Ged Test Online - A Ged Study Guide » Story

Finding the Story in Adult Education

Ged Online — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:40:57 +0000

Sesame Street has become a cultural icon–and a proven innovator in combining education and entertainment. Today, the GED Academy combines education and entertainment for the adult learner, addressing the needs of a growing number of adults without high school diplomas.
When Sesame Street first aired in 1969, it revolutionized preschool education with its controversial integration of entertainment and education. Hundreds of studies have been done on its effectiveness, and the research shows its positive impacts ( http://www. eric. ed. gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/14/1a/bf. pdf ). Today, the United States is facing a new challenge, over 39 million adult Americans who don’t have a high school degree, and an innovative new study program is applying entertainment to the adult education field.
Interest drives education. Learning takes place inside the student’s mind. To engage that process, the student must become interested. In order to engage adult learners, the GED Academy’s GED prep program introduces a virtual classroom, where learners follow the stories of four GED students.
The virtual classroom covers GED skills, but the virtual students also spend time talking about their lives, getting into arguments, interacting with each other, and planning their futures. The stories of these characters are ones GED students can relate to. Maria is a single mother who is trying to support and raise her son. Curtis is an ex-convict who is trying to turn his life around by getting his GED. Becca is a former truck driver who injured her back and can’t drive anymore. And Dwayne is the class clown, a grown-up boy with a Peter Pan complex who delivers pizza for a living.
Most GED preparation programs simply present the material in a straightforward way. But the students The GED Academy is trying to reach don’t learn well from reading textbooks, or from a software program that’s just a textbook on the computer screen. Far from being a textbook on a screen, GED Academy lessons are animated films, like watching a movie. The main goal is to get students involved.
The storytelling works on several levels. First, students become involved with the stories of the characters and amused by Dwayne’s antics. Second, the virtual characters apply their learning to their own lives. Third, learners get to watch the virtual students think through and argue about the lessons–exposing the learning process.
Learning begins by playing. Learning begins with engagement, and entertainment. Somewhere between kindergarten and adulthood, that gets lost. Through narrative storytelling, The GED Academy is bringing the element of play back to adult education.

Callie Fuller, GED Success Story

Ged Online — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:58:50 +0000

Callie Fuller shares her GED success story in the PLUGged In program – against the odds

Dayton Musick – GED Success Story

Ged Online — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:30:32 +0000

Dayton Musick’s GED success story

Dr. G.E.D. My Story

Ged Online — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:13:23 +0000

The story of Dr. GED, a new seires its a funnt video

Cassondra Locke – GED success story

Ged Online — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:17:35 +0000

Cassondra Locke’s GED success story through the PlugGED in program

Paul Salopek: A GED Success Story

Ged Online — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:14:55 +0000

In America, 39 million adults have no high school diploma. The GED offers a second chance to high school drop-outs. But how far can you go in life with a GED? Take a look at Paul Salopek, a journalist who has won two Pulizer Prizes as a foreign correspondent. Paul Salopek was born in Barstow, California in 1962. He dropped out of high school, and he took the GED to earn his high school equivalency. He didn’t stop there. While working as a fisherman and farm worker, Salopek earned a degree in environmental biology from UC Santa Barbara, graduating in 1984. When his motorcycle broke down in New Mexico a year later, he took a job at a local newspaper to earn money to repair his bike. It was the beginning of a career. Salopek has worked for National Geographic and Texas’s El Paso Times. Currently he is a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, writing about Africa, Central Asia, and the Balkans. In 1998, he won a Pulizer Prize for writing about the Human Genome Diversity Project, and in 2001, he won another for his writing about Africa, including the civil war in Congo. He has written about over 50 countries throughout the world. In 2006, Salopek was held in prison for five weeks in Darfur, one of the many conflict zones he’s traveled to as a writer. Salopek is the recipient of the 2009 Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for courageous journalism. As part of the award, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Paul Salopek took his GED and went to the ends of the earth with it. That’s what the GED is for. It opens doors for adults who need more opportunity, for better jobs, higher education, and personal fulfillment. Each GED earned represents the potential for achieving a dream.

Virginia GED Success Story 3

Ged Online — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:18:47 +0000

Andre Bright, who dropped out of high school, talks about how earning his GED has opened up his future in another Race to GED Virginia success story. For more information about earning your GED, visit www.vaged.vcu.edu or call 1-877-37-MY GED.

Virginia GED Success Story 2

Ged Online — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:11:55 +0000

Captain Sonny Alicie, a retired law enforcement officer, talks about the importance of earning his GED in this Race to GED Virginia success story. For more information about earning your GED, visit www.vaged.vcu.edu or call 1-877-37-MY GED.

Rita Boothe, GED Success Story

Ged Online — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:44:45 +0000

Rita shares her Virginia GED Success Story – and her video was a GED contest winner!

My GED Success Story video contest

Ged Online — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:16:45 +0000

The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center is sponsoring a contest encouraging Virginia GED passers to create homemade videos about their GED experience. Contest participants will upload their videos to YouTube and then fill out the entry form on our site at www.vaged.vcu.edu The best videos can win cool prizes like an iPod Nano or a Nintendo Wii.