School Funding CenterCentral source of expertise on school improvement issues

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While horizontal drilling has been around since the early twentieth century, it only became an efficient drilling technique in recent years with the development of finer tools and faster surveys.

When drilling at an angle, companies need to constantly conduct surveys to ensure that the well is on the right route, as well as discover what kind of ground formations they are drilling through. These surveys can be very time-consuming, slowing down the drilling process.

However, new technology such as Measuring While Drilling equipment allows companies to take these surveys in the midst of drilling for faster results. This not only speeds up the drilling process, but also makes drilling safer because workers are more informed about the areas they are drilling through.

Environmental Benefits

The environmental benefits of directional drilling alone make it an attractive option for energy companies. By drilling multiple wells from the same pad site with horizontal drilling, companies can reduce their impact to the surrounding area.

To reach the reserves of a shale formation with vertical drilling, companies would need to drill dozens of wells to intersect the shale, each with their own pad site. With directional drilling, only one pad site is needed instead of the over 35 pad sites otherwise required with vertical drilling. Not only does this mean less land levelled for pad sites, it also means less roads needed for trucks, less piping needed to transport the oil or gas, and overall less damage to the earth’s surface.

Economic Benefits

Horizontal drilling allows companies to retreive oil from areas that otherwise could not be accessed. Most shale formations do not form vertically. The Marcellus Shale in the Eastern states is a horizontal plain that has dips and peaks like the hilly area that surrounds it, and the EagleFord Shale in Texas runs diagonally, going deeper the further it slopes to the east. Directional drilling can follow the angle of the shale instead of being confined to the small area where a vertical well intersects it.

Image via Wikipedia

Not only can horizontal drilling create more oil-rich well space, it also provides an ideal setting for hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing allows wells to collect more oil resources from the same well by opening up the natural fractures in the shale that surrounds the well so that oil and natural gas can naturally be pulled out of the rock and brought to the surface

These horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques  cut costs while bringing in more work opportunities by getting the same or better production results with less equipment and less surface space. Not only can new wells expand, old wells can be reopened for more production and a revitalized local economy.

While directional drilling is more costly due to the need for more surveys and more expensive equipment, these costs are outwieghed by the profitability of drilling many new wells from the same base, in addition to a better preserved environment.

Everyone has a picture in their head of the stereotypical computer geek: the taped up glasses; the ill-fitting poorly matched clothes; the wallflower in social gathering. Thanks to movies and TV shows, the words nerd and geek have grown to mean more than their initial insulting definitions. But even though the words no longer have the same meaning, this clichéd view of a computer person still persists.

While it makes a great Halloween costume, it’s far from reality.

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

A computer nerd implies a single focused knowledge of mathematics, circuit boards, and the occasional game of Dungeons and Dragons. When you say IT professional, this is also the typecast image that often comes to mind; and nothing could be further from the truth.

What is an IT Professional?

An IT professional knows not only about computers, but also the technology behind them and how they interact with modern business practices.

They are well-versed in everything: from helpdesk support to technical writing to business analysis. To succeed, they must have a holistic overview of the entire company and see how all departments work together in designing and creating an infrastructure that can support the company today and grow in the future.

Every company has an IT staff and relies on them for everything, from day-to-day operations to special projects and services. While often overlooked, they create an impact to every nook and cranny of the company; and the fact that you don’t notice them mean everything is working as it should. They are the first ones who get the call when something goes awry.

But IT people are only human. As business grows and expands, IT staff often find themselves being pulled in multiple directions by departments heads who only focus on their own mini fiefdom and not the company overall.

Everyone calls IT when there is a problem. Who does IT call when they need help?

Image Courtesy of Flickr

Call the IT Pros

When resources are thin and projects are piled up, it is the time to enlist IT staff augmentation services.

IT staff augmentation encompasses staffing for every IT need, from database development to project management. Whether you need help for 40 hours or 40 weeks, these trained professionals are ready and able to start immediately. They can be used for special projects or take over normal IT duties while existing IT staff focuses on other duties.

IT staff augmentation is for companies of any size looking to enhance, support, or even replace internal IT staff. Learn more about the IT staff augmentation options. Know what your options are before a crisis arises.

In the past, high education was a passage into the upper realms of education as well as adulthood. It often marked the time a student left home and began the foundations of his/her future life and career.  Recent technological advancements throughout the years has included ways of traveling and settling – if but temporarily – in a new location.

Technological Influence in Education

As the Internet took root and began to flourish, assignments could be posted online; completed work could be emailed to the teacher for correction; and results and grades could be posted on private sites.

Now the entire college experience can be had online. Teachers can conduct online classes, field and answer questions, post assignments, submit grades, and handle every other aspect of learning over the Internet. College degrees no longer require trudging across campuses from one building to another for specialized training. Now trudging has become surfing from one class, site or page to the next.

Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

Advantages of Online Classes

The first thing you’ll want to do is be accepted into the best colleges online. Once that is accomplished you’ll be ready to enjoy the advantages of online education. Those who take their courses online will enjoy the following:

1. No need to relocate for an education. If you live in a remote location attaining a quality education is no longer a problem. If health or other issues have made commuting difficult or impossible, online classes offer a new kind of flexibility to education unavailable before.

2. Flexible class times are much more available with online classes. In many cases the assignments and course expectations can be completed at the student’s on pace instead of during a predetermined time frame. When other commitments arise on certain nights the student need not make arrangements or miss the event entirely to avoid missing vital material given only during that class hour. If work requires unusual amounts of time, you have more time during which to complete homework, freeing the student up to meet other demands of his/her time.

3. Because online courses offer multimedia learning aids that quite often enhance the learning experience. The instructor has more technological tools he can call upon to make the class material more interesting than he might otherwise.

4. You’ve heard of working in your pajamas, well, the same is true of education now. No dress code to worry about. For that matter, if it’s snowy outside you don’t even need to wear a coat unless it’s cold where you have you computer.

5. As the online world of education expands it has approached the point to where there are actually more options for those who participate in online learning. Many specialized courses are available catering to the educational needs of more and more individuals. And you can take the courses on your timetable from just about anywhere in the world.

Disadvantages of Online Classes

Though flexibility and convenience are unlike they have ever been before when it comes to education, there are some downsides to completing your education strictly online.  Some of the disadvantages of the new paradigm include:

1. No face to face time with a teacher. There are certain advantages to getting to know your teacher which can spill over both academically as well as socially, and beyond. It is hard, for example, to ask for an endorsement from a person you only know from an online name.

Image via Wikipedia

2. You must exercise greater self-discipline than traditional school settings required. Once you log on you can be assured that the class requirements and curriculum will be available to you, but there will be much less of a time requirement placed on you. Your success and motivation will truly have to come from within. If you are self motivated this won’t be a problem, but for many moving from one step to the next in order to move through a program will be difficult without “finals” looming or some other deadline designed to keep on moving steadily though an education program.

3. No social climate. Many people expect to increase their social experiences at the same time they become proficient in a subject area. There is absolutely no social aspect of college life when taking course online.

4. Being online much of your day places a world of distractions before you. When bored or struggling with a subject it can be easy to surf off to other areas of the World Wide Web to help you forget your struggles for a while.  This is a distraction which if not carefully controlled can stall out your educational career for quite some time if you’re not careful.

5. Transferring credits may not be as easily done when your courses are completed online. You will want to make sure before signing on to a particular online course if the credits will be eligible for transfer should you decide to go a different route later in your educational career. In many cases the course will transfer, but they may require more work on your part to see that it happens.

Welcome to 2012! Its the first episode of the new year, and Daves flying solo because Jennys unavoidably absent. That doesnt mean we dont have a great show for you, though.

Dr. Blye Frank, Dean of the Faculty of Education, has some great and inspiring thoughts on what role the Faculty will play in the UBC Strategic Plan, Place & Promise. In an extended interview recorded back in October (so the upcoming travel he mentions has actually now occurred), Dr. Frank shares with us his views on where the Faculty is going and what priorities the Faculty is pursuing in implementing the plan. We cover everything from diversity in the Faculty to indigenous education, global outreach, youth at risk, and much more. We really enjoyed sitting down and chatting with him; his passion for Education really came through.

Before you listen, we did want to apologize for some of the audio issues during the interview. One of the headsets that have worked so well for us suddenly stopped working right at the beginning of the interview. We werent recording in our office, so we couldnt just grab another one. We alternated headsets so that Dr. Frank could have his own. The sound you here is when we were making the switch. We tried doing it as quietly as possible, but it unfortunately did make noise.

We also apologize for the lateness!

We’d love your feedback on anything brought up on the episode, or just the podcast in general. Who knows? Maybe it will even get read on the air. Email us at 

Find us on iTunes. (or just search for EPLT or Down the Hall in the podcast section of iTunes itself)

Or find us on Libsyn too, of course.

Just a note that the views expressed in the podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and not necessarily the views of either EPLT or the Faculty of Education at UBC.

More details, including the link to the episode itself and the time stamps, after the jump.

Down the Hall – Episode 26 (38:26)

Just click on the link below to go to our podcast page where you can either listen to it on the page or you can download it. Or, you can play it in the handy web player just below the link.

Episode 26

Segments:

00:11 Introduction

03:37 Interview Education, Place, and Promise

Interview with Dr. Blye Frank

Faculty of Education Alumni Home

35:02 Whats Happening in EPLT

M.Ed Cohorts with application deadlines in January

DLC2 Digital Learning & Curriculum in the Lower Mainland Deadline: January 15

VEL3 Educational Administration & Leadership in Vancouver Deadline: January 20

FRM3 Modern Language Education (French Immersion) in Vancouver Deadline: January 27

EPLT/MET on the web

EPLT web site:  MET web site:  Podcast feedback: 

EPLT on Facebook Down the Hall on Facebook

Plug:

Animal Rescue Secondhand Book Sale (Currently the 2nd event listed) January 19 in the foyer of the Scarfe building here at UBC, from 11:00 am  - 3:00 pm

Credits:

Our theme  music: “The Pharaos Theme” by The Pharaos through a Creative Commons license

Bumper music:

Selection 1: Cocktail by Nicoco

Selection 2: Midnight Blue by Slikk Tim