Abstract
THE impacts of CESIP on the professional development of participants were investigated. Six high school Science teachers attending the CESIP for two years or more identified common benefits including improvement in their ability to implement more organized systems in the classroom, enhance learning through cooperative learning, and improve strategies for individual learning. Other benefits were also identified based on individual perspective.
The Impacts of CESIP on the Professional Development of High School Teachers
Introduction
Teachers play a vital role in the learning and development of their students. In the classroom, they serve as the main instruments of learning, and the most immediate access to knowledge. Without them, books, computer programs and other learning devices will be insufficient as perfect essay and these devices can neither process students’ insights nor assess learning and progress the way teachers do. A classroom without a teacher is thus incomplete and inefficient. Ideally, the teacher should serve as what Vygotsky (1978) calls, the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) who possesses a wider scope of the subject matter. As teachers construct and design lessons and materials for students, they should be well equipped with efficient skills to monitor student progress and needs, and to guide students to develop appropriate skills using the right approach. The training they received in the undergraduate level is not enough to meet the demands of time and apply effective learning trends. In this view, professional development is necessary. This paper discusses the impacts of professional development for high school teachers in English and Science. In particular, it investigates individual cases of teachers undergoing the Communication in English and Science Inquiry Project (CESIP) professional development which the National Center for Teacher Education provides.
Implementing professional development programs is one key to success in improving the present status of education. O’Connell (2009) claims that as we adopt the needs of a multicultural classroom, several issues arise, including learning difficulty and language proficiency. Given these challenges, it is necessary for teachers to undergo continuing professional development to keep abreast with trends in teaching, measurement, research, and other aspects of the teaching profession.
Professional Development: Background and Significance
Corcoran (1995) reports that most professional development programs for teachers in the 90s involved attending to seminars and lectures despite irrelevance to their field or curriculum. The earlier practice was to have the principal order an early dismissal of classes then have all the teachers attend a seminar, workshop, or a talk on a hot topic to be delivered by a well-informed speaker. These efforts were geared towards professional development yet were sometimes irrelevant to the needs of some teaching professionals. For instance, master papers, gathering all teachers into one seminar despite differences in their field of expertise is a sign that such efforts are inconsiderate of teachers’ level of knowledge and experience. In this regard, attendance sometimes seemed to be the motivating factor to these professional development programs.
In the current practice, professional development programs have adopted important changes, making them more relevant to the practice. Unlike before when school administrators usually took initiatives and decided on the programs for teachers, several teacher organizations have taken initiatives to improve professional development for teachers. With organizations initiating programs for teacher development, changes have finally taken place. These include providing relevant further learning and experience, giving financial support or incentives, and helping teachers establish network or collaborate with other professionals in the field. Many workshops and seminars are conducted outside the school, allowing teachers with similar expertise and experience to receive further professional development based on their needs.
Focused on students’ benefits, professional development programs for teachers may be evaluated based on student achievement. This is to say that professional development is directly related to students’ progress. The American Educational Research Education (2005) reports its observation that students’ benefits vary according to changes in professional development programs. In particular, since the 60s focused on developing good classroom and behavior management skills, such resulted in manageable classroom behavior but “moderate positive effects on students’ decoding and arithmetic skills” (Ibid., 1). Later, as professional programs provided in-depth training on teaching specific subject matter, students were found to display higher academic learning. In this regard, professional development programs must be in line with curriculum requirements, materials, and assessment measures. This means targeting needs based on specific levels, and if possible, on individual levels.
Watts, Baker, Semken & Lang report the need of Science high school teachers in Arizona to receive further knowledge on energy systems lessons. In response, the investigators provided them a 23-hour professional development program, and learned that students’ knowledge increased as teachers received training in relation to their field. Considering this, it is significant to discover other impacts of continuing professional development for teachers.
Implementing CESIP for the Professional Development of Science Teachers
Among organizations that invest efforts in professional development for teachers is the National Center for Teacher Education, a private organization located in Arizona, which coordinates with pre-K-12 and four-year institutions, school districts, community leaders, and education officials in order to develop programs that support community colleges. At present, the organization hosts professional development programs for both teachers and students. These programs include the CESIP, a five-year program intended to widen content knowledge of teachers in Science, and improve their capacity to teach students to learn science concepts, organize ideas using science notebooks, and increase ability for structured communication (National Center for Teacher Education, 2010).
Impacts of CESIP
Six teachers were interviewed to determine the individual impacts of CESIP on their professional practice. These teachers with varied age and experience came from different high schools in Arizona. With a common motive of improving the quality of education in their field, the participants applied for the CESIP program. For the purpose of this study, they provided with best essay insights on the progress or improvements they observed in their own classrooms.
Composed of five female teachers and one male teacher, the participants shared their insights during the interview. Jan O’Malley, one of the participants, noted three things she has employed in the classroom based on the CESIP program. These things have helped her improve student learning and performance. First is implementing the use of advance organizers. Advance organizers help students focus on their study, and prepare for future lessons. They likewise help O’Malley to design lessons ahead of time, giving way to a more carefully designed lesson and set of activities. Second is implementing protocols. Although this is not a new idea, implementing protocols in the classroom is still related to organization. Protocols are necessary to manage behavior and avoid disruption of learning. Third, O’Malley also mentions explanation as an important aspect of teaching. Giving lucid explanations to students helps them learn more easily. To allow students to formulate their own explanation of learned concepts, O’Malley incorporates writing activities, thus promoting integration of English into the Science lesson.
According to Jennifer Smith, the CESIP has taught her to prioritize three important things: taking time for learning, talking about learning, and targeting what was missed. Devoting enough time for each of the said activities reflects Smith’s ability for organization. Moreover, her insights also promote proper scaffolding and transition from one phase of the lesson to another.
The male respondent, Gary Feldman, noted some strategies he has employed in the classroom. These strategies include reasoning, questioning, and using language for instruction. In sum, these strategies reflect student-centered instruction. Student-centeredness allows the teacher to monitor student progress. A student-centered instruction allows the students to conduct discussions, make inquiries, and perform hands-on exercises for effective learning. Although this term is not new, student-centeredness has been proven effective for it allows maximum participation of students in the learning process.
Another participant named Michele Stanley, a Biology teacher, emphasizes student responsibility, organization through the use of notebooks, and student-directed learning strategies such as brainstorming and writing reflections. She also adds collaboration or interaction with other teachers in the field in order to come up with effective lessons.
Brandy Walker identifies three things she associates with CESIP. These are education, notebooks, and goals. For her, attending CESIP promotes education for both the teachers and the students. In addition, CESIP requires the use of notebooks to keep one organized. Third, CESIP means setting up goals and targeting them.
Discussion and Conclusion
Notably, the five female participants agreed on organization as one of the impacts of CESIP on their professional development as teachers. Attending CESIP has taught them to be more organized in their lessons and to teach students to be highly organized by using notebooks. The participants specifically identified notebooks as the main tool used in teaching and organizing activities for students. Notebooks are an important tool in the classroom for they can be used to contain reflections and monitor language ability in explaining science concepts.
Another notable impact of CESIP based on teacher responses is the improvement of classroom strategies. Four out of six respondents specified the importance of implementing cooperative learning in the classroom, while one mentioned student-centered instruction. Implementing cooperative learning allows students to work independently and interact with others at the same time. Cooperative learning adheres closely to the CESIP goal of promoting language proficiency as it allows students to interact with one another in order to learn.
In addition, the respondents also cited the importance of integrating English into the Science subject. Learning Science will not be complete without engaging in activities that require explanation of concepts and individual reflection. In this view, Science teachers should pay particular attention to the students’ ability to use the custom writing language to discuss their thoughts and reflect on the learning they get out of each lesson.
Notably, the progress that the six participants were making relate closely to the goals of the program. However, they do not present innovation in the field of teaching. For instance, emphasizing organization is part of classroom management while cooperative learning is already a well-known teaching strategy. Nevertheless, integrating English into Science is a relatively new idea, and may be a subject for further investigation.
To add, the impacts of CESIP as a program for professional development should be determined not only based on teacher responses. As illustrated in this study, teacher responses to CESIP were all positive, thus neglecting room for improvement in the professional development program. Therefore, to generate a more credible finding, future studies regarding the impact of CESIP should include improvement of student performance and attitude of students regarding study.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Distance Education and rush essay delivery of superior quality
There are various connotations about education. Others say that it is the way to prosperity; others believed that it is a matter of recognition; still others revealed that education is what makes a person worthy to be emulated by others; and still others signified that education is reaching one’s ambition in life.
Whatever is the meaning of education, the most important is that ignorance is away from it. It is a tool for economic survival, a ridge to know and understand the strengths and weaknesses of one’s ideas, opinions, and knowledge. It is also the road to success in every endeavor in life, and a pathway where light is shining for our destiny.
People are the greatest resource of every country and the most effective agents and managers of change. However, unless the people are equipped with essential knowledge, skills and the right attitudes, these capabilities can never become reality. To become agents and managers of change, the people must be prepared for educated. They must be equipped with critical knowledge and skills, and the right attitudes and values not only to function and live well in society, but also to be creative, productive and useful citizens of the country. These capabilities and many more are most effectively developed through education.
Man has always tried to find ways to make his work easier. As the population of the earth grew, man realized that his fingers and toes were no longer enough to count his different transactions.
The computer has invaded all aspects of human activities: from science laboratories, technological fields, banks, supermarkets, medial laboratories to different industrial offices. Now it has also gained acceptance in the classrooms. The presence of the computer will not be a threat to a teacher; instead it will be an aid to enrich the learning situation. The computer is an interactive-delivery mechanism in the learning process. One need not have to know anything about computers to avail of computer assisted instruction (Brownridge, 1993).
The computer is just a tool or medium of instruction. Different subject matters can be prepared and delivered through it. With the advent of microcomputers, the potential application of computer technology in the classroom has increased significantly.
Nowadays, a student can earn a college or master’s degree or a doctorate even if he or she does not attend classes. One can also earn a degree in the country while the student is working abroad. This has been made possible by distance education, which has been facilitated by the availability of Internet services in many parts of the country.
Distance education offers several advantages. Unlike traditional education in which one goes to school regularly to meet teachers and classmates, a student availing himself or herself of distance learning can “attend” classes while at home or in the workplace with the use of e-mail, chat and video conference. Assignments and announcements are posted online (Czbuai, 2001).
Like the mainstream learning experience, distance education follows a curriculum. Deadlines are set but studying can be done at one’s pace Distance education is unlike the usual classroom setup where students and teachers are supposed to be present regularly for education to take place.
Distance education is the new, global technology based education to facilitate easy, immediate learning and interaction for all communicators who are the teachers and students that involve the education program. Distance education can provide wide-mass education for everyone, it leads people to learn individually and let responsibility of learning to the people. In addition to this; it is obvious to select courses and content that reflect the concerning needs and motivation of students (Czubai, 2001). It provides creative and qualified ideas atmosphere and information that will be presented should be update and interesting for all different kinds of students according to their backgrounds information. For the effective distance education programs out of the communicational or any kind of barriers, there should be consciousness on the definable roles of the teachers and students in learning-teaching process.
Distance education or earning a degree online is rapidly growing industry already slated to be worth billions. While many people waste countless hours surfing on the net looking more than garbage, many people are investing their time into new ways of improving their education (Balkin, 2005). Many people and institutes of higher education are embracing this new revolution. When the aim of the research considered, it can be noticed that roles of teacher and students are really defined and effectiveness on learning and training. Distance education also requires professionalism on any subject training to individualism. Therefore; it supports individual learning by dealing the education with different subjects, fields to qualified people or to do qualified people (Dwyer, 2000).
Distance education is the new revolution of education that eliminates distance, time and financial accounts on education. This subject requires considering on exchanging information arguing, commending, expanding data between student and teacher for reaching stable learning. What it means that like discovery, research based education, best essay, distance learning empowers individual to act credible, useful on their self, career development. In other words, teachers should acts as consulters, advisors that share wide range of knowledge, direct properly, instantly; on the other hand; students feel self-responsibility, being with the comfort of home study and easy search through internet immediately through their learning (Hellman, 2003). Distance education requires self-realization and responsibility roles of communicators in learning process (Dwyer, 2000). There are a lot of researches or an article that reflect the importance of the distance education and provides alternative implementations, reflections on the roles of communicators in learning process.
Education involves more than the provision of information-it is an interactive process. Successful learning is embedded in teach communities which support students through collaboration and shared experience; ultimately resulting in socialization into the broader professional community. In higher education this has traditionally taken the form of student organizations, student-faculty research projects, mentor relationships, guest lecturers, and shared space. As distance education has proliferated, the space where students learn and create community has changed (Holmberg, 1995).
The traditional college experience in contrast to distance education, had included on-campus activities such as joining student organizations, campus intramurals, research projects and building long-lasting relationships with fellow students and faculty mentors. However, as the conception of “traditional” education changes, so must the conception of the “traditional college experience.” While it is generally accepted in higher education that distance education is no longer an aberration, it is not yet widely accepted that these programs offer the same opportunities for the creation of a community of learners as on-campus programs do.
Critics of distance education programs often emphasize that students who do not visit the physical campus are denied the ancillary elements that have traditionally defined the college experience and they are therefore isolated. The assumption is that community can only exist in one type of space: the physical campus. Distance education rejects this assumption (Holmberg, 2000).
Distance education may actually have a greater capacity for building an inclusive community of learners. On the physical campus, the creation of a community of learners is time and space dependent, therefore including only those learners who are not restricted by time and distance (Klinger, 1992). Distance education, on the other hand, is able to provide community independent of time and space (Klinger, 1992).
Traditional Distance
Meetings on the physical campus; time specified Meetings by email and discussion boards; time independent.
Meeting with professors during their office hours on the physical campus. Meetings with professors by email and discussion boards; time independent.
Building of relationships with fellow students limited to time on the physical campus; usually limited to small groups of people. Building of relationships with fellow students by email and discussion boards; potential to include more students.
Research initiatives available to students who are able to work with the professor on campus. Research initiatives available to all students who are interested.
Student government takes place on campus. Student government takes place online.
Guest lectures on campus; limited time to ask questions. Guest lectures online; question period extended; archived for those students unable to attend at specified time.
It is presumed that conventional instruction by the professor is the ideal, so any alternative must bear scrutiny. Despite criticism (Hoague, 1998) that distance education lacks sound educational practice and theory, research shows that distance education programs produce learning outcomes equal to face-to-face instruction. The evidence is overwhelming that distance education, regardless of the medium, is equivalent to traditional instruction. Such results are difficult for many to accept. A new wrinkle is the suggestion that the subsequent performance of distance education students should be examined in other classes (Dominguez & Ridley, 1999), the presumption being that students who do well in distance courses may be suspect and their performance may not hold up in other courses. Concerns about the quality of distance education or, any particular course, should be no different than concerns about the quality of any individual course, textbook or instructor in conventional college instruction. The medium is not the problem. Quality is the responsibility of the professor online or in front of a lecture hall.
With the number of distance learners growing rapidly with superior paper, some observers hold the idea that this number may become larger than the number of students in the classroom. If there is a significant difference between the needs of the distance learner and the classroom learner, then the instructor must adjust their teaching approach accordingly. Adjusting the educational approach means more than changing the delivery method of education, it implies a different emphasis and a different manner of presenting the material (Yellen, 1997-98).
The Department of Independent Study and Distance Education at the University of Florida at Gainesville had 4, 965 registrations and 2,728 completions in 1993/94. 55% of the students completed their courses. The content of each course was essentially the same as the course taught on campus. No grade point averages were given (Keegan, 1996).
In a summary of research on learning outcomes and attitudes for students in higher education, Moore and Thompson (1997) reviewed comparisons of distance learning instructional technology (two-way audio and video and teleconferencing vs. traditional face-to-face teaching). Studies that compare cognitive factors such as amount of learning; academic performance, achievement, and assignment of grades in distance learning and campus courses were summarized (Dwyer, 2000). In general, the outcomes of that body of research reflected no differences in cognitive factors between the distance and traditional classes. Means, standard deviations, and obtained statistics for distance education and on-campus course evaluations were presented with no differences in overall ratings (Spooner, Jordan, Algozzine, & Spooner, 1999).
According to Jaimie Merisotas, president of the Institute for Higher Learning, many of the studies suggest the grades of distance learners are higher or comparable to traditional learners. However, we do not know if the poorer performers are dropping out at a higher rate (McQueen, 1999).
In the majority of research in which instructional factors were studied, opportunities for interaction between students and instruction seemed to be negatively affected in the distance condition (Davis, 1984; Purong & Lather, 1990). If distance education is of the same quality, quantity, and content as classroom education, then there should be no significant difference between the final grades of distance learners and classroom learners.
There was no significant difference between the grade points of the distance learners and the classroom learners. It was found that in semesters one and two, the mean grade point of the distance learners was slightly higher (Hutcher, 1990). When looking at the total mean grade point for three semesters, the distance learners mean was slightly higher. It is important to note, however, that the analysis of difference between the means demonstrates that there is no significant difference between the final grades of distance learners when compared to classroom learners.
The institutions of higher learning should continue to monitor the methods of teaching, quality of the curriculum content, and the final grades of distance learners when compared with classroom learners.
As online education has grown, so too, unfortunately, has the concern over academic honesty in this new environment. Academic honesty is a topic that keeps coming up over and over again in online education circles. These concerns are not new, nor are they limited to the online realm. However, when there is relative anonymity and a separation between instructor and student, these concerns seem to increase. Considering the many reasons given, online education does not presumably give students a new reason to cheat though. The actual reasons for cheating appear to be mostly the same between traditional education and online education. So while honesty is a problem facing all modes of education, the reasons for cheating should not be more prevalent in one medium over the other, but is there anything specific to the online education environment that might enable or encourage particular students to cheat any more or less than in a face-to-face classroom (Hutcher, 1990).
Begin by considering that the internet is still relatively new. As such, a standard code of ethics is still evolving in this modality. With the ethical beliefs of students already in question, the online environment places them in a situation where uncertainty over the rules in this new terrain may confound the already fuzzy realm of academic honesty. This argument may be losing its weight today; however, as the web continues to grow in use and pervasiveness, moral ethos and codes of conduct have begun to be accepted.
Next, consider time issues. A recurring sentiment in ongoing surveys of graduate-level distance students shows that time-management issues are one of the primary concerns of never online students. The discourse nature of many online courses can quickly lend itself to a student to falling behind (Hutcher, 1990). Pressure to catch-up might contribute to a student cheating. With proper measures as described later in this paper, time issues can effectively be reduced so that such pressures present themselves less to the students.
This pressure may be compounded based on a student’s technical competency. Online education is technology intensive, requiring some degree of knowledge of both hardware and software by the students. When an error does occur, a participant can quickly be set back without quick assistance. The end effect is an increase in any time pressure as noted above along with possible anxiety created by the technical failures. Once again though, proper design of an online course van limits such failure and anxieties.
Despite the recent success and growth of online distance education, one resistance factor to online education continues to be that many believe that cheating online is simply too easy. Interestingly, the most often cited factor in online education dealing with academic honesty is also one of its strengths, anonymity. Because of anonymity, an instructor cannot know what the students are bringing to the assessment table. Students may bring books, notes, and the entire internet along with friends or even paid helpers. All online assessments essentially become open book in nature. But life itself is open book. As a result perhaps of necessity, online education can shift instruction away from the multiple choice exams and towards more authentic assessments. Knowledge can be explored in a discussion where every student has the opportunity to participate (Spooner, 1999).
One conception of online education is that it provides a haven for cheaters to coalesce. Unfortunately, we know that cheating overall is increasing for all modes of delivery. There is no evidence that cheating in one mode of education is increasing more than the other (Spooner, 1999). Furthermore, such a theory would require a concerted movement within which a cheating community had built awareness of something special in one modality allowing cheating at a safety level different enough from traditional education to offset any costs of shifting the student delivery preferences or needs. Such a situation is highly unlikely.
Taking these ideas in mind, one might think that students are simply bound to cheat online, but a more realistic conception about online education is that the potential for cheating online is probably no different than that in face-to-face education (Carnavale, 1999, 1999, Grijalva, 2003; & Kacsmarczyk, 2001). In fact, some anecdotal evidence suggests that students may cheat less in online courses. Similarly, Kaczmarczyk (2001) found that students and faculty overwhelmingly believed that it was easier to cheat through distance education; however, after having experienced online education, they were equally divided. The ease of cheating online teaching and learning paradigm may actually reduce cheating.
We have seen that a key to successful online programs has been a shift away from traditional teaching methods towards an interactive, student-centered paradigm. Successful courses develop a sense of community among the students, with everyone contributing to the learning process. A sharing communal atmosphere may help to reduce both the desire and the need to cheat (Spooner, 1999).
Also, the fact that online students are separated by distance may reduce peer-to-peer cheating from a practical standpoint. Sharing answers with other students requires more than a glance ever one’s shoulder. Students may be unwilling to question another student whom they do not know personally. They may fear being reported to the instructor by other students, especially in the presence of a modified honor code. It can slow take time to determine who the good and the bad students are when there is no prior knowledge of classmates (Yellen, 1997-1998). Students do not know who to cheat from in the beginning and by the time that they do know, they have already worked hard enough to keep up and complete previous assignment that they may no longer feel an academic need to cheat in the rest of the course (Moore, 2003).
One self-imposed factor that may reduce cheating online has been the push for the “ideal” online student. Numerous successful online student surveys exist where prospective students are able to check their readiness or success prediction in an online classroom. By using such quizzes, some students not fitting the mold of independent, self-directed, and technologies themselves may be attracting or limiting enrollment to a more savvy and motivated student to begin with. In such a way, a potential need or cause for cheating has been removed from the scenario (Yellen, 1997-98).
No matter what precautions we take, how we chose our students, or how we design our courses, some students are going to cheat. One key to preventing is to actively acknowledge it as described above, but you must also make some effort to actually detect it when it occurs at rushessay, and furthermore, to punish it once it is found (Harry, 1993). In the absence of proctors, it is unlikely that you will catch a student ‘red-handed’ in an online course, but that doesn’t mean that it is difficult to catch them by other means.
There are reasons and ways that students will cheat in our society today. We strive to do our best not just to catch students cheating, but give them reasons and perhaps incentives not to do so. Learning is important, and hopefully the students will see what they are learning as important enough to actually learn. In the end, fear not though. By taking the necessary precautions and through effective course design, online education can be both conducive to learning and to academic honesty among students (Spooner, 1999).
The recent growth of distance education reflects not only the diffusion on internet usage, but also the changing demographics of higher education. Distance education clearly offers the potential to make higher education more accessible to lifelong learners. However, many people also believe that distance education poses a risk to the quality and integrity of higher education. Demonstrating the effectiveness of distance learning is even more difficult than demonstrating the effectiveness of traditional resident instruction, because distance education is a relatively recent phenomenon (Spooner, 1999). We are still learning how best to foster learning at a distance. One of the first things distance educators learn is that they cannot hope for a successful learning experience if they simply put existing courses designed for resident instruction on-line. We do not have a sound pedagogical understanding of how students learn about the geosciences effectively at any level.
The success integration of theory and practice into the learning experience does not depend solely on the curriculum, but it is agreed that this is a critical component of the teaching-learning model (Moore, 2003). Opinions were expressed that the dynamics of the distance education classroom can promote and reinforce the theoretical understanding of course material in a way that enhances conceptual learning.
Distance education offers opportunities that cannot be seen when it is conceptualized as a classroom derivative (Moore, 2003). Therefore, successful integration and practice requires faculty participation in the development of curriculum for multi-media delivery, and faculty training in integrative process, specific media of instruction. Curriculum development is centralized-that is, collectively developed and revised by faculty and program directors. The point has been repeatedly made that distance education requires distance education curriculum. Although the teaching-learning model drives curriculum for all types of delivery and both possess similar learning outcomes, the process and content propelled by the teaching-learning model and the learning outcome criteria may be vastly different. Distance education centers should develop a separate core of faculty, in order to ensure that they have a sufficient number of well-trained instructors focused on distance education academic issues (Klinger, 1992). Distance education centers should have policies in place to establish appropriate expectations for feedback and response time (Hoague, 1998). They should staff their centers with suitable technical support personnel. Evaluation of basic skills is frequently more difficult in teaching at a distance, particularly when proctors must be arranged. The process requires more time and effort on the part of students and staff. Distance learning centers should adopt basic skills evaluation procedures which will work well with their media, for students who need remediation (Hoague, 1998). Systematic process for referring students in need of remediation should be developed. Distance learning technology provides an ideal environment for pursuing academic achievements, promoting scholarly collaboration, and providing global access to educational opportunities.
Distance education has always taken advantage from the development of communications. In the past, post service and new forms of mail delivery have allowed a big rise of courses by mail (Brownridge, 1993). Today the communication technology plays the same role: in the developed countries, the technological developments already available or currently under development will result in a useful and friendly workstation in every home. The implications for education and training are immense; learning can be independent of time and place, and available at all stages of person’s life. The learning context will be technologically rich. Learners will have access not only to a wide range of media, but also to a wide range of sources of education.
Nevertheless, the theory pertaining distance education and learning has generally paid very little attention to the communication theory. Communication becomes thus the focus point of a distance learning system. With the big rise of television and mass media in the 60’s researchers proclaimed that the image civilization has been born. Contrary to that assumption, linguists and semioticians thought that we were than ever in a textual civilization arguing that language is absolutely necessary for decoding and understanding the image’s meaning (Balkin, 2005). Today, despite the multimedia erring and developments, we still are in a textual civilization. Written and printed material have yet a very long time life: experts estimate that the printed material globally constitutes around 80 per cents of all the available distance education material (Yellen, 1997-98). The main actual change certainly is the rise of electronic writing and delivery of books or pedagogical material. Difficult questions need to be answered about the qualitative differences between face to face and mediated social interaction.
Distance learning does not offer immediate feedback which in traditional classroom setting; a student’s performance can be immediately assessed through questions and informal testing. With distance learning, a student has to wait for feedback until the instructor has reviewed their work and responded to it. Distance learning does not always offer all the necessary courses online when students pursuing a specific certificate or degree program may not have all the necessary courses available through distance learning so it is not suited for all subjects (Dywer, 2000). Distance learning may not be acknowledged by all employers because most of the students who want to work for a specific employer upon graduation should be sure of that employer’s perspective about online education. And distance education does not give students the opportunity to work on oral communication skills where the students in distance learning courses do not get the practice of verbal interaction with professors and other students (Hellman, 2003).
There are numerous forms of definitions for distance education. They all have one thing in common, namely the physical distance between the students and the teachers form classrooms and even form entire university campuses. A set of teaching and learning strategies for connecting people who have learning needs with the resources required to meet those needs. Distance education has been offered in many forms for nearly 150 years (Balkin, 2005).
Distance education represents future, distributed learning the future. Distance education is a way to solve problem-teacher shortages, remote students, inadequate funding, and schools too small to support specialist subjects (Balkin, 2005). While distance education is a reaction to a problem, distributed learning is about responding to potential. Distributed learning is the future, distance education the past (Balkin, 2005).
Distributed learning is not education on the cheap. It should not be viewed as a way to replace teachers, raise class sizes, control curriculum, eliminate electives or close schools.
Whatever is the meaning of education, the most important is that ignorance is away from it. It is a tool for economic survival, a ridge to know and understand the strengths and weaknesses of one’s ideas, opinions, and knowledge. It is also the road to success in every endeavor in life, and a pathway where light is shining for our destiny.
People are the greatest resource of every country and the most effective agents and managers of change. However, unless the people are equipped with essential knowledge, skills and the right attitudes, these capabilities can never become reality. To become agents and managers of change, the people must be prepared for educated. They must be equipped with critical knowledge and skills, and the right attitudes and values not only to function and live well in society, but also to be creative, productive and useful citizens of the country. These capabilities and many more are most effectively developed through education.
Man has always tried to find ways to make his work easier. As the population of the earth grew, man realized that his fingers and toes were no longer enough to count his different transactions.
The computer has invaded all aspects of human activities: from science laboratories, technological fields, banks, supermarkets, medial laboratories to different industrial offices. Now it has also gained acceptance in the classrooms. The presence of the computer will not be a threat to a teacher; instead it will be an aid to enrich the learning situation. The computer is an interactive-delivery mechanism in the learning process. One need not have to know anything about computers to avail of computer assisted instruction (Brownridge, 1993).
The computer is just a tool or medium of instruction. Different subject matters can be prepared and delivered through it. With the advent of microcomputers, the potential application of computer technology in the classroom has increased significantly.
Nowadays, a student can earn a college or master’s degree or a doctorate even if he or she does not attend classes. One can also earn a degree in the country while the student is working abroad. This has been made possible by distance education, which has been facilitated by the availability of Internet services in many parts of the country.
Distance education offers several advantages. Unlike traditional education in which one goes to school regularly to meet teachers and classmates, a student availing himself or herself of distance learning can “attend” classes while at home or in the workplace with the use of e-mail, chat and video conference. Assignments and announcements are posted online (Czbuai, 2001).
Like the mainstream learning experience, distance education follows a curriculum. Deadlines are set but studying can be done at one’s pace Distance education is unlike the usual classroom setup where students and teachers are supposed to be present regularly for education to take place.
Distance education is the new, global technology based education to facilitate easy, immediate learning and interaction for all communicators who are the teachers and students that involve the education program. Distance education can provide wide-mass education for everyone, it leads people to learn individually and let responsibility of learning to the people. In addition to this; it is obvious to select courses and content that reflect the concerning needs and motivation of students (Czubai, 2001). It provides creative and qualified ideas atmosphere and information that will be presented should be update and interesting for all different kinds of students according to their backgrounds information. For the effective distance education programs out of the communicational or any kind of barriers, there should be consciousness on the definable roles of the teachers and students in learning-teaching process.
Distance education or earning a degree online is rapidly growing industry already slated to be worth billions. While many people waste countless hours surfing on the net looking more than garbage, many people are investing their time into new ways of improving their education (Balkin, 2005). Many people and institutes of higher education are embracing this new revolution. When the aim of the research considered, it can be noticed that roles of teacher and students are really defined and effectiveness on learning and training. Distance education also requires professionalism on any subject training to individualism. Therefore; it supports individual learning by dealing the education with different subjects, fields to qualified people or to do qualified people (Dwyer, 2000).
Distance education is the new revolution of education that eliminates distance, time and financial accounts on education. This subject requires considering on exchanging information arguing, commending, expanding data between student and teacher for reaching stable learning. What it means that like discovery, research based education, best essay, distance learning empowers individual to act credible, useful on their self, career development. In other words, teachers should acts as consulters, advisors that share wide range of knowledge, direct properly, instantly; on the other hand; students feel self-responsibility, being with the comfort of home study and easy search through internet immediately through their learning (Hellman, 2003). Distance education requires self-realization and responsibility roles of communicators in learning process (Dwyer, 2000). There are a lot of researches or an article that reflect the importance of the distance education and provides alternative implementations, reflections on the roles of communicators in learning process.
Education involves more than the provision of information-it is an interactive process. Successful learning is embedded in teach communities which support students through collaboration and shared experience; ultimately resulting in socialization into the broader professional community. In higher education this has traditionally taken the form of student organizations, student-faculty research projects, mentor relationships, guest lecturers, and shared space. As distance education has proliferated, the space where students learn and create community has changed (Holmberg, 1995).
The traditional college experience in contrast to distance education, had included on-campus activities such as joining student organizations, campus intramurals, research projects and building long-lasting relationships with fellow students and faculty mentors. However, as the conception of “traditional” education changes, so must the conception of the “traditional college experience.” While it is generally accepted in higher education that distance education is no longer an aberration, it is not yet widely accepted that these programs offer the same opportunities for the creation of a community of learners as on-campus programs do.
Critics of distance education programs often emphasize that students who do not visit the physical campus are denied the ancillary elements that have traditionally defined the college experience and they are therefore isolated. The assumption is that community can only exist in one type of space: the physical campus. Distance education rejects this assumption (Holmberg, 2000).
Distance education may actually have a greater capacity for building an inclusive community of learners. On the physical campus, the creation of a community of learners is time and space dependent, therefore including only those learners who are not restricted by time and distance (Klinger, 1992). Distance education, on the other hand, is able to provide community independent of time and space (Klinger, 1992).
Traditional Distance
Meetings on the physical campus; time specified Meetings by email and discussion boards; time independent.
Meeting with professors during their office hours on the physical campus. Meetings with professors by email and discussion boards; time independent.
Building of relationships with fellow students limited to time on the physical campus; usually limited to small groups of people. Building of relationships with fellow students by email and discussion boards; potential to include more students.
Research initiatives available to students who are able to work with the professor on campus. Research initiatives available to all students who are interested.
Student government takes place on campus. Student government takes place online.
Guest lectures on campus; limited time to ask questions. Guest lectures online; question period extended; archived for those students unable to attend at specified time.
It is presumed that conventional instruction by the professor is the ideal, so any alternative must bear scrutiny. Despite criticism (Hoague, 1998) that distance education lacks sound educational practice and theory, research shows that distance education programs produce learning outcomes equal to face-to-face instruction. The evidence is overwhelming that distance education, regardless of the medium, is equivalent to traditional instruction. Such results are difficult for many to accept. A new wrinkle is the suggestion that the subsequent performance of distance education students should be examined in other classes (Dominguez & Ridley, 1999), the presumption being that students who do well in distance courses may be suspect and their performance may not hold up in other courses. Concerns about the quality of distance education or, any particular course, should be no different than concerns about the quality of any individual course, textbook or instructor in conventional college instruction. The medium is not the problem. Quality is the responsibility of the professor online or in front of a lecture hall.
With the number of distance learners growing rapidly with superior paper, some observers hold the idea that this number may become larger than the number of students in the classroom. If there is a significant difference between the needs of the distance learner and the classroom learner, then the instructor must adjust their teaching approach accordingly. Adjusting the educational approach means more than changing the delivery method of education, it implies a different emphasis and a different manner of presenting the material (Yellen, 1997-98).
The Department of Independent Study and Distance Education at the University of Florida at Gainesville had 4, 965 registrations and 2,728 completions in 1993/94. 55% of the students completed their courses. The content of each course was essentially the same as the course taught on campus. No grade point averages were given (Keegan, 1996).
In a summary of research on learning outcomes and attitudes for students in higher education, Moore and Thompson (1997) reviewed comparisons of distance learning instructional technology (two-way audio and video and teleconferencing vs. traditional face-to-face teaching). Studies that compare cognitive factors such as amount of learning; academic performance, achievement, and assignment of grades in distance learning and campus courses were summarized (Dwyer, 2000). In general, the outcomes of that body of research reflected no differences in cognitive factors between the distance and traditional classes. Means, standard deviations, and obtained statistics for distance education and on-campus course evaluations were presented with no differences in overall ratings (Spooner, Jordan, Algozzine, & Spooner, 1999).
According to Jaimie Merisotas, president of the Institute for Higher Learning, many of the studies suggest the grades of distance learners are higher or comparable to traditional learners. However, we do not know if the poorer performers are dropping out at a higher rate (McQueen, 1999).
In the majority of research in which instructional factors were studied, opportunities for interaction between students and instruction seemed to be negatively affected in the distance condition (Davis, 1984; Purong & Lather, 1990). If distance education is of the same quality, quantity, and content as classroom education, then there should be no significant difference between the final grades of distance learners and classroom learners.
There was no significant difference between the grade points of the distance learners and the classroom learners. It was found that in semesters one and two, the mean grade point of the distance learners was slightly higher (Hutcher, 1990). When looking at the total mean grade point for three semesters, the distance learners mean was slightly higher. It is important to note, however, that the analysis of difference between the means demonstrates that there is no significant difference between the final grades of distance learners when compared to classroom learners.
The institutions of higher learning should continue to monitor the methods of teaching, quality of the curriculum content, and the final grades of distance learners when compared with classroom learners.
As online education has grown, so too, unfortunately, has the concern over academic honesty in this new environment. Academic honesty is a topic that keeps coming up over and over again in online education circles. These concerns are not new, nor are they limited to the online realm. However, when there is relative anonymity and a separation between instructor and student, these concerns seem to increase. Considering the many reasons given, online education does not presumably give students a new reason to cheat though. The actual reasons for cheating appear to be mostly the same between traditional education and online education. So while honesty is a problem facing all modes of education, the reasons for cheating should not be more prevalent in one medium over the other, but is there anything specific to the online education environment that might enable or encourage particular students to cheat any more or less than in a face-to-face classroom (Hutcher, 1990).
Begin by considering that the internet is still relatively new. As such, a standard code of ethics is still evolving in this modality. With the ethical beliefs of students already in question, the online environment places them in a situation where uncertainty over the rules in this new terrain may confound the already fuzzy realm of academic honesty. This argument may be losing its weight today; however, as the web continues to grow in use and pervasiveness, moral ethos and codes of conduct have begun to be accepted.
Next, consider time issues. A recurring sentiment in ongoing surveys of graduate-level distance students shows that time-management issues are one of the primary concerns of never online students. The discourse nature of many online courses can quickly lend itself to a student to falling behind (Hutcher, 1990). Pressure to catch-up might contribute to a student cheating. With proper measures as described later in this paper, time issues can effectively be reduced so that such pressures present themselves less to the students.
This pressure may be compounded based on a student’s technical competency. Online education is technology intensive, requiring some degree of knowledge of both hardware and software by the students. When an error does occur, a participant can quickly be set back without quick assistance. The end effect is an increase in any time pressure as noted above along with possible anxiety created by the technical failures. Once again though, proper design of an online course van limits such failure and anxieties.
Despite the recent success and growth of online distance education, one resistance factor to online education continues to be that many believe that cheating online is simply too easy. Interestingly, the most often cited factor in online education dealing with academic honesty is also one of its strengths, anonymity. Because of anonymity, an instructor cannot know what the students are bringing to the assessment table. Students may bring books, notes, and the entire internet along with friends or even paid helpers. All online assessments essentially become open book in nature. But life itself is open book. As a result perhaps of necessity, online education can shift instruction away from the multiple choice exams and towards more authentic assessments. Knowledge can be explored in a discussion where every student has the opportunity to participate (Spooner, 1999).
One conception of online education is that it provides a haven for cheaters to coalesce. Unfortunately, we know that cheating overall is increasing for all modes of delivery. There is no evidence that cheating in one mode of education is increasing more than the other (Spooner, 1999). Furthermore, such a theory would require a concerted movement within which a cheating community had built awareness of something special in one modality allowing cheating at a safety level different enough from traditional education to offset any costs of shifting the student delivery preferences or needs. Such a situation is highly unlikely.
Taking these ideas in mind, one might think that students are simply bound to cheat online, but a more realistic conception about online education is that the potential for cheating online is probably no different than that in face-to-face education (Carnavale, 1999, 1999, Grijalva, 2003; & Kacsmarczyk, 2001). In fact, some anecdotal evidence suggests that students may cheat less in online courses. Similarly, Kaczmarczyk (2001) found that students and faculty overwhelmingly believed that it was easier to cheat through distance education; however, after having experienced online education, they were equally divided. The ease of cheating online teaching and learning paradigm may actually reduce cheating.
We have seen that a key to successful online programs has been a shift away from traditional teaching methods towards an interactive, student-centered paradigm. Successful courses develop a sense of community among the students, with everyone contributing to the learning process. A sharing communal atmosphere may help to reduce both the desire and the need to cheat (Spooner, 1999).
Also, the fact that online students are separated by distance may reduce peer-to-peer cheating from a practical standpoint. Sharing answers with other students requires more than a glance ever one’s shoulder. Students may be unwilling to question another student whom they do not know personally. They may fear being reported to the instructor by other students, especially in the presence of a modified honor code. It can slow take time to determine who the good and the bad students are when there is no prior knowledge of classmates (Yellen, 1997-1998). Students do not know who to cheat from in the beginning and by the time that they do know, they have already worked hard enough to keep up and complete previous assignment that they may no longer feel an academic need to cheat in the rest of the course (Moore, 2003).
One self-imposed factor that may reduce cheating online has been the push for the “ideal” online student. Numerous successful online student surveys exist where prospective students are able to check their readiness or success prediction in an online classroom. By using such quizzes, some students not fitting the mold of independent, self-directed, and technologies themselves may be attracting or limiting enrollment to a more savvy and motivated student to begin with. In such a way, a potential need or cause for cheating has been removed from the scenario (Yellen, 1997-98).
No matter what precautions we take, how we chose our students, or how we design our courses, some students are going to cheat. One key to preventing is to actively acknowledge it as described above, but you must also make some effort to actually detect it when it occurs at rushessay, and furthermore, to punish it once it is found (Harry, 1993). In the absence of proctors, it is unlikely that you will catch a student ‘red-handed’ in an online course, but that doesn’t mean that it is difficult to catch them by other means.
There are reasons and ways that students will cheat in our society today. We strive to do our best not just to catch students cheating, but give them reasons and perhaps incentives not to do so. Learning is important, and hopefully the students will see what they are learning as important enough to actually learn. In the end, fear not though. By taking the necessary precautions and through effective course design, online education can be both conducive to learning and to academic honesty among students (Spooner, 1999).
The recent growth of distance education reflects not only the diffusion on internet usage, but also the changing demographics of higher education. Distance education clearly offers the potential to make higher education more accessible to lifelong learners. However, many people also believe that distance education poses a risk to the quality and integrity of higher education. Demonstrating the effectiveness of distance learning is even more difficult than demonstrating the effectiveness of traditional resident instruction, because distance education is a relatively recent phenomenon (Spooner, 1999). We are still learning how best to foster learning at a distance. One of the first things distance educators learn is that they cannot hope for a successful learning experience if they simply put existing courses designed for resident instruction on-line. We do not have a sound pedagogical understanding of how students learn about the geosciences effectively at any level.
The success integration of theory and practice into the learning experience does not depend solely on the curriculum, but it is agreed that this is a critical component of the teaching-learning model (Moore, 2003). Opinions were expressed that the dynamics of the distance education classroom can promote and reinforce the theoretical understanding of course material in a way that enhances conceptual learning.
Distance education offers opportunities that cannot be seen when it is conceptualized as a classroom derivative (Moore, 2003). Therefore, successful integration and practice requires faculty participation in the development of curriculum for multi-media delivery, and faculty training in integrative process, specific media of instruction. Curriculum development is centralized-that is, collectively developed and revised by faculty and program directors. The point has been repeatedly made that distance education requires distance education curriculum. Although the teaching-learning model drives curriculum for all types of delivery and both possess similar learning outcomes, the process and content propelled by the teaching-learning model and the learning outcome criteria may be vastly different. Distance education centers should develop a separate core of faculty, in order to ensure that they have a sufficient number of well-trained instructors focused on distance education academic issues (Klinger, 1992). Distance education centers should have policies in place to establish appropriate expectations for feedback and response time (Hoague, 1998). They should staff their centers with suitable technical support personnel. Evaluation of basic skills is frequently more difficult in teaching at a distance, particularly when proctors must be arranged. The process requires more time and effort on the part of students and staff. Distance learning centers should adopt basic skills evaluation procedures which will work well with their media, for students who need remediation (Hoague, 1998). Systematic process for referring students in need of remediation should be developed. Distance learning technology provides an ideal environment for pursuing academic achievements, promoting scholarly collaboration, and providing global access to educational opportunities.
Distance education has always taken advantage from the development of communications. In the past, post service and new forms of mail delivery have allowed a big rise of courses by mail (Brownridge, 1993). Today the communication technology plays the same role: in the developed countries, the technological developments already available or currently under development will result in a useful and friendly workstation in every home. The implications for education and training are immense; learning can be independent of time and place, and available at all stages of person’s life. The learning context will be technologically rich. Learners will have access not only to a wide range of media, but also to a wide range of sources of education.
Nevertheless, the theory pertaining distance education and learning has generally paid very little attention to the communication theory. Communication becomes thus the focus point of a distance learning system. With the big rise of television and mass media in the 60’s researchers proclaimed that the image civilization has been born. Contrary to that assumption, linguists and semioticians thought that we were than ever in a textual civilization arguing that language is absolutely necessary for decoding and understanding the image’s meaning (Balkin, 2005). Today, despite the multimedia erring and developments, we still are in a textual civilization. Written and printed material have yet a very long time life: experts estimate that the printed material globally constitutes around 80 per cents of all the available distance education material (Yellen, 1997-98). The main actual change certainly is the rise of electronic writing and delivery of books or pedagogical material. Difficult questions need to be answered about the qualitative differences between face to face and mediated social interaction.
Distance learning does not offer immediate feedback which in traditional classroom setting; a student’s performance can be immediately assessed through questions and informal testing. With distance learning, a student has to wait for feedback until the instructor has reviewed their work and responded to it. Distance learning does not always offer all the necessary courses online when students pursuing a specific certificate or degree program may not have all the necessary courses available through distance learning so it is not suited for all subjects (Dywer, 2000). Distance learning may not be acknowledged by all employers because most of the students who want to work for a specific employer upon graduation should be sure of that employer’s perspective about online education. And distance education does not give students the opportunity to work on oral communication skills where the students in distance learning courses do not get the practice of verbal interaction with professors and other students (Hellman, 2003).
There are numerous forms of definitions for distance education. They all have one thing in common, namely the physical distance between the students and the teachers form classrooms and even form entire university campuses. A set of teaching and learning strategies for connecting people who have learning needs with the resources required to meet those needs. Distance education has been offered in many forms for nearly 150 years (Balkin, 2005).
Distance education represents future, distributed learning the future. Distance education is a way to solve problem-teacher shortages, remote students, inadequate funding, and schools too small to support specialist subjects (Balkin, 2005). While distance education is a reaction to a problem, distributed learning is about responding to potential. Distributed learning is the future, distance education the past (Balkin, 2005).
Distributed learning is not education on the cheap. It should not be viewed as a way to replace teachers, raise class sizes, control curriculum, eliminate electives or close schools.
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