Altilab2005 - Distance Education Blog

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) invites applications for admission into the Foundation Course on Education of Children with Disabilities (FCED), session commencing from February 2011. It is a special certified training programme on inclusive education for school teachers. In-service teachers from any school are eligible to apply.

The course fee is Rs 1500 for three months with flexibility of course completion up to nine months. The study material will be provided to the teachers, along with multi-media support. Those enrolling for the progarmme would be provided the facility of provisional registration from RCI to work as a special educator.

The FCED course is jointly developed by the National Centre for Disability Studies (NCDS), IGNOU, and the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI). The course, certified by IGNOU and recognized by RCI, offers distance education programmes in Hindi and English medium at present, but will be available in Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil, Oriya and other mediums very soon.

Besides, practical training is also imparted to students at RCI recognized study centres under the guidance of qualified resource teachers. State sponsorship is also available for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers.

For a better understanding of educational needs of children with disabilities teachers should enroll in this programme. The programme is offered with an objective to train them in aspects such as how to undertake appropriate classroom management of children with disabilities, build competencies to include children with disabilities in school activities and to undertake remedial or dual teaching for children with mental retardation and learning disabilities.

Interested candidates for further information may contact:
Dr. Hemlata, Coordinator
FCED, NCDS, IGNOU
Ph: 011-29573080, 29573077, 29573084
Email: ncds@ignou.ac.in

Source: [HigherEducationIndia.com ]

By David Nagel

By 2015, 25 million post-secondary students in the United States will be taking classes online. And as that happens, the number of students who take classes exclusively on physical campuses will plummet, from 14.4 million in 2010 to just 4.1 million five years later, according to a new forecast released by market research firm Ambient Insight.

Blended and Online Learning Growth

The report, “The US Market for Self-paced eLearning Products and Services: 2010-2015 Forecast and Analysis,” predicted a five-year compound decline of 22.08 percent per year in students attending traditional classrooms exclusively. The number of post-secondary students taking some (but not all) classes online will grow at a compound annual rate of 11.08 percent over the same five-year period, from 12.36 million in 2010 to 21.13 million in 2015. But the real growth will be seen among students taking classes exclusively online. Ambient predicted a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.06 percent in that area, from 1.37 million in 2010 to 3.86 million in 2015.

Continued at: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/01/26/online-learning-set-for-explosive-growth-as-traditional-classrooms-decline.aspx

Read the Report: http://www.ambientinsight.com/Reports/eLearning.aspx

Most people think of distance education requires instructor and students to be physically separated by time, distance or both. I would like to offer a new definition that permits instructors and students to be in the same room at the same time. Under my definition, in addition to being separated in time and space, the separation may also include psychological separation, also known as cognitive distance. I have indicated this by suggesting that this psychological separation can typically begin at twelve feet. Why twelve feet? Twelve feet is the usual distance between the teacher’s station and the second row of seats in a typical lecture style classroom with tablet-arm chairs. Many instructors find it difficult to generate and keep cognitive connection with students outside the front row of a class. Most instructors have found that if a class has “open seating, without assigned seats,” the students who sit in the front row are usually very interested in the class. Students who are less interested will tend to sit further back in the classroom. This means instructors will have to work harder to keep those students connected, interested and learning in the class.

Most surveys of faculty and students indicate that the lecture modality is the most used course delivery system today. There are other modalities, such as discussion, seminar classes and blended modalities that are gaining in popularity, but lectures are still number 1. In the 1970’s, surveys of students and faculty suggested that in as many as 90% of all courses, the predominant teaching mode was the lecture. Even with the emphases of the 1990’s on active learning and using teaching styles geared to student learning styles, as late as 2000, surveys of students and faculty were showing that still in approximately 75% of all courses, the dominant teaching mode was the lecture.

A straight lecture modality can be characterized as a “jug and mugs” approach. In such an approach, the instructor brings a jug that is full of ideas or content to the classroom and has the students hold out their individual mugs, and the instructor fills them up from the big jug. It has derisively been described as the transfers of knowledge from the instructor’s notes to the students’ notes without touching the minds of either. If we really consider the operational aspects of this approach, there is no necessity for the instructor to be physically present. Why have faculty remained loyal to the lecture? I believe the lecture is the most popular modality because instructors are most comfortable with this style. It was the way they were taught and the way they learned. They are just modeling what their instructors and mentors did. Plus, there are few rewards to experiment with different modalities. Instructors have little or no access to developmental resources to do something different. Short of no preparation, where the instructor goes into class and “wings it,” the lecture is the easiest modality for which to prepare and to use. It is hard work trying to come up with learning artifacts or objects to engage students in compelling problems that direct their learning in other ways toward the desired goal of learning specific things or ideas.

The “jug and mugs” pedagogy grows out of a “tabula rasa” or “blank slate” approach to teaching, where the teacher has all of the knowledge and the students possess blank slates that the teacher then writes on. This model of education is not congruent with the best of today’s or even yesterday’s theories of learning. From brain and learning theory research, we know that students are more apt to remember and understand things in which they have a real interest and things of which they have had some experience. We have to link new knowledge to current knowledge and we need a reason to do so. Brain research also suggests that we are more able to make connections if we perform activities related to the item or idea. Confucius knew this 2500 years ago when he said, “If I read or hear something, I forget it, if I see it, I remember it. If I do it, I understand it.” Current research with well-functioning adults has found that after three months, these adults retain only 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50 % of what they see and hear, and 70% of what they say or write. These are great rules of thumb to use in the preparation of lesson plans and presentations. If you can involve the audience in the topic, they will have a much greater chance of remembering what you were trying to say. However, the research goes on to show that these adults will retain more than 90% of what they say while doing something that illustrates it. This should become our guiding force in the preparation of learning assignments.

Dr. William Pfohl, former president of the National Association of School Psychologists in discussing how adults and children learn has said, “The best process to ensure learning take places is to guarantee the individual sees it, hears it, and then gets some experience using it. And that way it’s most likely to stick.”

If distance learning begins at twelve feet because it is difficult to connect with students in the second row when they are in the same room, then wouldn’t that suggest that distance learning via other means is impossible?  I don’t think so. There is a whole body of literature that speaks to engaging students via distance learning technologies. Conversely, if we can engage students that are hundreds of miles away, why can’t we engage students, that are physically in our presence in the same classroom? We can and must do a better job in both venues.

If you’ve ever thought while reading the newspaper, “I could do a better job than this,” or “That’s not what really happened,” maybe a career in journalism is the way to go. Journalism has long been called the fourth estate, meaning that it is the unofficial fourth branch of government in England where the phrase originated. Journalism is about holding the powerful in society to account, righting wrongs, and fishing out the truth for the good of society.

We as a society need a steady influx of new, qualified journalists. The media is always in need of new blood, those who can bring fresh ideas and up to date technological skills to the industry.

Whether you’re interested in politics, sports, entertainment, crime or business there’s a journalistic domain to fit. Online Courses Australia offers an Introduction to Journalism course that gives you the skills needed to really uncover your talents and guide you on your way to the front page.

Learn the skills to allow you to undertake investigative journalism, follow leads, talk to anonymous sources, uncover the truth that could change the way people see the world and people around them. This course was designed by experienced journalists so it can give you the practical skills needed to transfer the knowledge from the classroom into the real world news room.

Learn to craft and refine a story, figuring out how to make it both entertaining and enlightening, make it so your words stick in the readers mind. Online Courses Australia’s Introduction to Journalism is delivered completely online,so you can access the material anywhere at any time. This gives you the freedom to make the course fit around your schedule rather than you having to put your life on hold.
Journalism courses don’t just lead to the news room, it can lead to careers in public relations, social media, publication management, media advisory and many more lucrative paths.

If print journalism isn’t your thing, you can take the skills we provide to the radio or television. Take on the challenge of journalism, this exciting and ever changing career can be yours. No day is ever the same when you’re out in the field pursuing the truth with right on your side.

Spring term. “Spring” seems a misnomer amidst the frozen pipes, icy sidewalks, and faux-fur hats here in the American Northeast, but I’m embarking on the last two classes I need to complete my coursework for my Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) degree, after which I will write a thesis.

My concentration is Visual Arts, and I have two very interesting seminar-style courses: Religion, the Arts, and Social Change (RELI E-1047) and The Holocaust in History, Literature, and Film (HIST E-1572). In both courses the visual arts are a component of a larger area of study, which suits me since I am attracted by an interdisciplinary approach–it helps to contextualize events and various phenomena. And both courses are coincidentally taught by professors from the Divinity School: Professor Diane Moore and Professor Kevin Madigan.

The first class meeting for RELI E-1047 was last evening. We “meet” via a Web-based conferencing system called Elluminate (anyone here ever use it?)–everyone logs on with a microphone-and-video-equipped computer, so the class is held in “real time” with everyone able to join in the discussion and see each other. Amazingly, there are participants from all over the world and from various time zones: we have class members from Panama City, Jerusalem, South Korea, as well as less glamorous spots such as Brookline MA. I was struck by Professor Moore’s warmth, which she managed to strongly project despite the “cool” electronic meeting medium. This is my first experience with this sort of class meeting, and my biggest adjustment will be to realize that with the video capability, even though you are in front  of a computer, it’s not the same as watching pre-recorded lectures in one’s pajamas. There’s a certain amount of sprucing up necessary, just as though you were meeting live, in a classroom in Cambridge, where I trust no one has ever shown up in lounge-wear and curlers.

My second course begins on Feb 5–we meet “live” in Cambridge. This course will be my first Saturday-morning (class hours are 9AM-12PM) class, so the experience will be yet again different from any other I’ve had so far at Harvard.

Last semester I managed two courses while working full-time at a very busy job–it was my first time trying two in one semester. With the help of a strategic day off here and there, I was able to finish two final research papers due within a week of one another. That had been a worry, but I’m pleased to say it worked out well. Having compelling subject areas and wonderful teaching staff helps of course, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing both papers.

Adjusting to the course styles and meeting modes is a bit of a challenge always, but I am looking forward to savoring these last two courses before I move on to yet another new genre: the master’s thesis.

Indiana University has just extended its virtual presence by acquiring an island in Second Life, which is the biggest and most popular 3D multiuser virtual environment. As any other virtual world, users interact with each other through avatars and can communicate by chat or voice teleconference. This type of real-time immersive interaction has the potential to promote social presence.

The island counts with seven different meeting places, some of them are informal while some others keep a more formal design. There are three informal places: a gazebo, an amphitheater and a casual room. The gazebo fits seven people surrounding a firecamp.  You can even hear the cracking of the fire! For bigger groups of students, there is an amphitheater which can fit about fifty people. Moreover, there is a casual room for up to seven students to relax as they converse among them.

The formal places include an old type classroom which fits up to sixteen students “comfortably” seated. There are two meeting rooms, one of them fits seven people whereas the other one fits sixteen. There is also a new type of classroom in which students are seated in groups of four. Both classrooms and conference rooms have a type of whiteboard which include a web browser for students to see the content of a specific web page. Instructors could upload their PowerPoint presentation to websites such as slideshare and then show them to their students within Second Life.

There is also an area (sandbox) in which you and your students can build new virtual objects such as cylinders, balls, buildings, etc. The objects you create remain in the sandbox for about two hours before disappearing. It’s a nice way to practice your 3D modeling skills.

Currently, access to the island is restricted to prevent anyone from interrupting instructional sessions. If you have considered using a virtual world for a synchronous activity as part of your class, please contact the Instructional Consulting Office.

Finally, before starting using Second Life as an educational platform, it’s advisable to plan the goals for its use. There are some caveats that need to be addressed such as having to download and install the program to run it, amount of computer resources needed and required bandwidth. So, it might not be too convenient to use it just as a teleconference tool or to give a lecture since there are more straightforward technologies that could accomplish that, such as Adobe Connect or Skype. Additional information about instructional uses of Second Life are provided by EDUCAUSE over here.

The security industry is growing ever bigger, with great demand for qualified security personal, now is the time jump on board and take advantage of these lucrative, exciting opportunities. Online Courses Australia offers security courses that will give you the skills and know how to work anywhere from party security to large scale sporting events.

These qualifications will mean you have the world at your fingertips, there is growing demand internationally for security guards, security advisors, cash in transit officers and bodyguards. These security courses could be your ticket to explore to world, seeing all the foreign cities and landscapes you have only dreamed of, all the while earning a great living and living an exciting, ever changing lifestyle.

The certificate ll in security operations give you the skills to become an unarmed guard, bouncer, corporate security guard, investigation research officer and many more possible careers. The certificate lll in security operations takes your knowledge one step further enabling you to become a body guard, crowd controller, cash in transit guard, security equipment manager, and more.

The certificate lV in security risk management will enable you to enter to field of risk management, this is an area in which qualified people are always in hot demand. This high paying job will allow you to develop security strategies and oversee their implementation in anything from corporate risk management to anti-terrorist planning. This qualification will see you situated in a prime position to take your skills to an international market, doing important, rewarding work protecting people and property.

These security courses are delivered primarily online, which gives you the freedom to make your study fit around you.
If you’re looking for a change in career and fancy the idea of undertaking exciting, high paying work, this may be for you.
If you already work in security but are looking to progress further up the ladder then a security course is the perfect way to give you the skills needed. There’s nothing holding you back from reaching your full potential. Take on new challenges and be rewarded both in monetary terms and in job satisfaction. Get into a security course and move up in an industry where the sky’s the limit.

Not too long ago, people used the internet to simply connect with friends and family via email, or to search for specific information that could not be found in an easier way. Currently, it is not uncommon for one to earn a degree simply through the use of one’s laptop. Although our society is no stranger to Distance Education, it must be noted that the idea of Online Learning has hit with hurricane force over the past 5 years or so. There are so many universities and colleges offering degrees and diplomas online that the issue must be discussed.

If one looks at the websites of world-renowned universities, such as Oxford University, University of London, or Harvard University, one will see a list of courses which are offered online. Therefore, if universities of high calibre such as these offer courses online, there must be some credibility to the learning approach; however, one must look at both the pros and the cons of online learning.

Distance Education has always appealed to those who find it difficult to travel to a college or university in order to attend the more traditional type of lecture/lab; this may be due to time constraints, familial obligations, or the inability to relocate to the country/city in which the university dwells. For reasons such as the aforementioned, distance learning is ideal, and online learning is just the next logical step.

Obviously, there are many reputable universities offering online programmes now, but one must also be aware of the negative side of online learning versus traditional lectures/labs. Perhaps the greatest drawback to distance education is that of motivation. It is difficult to be motivated to sit at one’s desk and listen to a lecture or participate in online classroom discussion without distraction. There are certain questions that one must ask oneself before enrolling into an online programme: “Am I easily distracted?” “Do I work better with open discussion or am I more of an independent learner?” “What are the computational requirements to study the programme?”

Many leading colleges and universities today offer online learning, so the student may be assured that the programmes offered are reputable; however, there are many sub-par institutions that offer online courses, so one must be aware of the risks involved in the online learning approach. One should gain insight into the history of the school of interest, its accreditation, as well as how well the programmes may be recognised by desired employers.

Remember to be wary and wise, but not weary in the pursuit of gathering information in regards to online programmes. Upon satisfaction that the programme meets your requirements, you may wish to enrol…and then check your email.

most everybody gets screwed one way or another / everybody gets screwed, now how ‘bout you / hell yeah! / it’s just a fact of life

screwed, butch walker

I am so screwed for this exam on Monday.  My attention span, my current amount of work in my classroom-based courses, and my procrastination are screwing me over for Nutrition.  I am never, never, never again doing a distance education course.  Stupid idea.

I got 60% on my midterm.  I need at least 55% on the exam Monday (45% of final grade) and at least 60% (25% of final) on my self-analysis, to get credit from Athabasca—credit is granted at 60%, or a C in the kinesiology department at my school.  I missed being able to apply for extension, so now my only chance is passing it right off, or re-writing my exam for $190.  Have to love how they also charge you to send the exam if you request it “late” and how the university you write it at charges you to write it there.

Seriously, can I just say fuck now and get it over with?

Fuck.

(Since fuck is good, right?)

It’s almost 11 pm.  Finishing this quiz on vitamins and calling it a day.

அனைவருக்கும் உயர்கல்வி கிடைக்க வேண்டும், அனைவரும் பட்டதாரியாக வேண்டும் என்ற நோக்கத்தில் அரசால் ஏற்பட