Volume 3, Issue 3, July 2012

ABSTRACT

The article first explores open distance learning (ODL) as a delivery mode for professional teacher development programs in South Africa by comparing the ODL models of selected universities in developing, developed, and newly industrialized contexts. The article then reports on an empirical investigation conducted about the effect of contact class and vacation school attendance on the academic success of students (n=1310) who wrote examination papers (n=4931) for a variety of modules in four purposefully selected Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programs at the School of Continuing Teacher Education (SCTE) of the North-West University in South Africa. Descriptive statistics show the majority of students did not attend any contact classes or vacation schools, while still performing academically above average. Computing Spearman’s rank-order correlations (r), no practically significant correlations were found between contact class and vacation school attendance and the academic success of students. However, ANOVA analyses reveal that it was beneficial for students to rather attend three contact sessions, than two or no contact sessions

Keywords: Contact classes, Vacation schools, Class attendance, Academic success, Open distance learning

ABSTRACT

How individual differences in information processing affect second language (L2) learning has been unclear in prior research. Adults lacking prior skill in Swedish were pretested for working memory, processing speed, and executive memory capacity. Participants then received 6 computer-based instructional sessions with pictorial animations of Swedish sentences, with a built-in experimental contrast between some lessons at high and some at low rates of presentation. The faster rate carried greater processing demands for the learners. Higher levels of Swedish performance during Instructional sessions were associated with higher working memory levels, as expected from widely-used models of working memory (e.g., Baddeley & Hitch, 1994). In contrast, results at demanding long-term retrieval on a posttest were more complex and revealed several dynamic relationships between processing speed, working memory, and Swedish language learning. Learners with low rather than high working memory showed higher L2 skills at long-term testing when instructional lessons had employed fast animations. This first-time demonstration that prior cognitive profiles strongly influence learners’ progress in second language requires refinements in existing theories. Further, the results hold certain implications for tailoring second language teaching on-line or in other technology-based instruction to learner profiles on abilities in working memory, processing speed, and executive memory

Keywords: Educational technology, Software, Designing learner-sensitive procedures, Computer-assisted learning, Second language acquisition, Dynamic systems

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the process of evaluation in bLearning courses, namely the objects of evaluation, discussing their relevance according to the opinion of international experts in Online Teaching and Learning, taking into account the curricular proposals of the three cycles of Higher Education (HE). The question ‘what should be evaluated?’ is one puzzle piece of the whole process of evaluation. The other pieces should be articulated among themselves and combined, namely ‘who should evaluate?’, ‘how and when to evaluate?’ and ‘what is evaluation for?’ Those questions were asked in a survey conducted with 35 international experts with an average experience of 13 years in the area, from international HE institutions (HEIs) that offer this kind of courses. The study highlights the need of HEIs to reassess their approach to the quality assurance of bLearning courses, and brings some contributions to those who are in charge of bLearning courses, providing a useful framework for evaluation. Furthermore, this paper contributes to the knowledge on educational technology and raised new issues for further research and discussion

Keywords: Evaluation objects, Benchmarks, Blended learning, Technology-based environments, Higher Education

ABSTRACT

Teachers are faced with many barriers during their first few years of teaching, and they desire support to help them through this challenging time. Unfortunately, many beginning teachers rarely receive this assistance. Lack of support can create barriers that grow into to overall job dissatisfaction and lead to the failure of teacher retention. In the past, state departments of education and school administrators have focused on the use of mentoring programs to help address these concerns. However, much inconsistency exists among these programs’ duration, structure, and intensity, with many beginning teachers changing schools or leaving the profession all together. The purposes of this paper are to discuss key problems and concerns faced by beginning educators, to explore current professional development practices created for assisting beginning teachers, and to examine new ways to support beginning teachers through the use of educational technologies. Specifically, this article proposes principles to guide the design and improvement of beginning teacher induction programs through the incorporation of distance education technologies

Keywords: Beginning teacher induction, Distance education, Barriers to teaching, Guidelines for the use educational technology in teacher training

ABSTRACT

With the Internet’s innate structure, new generations have increased their abilities on finding new people whom they have something in common and networking with them. Web 2.0 technologies have altered the ways how new generations manage their learning activities. Many studies showed that most of the social networking websites have created different learning networks and online communities on their bodies. As a result, many educational institutions have taken advantages of social networking websites for maintaining their teaching and learning activities. On the other hand, institutions suffer from the deficiency of guiding learning theories and their effective implementation. This article discusses Connectivism as an alternative platform for instructional processes on social networking websites. Connectivism explains learning in terms of interactions on a network where the learners exchange their knowledge. Social networking websites which offer connections in the form of friendships provide a context for the implementation of Connectivism. Therefore, the article aims to depict a relationship between educational activities on social networking websites and the contemporary Connectivist Learning Theory. The article also presents suggestions on integration of social networking websites’ into education

Keywords: Connectivism, Social Networking Websites, Facebook, Web 2.0

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