q are of the same sex <br />     M and N are not of the same sex<br />     S was born before M<br />     Q is not the mother of X </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: How many of the seven people M, N, P, Q, R, S and T are female ? <br /> (a) 3 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 6 (e) 7<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: Which of the following must be true ?<br /> (a) M is a female <br /> (b) N is a female <br /> (c) P is a female <br /> (d) Q is a male <br /> (e) S is a male <br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: If T is the daughter of X which of the following must be true ?<br /> (a) M and P are of the same sex <br /> (b) M and Q are of the same sex<br /> (c) P is not of the same sex as N <br /> (d) R is not of the same sex as S <br /> (e) S is not of the same sex as T <br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: If M and Q are sisters, all of the following must be true except <br /> (a) N is a male<br /> (b) M is X's mother <br /> (c) Q is X's aunt <br /> (d) T is X's daughter <br /> (e) S is not X's brother <br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: If S is N's grandfather then which of the following must be true ?<br /> (a) R is N's aunt <br /> (b) X is P's son <br /> (c) M is X's brother <br /> (d) Q is S's husband <br /> (e) P is N's aunt <br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: If M is X's wife, all of the following could be true except <br /> (a) S is X's daughter <br /> (b) P is X's sister <br /> (c) Q is X's sister <br /> (d) R is X's father <br /> (e) N is X's brother </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A farmer has 3 fields, 1,2,3 and he is deciding which crop to plant. The crops are F, G, H, I and J<br />  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  F will grow only in field 1 and 3 but in order for F to grow, it must be fertilized with X <br />   G will grow in field 1,2 and 3 but in order for G to grow, fertilizer X must be used. <br />   H will grow in field 1,2 and 3 but in order for H to grow in field 3, it must be fertilized with Y<br />   I will grow only in field 2 and 3 but in order for I to grow in field 2, it must be sprayed with pesticide Z and  in order for I to grow in field 3 it must be sprayed with Z. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: It is possible to grow which of the following crops together in field 1 ?<br /> (a) F and G<br /> (b) F and J<br /> (c) G and H <br /> (d) J and H<br /> (e) J and G<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: It is possible for which of the following group of crops to grow together in field 2 ?<br /> (a) F, G and H <br /> (b) F, H and I<br /> (c) G, H and J<br /> (d) G, I and J <br /> (e) H, I and J<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: Which of the following is a complete and accurate list of crops that will grow alone in field 2 if the only pesticides or  fertilizer used is Y ?<br /> (a) F <br /> (b) F and H <br /> (c) G and H <br /> (d) G, H and J<br /> (e) G, H, I and J<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: Which of the following pair of crops will grow together in field 3 if no other crops are planted in the field and no fertilizer or pesticides are applied ?<br /> (a) F and H<br /> (b) F and I <br /> (c) G and H<br /> (d) G and I <br /> (e) H and J<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: Which is the maximum number of different crops that can be planted together in field 3 ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4 (e) 5<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: Which of the following is a complete and accurate list of crops that will grow alone in field 2 if only pesticide or fertilizer is applied<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) H, J (b) I, G (c) I, H (d) I, J (e) J, G</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The Problem in this test involves a certain amount of critical reasoning and thinking on your part. Read each question carefully and choose the correct answer from the multiple choices that follow. "<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: A national travel survey in 2007 found that Nigerians took 382.6 million trips within and outside of the country. Lagos was destination of 38 million trips. Approximately what percent of the trips had Lagos as the destination ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 0.01% (b) 0.1% (c) 1% (d) 3.8% (e) 10%<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: The taxi fares were N 1.00 for the first mile and N 0.20 for each 1mile 55 thereafter, then the taxi fare for 3 mile ride was ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) N 1.56 (b) N 2.40 (c) N 3.00 (d) N 3.80 (e) N 4.20<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question : </b>A warehouse had a square floor with area 10,000 square metres. A rectangular addition was built along one entire side of the warehouse that increased the floor area by one-half as much as the original floor area. How much metre did the extension extend the original building ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 10 (b) 20 (c) 50 (d) 200 (e) 500<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: A digital wrist watch was set accurately at 8:30am, the watch then lost 2 seconds every 5 minutes. What time is indicated on the watch at 6:30pm of the same day, assuming the watch operated continuously until that time ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a)... (b) 5:58 (c) 6:00 (d) 6:23 (e) 6:26<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: A merchant sells an item at a 20 percent discount but still makes a gross profit of 20 percent of the cost. What percent of the cost would the gross profit on the item have been if it had been sold without the discount ? <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 20% (b) 40% (c) 50%  (d) 60% (e) 75%<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: Each step of a staircase is 0.25m wide anf 0.20m high, as shown in the figure above ( <b>no figure or shape was provided </b>). All angles shown in the figure are right angles. If the height of the staircase is 3.6m and the landing at the top of the staircase is 1m wide. How long, in metre is AB ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 3.0 (b) 4.25 (c) 4.5 (d) 5.25 (e) 5.5<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question </b>: The table above ( no i<b>mage, shape or figure was provided </b>) shows the number of tickets sold during each of the first 4 weeks after a movie release. The producer of the movie received 10% of the revenue for every ticket sold with a guaranteed minimum of N 200,000 each week for the first 4weeks. If the tickets sold for N4 each, how much did the producer receive for the first for weeks ? <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) N800,000 (b) N900,000 (c) N1,000,000 (d) N1,200,000 (e) 1,300,000<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question</b> : Some stack containing equal numbers of chips are to be made from 9 red chips, 7 blue chips and 5 green chips. If all of these chips are used and each stack contain at least 1 chips of each colour, what is the maximum number of read chips in any one stack ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 7 (b) 6 (c) 5 (d) 4 (e) 3 <br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question : </b>Three automobiles travel distance that are in the ratio of 1:2:3. If the ratio of the traveling times over these distances for those automobiles are 3:2:1 in the same respective order, what are the ratio of their respective average speed ?<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) 1:1:1 (b) 1:3:3 (c) 1:3:9 (d) 3:2:1 (e) 3:4:3<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question : </b>Over the last three years, a scientist had an average (arithmetic mean) yearly income of N45,000. The scientist earned 11/2 times as much the second year as the first year and 21/2 times as much as the third year as the first year. What was the scientist's income the second year ? <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) N9,000 (b) N13,500 (c)N27,500 (d) N40,500 (e) N45,000<br /> <b> </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Question : </b>How many two digit whole numbers yield a remainder of 1 when divided by 10 and also yield a remainder of 1 when divided by 6 ? <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (a) none (b) one (c) two (d) three (e) four. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <i><b>Did you answer any question and how long did it take you to do so ?</b></i></div> </div>

2014 IMMIGRATION TEST QUESTIONS : THE KILLER TEST QUESTIONS

The 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Recruitment Exercise which resulted in lots of injuries and death has conveniently been titled...

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NO ENDING TO ASUP STRIKE

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> Any hope to ending the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (A.S.U.P) was yesterday dashed after the meeting between A.S.U.P executives and representatives from the ministry of education ended in a deadlock. Both team has been in and out of several meetings in the past with little to no progress at resolving their differences. <br /><br /> The latest round of meeting which ended on Wednesday evening went in the direction of past meetings, according to the National Publicity Secretary, Mr Clement Chairman, the government had brought nothing new to the table and the union has no choice than to continue its strike action. Mr Chairman said, " Federal Government has offered nothing other their former position and A.S.U.P is not accepting that. We see the strike prolonging " <br /><br /> The union's strike is in its 5th months and with no end in sight, thousands of polytechnic students may have to wait "forever" before returning to school. The union is demanding among other things, that Needs Assessment Committee be set up to establish areas of infrastructural interventions in polytechnics, constitution of Governing Councils for polytechnics as its obtainable in universities, improvement in salary structure and an end to the discrimination of polytechnic graduates in the labour market. <br /><br /> While the crises linger on, both parties (ASUP and FG) have shifted blames for the deadlock in negotiation. </div>

NO ENDING TO ASUP STRIKE

Any hope to ending the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (A.S.U.P) was yesterday dashed after the meeting between ...

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THE BEAUTIFUL ONES ARE DYING !

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Too early, too soon, the nation was again thrown into mourning over the killing of innocent students in the troubled North East of the country. Over 40 students were reportedly killed in this latest savagery attack on schools in the region. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> While no group had directly claim responsibility of the incident, the attack bears the hallmark of the dreaded Boko Haram group operating wild in the region. The group had been fingered for similar attacks in the past, most often leading to closure of schools in the affected state(s). Like the previous killings, the students were attack and killed as they slept in their dormitories in an overnight raid on their school - Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State. <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Unlike in most civilize nations around the world where all the resources of the state would be mobilize into finding and prosecuting the perpetrators of such attacks, our politicians only gave the knee jack response, condemning the act, issuing statements after statements in a well familiar fashion, but little or no action has been taken to forestall such killings in another few months time, nor to bring the perpetrators to book. <br /> As families of the victims mourn their loss and are preparing to bury the dead, bigwigs of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (P.D.P) including the Nigerian president were gearing-up for a big political rally elsewhere in the country, just how insensitive, selfish and little value is attach to the blood of our dying dreams. Not a single day of mourning was declared to reflect and grieve on this monumental loss of life nor was any day declared for any other recent attacks on defenseless victims of Boko Haram, instead, a high ranking member of the government was alleged to have orchestrate a failed blackmail of one perceived political enemy through associating him with the killings incident. No doubt, the administration seeks to escape its primary responsibility and score a cheap political point as the 2015 general election approaches. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> These men - the ugly generation - won't leave the stage and would not let the beautiful ones live. They are trading the country's future for the gains of today - no, of their pockets. The country still do not have an education minister (just a supervising one) ASUP and COEASU strikes is ongoing and lots of schools are under lock and key in Boko Haram affected states, yet, the president is on a political tour in attempt to win the next general election. To the political class, winning elections seems more important than keeping the youths in school, protecting the lives of school children and creating jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates. <br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Things may not totally be hopeless now, but are definitely worrisome. It would be insane to not worry for the future if substantial number of higher institutions are locked down by striking lecturers and students are being killed in their sleep. More than ever, our education system needs a Moses not luck any longer. </div> </div>

THE BEAUTIFUL ONES ARE DYING !

Too early, too soon, the nation was again thrown into mourning over the killing of innocent students in the troubled North East of the cou...

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