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As more technology has become available in many parts of the globe, a new type of student population has emerged.  The traditional student image of higher learning has been somewhat limited in many countries, but given the impact of the Internet, this traditional “student body” has changed.   Rather than being limited to regional demographics, the student body for educational institutions offering online courses has changed drastically.  In fact, these online courses have started yet another chapter in the history of education, known as virtual learning communities.  While online instructors may start out teaching students from local areas, this particular opportunity has been changing over the past decade.  In fact, many online instructors have noted an increase in a more diversified student population in their classes.  Further, they have realized the need to update their teaching skills, practices and strategies in order to accommodate the changing needs of the learners in the classroom, as well as updating their own teaching portfolio.  This paper will provide a brief overview of current recruitment and hiring methods used in the traditional hiring versus online hiring of educators.  Also, this paper will address the growing concerns of current traditional teachers as they approach the decision to transition over to online learning and how to obtain proper online instruction.  Finally, this paper will overview how one online university has approached online teacher training for both experienced instructors, as well as new teaching recruits as they prepare to transition from traditional classrooms over to virtual classes.

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While many students and instructors are transitioning from the brick-and-mortar classrooms to virtual classrooms, labs, and simulations, this requires a higher-level of expertise, control, and perseverance by the instructor. Traditional methods of teaching, leading, managing, and organizing learn activities has changed in terms of the virtual learning environment with regard to the use of technology and how learning can be delivered virtually. What does this mean for instructors as more and more colleges and universities are now competing for students, as well as maintaining a required level of academic quality and standards? This paper will focus on the roles, functions, and multi-tasking skills of online instructors in order to be successful in meeting the academic, virtual, and career needs of their adult learners. This paper will demonstrate how one online program is redesigning their global management coursework to help accomplish the above stated needs and invigorate their course with more hands on application and student involvement. In the current global management course, the students learn about current issues facing companies working in other overseas locations or learning about other companies considering the possibility of becoming global. While many educators will agree that learning concepts, principles, and theories are necessary in establishing a good foundation of learning in any course, this may not be enough. While instructors may have a challenging position of motivating and keeping the attention of young learners, we can also see the same problem with adult learners. Equally important to note here is the challenges that online instructors may have in motivating and keeping the attention of virtual learners when there are issues of differences in generational learning, time zone challenges, technology skills, and perceptions of course value. Therefore, instructors for this course took another look at the current assignments and final project and realized a change in design and presentation could make a difference.

Abstract-While many employees have become expatriates and traveled thousands of miles to represent their companies and organizations in overseas ventures and start-up new locations, a common problem experienced by many is the lack of proper training and preparation. The cause for this ill-preparation or training can be linked to many different causes, but the aim of this paper will be to focus on what can be done to break down the barriers of miscommunication or improper training (or lack of it) in order to help prepare and training global managers to better prepare their expatriate staff or better efficiency and effectiveness. The paper will examine the past and current ways expatriates have been recruited, selected, and trained for overseas placement. Then there will be a focus on what happens to the expatriate once he or she is overseas and the role and function of the global manager. Finally, the last segment of this paper will look at how expatriates deal with the process of repatriation and if it is effective or note. While some organizations have developed best practices in this area, not all organizations take the time to benchmark what other organizations have been doing to better prepare expatriates and global managers in these areas.Index Terms-Expatriate, global management, online training, virtual management. I. INTRODUCTIONWhat companies have learned over the years in many of their global ventures is that the "wheel does not need to be reinvented," but rather how it is used might be of more use to them in the future. In essence, they have learned from previous mistakes and those mistakes of others that it is important to capture their "learning" for later use and perhaps to save some time and money from more "roadblocks" and "slowdowns" in their business pursuits and expectations. Nonetheless, while many organizations are starting to wake up and realize the importance of having a learning organization that constantly monitors and tries to improve upon its current practices and strategies, as well as reflecting on lessons learned, they are starting to realize that there are some areas that need more improvement than others. For example, while many companies are seeing global ventures, they have learned from past experiences that there may be something missing in their approach and how they apply what they have learned from these errors. According to Senge (1990), "learning organizations [are] organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, Manuscript received June 3, 2013; revised August 6, 2013. Bob Barrett is with the School of Business at American Public University, Charles Town, WV 25414 USA (e-mail: docjob00@msn.com).and where people are continually learning to see the whole together." [1] If companies and organizations tend to step back and realize that specific performance requirements are normally a set of requisites, conditions, and/or ex...

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This article discusses the principles behind soap dispensers, paper weights, and other two-medium physics toys. The article explains why two liquid mediums give dramatic wave effects. It discusses how objects of an in-between density (like dolphins or ducks) float on the boundary between these two liquids. Finally, these floating objects are buoyed up even more as the bottom solution does not “wet” the floating objects, even as a paper clip can be made to “float” on water due to surface tension.