Sample records for distance learning interactive

  1. The Evolution of Distance Learning: Technology-Mediated Interactive Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dede, Christopher J.

    1990-01-01

    Summarizes a paper prepared for the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on the evolution of distance learning which begins by describing technological, the demographic, economic, political, and pedagogical forces involved. A new field is proposed called technology-mediated interactive learning (TMIL), which synthesizes distance learning,…

  2. Development of a Framework for Guiding Interaction Design in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Wei

    2015-01-01

    As one of the most critical elements in distance learning, interaction has been identified empirically as increasing learner motivation, satisfaction, participation, communication, and achievement. Fostering pedagogically effective interaction is a major challenge for educators in distance learning. In response to this challenge, the goal of this…

  3. Transactional Distance as a Predictor of Perceived Learner Satisfaction in Distance Learning Courses: A Case Study of Bachelor of Education Arts Program, University of Nairobi, Kenya

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mbwesa, Joyce Kanini

    2014-01-01

    There is a long history of study and recognition of the critical role of interaction in supporting and even defining distance education. Interaction has been identified as key to the success of distance learning. It is key in fostering, supporting and engaging in the learning process. Moore (1989) posits that the physical distance that exists in…

  4. Distance learning in academic health education.

    PubMed

    Mattheos, N; Schittek, M; Attström, R; Lyon, H C

    2001-05-01

    Distance learning is an apparent alternative to traditional methods in education of health care professionals. Non-interactive distance learning, interactive courses and virtual learning environments exist as three different generations in distance learning, each with unique methodologies, strengths and potential. Different methodologies have been recommended for distance learning, varying from a didactic approach to a problem-based learning procedure. Accreditation, teamwork and personal contact between the tutors and the students during a course provided by distance learning are recommended as motivating factors in order to enhance the effectiveness of the learning. Numerous assessment methods for distance learning courses have been proposed. However, few studies report adequate tests for the effectiveness of the distance-learning environment. Available information indicates that distance learning may significantly decrease the cost of academic health education at all levels. Furthermore, such courses can provide education to students and professionals not accessible by traditional methods. Distance learning applications still lack the support of a solid theoretical framework and are only evaluated to a limited extent. Cases reported so far tend to present enthusiastic results, while more carefully-controlled studies suggest a cautious attitude towards distance learning. There is a vital need for research evidence to identify the factors of importance and variables involved in distance learning. The effectiveness of distance learning courses, especially in relation to traditional teaching methods, must therefore be further investigated.

  5. Adding Interactivity to Web Based Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cafolla, Ralph; Knee, Richard

    Web Based Distance Learning (WBDL) is a form of distance learning based on providing instruction mainly on the World Wide Web. This paradigm has limitations, especially the lack of interactivity inherent in the Web. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the technologies the authors have used in their courses at Florida Atlantic…

  6. The Effects of Videoconferenced Distance-Learning Instruction in a Taiwanese Company

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Chin-Hung; Yang, Shu-Ching

    2011-01-01

    Distance learning, where instruction is given to students despite wide separations of students and teachers, is increasingly popular. Videoconferencing, which is examined in this study, is a distance learning mode of featuring real-time interaction of students and teachers and provides sequence, real-time, vision, and actual interaction. This…

  7. Strategies for Increasing the Interactivity of Children's Synchronous Learning in Virtual Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katlianik, Ivan

    2013-01-01

    Enabling distant individuals to assemble in one virtual environment, synchronous distance learning appeals to researchers and practitioners alike because of its unique educational opportunities. One of the vital components of successful synchronous distance learning is interactivity. In virtual environments, interactivity is limited by the…

  8. From Radio, to Satellite, to M-Learning: Interactive Distance Education in Australia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crump, Stephen

    2013-01-01

    This paper provides reflections on M-learning as a form of "distance education," based on a summary of the findings of the Interactive Distance e-Learning (IDL) research project in rural and remote Australia under an Australian Research Council Linkage grant. This project was a joint undertaking between 3 government agencies and an…

  9. Can you go the distance? Attending the virtual classroom.

    PubMed

    Bigony, Lorraine

    2010-01-01

    Distance learning via the World Wide Web offers convenience and flexibility. Online education connects nurses geographically in a manner that the traditional face-to-face learning environment lacks. Delivered in both a synchronous (real time interaction) or asynchronous (delayed interaction) format, distance programs continue to provide nurses with choice, especially in the pursuit of advanced degrees. This article explores the pros and cons of distance education, in addition to the most popular platform used in distance learning today, the Blackboard Academic Suite. Characteristics of the potential enrollee to ensure a successful distance education experience are also discussed. Distance nursing programs are here to stay. Although rigorous, the ease of accessibility makes distance learning a viable alternative for busy nurses.

  10. Mobile Learning in Distance Education: Utility or Futility?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koole, Marguerite; McQuilkin, Janice Letkeman; Ally, Mohamed

    2010-01-01

    Can mobile technology improve flexibility and quality of interaction for graduate students in distance programs? This paper reports the results of an innovative study exploring the usability, learning, and social interaction of mobile access to online course materials at a Canadian distance education university. Through a system called MobiGlam,…

  11. A Conceptual Model for Effective Distance Learning in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farajollahi, Mehran; Zare, Hosein; Hormozi, Mahmood; Sarmadi, Mohammad Reza; Zarifsanaee, Nahid

    2010-01-01

    The present research aims at presenting a conceptual model for effective distance learning in higher education. Findings of this research shows that an understanding of the technological capabilities and learning theories especially constructive theory and independent learning theory and communicative and interaction theory in Distance learning is…

  12. Interactive Distance Learning in Connecticut.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John; Murphy, Robert J.

    This paper provides an overview of distance learning activities in Connecticut and addresses the feasibility of such activities. Distance education programs have evolved from the one dimensional electronic mail systems to the use of sophisticated digital fiber networks. The Middlesex Distance Learning Consortium has developed a long-range plan to…

  13. Facebook Mediated Interaction and Learning in Distance Learning at Makerere University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mayende, Godfrey; Muyinda, Paul Birevu; Isabwe, Ghislain Maurice Norbert; Walimbwa, Michael; Siminyu, Samuel Ndeda

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports on an investigation of the use of Facebook as a tool to mediate learning amongst distance learners at Makerere University, a dual-mode institution offering both conventional and distance learning programs. While conventional courses take 17 weeks in a semester, the distance learners come in for two residential sessions, each…

  14. Using Multimedia for Distance Learning in Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. Information Series No. 362.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stammen, Ronald M.

    This paper explores how educators are using multimedia for distance learning, beginning with definitions of the concepts of multimedia, hypermedia, hypertext, distance education and distance learning. Three types of telecommunications technologies are described: multimedia with broadcast television, multimedia with interactive video (television),…

  15. Evaluation of Distance Course Effectiveness - Exploring the Quality of Interactive Processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Botelho, Francisco Villa Ulhôa; Vicari, Rosa Maria

    Understanding the dynamics of learning processes implies an understanding of their components: individuals, environment or context and mediation. It is known that distance learning (DL) has a distinctive characteristic in relation to the mediation component. Due to the need of overcoming the barriers of distance and time, DL intensively uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to perform interactive processes. Construction of effective learning environments depends on human relationships. It also depends on the emotionality placed on such relationships. Therefore, knowing how to act in virtual environments in the sense of creating the required ambiance for animation of learning processes has a unique importance. This is the theme of this study. Its general objectives were achieved and can be summarized as follows: analyze indexes that are significant for evaluations of distance course effectiveness; investigate to which extent effectiveness of DL courses is correlated with quality of interactive processes; search characteristics of the conversations by individuals interacting in study groups that are formed in virtual environments, which may contribute to effectiveness of distance courses.

  16. Influence of Structure and Interaction on Student Achievement and Satisfaction in Web-Based Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Hye-Jung; Rha, Ilju

    2009-01-01

    This study examines the influence of instructional design and management style on student achievement and satisfaction in a web-based distance learning environment. From the literature review, two major instructional design and management styles in web-based distance education were conceptualized as structure and interpersonal interaction. To…

  17. Multimedia And Internetworking Architecture Infrastructure On Interactive E-Learning System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Indah, K. A. T.; Sukarata, G.

    2018-01-01

    Interactive e-learning is a distance learning method that involves information technology, electronic system or computer as one means of learning system used for teaching and learning process that is implemented without having face to face directly between teacher and student. A strong dependence on emerging technologies greatly influences the way in which the architecture is designed to produce a powerful interactive e-learning network. In this paper analyzed an architecture model where learning can be done interactively, involving many participants (N-way synchronized distance learning) using video conferencing technology. Also used broadband internet network as well as multicast techniques as a troubleshooting method for bandwidth usage can be efficient.

  18. New Ways of Learning: Comparing the Effectiveness of Interactive Online Media in Distance Education with the European Textbook Tradition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krämer, Bernd J.; Neugebauer, Jonas; Magenheim, Johannes; Huppertz, Helga

    2015-01-01

    Although many innovations exploiting web technologies have been suggested in distance higher education, very little original research exists investigating the impact of web-based learning environments on distance students' learning processes and outcomes. To close this gap, four sets of data have been collected in a distance-learning course:…

  19. Map for Decision Making in Operating Distance Learning System--Research Results.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Offir, Baruch

    2000-01-01

    Examines decision-making aspects of the introduction of distance learning into university instruction and learning based on experiences in Israel. Discusses the introduction of information technology into the classroom; examines teacher/student interactions; and suggests a model for introducing distance learning that focuses on the role of the…

  20. Transactional Distance and Second Life: The Effects of Video Game Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Atkinson, Mark

    2013-01-01

    As a subset of distance education, online learning takes place primarily in learning management systems through asynchronous interaction, that can cause transactional distance between instructor and learners. This study investigated how transactional distance may be affected by the use of Second Life, a 3-D virtual world, as a learning environment…

  1. Tele-Learning and Distance Learning Re-Engineering Process.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cruz, Dulce Marcia; de Moraes, Marialice; Barcia, Ricardo Miranda

    The adoption and use of new interactive technologies in Distance Education, especially Tele-learning is a growing tendency in the most advanced countries. Nowadays, this tendency is so strong that being interactive is seen as a necessary pre-condition. Some reasons for this are a the growing perceived value of group-working; the popularization of…

  2. Interactive Distance e-Learning for Isolated Communities: Starting and Finishing the Jigsaw

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crump, Stephen; Boylan, Colin

    2008-01-01

    This paper provides information on the background to the two pilot investigations into "interactive distance e-learning" [IDeL] following the introduction in New South Wales and in the Northern Territory of Australia of satellite-supported two-way broad-band internet services for school-age and adult distance education. The context is…

  3. U.S. dental hygiene faculty perceptions of learner outcomes in distance education courses.

    PubMed

    Corum, Kathrine A; Gadbury-Amyot, Cynthia C; Johnson, Kerry; Strait, Tia M

    2014-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine perceptions of full-time, entry-level dental hygiene educators regarding the ability to achieve interaction in their distance education courses and the impact of interaction on learning outcomes. The specific interactions explored were student-instructor, student-content, and student-student. A survey was developed, pilot tested, revised, and mailed to 287 educators across the United States, generating an overall response rate of 22.3 percent. The majority of respondents perceived interaction to be achievable in their distance courses, to increase through technology, and to positively influence learning outcomes. Nearly 90 percent reported student-instructor interaction as achievable, 95.3 percent reported student-content interaction as achievable, and 79.7 percent reported student-student interaction as achievable. Learning outcomes were defined in this study as the student's achievement of course objectives and competencies at course completion. Approximately 81 percent of the respondents reported a positive influence from student-instructor interaction, 79.7 percent from student-content interaction, and 70.3 percent from student-student interaction. This study also examined which modalities were perceived as being most influential in achieving interaction. The results demonstrated a prevalence of discussion board posting in an environment in which numerous Web 2.0 tools are available and respondents were not as positive about their ability to achieve student-student interaction in the distance learning environment. The authors conclude that faculty development is critical in achieving quality outcomes in dental hygiene distance education courses.

  4. Enhancing Student-Student Online Interaction: Exploring the Study Buddy Peer Review Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Madland, Colin; Richards, Griff

    2016-01-01

    The study buddy is a learning strategy employed in a graduate distance course to promote informal peer reviewing of assignments before submission. This strategy promotes student-student interaction and helps break the social isolation of distance learning. Given the concern by Arum and Roksa (2011) that student-student interaction may be…

  5. Local CD-ROM in interaction with HTML documents over the Internet.

    PubMed

    Mattheos, N; Nattestad, A; Attström, R

    2000-08-01

    The internet and computer assisted learning have enhanced the possibilities of providing quality distance learning in dentistry. The use of multimedia material is an essential part of such distance learning courses. However the Internet technology available has limitations regarding transmission of large multimedia files. Therefore especially when addressing undergraduate students or geographically isolated professionals, large download times make distance learning unattractive. This problem was technically solved in a distance learning course for undergraduate students from all over Europe. The present communication describes a method to bypass the problem of transmitting large multimedia files by the use of a specially designed CD-ROM. This CD-ROM was run locally on the students' PC interacting with HTML documents sent over the Internet.

  6. Distance Learning Research Conference Proceedings (San Antonio, Texas, April 27-29, 1994).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yakimovicz, Ann, Ed.

    The following papers are included: "Assessment of Telecommunications Needs at the Texas Department of Health" (Adair, Griffin, Steinhausen); "Realizing the Democratic Ideal in Adult Distance Learning" (Boyd, Dirkx); "Classroom Social Interaction" (Burkhart-Kriesel); "Interaction Analysis of an Inter-University…

  7. Using Satellite Classes to Optimise Access to and Participation in First-Year Business Management: A Case at an Open and Distance-Learning University in South Africa

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swanepoel, Elana; De Beer, Andreas; Muller, Helene

    2009-01-01

    We investigated the effect of satellite classes as a component of blended learning, to enhance student performance of the Business Management I and Management I students at an open and distance-learning university. We discuss the evolution of distance education, the interactivities promoted by open and distance learning and the concept of blended…

  8. Technology Options for Multimedia in Distance Learning. A Report for the Commission of the European Communities--Task Force Human Resources, Education, Training, and Youth.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherwood-Roberts, P.; Vervest, P.

    This report focuses on interactive multimedia delivery platforms available for distance education. An introduction addresses the role of distance education and open learning in covering training needs and advantages of interactive multimedia in training. Chapter 2 proposes a multimedia skills evaluation framework and examines the elements of this…

  9. Exploring the Use of MXit: A Cell-Phone Social Network to Facilitate Learning in Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Makoe, Mpine

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to investigate the pedagogical suitability of using cell phones to enhance learning through social interaction in distance education. Social interaction was used as a conceptual framework to explore the potential for using "MXit"--a cell-phone instant messaging system--to support and enhance learning for distance…

  10. Embracing Distance Education in a Blended Learning Model: Challenges and Prospects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fresen, Jill W.

    2018-01-01

    Distance education reaches out to non-traditional students in geographically dispersed locations, who are unable to attend face-to-face classes. Contact institutions have been quick to realise the many advantages of distance (online) learning, such as easy access to learning materials, interactive activities, assessment and communication tools.…

  11. Factors Affecting Corporate Image from the Perspective of Distance Learning Students in Public Higher Education Institutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    da Costa, Fábio Reis; Pelissari, Anderson Soncini

    2016-01-01

    New information technologies enable different interactions in the educational environment, affecting how the image of educational institutions adopting distance-learning programmes is perceived. This article identifies factors affecting the perception of corporate image from the viewpoint of distance-learning students at public higher education…

  12. Regulatory Enhancements, Infrastructure Modernization, and Connecticut's Interactive, Distance Learning Network.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John

    This paper presents an overview of the regulatory, technological, and economic status of interactive distance learning in Connecticut as it relates to the current and future provisioning of services by the telecommunications and cable television industries. The review is predicated upon the following questions: (1) What obligations should the…

  13. Connecticut's Evolving Interactive Distance Learning Network in the Cable and Telecommunications Industries.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John

    This paper describes the state of interactive distance learning in Connecticut, particularly the current and future provision of these services by the telecommunications and cable television industries. The overview examines questions of where obligation and responsibility lie (with schools, local exchange companies, cable franchises, etc.) in…

  14. Increasing Retention of Adult Learners in Telecourses through the Incorporation of Learning-Centered Instructional Strategies and the Use of Multiple Modalities for Content Delivery and Interaction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nelson, Lin M.

    A project was undertaken to increase retention in a health education telecourse by incorporating a competency-based orientation to distance learning and learner-centered instructional strategies into the telecourse, and by using multiple media for content delivery and interaction. A general orientation to distance learning was developed that…

  15. Interactive Distance Education: Improvisation Helps Bridge the Gap.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yucha, Carolyn B.

    1996-01-01

    Describes distance learning through the use of interactive duplex video and audio. Improvisation techniques force active participation by students. Addresses faculty concerns about the interrelationships between instructor and students and among students in distance education environments. (MKR)

  16. Survey on Uses of Distance Learning in the U.S.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Downing, Diane E.

    A December 1983 survey queried the chief state school officers of the 50 states on the extent to which distance learning techniques are used in public education in their states. Respondents were asked to focus on interactive forms of distance learning, such as audio and video teleconferencing. A total of 28 states (56%) responded, with the…

  17. A Question of Questions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fenwick, John; McMillan, Rod

    In a conventional teaching situation, a lecturer may use a wide range of questioning techniques aimed at helping students to become active learners. In distance learning, students are often isolated and have limited opportunities for interaction in a social learning environment. Hence, learning strategies in distance learning need to be structured…

  18. Distance Learning, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kerka, Sandra

    Some of the newest methods of distance learning (DL) use the Internet and the World Wide Web. DL on the Internet usually takes one of the following forms: electronic mail; bulletin boards/newsgroups; downloading of course materials or tutorials; interactive tutorials on the Web; real-time, interactive conferencing; "intranets" (internal,…

  19. Interactive Distance e-Learning for Isolated Communities: The Policy Footprint

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crump, Stephen; Twyford, Kylie; Littler, Margaret

    2008-01-01

    This paper provides information on the policy strand of an investigation into the Australian Research Council Linkage research project into "interactive distance e-learning" [IDeL] following the introduction in New South Wales and in the Northern Territory of Australia of satellite-supported two-way broad-band internet services for…

  20. Expanding Learning Opportunities for High School Students with Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beese, Jane

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the Synchronous Interactive Video Conference Distance Learning pilot program was to use emerging technologies to expand learning opportunities for students at an urban public high school. Through grant funding, students were able to enroll in Advanced Placement and foreign language courses through an online learning provider. Using…

  1. Accessible Adult Learning in the Health Professions: Interactive Uses of Distance Technology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Townsend, Elizabeth; Curran-Smith, Janet

    This paper describes a study of students' perceptions of the impact of accessibility and interactivity on successful distance education in the Health Professions. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative data to determine how students perceived issues of accessibility and interactivity affecting their success in distance courses. The…

  2. Distance Learning in North Dakota: A Cross-Technology Study of the Schools, Administrators, Coordinators, Instructors, and Students. Two-Way Interactive Television, AudioGraphic Tele-Learning, [and] Instruction by Satellite.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hobbs, Vicki M.

    In 1990 a comparative analysis was conducted of North Dakota student achievement across three forms of distance education: instruction by satellite, audiographic tele-learning, and two way interactive educational television. Based in part on the 1988 study of a German by Satellite program in Missouri and North Dakota, this study mailed…

  3. Connecticut Proposes New Legislation Designed To Enhance and Increase Interactive Distance Learning for Telephone and CATV Technologies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John

    Connecticut has proposed legislation to augment the remote education infrastructure which includes public libraries, public schools, and institutions of higher learning. The purpose of one bill is to explore the possibilities of transmitting interactive distance education to all schools intrastate and to classify public libraries at a cheaper…

  4. Validation of a Spanish Version of the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES) in Spain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fernández-Pascual, Maria Dolores; Ferrer-Cascales, Rosario; Reig-Ferrer, Abilio; Albaladejo-Blázquez, Natalia; Walker, Scott L.

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the Spanish version of the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (Sp-DELES). This instrument assesses students' perceptions of virtual learning environments using six scales: Instructor Support, Student Interaction and Collaboration, Personal Relevance, Authentic Learning, Active…

  5. Analysis of Learning Achievement and Teacher-Student Interactions in Flipped and Conventional Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, Jerry Chih-Yuan; Wu, Yu-Ting

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of two different teaching methods on learning effectiveness. OpenCourseWare was integrated into the flipped classroom model (experimental group) and distance learning (control group). Learning effectiveness encompassed learning achievement, teacher-student interactions, and learning satisfaction.…

  6. The Social Dimension of Distance Learning by Interactive Television: A Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Liang

    2011-01-01

    This qualitative study examined instructors' and students' perceptions of social relationship in distance learning. Interview and observational data were collected and analyzed to generate theories. Convenient sampling was used. Factors influencing a sense of distance were analyzed. Findings revealed greater difficulty establishing a social…

  7. Occasional Papers in Open and Distance Learning, Number 17.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnan, Peter, Ed.; McDonald, Anne, Ed.

    These occasional papers focus on open learning and distance education. This volume contains four papers on a variety of topics: bridging courses, issues for researchers in evaluating interactive multimedia, designing study materials to address the special needs of distance students, and faculty attitudes concerning technology. Papers are:…

  8. Distance Delivery of Nutrition Education as a Method for Providing Continuing Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Unusan, Nurhan; Aiba, Naomi; Yoshiike, Nobuo

    2007-01-01

    Distance learning applications in nutrition education have evolved together with communication technology. Distance delivery is transforming the culture of professional health education by expanding access to learners, introducing novel teaching and learning methods, as well as shifting the paradigm of how instructors and students interact. The…

  9. Construction and validation of a distance learning module on premedication antisepsis for nursing professionals.

    PubMed

    Pereira, Barbara Juliana da Costa; Mendes, Isabel Amélia Costa; Beatriz Maria, Jorge; Mazzo, Alessandra

    2013-11-01

    The aim of this descriptive study, carried out at a public university, was to design, develop, and validate a distance learning module on intramuscular premedication antisepsis. The content was introduced in the Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, based on the Systematic Model for Web-Based Training projects. Ten nurses and information technologists at work consented to participate, in compliance with ethical guidelines, and answered a questionnaire to validate the Virtual Learning Environment. The educational aspects of the environment interface were mostly evaluated as "excellent," whereas the assessment of didactic resources indicated interactivity difficulties. It is concluded that distance learning is an important tool for the teaching of premedication antisepsis. To ensure its effectiveness, appropriate methods and interactive devices must be used.

  10. Distance Education and Situated Learning: Paradox or Partnership?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hummel, Hans G. K.

    1993-01-01

    Discusses the possibilities of using situated learning theory in distance education and describes the instructional design of a course on soil and the environment offered at the Open University of the Netherlands that incorporates situated learning. The use of interactive videodisk is described. (Contains 49 references.) (LRW)

  11. A comparison of distance education instructional methods in occupational therapy.

    PubMed

    Jedlicka, Janet S; Brown, Sarah W; Bunch, Ashley E; Jaffe, Lynn E

    2002-01-01

    The progression of technology is rapidly bringing new opportunities to students and academic institutions, resulting in a need for additional information to determine the most effective strategies for teaching distance learners. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of three instructional strategies (two-way interactive video and audio, chat rooms, and independent learning) and student preferences regarding instructional methods in a mental health programming distance learning course. Precourse and postcourse surveys were completed by 22 occupational therapy students enrolled in the course. Effectiveness of the teaching methods was determined based on the results of students' examinations. The findings indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in student performance on multiple-choice examinations using the three instructional methods. Of students, 77% indicated a preference for two-way interactive video and audio instruction. To provide effective education via distance learning methods, faculty members need to structure assignments that facilitate interaction and communication among learners. As distance education becomes more commonplace, it is important to identify the methods of instruction that are the most effective in delivering essential course content and the methods that provide the atmosphere most conducive to learning.

  12. Analyzing the Quality of Students Interaction in a Distance Learning Object-Oriented Programming Discipline

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carvalho, Elizabeth Simão

    2015-01-01

    Teaching object-oriented programming to students in an in-classroom environment demands well-thought didactic and pedagogical strategies in order to guarantee a good level of apprenticeship. To teach it on a completely distance learning environment (e-learning) imposes possibly other strategies, besides those that the e-learning model of Open…

  13. Social Phenomenon of Community on Online Learning: Digital Interaction and Collaborative Learning Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aleksic-Maslac, Karmela; Magzan, Masha; Juric, Visnja

    2009-01-01

    Digital interaction in e-learning offers great opportunities for education quality improvement in both--the classical teaching combined with e-learning, and distance learning. Zagreb School of Economics & Management (ZSEM) is one of the few higher education institutions in Croatia that systematically uses e-learning in teaching. Systematically…

  14. Teaching Computer Science Courses in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huan, Xiaoli; Shehane, Ronald; Ali, Adel

    2011-01-01

    As the success of distance learning (DL) has driven universities to increase the courses offered online, certain challenges arise when teaching computer science (CS) courses to students who are not physically co-located and have individual learning schedules. Teaching CS courses involves high level demonstrations and interactivity between the…

  15. A New Interactive Method to Distance English Learning in Conceptual Age

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xu, Wei

    2013-01-01

    Latest advance in information technology and innovative teaching confronts DEL (distance English learning) with new challenges and problems. According to the DEL analysis, the paper firstly presents cloud service's functions to the support service, which serves to distribute and store quality learning resources. Meanwhile, practice-focused…

  16. Collaborative Learning: A Critical Success Factor in Distance Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levin, David S.; Ben-Jacob, Marion G.

    This paper discusses the use of new technologies for distance learning-- including interactive video, computers, and the Internet-- at Mercy College (New York) and DePaul University (Illinois). The description of a course on discrete mathematics that is taught using the Mercy College Long-distance Instructional Network (MerLIN) focuses on the use…

  17. Distance Learning Students' Need: Evaluating Interactions from Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ustati, Rusmanizah; Hassan, Sharifah Sariah Syed

    2013-01-01

    This study draws on the experience from a focus group interviews under the distance learning programme known as "Program Pensiswazahan Guru" (PPG) organized by the Malaysian Ministry of Education in collaboration with local universities and institutes of education. Its purpose is to uncover students' perception about the platform used by…

  18. Attitudes of Graduate Students Toward Distance Education, Educational Technologies and Independent Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ural, Ozana

    2007-01-01

    Distance education systems are being used in along with the traditional education systems in order to respond to the demand for higher education. Technological advancements, interactive learning possibilities are forcing the traditional universities to make more use of the distance education systems and technologies. Most of the traditional…

  19. Demanding Need of Growing Technologies in Distance Learning System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hafeez, Amtul; Ahmed, Aiijaz; Zubia, Noreen

    2014-01-01

    In distance education system use of different media enable the learners to start the course of study independently. The appearance of the internet and the expansion of web have now changed distance learning from a broadcasting way to an interactive way, and allowed connecting the learners and instructors who are geographically divided.…

  20. Compressed Video: An Interactive Tool To Encourage Students To Accept Distance Learning as an Alternative to Face-to-Face Instruction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mizell, Al P.; And Others

    Distance learning involves students and faculty engaged in interactive instructional settings when they are at different locations. Compressed video is the live transmission of two-way auditory and visual signals at the same time between sites at different locations. The use of compressed video has expanded in recent years, ranging from use by the…

  1. The Impact of Interactive Environment and Metacognitive Support on Academic Achievement and Transactional Distance in Online Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yilmaz, Ramazan; Keser, Hafize

    2017-01-01

    The aim of the present study is to reveal the impact of the interactive environment and metacognitive support (MS) in online learning on academic achievement and transactional distance (TD). The study is designed as 2 × 2 factorial design, and both qualitative and quantitative research techniques are used. The study was carried out on 127…

  2. A Pilot Project in Augmentative Distance Learning... George Mason University Graduate Course in Biochemistry.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willett, James D.; Keefe, David D.

    This paper describes the use of distance learning capabilities to augment and amplify the learning opportunities for part-time graduate students at George Mason University. The students in the biochemistry course described meet periodically on campus for brief interactions with the instructor and peer classmates. Between these synchronous…

  3. Open Distant Learning: Pedagogical Terms of Reference and Dilemmas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tatkovic, Nevenka; Ruzic, Maja; Tatkovic, Sanja

    2006-01-01

    The paper first presents the essential viewpoints of general characteristics of open distance learning (OLD) and the short historical origins. The second part presents some pedagogical terms of reference for Open distance learning as the quality of ODL, the criteria of successful ODL (planning, successful interaction, work and emotional climate,…

  4. Anisotropic interaction rules in circular motions of pigeon flocks: An empirical study based on sparse Bayesian learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Duxin; Xu, Bowen; Zhu, Tao; Zhou, Tao; Zhang, Hai-Tao

    2017-08-01

    Coordination shall be deemed to the result of interindividual interaction among natural gregarious animal groups. However, revealing the underlying interaction rules and decision-making strategies governing highly coordinated motion in bird flocks is still a long-standing challenge. Based on analysis of high spatial-temporal resolution GPS data of three pigeon flocks, we extract the hidden interaction principle by using a newly emerging machine learning method, namely the sparse Bayesian learning. It is observed that the interaction probability has an inflection point at pairwise distance of 3-4 m closer than the average maximum interindividual distance, after which it decays strictly with rising pairwise metric distances. Significantly, the density of spatial neighbor distribution is strongly anisotropic, with an evident lack of interactions along individual velocity. Thus, it is found that in small-sized bird flocks, individuals reciprocally cooperate with a variational number of neighbors in metric space and tend to interact with closer time-varying neighbors, rather than interacting with a fixed number of topological ones. Finally, extensive numerical investigation is conducted to verify both the revealed interaction and decision-making principle during circular flights of pigeon flocks.

  5. Interactive Distance Learning Effectively Provides Winning Sports Nutrition Workshops.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ricketts, Jennifer; Hoelscher-Day, Sharon; Begeman, Gale; Houtkooper, Linda

    2001-01-01

    Interactive distance-education (n=226) and face-to-face (n=129) continuing education workshops for health care and education professionals on sports nutrition were evaluated immediately and after 6 months. The well-designed distance-education format was as effective and acceptable as face to face and increased sports nutrition knowledge. (SK)

  6. Collaborative distance learning: Developing an online learning community

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stoytcheva, Maria

    2017-12-01

    The method of collaborative distance learning has been applied for years in a number of distance learning courses, but they are relatively few in foreign language learning. The context of this research is a hybrid distance learning of French for specific purposes, delivered through the platform UNIV-RcT (Strasbourg University), which combines collaborative activities for the realization of a common problem-solving task online. The study focuses on a couple of aspects: on-line interactions carried out in small, tutored groups and the process of community building online. By analyzing the learner's perceptions of community and collaborative learning, we have tried to understand the process of building and maintenance of online learning community and to see to what extent the collaborative distance learning contribute to the development of the competence expectations at the end of the course. The analysis of the results allows us to distinguish the advantages and limitations of this type of e-learning and thus evaluate their pertinence.

  7. Study on the Implementation of Interaction Teaching Mode in Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhou, Chunyu; Xu, Zhenhui

    2015-01-01

    By analyzing the learning characteristics of learners and the features of interactive teaching in distance education, this paper proposes the curriculum implementation subject of network education, namely objects multi-directional interaction teaching mode, so as to improve teaching effectiveness and achieve teaching objectives to ensure the…

  8. Distance-Learning Technologies: Curriculum Equalizers in Rural and Small Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barker, Bruce O.

    1986-01-01

    Discusses potential of new and advancing distance learning methods for meeting educational reform mandates for increased curricular offerings in rural schools. Describes specific successful programs now using interactive television via satellite, audio teleconferencing, videotapes, and microcomputer linking. Provides names, addresses, and…

  9. Success Profiling: A Methodological Perspective on the Interactive Nature of Success Predictors on Student Performance at an Open and Distance Learning Institution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muller, Helene; Swanepoel, Elana; De Beer, Andreas

    2010-01-01

    The drive to improve the academic performance of students at an open and distance learning (ODL) institution has resulted in the incorporation of a blended learning component, namely satellite classes, in the learning strategy to enhance the academic performance of first year diploma students in Business Management and Management. Monitoring this…

  10. Astonishing Technological Faith: Individuals Can Grow Spiritually When Christian Education Is Taught through Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stapleton, Deborah Leah

    2013-01-01

    My project examined if individuals can grow spiritually when Christian Education is taught through online interactive distance learning. Jesus' comment--in Matthew 8:5-13--regarding the astonishing faith of the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant from a distance was used for my Biblical Foundation. The centurion stated that Jesus did not…

  11. How do general practice residents use social networking sites in asynchronous distance learning?

    PubMed

    Maisonneuve, Hubert; Chambe, Juliette; Lorenzo, Mathieu; Pelaccia, Thierry

    2015-09-21

    Blended learning environments - involving both face-to-face and remote interactions - make it easier to adapt learning programs to constraints such as residents' location and low teacher-student ratio. Social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook®, while not originally intended to be used as learning environments, may be adapted for the distance-learning part of training programs. The purpose of our study was to explore the use of SNS for asynchronous distance learning in a blended learning environment as well as its influence on learners' face-to-face interactions. We conducted a qualitative study and carried out semi-structured interviews. We performed purposeful sampling for maximal variation to include eight general practice residents in 2(nd) and 3(rd) year training. A thematic analysis was performed. The social integration of SNS facilitates the engagement of users in their learning tasks. This may also stimulate students' interactions and group cohesion when members meet up in person. Most of the general practice residents who work in the blended learning environment we studied had a positive appraisal on their use of SNS. In particular, we report a positive impact on their engagement in learning and their participation in discussions during face-to-face instruction. Further studies are needed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of SNS in blended learning environments and the appropriation of SNS by teachers.

  12. Annotation-Based Learner's Personality Modeling in Distance Learning Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Omheni, Nizar; Kalboussi, Anis; Mazhoud, Omar; Kacem, Ahmed Hadj

    2016-01-01

    Researchers in distance education are interested in observing and modeling learners' personality profiles, and adapting their learning experiences accordingly. When learners read and interact with their reading materials, they do unselfconscious activities like annotation which may be key feature of their personalities. Annotation activity…

  13. Two Approaches to Distance Education: Lessons Learned.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sedlak, Robert A.; Cartwright, G. Phillip

    1997-01-01

    Outlines lessons learned by the University of Wisconsin-Stout in implementing two distance education programs, a technology program using interactive television and a hospitality program using Lotus Notes to deliver courses. Topics discussed include program concept vs. technology as stimulus for innovation, program planning/administration,…

  14. Recorded interactive seminars and follow-up discussions as an effective method for distance learning.

    PubMed

    Miller, Kenneth T; Hannum, Wallace M; Proffit, William R

    2011-03-01

    Previous studies have suggested that, although orthodontic residents prefer to be live and interactive in a seminar, they learn almost as much when watching a previously recorded interactive seminar and following up with live discussion. Our objective was to test the effectiveness and acceptability of using previously recorded interactive seminars and different types of live follow-up discussions. Residents at schools participating from a distance completed preseminar readings and at their convenience watched streaming video of some or all recordings of 4 interactive seminar sequences consisting of 6 seminars each. Afterward, distant residents participated in 1 of 4 types of interaction: local follow-up discussion, videoconference, teleconference, and no discussion. The effectiveness of the seminar sequences was tested by pretest and posttest scores. Acceptability was evaluated from ratings of aspects of the seminar and discussion experience. Open-ended questions allowed residents to express what they liked and to suggest changes in their experiences. In each seminar sequence, test scores of schools participating through recordings and follow-up discussions improved more than those participating live and interactive. After viewing, residents preferred local follow-up discussion, which was not statistically different from participating live and interactive both locally and from a distance. Videoconference and teleconference discussions were both more acceptable to residents than no follow-up discussion, which was found to be significantly below all methods tested. When residents are live and interactive in a seminar, there does not appear to be a significant difference between being local vs at a distance. Recorded interactive seminars with follow-up discussions are also an effective and acceptable method of distance learning. Residents preferred local follow-up discussion, but, at a distance, they preferred videoconference to both teleconference and no discussion. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Distance Learning Technology and Applications.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Minoli, Daniel

    This book is intended to give technology providers a better understanding of the dynamics of interactive distance learning (DL). For technology consumers it provides an understanding of the basics of available telecommunication technologies and the tradeoffs among available alternatives. Among the topics discussed in the book's 12 chapters are the…

  16. Interactive distance learning for orthodontic residents: utilization and acceptability.

    PubMed

    Klein, Katherine P; Hannum, Wallace M; Koroluk, Lorne D; Proffit, William R

    2012-03-01

    Sharing resources through distance education has been proposed as 1 way to deal with a lack of full-time faculty in orthodontic residency programs. To keep distance education for orthodontic residents as cost-effective as possible while retaining interaction, we developed a "blended" interactive distance learning approach that combines observation of Web-based seminars with live postseminar discussions. For the 2009-2010 academic year, a grant from the American Association of Orthodontists opened access to the blended learning experience to all orthodontic programs in the United States and Canada. The specific aims of this project were to (1) measure programmatic interest in using blended distance learning, (2) determine resident and faculty interest, (3) determine the seminars' perceived usefulness, and (4) elicit feedback regarding future use. Participants in this project were expected to (1) read all assigned articles before viewing a recorded seminar, (2) watch a 1 to 1.5 hour recording of an actual interactive seminar on a Web site, and (3) participate in a 30-minute follow-up discussion immediately after watching the recorded seminar either with a faculty member at the participating institution or via a videoconference with the leader of the Web-based seminar. The residents and faculty then completed surveys about the experience. Half (52%) of the 63 orthodontic programs in the United States fully participated in this project. The blended approach to distance learning was judged to be effective and enjoyable; faculty members were somewhat more enthusiastic about the experience than were residents. Most residents were not adequately prepared for the seminars (only 14% read all preparatory articles in depth); this impacted their perception of the effectiveness and enjoyability of the experience (P = 0.0016). Prepared residents reported a greater ability to learn from the seminars (P = 0.0035) than those who did not read, and also indicated that they were more likely to use the seminars again (P = 0.0018). Despite feedback regarding the need for technologic improvements of the recorded seminars, such as better editing, more frequent slides, quicker pace, and improved sound quality, most residents and faculty agreed that they would like to use this approach to distance learning again. Blended distance learning is an acceptable method of instruction that allows residents to access various experts, supplement traditional instructor-led training, and ease the strain of current faculty shortages. The content of the recorded seminars needs to remain evidence-based, and some technologic aspects of the recordings should be improved. Copyright © 2012 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Enhancing traditional, televised, and videotaped courses with Web-based technologies: a comparison of student satisfaction.

    PubMed

    Sole, M L; Lindquist, M

    2001-01-01

    Varied distance learning strategies can be used to deliver nursing courses, including interactive television, videotape, and Web-based approaches. (1) To assess student assess student satisfaction with a critical care elective course offered simultaneously via traditional and distance learning formats in which Web-based strategies were added, and (2) to compare satisfaction of students taking the traditional course versus those taking the class via distance technology. Students (n = 113) who took the course during the spring 1998 and 1999 semesters completed a teacher-constructed evaluation at the end of the semester. Mean ratings on the evaluation were positive. Ratings of interaction, communication with instructor, and facilitation of learning were higher from students who took the traditional course. The application of Web-based technologies may be one factor for the overall course satisfaction. However, it is important to continue to evaluate strategies that work best for students taking courses via distance technology.

  18. Interaction and the Online Distance Classroom: Do Instructional Methods Effect the Quality of Interaction?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kanuka, Heather

    2011-01-01

    In this special issue, I bring together two studies to provide a comprehensive overview on diverse and interactive instructional methods aimed to facilitate higher levels of learning. One study explored the effects of group interaction using different instructional strategies focusing on the learning "process" using the Community of Inquiry…

  19. Correcting Students' Misconceptions about Automobile Braking Distances and Video Analysis Using Interactive Program Tracker

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hockicko, Peter; Trpišová, Beáta; Ondruš, Ján

    2014-01-01

    The present paper informs about an analysis of students' conceptions about car braking distances and also presents one of the novel methods of learning: an interactive computer program Tracker that we used to analyse the process of braking of a car. The analysis of the students' conceptions about car braking distances consisted in…

  20. Advanced Methods in Distance Education: Applications and Practices for Educators, Administrators and Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dooley, Kim E.; Lindner, James R.; Dooley, Larry M.

    2005-01-01

    Courses and programs being delivered at a distance require a unique set of professional competencies. Whether using synchronous or asynchronous methods of instruction, systematic instructional design can help stimulate motivation, increase interaction and social presence, and authenticate learning outcomes. Principles of adult learning, including…

  1. Recognition of Learner's Personality Traits through Digital Annotations in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Omheni, Nizar; Kalboussi, Anis; Mazhoud, Omar; Kacem, Ahmed Hadj

    2017-01-01

    Researchers in distance education are interested in observing and modelling of learner's personality profile, and adapting their learning experiences accordingly. When learners read and interact with their reading materials, they do unselfconscious activities like annotation which may be a key feature of their personalities. Annotation activity…

  2. Empathy in Distance Learning Design Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matthews, Michael T.; Williams, Gregory S.; Yanchar, Stephen C.; McDonald, Jason K.

    2017-01-01

    The notion of designer empathy has become a cornerstone of design philosophy in fields such as product design, human-computer interaction, and service design. But the literature on instructional designer empathy and learner analysis suggests that distance learning designers are generally quite removed from the learners with whom they could be…

  3. Blurring the Lines: A Blended Learning Model in a Graduate Public Administration Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schuhmann, Robert A.; Skopek, Tracy A.

    2009-01-01

    Despite technological and pedagogical improvements, obstacles continue in certain areas of distance education, including a lack of interaction among students and instructors and associated feelings of disconnectedness from the campus community. This article explores the study results of a blended learning, distance education graduate program…

  4. Student Perspectives: Responses to Internet Opportunities in a Distance Learning Environment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saunders, Nancy G.; Malm, Loren D.; Malone, Bobby G.; Nay, Fred W.; Oliver, Brad E.; Thompson, Jay C., Jr.

    This study examined student attitudes toward interactions with class members on an Internet site supplementing a multimedia graduate-level distance learning course at Ball State University (Indiana). The course, "Elementary School Curriculum" was taught in a studio classroom (of 13 students) and transmitted to five distant sites…

  5. Dynamic Evaluation of Distance Education Courses.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Champagne, Matthew V.

    This paper focuses on the Interactive and Distance Education Assessment (IDEA) laboratory, an assessment system developed by psychology students and faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York) that incorporated learning styles, teaching styles, and other measures of individual difference into the evaluation of interactive and distance…

  6. Distance Teacher Education in Pakistan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jumani, Nabi Bux; Zai, Zafar Iqbal Yousuf

    2009-01-01

    Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. Distance education changes the learning relationship from the common, centralized school model to a more decentralized, flexible model. It also reverses social dynamics by bringing…

  7. Use of recorded interactive seminars in orthodontic distance education.

    PubMed

    Miller, Kenneth T; Hannum, Wallace M; Morley, Tarrl; Proffit, William R

    2007-09-01

    Our objective was evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of 3 methods of instructor interaction during distance learning with prerecorded seminars in orthodontic residencies and continuing education. After residents at 3 schools (Sydney, Australia; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; and Manchester, United Kingdom) viewed a recorded interactive seminar, they discussed its content with the seminar leader at a distance via video conferencing, audio-only interaction by telephone, and Internet chat with Net Meeting software (Microsoft, Bellevue, Wash). The residents then completed evaluations containing both closed- and open-ended questions. In addition, attendees at the Iranian Orthodontic Congress also viewed a recorded seminar, had questions answered via an interpreter in a video conference, and completed summary evaluations. Video conferencing received the highest ratings and was never cited as the least favorite method of interaction. Telephone interaction was a close second in mean scores, and Internet chat was a distant third. All residents stated that they would like to be taught through distance education again. However, the Iranian orthodontists were less enthusiastic. Distance learning based on observation of recorded seminars and follow-up interaction is an acceptable method of instruction that can allow residents and practicing orthodontists access to various materials and experts, and perhaps help to ease the strains of current faculty shortages. More data are needed to determine whether video conferencing is worth the additional cost and complexity over audio-only interaction.

  8. Illuminating the Importance of Learning Interaction to Open Distance Learning (ODL) Success: A Qualitative Perspectives of Adult Learners in Perlis, Malaysia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dzakiria, Hisham

    2012-01-01

    Open Distance Learning (ODL) provides learners with the greatest possible control over time, place and pace of education. The educational delivery of ODL has improved greatly over the years with growing number of students continuously enrolling into various ODL programs globally. ODL however does come with issues and problems. Loss of student…

  9. The Development of Interactive Distance Learning in Taiwan: Challenges and Prospects.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chu, Clarence T.

    1999-01-01

    Describes three types of interactive distance-education systems under development in Taiwan: real-time multicast systems; virtual-classroom systems; and curriculum-on-demand systems. Discusses the use of telecommunications and computer technology in higher education, problems and challenges, and future prospects. (Author/LRW)

  10. Multimedia as an Interactive Platform in Learning Volcanoes in Social Sciences among Upper Primary Students--An Experiment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ravi, R.; Malathy, V. A.

    2010-01-01

    Instructional technology is a growing field which uses technology as a means to solve teaching and learning challenges, both in the classroom and outside the classroom that is in distance learning environments. Multimedia is an interactive instructional technology used in the classroom for teaching learning process has a wide significance to the…

  11. Leveraging Computer-Mediated Communication Technologies to Enhance Interactions in Online Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wright, Linda J.

    2011-01-01

    Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies have been an integral part of distance education for many years. They are found in both synchronous and asynchronous platforms and are intended to enhance the learning experience for students. CMC technologies add an interactive element to the online learning environment. The findings from this…

  12. Real-Time Interactive Social Environments: A Review of BT's Generic Learning Platform.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, Michael; Ward, Holly

    1999-01-01

    Describes the development of a generic learning platform for online distance learning and explains RISE (Real-time Interactive Social Environments), a Web-based system. Reports results of trials at the University of Hull Language Institute in an English as a Foreign Language course that investigated system usability, teacher roles, and student…

  13. Multimedia Equipment for Distance Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schiller, Scott S.

    1993-01-01

    Discusses the use of multimedia equipment for distance education. Topics addressed include use of the Internet; distance learning for educators; and cable television and/or fiber optics, including interactive television and satellite technology. A sidebar lists online and telecommunications providers. (LRW)

  14. Testing the limits of long-distance learning: Learning beyond a three-segment window

    PubMed Central

    Finley, Sara

    2012-01-01

    Traditional flat-structured bigram and trigram models of phonotactics are useful because they capture a large number of facts about phonological processes. Additionally, these models predict that local interactions should be easier to learn than long-distance ones since long-distance dependencies are difficult to capture with these models. Long-distance phonotactic patterns have been observed by linguists in many languages, who have proposed different kinds of models, including feature-based bigram and trigram models, as well as precedence models. Contrary to flat-structured bigram and trigram models, these alternatives capture unbounded dependencies because at an abstract level of representation, the relevant elements are locally dependent, even if they are not adjacent at the observable level. Using an artificial grammar learning paradigm, we provide additional support for these alternative models of phonotactics. Participants in two experiments were exposed to a long-distance consonant harmony pattern in which the first consonant of a five-syllable word was [s] or [∫] ('sh') and triggered a suffix that was either [−su] or [−∫u] depending on the sibilant quality of this first consonant. Participants learned this pattern, despite the large distance between the trigger and the target, suggesting that when participants learn long-distance phonological patterns, that pattern is learned without specific reference to distance. PMID:22303815

  15. When and Where You Want It: Continuing Education from a Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shade, Stacy Deck; Barber, Gerard M.

    2004-01-01

    Online technology is increasingly being used as a tool for delivery of continuing education to health care professionals. This paper discusses key lessons learned in developing a distance-learning program. It provides practical information on ways to enhance interactivity and overcome obstacles. Preliminary outcomes for learners in a four-state…

  16. Does power distance exacerbate or mitigate the effects of abusive supervision? It depends on the outcome.

    PubMed

    Lian, Huiwen; Ferris, D Lance; Brown, Douglas J

    2012-01-01

    We predicted that the effects of abusive supervision are likely to be moderated by subordinate power distance orientation and that the nature of the moderating effect will depend on the outcome. Drawing upon work suggesting that high power distance orientation subordinates are more tolerant of supervisory mistreatment, we posited that high power distance orientation subordinates would be less likely to view abusive supervision as interpersonally unfair. Drawing upon social learning theory suggestions that high power distance orientation subordinates are more likely to view supervisors as role models, we posited that high power distance orientation subordinates would be more likely to pattern their own interpersonally deviant behavior after that of abusive supervisors. Across 3 samples we found support for our predicted interactions, culminating in a mediated moderation model demonstrating that social learning mediates the interaction of abusive supervision and power distance on subordinate interpersonal deviance, while ruling out alternate self-regulation impairment or displaced aggression explanations. Implications for the abusive supervision literature are discussed.

  17. The Development of an Interaction Support System for International Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yueh, Hsiu-Ping; Lin, Weijane; Liu, Yi-Lin; Shoji, Tetsuo; Minoh, Michihiko

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports on the implementation of a learner identification system developed to facilitate real-time interaction in an international distance course. To increase the teacher immediacy and social presence, it proposes an integrative system for incorporating technology to improve the learning involvement, teaching effectiveness, and quality…

  18. Interactive Distance Education: A Cognitive Load Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalyuga, Slava

    2012-01-01

    Evidence-based approaches to the design of the next generation of interactive distance education need to take into account established multimedia learning principles. Cognitive load theory is a theory that has significantly contributed to the development of such principles. It has applied our knowledge of major features and processing limitations…

  19. Sense of Community in Graduate Online Education: Contribution of Learner to Learner Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shackelford, Jo L.; Maxwell, Marge

    2012-01-01

    Distance learning technologies offer a multitude of ways to build interaction into online courses to support learning. Based on social constructivism theory, this study explored which types of interaction are most predictive of students' sense of community in online graduate courses at a regional comprehensive university. Surveys were used to…

  20. Quantitative Aspects about the Interactions of Professors in the Learning Management System during a Final Undergraduate Project Distance Discipline

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cechinel, Cristian

    2014-01-01

    This work presents a quantitative study of the use of a Learning Management System (LMS) by the professors of a distance learning course, focused on the guidance given for the students' Final Undergraduate Project. Data taken from the logs of 34 professors in two distinct virtual rooms were collected. After pre-processing the data, a series of…

  1. Understanding the internet-based distance learning preferences of European respiratory specialists.

    PubMed

    Roberts, C M; Milon, S; Kurosinski, P

    2006-08-01

    We studied the learning preferences of 160 respiratory specialists from four European countries who participated in ten internet-based learning modules and answered linked survey questions. Specialists were enthusiastic for internet learning amongst all national groups and particularly wanted to access material for teaching others. The value of social interactive learning was acknowledged but British and German subjects appeared more reluctant to participate. Internet delivered distance learning is well perceived amongst respiratory specialists. There is potential for both individual and group learning that could be realized by developing Europe-wide continuing professional development communities.

  2. Students' Perceived Challenges in an Online Collaborative Learning Environment: A Case of Higher Learning Institutions in Nairobi, Kenya

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muuro, Maina Elizaphan; Wagacha, Waiganjo Peter; Oboko, Robert; Kihoro, John

    2014-01-01

    Earlier forms of distance education were characterized by minimal social interaction like correspondence, television, video and radio. However, the World Wide Web (WWW) and online learning introduced the opportunity for much more social interaction, particularly among learners, and this has been further made possible through social media in Web…

  3. Power Distance in Online Learning: Experience of Chinese Learners in U.S. Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Yi (Leaf)

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this research study was to explore the influence of Confucian-heritage culture on Chinese learners' online learning and engagement in online discussion in U.S. higher education. More specifically, this research studied Chinese learners' perceptions of power distance and its impact on their interactions with instructors and peers in…

  4. Implementing Electronic Conferencing within a Distance-Based University: University of South Africa Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kritzinger, E.; Padayachee, K.; Tolmay, M.

    2010-01-01

    The outcome of this paper is primarily to survey and analyse student interactions with electronic conferencing systems and to reflect on the impact of such a system on the students' learning within an open distance learning context. This pilot study is articulated within action research methodology to generate critical reflection on collaborative,…

  5. DL-sQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Service Quality of Online Distance Learning Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaik, Naj; Lowe, Sue; Pinegar, Kem

    2006-01-01

    Education is a service with multiplicity of student interactions over time and across multiple touch points. Quality teaching needs to be supplemented by consistent quality supporting services for programs to succeed under the competitive distance learning landscape. ServQual and e-SQ scales have been proposed for measuring quality of traditional…

  6. Can Distance Learning Be Used to Teach Automotive Management Skills?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noto, Teresa L.

    2011-01-01

    Today's automotive college students will shape the future of the automobile industry. The success of college-level automotive programs has long been dependent on the students' ability to participate in hands-on classroom based interactions. In this article, distance learning and how it can be used to teach automotive management skills, as well as…

  7. Blended Learning in a Teacher Training Course: Integrated Interactive E-Learning and Contact Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kupetz, Rita; Ziegenmeyer, Brigit

    2005-01-01

    The paper discusses a blended learning concept for a university teacher training course for prospective teachers of English. The concept aims at purposeful learning using different methods and activities, various traditional and electronic media, learning spaces covering contact and distance learning, and task-based learning modules that begin…

  8. A Cost Comparison of Alternative Approaches to Distance Education in Developing Countries

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ventre, Gerard G.; Kalu, Alex

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents a cost comparison of three approaches to two-way interactive distance learning systems for developing countries. Included are costs for distance learning hardware, terrestrial and satellite communication links, and designing instruction for two-way interactive courses. As part of this project, FSEC is developing a 30-hour course in photovoltaic system design that will be used in a variety of experiments using the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS). A primary goal of the project is to develop an instructional design and delivery model that can be used for other education and training programs. Over two-thirds of the world photovoltaics market is in developing countries. One of the objectives of this NASA-sponsored project was to develop new and better energy education programs that take advantage of advances in telecommunications and computer technology. The combination of desktop video systems and the sharing of computer applications software is of special interest. Research is being performed to evaluate the effectiveness of some of these technologies as part of this project. The design of the distance learning origination and receive sites discussed in this paper were influenced by the educational community's growing interest in distance education. The following approach was used to develop comparative costs for delivering interactive distance education to developing countries: (1) Representative target locations for receive sites were chosen. The originating site was assumed to be Cocoa, Florida, where FSEC is located; (2) A range of course development costs were determined; (3) The cost of equipment for three alternative two-way interactive distance learning system configurations was determined or estimated. The types of system configurations ranged from a PC-based system that allows instructors to originate instruction from their office using desktop video and shared application software, to a high cost system that uses a electronic classroom; (4) A range of costs for both satellite and terrestrial communications was investigated; (5) The costs of equipment and operation of the alternative configurations for the origination and receive sites were determined; (6) A range of costs for several alternative delivery scenarios (i.e., a mix of live-interactive; asynchronous interactive;use of videotapes) was determined; and (7) A preferred delivery scenario, including cost estimate, was developed.

  9. A position paper of the EFLM Committee on Education and Training and Working Group on Distance Education Programmes/E-Learning: developing an e-learning platform for the education of stakeholders in laboratory medicine.

    PubMed

    Gruson, Damien; Faure, Gilbert; Gouget, Bernard; Haliassos, Alexandre; Kisikuchin, Darya; Reguengo, Henrique; Topic, Elizabeta; Blaton, Victor

    2013-04-01

    The progress of information and communication technologies has strongly influenced changes in healthcare and laboratory medicine. E-learning, the learning or teaching through electronic means, contributes to the effective knowledge translation in medicine and healthcare, which is an essential element of a modern healthcare system and for the improvement of patient care. E-learning also represents a great vector for the transfer knowledge into laboratory practice, stimulate multidisciplinary interactions, enhance continuing professional development and promote laboratory medicine. The European Federation of Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) has initiated a distance learning program and the development of a collaborative network for e-learning. The EFLM dedicated working group encourages the organization of distance education programs and e-learning courses as well as critically evaluate information from courses, lectures and documents including electronic learning tools. The objectives of the present paper are to provide some specifications for distance learning and be compatible with laboratory medicine practices.

  10. Learning styles and preferences for live and distance education: an example of a specialisation course in epidemiology.

    PubMed

    Groenwold, Rolf H H; Knol, Mirjam J

    2013-07-02

    Distance learning through the internet is increasingly popular in higher education. However, it is unknown how participants in epidemiology courses value live vs. distance education. All participants of a 5-day specialisation course in epidemiology were asked to keep a diary on the number of hours they spent on course activities (both live and distance education). Attendance was not compulsory during the course and participants were therefore also asked for the reasons to attend live education (lectures and practicals). In addition, the relation between participants' learning styles (Index of Learning Styles) and their participation in live and distance education was studied. All 54 (100%) participants in the course completed the questionnaire on attendance and 46 (85%) completed the questionnaire on learning styles. The number of hours attending live education was negatively correlated with the number of hours going studying distance learning materials (Pearson correlation -0.5; p < 0.001). The most important reasons to attend live education was to stay focused during lectures (50%), and to ask questions during practicals (50%). A lack of time was the most important reason not to attend lectures (52%) or practicals (61%). Learning styles were not association with the number of hours spent on live or distance education. Distance learning may play an important role in epidemiology courses, since it allows participants to study whenever and wherever they prefer, which provides the opportunity to combine courses with clinical duties. An important requirement for distance learning education appears to be the possibility to ask questions and to interact with instructors.

  11. NASA LIVE Creating a Global Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Townes-Young, Katrina L.; Ewing, Virginia R.

    2005-01-01

    This article describes NASA LIVE (Learning through Interactive Videoconferencing Experiences), a free series of videoconferencing programs produced by NASA's Langley Center for Distance Learning in Hampton, Virginia. NASA LIVE is designed for K-12 educators and students, allowing teachers and students to interact with NASA experts in a virtual…

  12. Testing the limits of long-distance learning: learning beyond a three-segment window.

    PubMed

    Finley, Sara

    2012-01-01

    Traditional flat-structured bigram and trigram models of phonotactics are useful because they capture a large number of facts about phonological processes. Additionally, these models predict that local interactions should be easier to learn than long-distance ones because long-distance dependencies are difficult to capture with these models. Long-distance phonotactic patterns have been observed by linguists in many languages, who have proposed different kinds of models, including feature-based bigram and trigram models, as well as precedence models. Contrary to flat-structured bigram and trigram models, these alternatives capture unbounded dependencies because at an abstract level of representation, the relevant elements are locally dependent, even if they are not adjacent at the observable level. Using an artificial grammar learning paradigm, we provide additional support for these alternative models of phonotactics. Participants in two experiments were exposed to a long-distance consonant-harmony pattern in which the first consonant of a five-syllable word was [s] or [∫] ("sh") and triggered a suffix that was either [-su] or [-∫u] depending on the sibilant quality of this first consonant. Participants learned this pattern, despite the large distance between the trigger and the target, suggesting that when participants learn long-distance phonological patterns, that pattern is learned without specific reference to distance. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  13. Teaching differential diagnosis to nurse practitioner students in a distance program.

    PubMed

    Colella, Christine L; Beery, Theresa A

    2014-08-01

    An interactive case study (ICS) is a novel way to enhance the teaching of differential diagnosis to distance learning nurse practitioner students. Distance education renders the use of many teaching strategies commonly used with face-to-face students difficult, if not impossible. To meet this new pedagogical dilemma and to provide excellence in education, the ICS was developed. Kolb's theory of experiential learning supported efforts to follow the utilization of the ICS. This study sought to determine whether learning outcomes for the distance learning students were equivalent to those of on-campus students who engaged in a live-patient encounter. Accuracy of differential diagnosis lists generated by onsite and online students was compared. Equivalency testing assessed clinical, rather than only statistical, significance in data from 291 students. The ICS responses from the distance learning and onsite students differed by 4.9%, which was within the a priori equivalence estimate of 10%. Narrative data supported the findings. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

  14. Students' experiences with interactivity and learning in a high school physics multimedia distance learning course

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Villarreal-Stewart, Irene

    The purpose guiding this research has been to learn about and describe the phenomena of interactivity from the learners' perspectives and to learn which of the interactivity affordances and practices were actually used by students and why in the process of learning physics using an interactive multimedia distance learning course system. The bigger purpose behind learning about and describing interactivity has been to gain knowledge and perspective for its instructional design to benefit the learner, the school as curriculum implementer, and instructional media designers to create better products. Qualitative methodology in the interpretivist tradition was used, that is, in-depth interviews and on-site observations, to gain understanding of interactivity from the learners' perspective and to gain understanding of the student learning context impacting and shaping the students' interactivity experiences. NVivo was used to sort, organize and index data. All data were read on three levels: literally, interpretively, and reflexively; and were read comparatively to other perspectives to get descriptions and interpretations that were holistic to the implementation and had potential insight to improve practice for instructional designers, teachers, administrators, specifically to improve the learning experience for students. Site-Specific Findings: Students watched videos, resisted using phone and e-mail, and worked math problems to demonstrate learning, which resulted in very little interactivity, virtually no dialogue about physics, no physical activity, one-way communication, multifaceted dissatisfaction, student need for teacher involvement in the learning enterprise, student appreciation for interactivity, and expressed desire for a real, live teacher. I also found that some students did experience the system as interactive, did experience learner control and self-directed learning, and despite dissatisfaction, liked and appreciated the course. Wider Applications: Interactivity, a design element, requires scaffolding and nurturing in implementation. The variable and changing context of implementation suggests the requirement for its consideration in design work. The study suggests that during implementation the integrity of design as a whole and flexibility within the design are important continuing considerations. Recommendations. (1) implementation supervision by the school district, (2) use of a language and activity-based theory of learning and teaching and (3) dialogic inquiry (Wells, 1999) to continue learning about interactivity.

  15. A synchronous communication experiment within an online distance learning program: a case study.

    PubMed

    Boulos, Maged N Kamel; Taylor, Andrea D; Breton, Alice

    2005-10-01

    Student-teacher and student-student interactions in purely asynchronous distance learning courses are much lacking compared to similar interactions found in face-to-face teaching, causing learners to experience feelings of isolation, thus reducing motivation and increasing dropout rates. We used PalTalk, an Internet text and audio chat client from AVM Software, Inc. (New York, NY), to offer our students live virtual classroom sessions within a unit of our online distance learning M.Sc. program in Healthcare Informatics. On-demand replays of audio excerpts from the sessions were also provided to accommodate absenteeism and for student review. Five students completed an evaluation questionnaire. Our results highlighted the potential merits of using synchronous conferencing to assist in fostering a sense of belonging to one supportive learning community among distance learners and improve educational outcomes. Students were very positive toward the real-time human interaction and voted for a 95/5 (asynchronous/synchronous percentages) blended delivery approach for a typical unit in our program. They also praised PalTalk's voice quality and ease of use. This paper presents educational and technological perspectives about this experiment in the form of a state-of the- art review, without intending to be statistically rigorous. However, robust research evidence is still required to convince educators fully about the benefits of synchronous communication tools and help them decide on the most suitable solutions for their particular circumstances.

  16. The Use of Flexible, Interactive, Situation-Focused Software for the E-Learning of Mathematics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farnsworth, Ralph Edward

    This paper discusses the classroom, home, and distance use of new, flexible, interactive, application-oriented software known as Active Learning Suite. The actual use of the software, not just a controlled experiment, is reported on. Designed for the e-learning of university mathematics, the program was developed by a joint U.S.-Russia team and…

  17. An Action Research Approach to the Design, Development and Evaluation of an Interactive E-Learning Tutorial in a Cognitive Domain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de Villiers, M. Ruth

    2007-01-01

    The teaching and learning of a complex section in "Theoretical Computer Science 1" in a distance-education context at the University of South Africa (UNISA) has been enhanced by a supplementary e-learning application called "Relations," which interactively teaches mathematical skills in a cognitive domain. It has tutorial and…

  18. A Review of the Instructional Practices for Promoting Online Learning Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Woei; Flom, Elicia; Manu, Jacob; Mahmoud, Enaz

    2015-01-01

    An effective learning community helps foster positive student learning experiences and outcomes. However, in distance learning environments, the communication barriers inevitably hinder the interaction among the students because of the lower levels of social presence. These barriers present challenges in building learning communities in an online…

  19. Distance Learning between German and Japanese School Classes Based on a Real Time Video Conference Environment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graf, Klaus-D.

    We have established an environment for German-Japanese school education projects using real time interactive audio-visual distance learning between remote classrooms. In periods of 8-12 weeks, two classes are dealing with the same subject matter, exchanging materials and results via e-mail and Internet. At 3 or 4 occasions the classes met on…

  20. Multimedia and Interactivity in Distance Learning of Resuscitation Guidelines: A Randomised Controlled Trial

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leszczynski, Piotr; Charuta, Anna; Laziuk, Beata; Galazkowski, Robert; Wejnarski, Arkadiusz; Roszak, Magdalena; Kolodziejczak, Barbara

    2018-01-01

    The aim of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of three forms of knowledge transfer online, taking into account the long-term knowledge growth rate and the satisfaction of students surveyed in respect to distance learning. The cohort of participants for this survey were students of the first degree, studying in the Emergency Medical…

  1. Relationship between Social Media and Academic Performance in Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gupta, C. A. Pallavi; Singh, Bharti; Marwaha, Tushar

    2013-01-01

    The scope and method of imparting distance education to the learner has evolved over a period of time. Various models of distance education have been introduced over the years; the latest introduction is the use of Web 2.0 technologies to make distance learning more analytical, flexible, interactive, and collaborative for both the teacher and the…

  2. Distance learning through synchronous interactive television.

    PubMed

    Hall, Janis L

    2007-01-01

    The advent and popularity of asynchronous online learning has somewhat obscured a standby technology developed over the last two decades. Interactive videoconferencing, sometimes called "interactive television," though not as glamorous and popular a topic at distance-learning conferences, is still alive and well at many institutions. Three or four years ago, many of us were led to believe that interactive television would go the way of the dinosaurs-everything would soon be in an asynchronous format or on individual desktops. There would no longer be any need for elaborately designed classrooms, networks, and operations staff. To date, this prediction has not come true. In fact, synchronous interactive television has experienced significant growth as newer, easier, and cheaper technologies allow institutions to reach more students with less resource investment. Faculty and students, while appreciating the convenience of asynchronous delivery, still express a need for synchronous communication. This article explores the issues involved in synchronous distance education, the current technologies and proposed future developments, and best practices in terms of classroom design, faculty use, and operational issues. It is not a research article but an anecdotal case study based on Washington State University's experiences over the last 20 years in developing and adapting to new synchronous technologies and creating the support and technical infrastructure to best deliver academic courses through this medium.

  3. Dental hygiene students' perceptions of distance learning: do they change over time?

    PubMed

    Sledge, Rhonda; Vuk, Jasna; Long, Susan

    2014-02-01

    The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences dental hygiene program established a distant site where the didactic curriculum was broadcast via interactive video from the main campus to the distant site, supplemented with on-line learning via Blackboard. This study compared the perceptions of students towards distance learning as they progressed through the 21 month curriculum. Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions: Is there a difference in the initial perceptions of students on the main campus and at the distant site toward distance learning? Do students' perceptions change over time with exposure to synchronous distance learning over the course of the curriculum? All 39 subjects were women between the ages of 20 and 35 years. Of the 39 subjects, 37 were Caucasian and 2 were African-American. A 15-question Likert scale survey was administered at 4 different periods during the 21 month program to compare changes in perceptions toward distance learning as students progressed through the program. An independent sample t-test and ANOVA were utilized for statistical analysis. At the beginning of the program, independent samples t-test revealed that students at the main campus (n=34) perceived statistically significantly higher effectiveness of distance learning than students at the distant site (n=5). Repeated measures of ANOVA revealed that perceptions of students at the main campus on effectiveness and advantages of distance learning statistically significantly decreased whereas perceptions of students at distant site statistically significantly increased over time. Distance learning in the dental hygiene program was discussed, and replication of the study with larger samples of students was recommended.

  4. Standards of e-Learning Based Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saurabh, Kumar

    2006-01-01

    The term distance education is commonly used to describe courses in which nearly all the interaction between the teacher and student takes place electronically. Electronic communication may take the form of audio, video, e-mail, chat, teleconferencing, and, increasingly, the Internet. Distance education courses range from short term training…

  5. Educating Laboratory Science Learners at a Distance Using Interactive Television

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reddy, Christopher

    2014-01-01

    Laboratory science classes offered to students learning at a distance require a methodology that allows for the completion of tactile activities. Literature describes three different methods of solving the distance laboratory dilemma: kit-based laboratory experience, computer-based laboratory experience, and campus-based laboratory experience,…

  6. Learning styles and preferences for live and distance education: an example of a specialisation course in epidemiology

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Distance learning through the internet is increasingly popular in higher education. However, it is unknown how participants in epidemiology courses value live vs. distance education. Methods All participants of a 5-day specialisation course in epidemiology were asked to keep a diary on the number of hours they spent on course activities (both live and distance education). Attendance was not compulsory during the course and participants were therefore also asked for the reasons to attend live education (lectures and practicals). In addition, the relation between participants’ learning styles (Index of Learning Styles) and their participation in live and distance education was studied. Results All 54 (100%) participants in the course completed the questionnaire on attendance and 46 (85%) completed the questionnaire on learning styles. The number of hours attending live education was negatively correlated with the number of hours going studying distance learning materials (Pearson correlation −0.5; p < 0.001). The most important reasons to attend live education was to stay focused during lectures (50%), and to ask questions during practicals (50%). A lack of time was the most important reason not to attend lectures (52%) or practicals (61%). Learning styles were not association with the number of hours spent on live or distance education. Conclusion Distance learning may play an important role in epidemiology courses, since it allows participants to study whenever and wherever they prefer, which provides the opportunity to combine courses with clinical duties. An important requirement for distance learning education appears to be the possibility to ask questions and to interact with instructors. PMID:23819522

  7. Teaching basic medical sciences at a distance: strategies for effective teaching and learning in internet-based courses.

    PubMed

    Ertmer, Peggy A; Nour, Abdelfattah Y M

    2007-01-01

    In recent years, the Internet has become an effective and accessible delivery mechanism for distance education. In 2003, 81% of all institutions of higher education offered at least one fully online or hybrid course. By 2005, the proportion of institutions that listed online education as important to their long-term goals had increased by 8%. This growth in available online courses and their increased convenience and flexibility have stimulated dramatic increases in enrollment in online programs, including the Veterinary Technology Distance Learning Program (VT-DLP) at Purdue University. Regardless of the obvious benefits, distance learning (DL) can be frustrating for the learners if course developers are unable to merge their knowledge about the learners, the process of instructional design, and the appropriate uses of technology and interactivity options into effective course designs. This article describes strategies that we have used to increase students' learning of physiology content in an online environment. While some of these are similar, if not identical, to strategies that might be used in a face-to-face (f2f) environment (e.g., case studies, videos, concept maps), additional strategies (e.g., animations, virtual microscopy) are needed to replace or supplement what might normally occur in a f2f course. We describe how we have addressed students' need for instructional interaction, specifically in the context of two foundational physiology courses that occur early in the VT-DLP. Although the teaching and learning strategies we have used have led to increasingly high levels of interaction, there is an ongoing need to evaluate these strategies to determine their impact on students' learning of physiology content, their development of problem-solving skills, and their retention of information.

  8. Virtual Learning Worlds as a Bridge between Arts and Humanities and Science and Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dunning, Jeremy; Bhattacharya, Sunand; Daniels, David; Dunning, Katherine

    2007-01-01

    Science and technology, when applied to educational excellence, have become part of the arts and humanities of tomorrow. The interactive multimedia technology tools available to educators today provide an opportunity to build into the distance or traditional course through learning objects, highly interactive experiential exercises that allow the…

  9. Application of distance learning to interactive seminar instruction in orthodontic residency programs.

    PubMed

    Bednar, Eric D; Hannum, Wallace M; Firestone, Allen; Silveira, Anibal M; Cox, Thomas D; Proffit, William R

    2007-11-01

    A series of experiments involving 3 orthodontic departments has shown that distance learning can be acceptable to residents and effective in teaching concepts that are fundamental to orthodontic practice. Residents in each department participated in distance seminars, clinical conferences, and clinical seminars via high-speed Internet connections. The acceptability of this form of instruction was judged from evaluation forms completed by the residents. Its effectiveness was judged from pretests and posttests on the seminar topics. The improvement from pretest to posttest scores after observing a sequence of distance seminars was similar to that with direct instruction. Orthodontic residents rated the educational experiences positively. Live participation in seminars via video conferencing was preferred to live observation or later observation of a recording, but observation provided similar improvement in test scores. The acceptability of the distance seminars appeared to be influenced by the instructor's personality and teaching style in facilitating interaction, the seminar subject, the residents' comfort level in dealing with this technology, and the sequence for interaction vs observation. Further development of recorded seminars with live follow-up discussions has the potential to supplement instruction in graduate orthodontic programs and help with the impending shortage of experienced full-time orthodontic faculty.

  10. Effects of help-seeking in a blended high school Biology class

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deguzman, Paolo

    Distance learning provides an opportunity for students to learn valuable information through technology and interactive media. Distance learning additionally offers educational institutions the flexibility of synchronous and asynchronous instruction while increasing enrollment and lowering cost. However, distance education has not been well documented within the context of urban high schools. Distance learning may allow high school students to understand material at an individualized pace for either enrichment or remediation. A successful high school student who participates in distance learning should exhibit high self regulatory skills. However, most urban high school students have not been exposed to distance learning and should be introduced to proper self regulatory strategies that should increase the likelihood of understanding the material. To help facilitate a move into distance learning, a blended distance learning model, the combination of distance learning and traditional learning, will be used. According to O'Neil's (in preparation) revised problem solving model, self regulation is a component of problem solving. Within the Blended Biology course, urban high school students will be trained in help-seeking strategies to further their understanding of genetics and Punnett Square problem solving. This study investigated the effects of help-seeking in a blended high school Biology course. The main study consisted of a help-seeking group (n=55) and a control group (n=53). Both the help-seeking group and the control group were taught by one teacher for two weeks. The help-seeking group had access to Blended Biology with Help-Seeking while the control group only had access to Blended Biology. The main study used a pretest and posttest to measure Genetics Content Understanding, Punnett Square Problem Solving, Adaptive Help-Seeking, Maladaptive Help-Seeking, and Self Regulation. The analysis showed no significant difference in any of the measures in terms of help seeking. However, blended distance learning appeared to work as posttest means increased significantly from the pretest means. Future studies should consider the method of communication for help-seeking and help-giving within a high school distance learning context. Further studies should consider developing instruments to measure the difference in knowing when help is needed versus active choice.

  11. Educational Technology in Distance Learning (for the Deaf).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hales, Gerald

    This discussion of the use of distance education for deaf students argues that distance education methodologies appear to be relatively attractive to the hearing impaired student because they rely to a substantial extent upon the written word and visual transmission of information. Several projects that use computer or interactive systems to teach…

  12. The Cost of Online Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Milshtein, Amy

    2001-01-01

    Examines development considerations and tips for controlling costs when a university decides to develop an online distance learning service. Use of the interactive Web Site for Determining Costs tool for unveiling hidden costs is highlighted. (GR)

  13. Basic actions to reduce dropout rates in distance learning.

    PubMed

    Gregori, Pablo; Martínez, Vicente; Moyano-Fernández, Julio José

    2018-02-01

    Today's society, which is strongly based on knowledge and interaction with information, has a key component in technological innovation, a fundamental tool for the development of the current teaching methodologies. Nowadays, there are a lot of online resources, such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and distance learning courses. One aspect that is common to all of these is a high dropout rate: about 90% in MOOCs and 50% in the courses of the Spanish National Distance Education University, among other examples. In this paper, we analyze a number of actions undertaken in the Master's Degree in Computational Mathematics at Universitat Jaume I in Castellón, Spain. These actions seem to help decrease the dropout rate in distance learning; the available data confirm their effectiveness. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. From Reload to ReCourse: Learning from IMS Learning Design Implementations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Griffiths, David; Beauvoir, Phillip; Liber, Oleg; Barrett-Baxendale, Mark

    2009-01-01

    The use of the Web to deliver open, distance, and flexible learning has opened up the potential for social interaction and adaptive learning, but the usability, expressivity, and interoperability of the available tools leave much to be desired. This article explores these issues as they relate to teachers and learning designers through the case of…

  15. Effects of Online Interaction via Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Tools on an E-Mathematics Learning Outcome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okonta, Olomeruom

    2010-01-01

    Recent research studies in open and distance learning have focused on the differences between traditional learning versus online learning, the benefits of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools in an e-learning environment, and the relationship between online discussion posts and students' achievement. In fact, there is an extant…

  16. Tablet Technology to Facilitate Improved Interaction and Communication with Students Studying Mathematics at a Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Galligan, Linda; Hobohm, Carola; Loch, Birgit

    2012-01-01

    Teaching and learning of mathematics is challenging when lecturer and students are separated geographically. While student engagement and interaction with the course, with other students and with the lecturer is vital to mathematics learning, it is difficult to facilitate this electronically, because of the nature of mathematics. With tablet…

  17. Expanding the Media Mix in Statistics Education through Platform-Independent and Interactive Learning Objects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mittag, Hans-Joachim

    2015-01-01

    The ubiquity of mobile devices demands the exploitation of their potentials in distance and face-to-face teaching, as well for complementing textbooks in printed or electronic format. There is a strong need to develop innovative resources that open up new dimensions of learning and teaching through interactive and platform-independent content.…

  18. Captivate Your Audience by Turning Powerpoint Presentations into Interactive E-Learning Content

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young, Montessa; Hirnyck, Ronda; Agenbroad, Ariel; Bechinski, Edward J.

    2015-01-01

    Adobe® Captivate software provides educators with a tool to create interactive distance learning modules. This article describes how Adobe® Captivate was used to increase engagement of volunteer learners. An Adobe® Captivate module was created for the University of Idaho Master Gardener program to educate and test new Master Gardener volunteers on…

  19. A Framework for Interaction and Cognitive Engagement in Connectivist Learning Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Zhijun; Chen, Li; Anderson, Terry

    2014-01-01

    Interaction has always been highly valued in education, especially in distance education (Moore, 1989; Anderson, 2003; Chen, 2004a; Woo & Reeves, 2007; Wang, 2013; Conrad, in press). It has been associated with motivation (Mahle, 2011; Wen-chi, et al., 2011), persistence (Tello, 2007; Joo, Lim, & Kim, 2011), deep learning (Offir, et al.,…

  20. Distance Interaction through the World Wide Web in Graduate Teacher Education: A Follow-Up Analysis of Student Perceptions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thompson, Jay C., Jr.; Nay, Frederick W.

    This study, a follow-up to an earlier study (reported in the 1998 "Mid-Western Educational Researcher" v10 n4) used the World Wide Web and a "Class Page" to evaluate interaction strategies in a distance education setting. This study further examines Lev Vygotsky's social learning theories as they apply to the asynchronous…

  1. Pedagogical Distance: Explaining Misalignment in Student-Driven Online Learning Activities Using Activity Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westberry, Nicola; Franken, Margaret

    2015-01-01

    This paper provides an Activity Theory analysis of two online student-driven interactive learning activities to interrogate assumptions that such groups can effectively learn in the absence of the teacher. Such an analysis conceptualises learning tasks as constructed objects that drive pedagogical activity. The analysis shows a disconnect between…

  2. A Comparison of Organizational Structure and Pedagogical Approach: Online versus Face-to-Face

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McFarlane, Donovan A.

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines online versus face-to-face organizational structure and pedagogy in terms of education and the teaching and learning process. The author distinguishes several important terms related to distance/online/e-learning, virtual learning and brick-and-mortar learning interactions and concepts such as asynchronous and synchronous…

  3. Reducing the distance: providing challenging and engaging online postgraduate education in pain management.

    PubMed

    Devonshire, Elizabeth; Henderson, Sarah E

    2012-05-01

    1. Health professionals need access to flexible, high-quality, advanced education in pain management. 2. There are multiple pedagogical distances to be negotiated in the delivery of effective postgraduate education. 3. A critical consideration in the design and delivery of effective online learning for postgraduate education in pain management is how to: actively engage students in the learning process; and encourage students to become lifelong learners. 4. Conceptual frameworks for encouraging student interaction online provide a useful tool in the design of postgraduate online learning activities.

  4. Using distance technologies to facilitate a learning collaborative to implement stagewise treatment.

    PubMed

    Covell, Nancy H; Foster, Forrest P; Margolies, Paul J; Lopez, Luis O; Dixon, Lisa B

    2015-06-01

    This report describes experiences and outcomes of an online learning collaborative focused on implementation of stagewise treatment. Eleven participating programs convened online monthly for a year. Between meetings, program staff created an implementation plan and programs collected performance indicator data, including assessment of staff knowledge of integrated treatment for people with co-occurring disorders, whether a person's current stage of treatment was documented in his or her chart, and whether the treatments were appropriate for the stage of treatment. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize performance indicators and feedback. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests examined changes in performance indicators over time. Program staff generally demonstrated significant improvements in performance indicators over time and rated the distance learning collaborative favorably. Distance learning collaboratives can be structured to provide opportunities for program staff to interact and learn from one another and to implement and sustain changes.

  5. The Haptic Paradigm in Education: Challenges and Case Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamza-Lup, Felix G.; Stanescu, Ioana A.

    2010-01-01

    The process of learning involves interaction with the learning environment through our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste). Until recently, distance education focused only on the first two of those senses, sight and sound. Internet-based learning environments are predominantly visual with auditory components. With the advent of…

  6. Building Interactivity in Higher Education to Support Student Engagement in Spatial Problem Solving and Programming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gulland, E.-K.; Veenendaal, B.; Schut, A. G. T.

    2012-07-01

    Problem-solving knowledge and skills are an important attribute of spatial sciences graduates. The challenge of higher education is to build a teaching and learning environment that enables students to acquire these skills in relevant and authentic applications. This study investigates the effectiveness of traditional face-to-face teaching and online learning technologies in supporting the student learning of problem-solving and computer programming skills, techniques and solutions. The student cohort considered for this study involves students in the surveying as well as geographic information science (GISc) disciplines. Also, students studying across a range of learning modes including on-campus, distance and blended, are considered in this study. Student feedback and past studies reveal a lack of student interest and engagement in problem solving and computer programming. Many students do not see such skills as directly relevant and applicable to their perceptions of what future spatial careers hold. A range of teaching and learning methods for both face-to-face teaching and distance learning were introduced to address some of the perceived weaknesses of the learning environment. These included initiating greater student interaction in lectures, modifying assessments to provide greater feedback and student accountability, and the provision of more interactive and engaging online learning resources. The paper presents and evaluates the teaching methods used to support the student learning environment. Responses of students in relation to their learning experiences were collected via two anonymous, online surveys and these results were analysed with respect to student pass and retention rates. The study found a clear distinction between expectations and engagement of surveying students in comparison to GISc students. A further outcome revealed that students who were already engaged in their learning benefited the most from the interactive learning resources and opportunities provided.

  7. Interactive Learning During Solar Maximum

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ashour-Abdalla, Maha; Curtis, Steven (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    The goal of this project is to develop and distribute e-educational material for space science during times of solar activity that emphasizes underlying basic science principles of solar disturbances and their effects on Earth. This includes materials such as simulations, animations, group projects and other on-line materials to be used by students either in high school or at the introductory college level. The on-line delivery tool originally intended to be used is known as Interactive Multimedia Education at a Distance (IMED), which is a web-based software system used at UCLA for interactive distance learning. IMED is a password controlled system that allows students to access text, images, bulletin boards, chat rooms, animation, simulations and individual student web sites to study science and to collaborate on group projects.

  8. Earning a Master's of Science in Nursing through Distance Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tagg, Peggy Ingram; Arreola, Raoul A.

    1996-01-01

    The master's degree in nursing offered via distance education by the University of Tennessee requires educators to design instruction carefully. The most successful students are risk takers, assertive, and responsible for their own learning. Compressed interactive video has proven the most effective medium. (JOW)

  9. A Taxonomy of Computer Media in Distance Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chacon, Fabio

    1992-01-01

    Describes a taxonomy of computer user modes in distance education and identifies three major learning and behavioral processes that are extended by computers: (1) information processing; (2) interaction; and (3) communication. Highlights for each process include the relationship to other media, pedagogical functions, hardware and software, and…

  10. Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games and Interaction: A Measurable Model of Interaction for Online Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Bodi

    2014-01-01

    This current study examines the need for operational definitions of the concept of interaction in distance education studies. It is proposed that a discourse analysis of linguistic features conversation noted as being representative of interaction can be used to operationalize interaction in synchronous CMC. This study goes on compare two…

  11. An Interactive Cultural Transect: Designing, Deploying, and Evaluating an Online Virtual-Abroad Learning Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Phil; Katsaros, Alex; Howard, Rosalyn; Lindgren, Robb

    2012-01-01

    This pilot project conducted by researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) seeks to answer the question: Does a real-time, two-way, mobile, remote webcasting system have special properties for learning compared with traditional distance learning platforms? Students enrolled in two online, undergraduate UCF courses explored South…

  12. Adaptive Synchronization of Semantically Compressed Instructional Videos for Collaborative Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phung, Dan; Valetto, Giuseppe; Kaiser, Gail E.; Liu, Tiecheng; Kender, John R.

    2007-01-01

    The increasing popularity of online courses has highlighted the need for collaborative learning tools for student groups. In this article, we present an e-Learning architecture and adaptation model called AI2TV (Adaptive Interactive Internet Team Video), which allows groups of students to collaboratively view instructional videos in synchrony.…

  13. A SCORM Compliant Courseware Authoring Tool for Supporting Pervasive Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Te-Hua; Chang, Flora Chia-I

    2007-01-01

    The sharable content object reference model (SCORM) includes a representation of distance learning contents and a behavior definition of how users should interact with the contents. Generally, SCORMcompliant systems were based on multimedia and Web technologies on PCs. We further build a pervasive learning environment, which allows users to read…

  14. Active Learning with Interactive Videos: Creating Student-Guided Learning Materials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Ariana

    2016-01-01

    Distance learning programs across the country continue to grow and evolve. In order to support these programs, librarians are often expected to convert face-to-face classes and reference sessions to the online environment. Due to the necessity of explaining information literacy concepts and demonstrating the access and use of library resources,…

  15. Faculty Choice and Student Perception of Web-Based Technologies for Interaction in Online Economics Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris, Olivia

    2012-01-01

    This research investigated faculty choice of web-based technologies for interaction in online economics courses and students' perception of those technologies. The literature review of online interaction has established the importance of learner-learner, learner-instructor and learner-content interaction in distance learning. However, some…

  16. Computer Assisted Learning for Biomedical Engineering Education: Tools

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-10-25

    COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION : TOOLS Ayhan ÝSTANBULLU1 Ýnan GÜLER2 1 Department of Electronic...of Technical Education , Gazi University, 06500 Ankara, Türkiye Abstract- Interactive multimedia learning environment is being proposed...Assisted Learning (CAL) are given and some tools used in this area are explained. Together with the developments in the area of distance education

  17. Typology of Teacher Perception toward Distance Education Issues--A Study of College Information Department Teachers in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tao, Yu-Hui; Rosa Yeh, Chu-Chen

    2008-01-01

    The popularity of distance education has grown rapidly over the last decade in Taiwan's higher education, yet many fundamental teaching-learning issues are still in debate. While teacher-student interaction is a key success factor in distance education, little work has been done on the teachers. The intent of this research was to clarify teacher's…

  18. Potential of Audiographic Computerized Telelearning for Distance Extension Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verma, Satish; And Others

    In the last 10 years, an approach to electronic distance education called audiographic computerized telelearning using standard telephone lines has come to the fore. Telelearning is a cost-effective system which optimizes existing computer facilities and creates a teaching-learning environment that is interactive, efficient, and adaptable to a…

  19. Smart Classroom: Bringing Pervasive Computing into Distance Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Yuanchun; Qin, Weijun; Suo, Yue; Xiao, Xin

    In recent years, distance learning has increasingly become one of themost important applications on the internet and is being discussed and studied by various universities, institutes and companies. The Web/Internet provides relatively easy ways to publish hyper-linked multimedia content for more audiences. Yet, we find that most of the courseware are simply shifted from textbook to HTML files. However, in ost cases the teacher's live instruction is very important for catching the attention and interest of the students. That's why Real-Time Interactive Virtual Classroom (RTIVC) always plays an indispensable role in distance learning, where teachers nd students located in different places can take part in the class synchronously through certain multimedia communication systems and obtain real-time and mediarich interactions using Pervasive Computing technologies [1]. The Classroom 2000 project [2] at GIT has been devoted to the automated capturing of the classroom experience. Likewise, the Smart Classroom project [3] at our institute is focused on Tele-education. Most currently deployed real-time Tele-education systems are desktop-based, in which the teacher's experience is totally different from teaching in a real classroom.

  20. 29 CFR 29.2 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... the Administrator. Apprentice means a worker at least 16 years of age, except where a higher minimum age standard is otherwise fixed by law, who is employed to learn an apprenticeable occupation as... physical movement of removable/transportable electronic media and/or interactive distance learning...

  1. Teacher Perceptions of Learner-Learner Engagement at a Cyber High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borup, Jered

    2016-01-01

    Distance education has historically contained little or no learner-learner interactions. Currently the Internet allows for unprecedented levels of learner-learner interaction and has the potential to transform how students learn online. However, many courses offered online focus more on flexibility and independence than on interaction and…

  2. Interactive Radio Counseling in Indira Gandhi National Open University: A Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chaudhary, Sohanvir S.; Bansal, Kiron

    2000-01-01

    Explains interactive radio as an effective tool for open and distance learning provided it is planned, designed, implemented, and monitored systematically. Describes the interactive radio counseling at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) that provides support to students who study print material and may attend weekend…

  3. Distributed interactive virtual environments for collaborative experiential learning and training independent of distance over Internet2.

    PubMed

    Alverson, Dale C; Saiki, Stanley M; Jacobs, Joshua; Saland, Linda; Keep, Marcus F; Norenberg, Jeffrey; Baker, Rex; Nakatsu, Curtis; Kalishman, Summers; Lindberg, Marlene; Wax, Diane; Mowafi, Moad; Summers, Kenneth L; Holten, James R; Greenfield, John A; Aalseth, Edward; Nickles, David; Sherstyuk, Andrei; Haines, Karen; Caudell, Thomas P

    2004-01-01

    Medical knowledge and skills essential for tomorrow's healthcare professionals continue to change faster than ever before creating new demands in medical education. Project TOUCH (Telehealth Outreach for Unified Community Health) has been developing methods to enhance learning by coupling innovations in medical education with advanced technology in high performance computing and next generation Internet2 embedded in virtual reality environments (VRE), artificial intelligence and experiential active learning. Simulations have been used in education and training to allow learners to make mistakes safely in lieu of real-life situations, learn from those mistakes and ultimately improve performance by subsequent avoidance of those mistakes. Distributed virtual interactive environments are used over distance to enable learning and participation in dynamic, problem-based, clinical, artificial intelligence rules-based, virtual simulations. The virtual reality patient is programmed to dynamically change over time and respond to the manipulations by the learner. Participants are fully immersed within the VRE platform using a head-mounted display and tracker system. Navigation, locomotion and handling of objects are accomplished using a joy-wand. Distribution is managed via the Internet2 Access Grid using point-to-point or multi-casting connectivity through which the participants can interact. Medical students in Hawaii and New Mexico (NM) participated collaboratively in problem solving and managing of a simulated patient with a closed head injury in VRE; dividing tasks, handing off objects, and functioning as a team. Students stated that opportunities to make mistakes and repeat actions in the VRE were extremely helpful in learning specific principles. VRE created higher performance expectations and some anxiety among VRE users. VRE orientation was adequate but students needed time to adapt and practice in order to improve efficiency. This was also demonstrated successfully between Western Australia and UNM. We successfully demonstrated the ability to fully immerse participants in a distributed virtual environment independent of distance for collaborative team interaction in medical simulation designed for education and training. The ability to make mistakes in a safe environment is well received by students and has a positive impact on their understanding, as well as memory of the principles involved in correcting those mistakes. Bringing people together as virtual teams for interactive experiential learning and collaborative training, independent of distance, provides a platform for distributed "just-in-time" training, performance assessment and credentialing. Further validation is necessary to determine the potential value of the distributed VRE in knowledge transfer, improved future performance and should entail training participants to competence in using these tools.

  4. Blended learning in health education: three case studies.

    PubMed

    de Jong, Nynke; Savin-Baden, Maggi; Cunningham, Anne Marie; Verstegen, Daniëlle M L

    2014-09-01

    Blended learning in which online education is combined with face-to-face education is especially useful for (future) health care professionals who need to keep up-to-date. Blended learning can make learning more efficient, for instance by removing barriers of time and distance. In the past distance-based learning activities have often been associated with traditional delivery-based methods, individual learning and limited contact. The central question in this paper is: can blended learning be active and collaborative? Three cases of blended, active and collaborative learning are presented. In case 1 a virtual classroom is used to realize online problem-based learning (PBL). In case 2 PBL cases are presented in Second Life, a 3D immersive virtual world. In case 3 discussion forums, blogs and wikis were used. In all cases face-to-face meetings were also organized. Evaluation results of the three cases clearly show that active, collaborative learning at a distance is possible. Blended learning enables the use of novel instructional methods and student-centred education. The three cases employ different educational methods, thus illustrating diverse possibilities and a variety of learning activities in blended learning. Interaction and communication rules, the role of the teacher, careful selection of collaboration tools and technical preparation should be considered when designing and implementing blended learning.

  5. Provision of Distance Learning Services over Interactive Digital TV with MHP

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pazos-Arias, Jose J.; Lopez-Nores, Martin; Garcia-Duque, Jorge; Diaz-Redondo, Rebeca P.; Blanco-Fernandez, Yolanda; Ramos-Cabrer, Manuel; Gil-Solla, Alberto; Fernandez-Vilas, Ana

    2008-01-01

    E-learning technologies have developed greatly in recent years, with considerable success. However, there is increasing evidence that web-based learning is not reaching the social sectors which are more reluctant to contact with the new technologies, thus leading to inequalities in the access to education and knowledge in the Information Society.…

  6. Evaluation strategies for midwifery education linked to digital media and distance delivery technology.

    PubMed

    Fullerton, Judith T; Ingle, Henry T

    2003-01-01

    The goal of the teaching and learning process for health professionals is the acquisition of a fundamental core of knowledge, the demonstration of critical thinking ability, and the demonstration of competency in the performance of clinical skills. Teaching and learning in distance education programs require that the administration, teachers, and students be creative in developing evaluation strategies that can be adapted to the challenges of the cyberspace on-line educational environment. Evaluation standards for distance education programs recently have been delineated by federal agencies, private organizations, and academic accreditation associations. These standards are linked to principles of sound education practice that promote program quality, high levels of student-faculty interaction, and support effective teaching and learning in the distance education context. A growing body of evidence supports the conclusion that technology-enhanced teaching is equivalent in effectiveness compared with traditional methods when student-learning outcomes are the focus of measurement. An allied body of literature offers model approaches that can be useful to educators who must also conduct the evaluation of clinical skills, provide feedback, and promote socialization to the nurse-midwifery/midwifery role for students being educated in whole or in part through instruction delivered at a distance.

  7. Designing, delivering and evaluating a distance learning nursing course responsive to students needs.

    PubMed

    Sowan, Azizeh K; Jenkins, Louise S

    2013-06-01

    The majority of available studies in distance learning in nursing and health lack the sufficient details of course design and delivery processes which greatly affect the learning outcomes. Also, little is available about the fairness of this method of education to students with limited access to course resources. We describe the design and delivery processes and experience, in terms of satisfaction and achievement, of undergraduate nursing students in a distance course. The difference in achievement between the distance students and a comparable cohort of hybrid students is also examined. We also demonstrate the possibility of providing accessible education to students with limited technological resources. Participants included all undergraduate nursing students who were enrolled in a distance and a hybrid section of a communication skills course offered at a School of Nursing in Jordan. The distance course was created using Blackboard and Tegrity learning management systems. The design and delivery processes of the distance course incorporated three pedagogical principles that enhance: (a) course access and navigation; (b) communication and interaction; and (c) active and collaborative learning experiences. After course completion, distance students completed a 27-item satisfaction questionnaire. Achievement in the course and correlates of satisfaction were measured. The final sample included 25 students in the distance section and 35 in the hybrid section (N=60). The mean score of overall satisfaction in the distance section was 4.14 (0.32) out of a 5-point scale, indicating a high satisfaction. Results revealed significant associations between total satisfaction score and achievement in the distance course, grade expected in the course, and frequency of accessing the course materials (p<.05). All distance students, including students with limited technological resources available at home, managed to successfully complete the course. Major concerns reported by distance students were related to lack of time management skills and negative attitudes toward group assignments. The mean final course grade of the distance section (80±8.2) was significantly higher than the hybrid section (72.2±9.5), (t=3.5, p<.05). The use of effective instructional strategies resulted in delivering successful distance learning, even for students with limited resources. Institutions have to make strategic decisions on how to optimize the use of technology to fit their individualized learning environments. Instructors need to become familiar with the characteristics of students cohort served by the course and design the course accordingly. In addition, students should be guided on how to manage their time in distance learning environments and work effectively in group assignments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. [Distance learning using internet in the field of bioengineering].

    PubMed

    Ciobanu, O

    2003-01-01

    The Leonardo da Vinci training programme supports innovative transnational initiatives for promoting the knowledge, aptitudes and skills necessary for successful integration into working life. Biomedical engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field that contributes to understand, define and solve problems in biomedical technology within industrial and health service contexts. Paper presents a Leonardo da Vinci pilot-project called Web-based learning and training in the field of biomedical and design engineering (WEBD). This project has started on 2001. The WEBD project proposes to use advanced learning technologies to provide education in the www. Project uses interactive 3D graphics and virtual reality tools. The WEBD distance training permits users to experience and interact with a life-like model or environment, in safety and at convenient times, while providing a degree of control over the simulation that is usually not possible in the real-life situation.

  9. A boosting framework for visuality-preserving distance metric learning and its application to medical image retrieval.

    PubMed

    Yang, Liu; Jin, Rong; Mummert, Lily; Sukthankar, Rahul; Goode, Adam; Zheng, Bin; Hoi, Steven C H; Satyanarayanan, Mahadev

    2010-01-01

    Similarity measurement is a critical component in content-based image retrieval systems, and learning a good distance metric can significantly improve retrieval performance. However, despite extensive study, there are several major shortcomings with the existing approaches for distance metric learning that can significantly affect their application to medical image retrieval. In particular, "similarity" can mean very different things in image retrieval: resemblance in visual appearance (e.g., two images that look like one another) or similarity in semantic annotation (e.g., two images of tumors that look quite different yet are both malignant). Current approaches for distance metric learning typically address only one goal without consideration of the other. This is problematic for medical image retrieval where the goal is to assist doctors in decision making. In these applications, given a query image, the goal is to retrieve similar images from a reference library whose semantic annotations could provide the medical professional with greater insight into the possible interpretations of the query image. If the system were to retrieve images that did not look like the query, then users would be less likely to trust the system; on the other hand, retrieving images that appear superficially similar to the query but are semantically unrelated is undesirable because that could lead users toward an incorrect diagnosis. Hence, learning a distance metric that preserves both visual resemblance and semantic similarity is important. We emphasize that, although our study is focused on medical image retrieval, the problem addressed in this work is critical to many image retrieval systems. We present a boosting framework for distance metric learning that aims to preserve both visual and semantic similarities. The boosting framework first learns a binary representation using side information, in the form of labeled pairs, and then computes the distance as a weighted Hamming distance using the learned binary representation. A boosting algorithm is presented to efficiently learn the distance function. We evaluate the proposed algorithm on a mammographic image reference library with an Interactive Search-Assisted Decision Support (ISADS) system and on the medical image data set from ImageCLEF. Our results show that the boosting framework compares favorably to state-of-the-art approaches for distance metric learning in retrieval accuracy, with much lower computational cost. Additional evaluation with the COREL collection shows that our algorithm works well for regular image data sets.

  10. Past, Present, and Future Trends in Teaching Clinical Skills through Web-Based Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coe Regan, Jo Ann R.; Youn, Eric J.

    2008-01-01

    Distance education in social work has grown significantly due to the use of interactive television and computer networks. Given the recent developments in delivering distance education utilizing Web-based technology, this article presents a literature review focused on identifying generational trends in the development of Web-based learning…

  11. Real Time with the Librarian: Using Web Conferencing Software to Connect to Distance Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riedel, Tom; Betty, Paul

    2013-01-01

    A pilot program to provide real-time library webcasts to Regis University distance students using Adobe Connect software was initiated in fall of 2011. Previously, most interaction between librarians and online students had been accomplished by asynchronous discussion threads in the Learning Management System. Library webcasts were offered in…

  12. The Organization of the Distance Teaching Sub-System in an Open University.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chacon, Fabio J.

    The problem of finding an adequate organization for the distance teaching subsystem in the Open University of Venezuela (Universidad Nacional Abierta) is analyzed. Problems facing this subsystem concern: communications with the headquarters and within the learning centers network, interaction with the environment in order to create a favorable…

  13. Interactive Distance Learning Technology and Connectedness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Devlin, Brian; Feraud, Peter; Anderson, Alan

    2008-01-01

    This three-part paper discusses how the contemporary use of computers in distance education is helping to connect students from our rural communities, whether they are located at pastoral stations, remote community schools or are on the road, travelling with parents or carers. The paper is in a sense organised like a sandwich, with technical…

  14. Improving access to services and interactions with clients in Guatemala: the value of distance learning.

    PubMed

    Brambila, Carlos; Lopez, Felipe; Garcia-Colindres, Julio; Donis, Marco Vinicio

    2005-04-01

    To develop and test a distance-learning programme to improve the quality and efficiency of family planning services in Guatemala. The setting was rural family planning services in Guatemala. The study design was quasi-experimental with one intervention and one control group and with pre- and post-intervention measures. Two staff members from each of 20 randomly selected health districts were trained as leaders of the training programme. In turn, the 40 trainers trained a total of 240 service providers, under the supervision of four health area facilitators. The results were compared with 20 randomly selected control health districts. The intervention was a distance-learning programme including 40 in-class hours followed by 120 inservice practice hours spread over a 4-month period. Distinctively, the programme used a cascade approach to training, intensive supervision, and close monitoring and evaluation. Patient flow analysis was used to determine number of contacts, waiting times, and the interaction time between service providers and clients. Consultation observations were used to assess the quality and completeness of reproductive health information and services received by clients. The intervention showed a positive impact on reducing the number of contacts before the consultation and client waiting times. More complete services and better quality services were provided at intervention clinics. Some, but not all, of the study objectives were attained. The long-term impact of the intervention is as yet unknown. Distance-learning programmes are an effective methodology for training health professionals in rural areas.

  15. Using an audience response system (ARS) in a face-to-face and distance education CPT/HCPCS coding course.

    PubMed

    Harris, Susie T; Zeng, Xiaoming

    2010-01-01

    We report the use of an audience response system (ARS) in an undergraduate health information management course. The ARS converts a standard PowerPoint presentation into an interactive learning system that engages students in active participation, and it allows instructors to display questions, surveys, opinion polls, and games. We used the ARS in a 2008 course, Health Services Coding, for lecture and test reviews. The class consisted of 15 students; nine were on-campus students and six were distance education students. All of the responding students agreed that the ARS software facilitated learning and made lectures and reviews more interesting and interactive, and they preferred taking a class using an ARS.

  16. Teleseminars and Teacher Education. Research Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edwards, Peter; Sofo, Frank

    This exploratory study developed instructional materials designed to maximize learning through individual and group interaction and used the materials to examine the effectiveness of a teleseminar approach for interactive distance presentations. In this teleseminar model, duplicate sets of overhead transparencies with overlays and other materials…

  17. Faculty/Student Interaction at a Distance: Seeking Balance.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gresh, Kathy S.; Mrozowski, Susan

    Interaction between instructors and learners is a critical element in the learning process during an online course (Moore 1993; Offir 2000). The desire to engage the students in meaningful and challenging interaction would appear to require an intensive time commitment by the faculty. This paper presents methods that not only engage the learner…

  18. A Web-Free Prototype for Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Molinari, Andrea; Colazzo, Luigi

    This paper presents a prototype for the construction of interactive educational hypermedia that can be used on the Internet without being bound to typical World Wide Web protocols and tools. Its most innovative aspect is interactivity: it allows teachers and learners to remotely interact in real time in both a synchronous and asynchronous manner.…

  19. The Influence of National Culture toward Learner Interaction: Shanghai TV University and Wawasan Open University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bing, Wu; Ai-Ping, Teoh

    2008-01-01

    The authors conducted a comparative analysis to examine learners' interaction in the Web-based learning environment of 2 distance education institutions. The interaction was critically analyzed based on social, procedural, expository, explanatory, and cognitive dimensions, across 7 categories of exchanges between course coordinator to groups,…

  20. Developing Phonological Awareness in Blended-Learning Language Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dell'Aria, Carmela; McLoughlin, Laura Incalcaterra

    2013-01-01

    This study is based on Second Language Acquisition through blended learning and explores the application of new educational technologies in the development of distance education. In particular, the paper focuses on ways to enhance oral, aural, and intercultural skills through learners' engagement, develop authentic social interaction and…

  1. "We're living what we're learning": student perspectives in distance learning degree and certificate programs in public health.

    PubMed

    Cannon, M M; Umble, K E; Steckler, A; Shay, S

    2001-01-01

    The authors used surveys and interviews to study participants' motivations for enrolling and perceptions of the weaknesses and strengths of two distance learning programs administered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health (SPH): the MPH in Public Health Leadership and a certificate program organized collaboratively with the Mahidol University SPH in Thailand. Chief motivations were career advancement, job performance improvement, convenience, and obtaining a degree from a reputable institution. Strengths included the curriculum, networking opportunities, and administrative and technical support. Concerns included quality of interaction with faculty and instructional methods.

  2. Facilitating interpersonal interaction and learning online: linking theory and practice.

    PubMed

    Sargeant, Joan; Curran, Vernon; Allen, Michael; Jarvis-Selinger, Sandra; Ho, Kendall

    2006-01-01

    An earlier study of physicians' perceptions of interactive online learning showed that these were shaped both by program design and quality and the quality and quantity of interpersonal interaction. We explore instructor roles in enhancing online learning through interpersonal interaction and the learning theories that inform these. This was a qualitative study using focus groups and interviews. Using purposive sampling, 50 physicians were recruited based on their experience with interactive online CME and face-to-face CME. Qualitative thematic and interpretive analysis was used. Two facilitation roles appeared key: creating a comfortable learning environment and enhancing the educational value of electronic discussions. Comfort developed gradually, and specific interventions like facilitating introductions and sharing experiences in a friendly, informative manner were helpful. As in facilitating effective small-group learning, instructors' thoughtful use of techniques that facilitated constructive interaction based on learner's needs and practice demands contributed to the educational value of interpersonal interactions. Facilitators require enhanced skills to engage learners in meaningful interaction and to overcome the transactional distance of online learning. The use of learning theories, including behavioral, cognitive, social, humanistic, and constructivist, can strengthen the educational design and facilitation of online programs. Preparation for online facilitation should include instruction in the roles and techniques required and the theories that inform them.

  3. Neuro-Holistic Learning©: An Integrated Kinesthetic Approach to Cognitive Learning© Using Collaborative Interactive Thought Exchange© in a Blended Environment to Enhance the Learning of Young African American Males

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osler, James Edward, II; Wright, Mark Anthony

    2016-01-01

    This paper is part two of the article entitled, "Dynamic Neuroscientific Systemology: Using Tri-Squared Meta-Analysis and Innovative Instructional Design to Develop a Novel Distance Education Model for the Systemic Creation of Engaging Online Learning Environments" published in the July-September 2015 issue of i-manager's "Journal…

  4. Online Forum Discussion to Promote Sense of Learning Community among the Group Members

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mohamad, Maslawati; Shaharuddin, Shahizan

    2014-01-01

    The integration of e-learning within a distance learning program helps to foster greater interaction among learners who are geographically distant from one another. Various ways have been implemented to achieve this aim, one of which is the use of online forum. Research shows that the use of online forum is capable of fostering a sense of learning…

  5. Investigating Cognitive Task Difficulties and Expert Skills in E-Learning Storyboards Using a Cognitive Task Analysis Technique

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yusoff, Nor'ain Mohd; Salim, Siti Salwah

    2012-01-01

    E-learning storyboards have been a useful approach in distance learning development to support interaction between instructional designers and subject-matter experts. Current works show that researchers are focusing on different approaches for use in storyboards, and there is less emphasis on the effect of design and process difficulties faced by…

  6. Open Distance Learning for Development: Lessons from Strengthening Research Capacity on Gender, Crisis Prevention, and Recovery

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babu, Suresh Chandra; Ferguson, Jenna; Parsai, Nilam; Almoguera, Rose

    2013-01-01

    This paper documents the experience and lessons from implementing an e-learning program aimed at creating research capacity for gender, crisis prevention, and recovery. It presents a case study of bringing together a multidisciplinary group of women professionals through both online and face-to-face interactions to learn the skills needed to be a…

  7. Andragogical Model in Language Training of Mining Specialists

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bondareva, Evgeniya; Chistyakova, Galina; Kleshevskyi, Yury; Sergeev, Sergey; Stepanov, Aleksey

    2017-11-01

    Nowadays foreign language competence is one of the main professional skills of mining engineers. Modern competitive conditions require the ability for meeting production challenges in a foreign language from specialists and managers of mining enterprises. This is the reason of high demand on foreign language training/retraining courses. Language training of adult learners fundamentally differs from children and adolescent education. The article describes the features of andragogical learning model. The authors conclude that distance learning is the most productive education form having a number of obvious advantages over traditional (in-class) one. Interactive learning method that involves active engagement of adult trainees appears to be of the greatest interest due to introduction of modern information and communication technologies for distance learning.

  8. Making the Most of Mobility: Virtual Mentoring and Education Practitioner Professional Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owen, Hazel D.

    2015-01-01

    Learning provision, including professional learning, needs to embrace mobility (of knowledge, cultures and contexts--physical and cerebral) to enable education practitioners to interact locally and globally, engage with new literacies, access rich contexts, and to question, co-construct and collaborate. Virtual mentoring, also known as distance,…

  9. Cybermentoring: Evolving High-End Video Conferencing Practices to Support Preservice Teacher Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Todd E.; Maring, Gerald H.; Doty, John H.; Fickle, Michelle

    2006-01-01

    This article is a descriptive study of an evolving cybermentoring videoconferencing practice and tool developed to support preservice teacher training. Cybermentoring projects are synchronous distance learning collaborations using high-end video conferencing to foster interactive learning and tutoring among preservice teachers and K-12 students,…

  10. Understanding Children's Science Identity through Classroom Interactions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Mijung

    2018-01-01

    Research shows that various stereotypes about science and science learning, such as science being filled with hard and dry content, laboratory experiments, and male-dominated work environments, have resulted in feelings of distance from science in students' minds. This study explores children's experiences of science learning and science identity.…

  11. In-office distance learning for practitioners.

    PubMed

    Klein, Katherine P; Miller, Kenneth T; Brown, Matthew W; Proffit, William R

    2011-07-01

    Distance learning studies involving orthodontic residents have shown that, although residents prefer being live and interactive with an instructor, they learn almost as much from watching a recorded interactive seminar followed by a live discussion. Our objective in this study was to test the acceptability and perceived effectiveness of using recorded interactive seminars and video conference follow-up discussions for in-office continuing education. Four small groups of practitioners (total, n = 23) were asked to prepare for, view, and then discuss previously recorded interactive seminars on a variety of subjects; a fifth group (5 previous participants) had live discussions of 3 topics without viewing a prerecorded seminar. All discussions were via video conference through typical broadband Internet connections, by using either WebEx (Cisco, Santa Clara, Calif) or Elluminate (Pleasanton, Calif) software. The participants evaluated their experiences by rating presented statements on a 7-point Likert scale and by providing open-ended responses. Twenty-two of the 23 participants agreed (with varying degrees of enthusiasm) that this was an enjoyable, effective way to learn, and that they would like to participate in this type of learning in the future. Everyone agreed that they would recommend this method of learning to others. The age and experience of the participants had only minor effects on their perceptions of acceptance and acceptability. The use of recorded seminars followed by live interaction through videoconferencing can be an acceptable and effective method of providing continuing education to the home or office of orthodontists in private practice, potentially saving them both time and travel expenses. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Empirical evidence of the effectiveness of concept mapping as a learning intervention for nuclear medicine technology students in a distance learning radiation protection and biology course.

    PubMed

    Passmore, Gregory G; Owen, Mary Anne; Prabakaran, Krishnan

    2011-12-01

    Metacognitive learning strategies are based on instructional learning theory, which promotes deep, meaningful learning. Educators in a baccalaureate-level nuclear medicine technology program demonstrated that students enrolled in an online, distance learning section of an introductory radiation protection and radiobiology course performed better when traditional instruction was supplemented with nontraditional metacognitive learning strategies. The metacognitive learning strategy that was used is best known as concept mapping. The concept map, in addition to the standard homework problem assignment and opportunity for question-answer sessions, became the template for misconception identification and remediation interactions between the instructor and the student. The control group relied on traditional homework problems and question-answer sessions alone. Because students in both the "treatment" groups (i.e., students who used concept mapping) and the control group were distance learning students, all personal communications were conducted via e-mail or telephone. The final examination of the course was used to facilitate a quantitative comparison of the performance of students who used concept mapping and the performance of students who did not use concept mapping. The results demonstrated a significantly higher median final examination score for the concept mapping group than for the non-concept mapping group (z = -2.0381, P = 0.0415), with an appropriately large effect size (2.65). Concept mapping is a cognitive learning intervention that effectively enables meaningful learning and is suitable for use in the independent learner-oriented distance learning environments used by some nuclear medicine technology programs.

  13. Teaching and Learning against All Odds: A Video-Based Study of Learner-to-Instructor Interaction in International Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muhirwa, Jean-Marie

    2009-01-01

    Distance education and information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been marketed as cost-effective ways to rescue struggling educational institutions in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study uses classroom video analysis and follow-up interviews with teachers, students, and local tutors to analyse…

  14. Interactive Distance Learning Technologies for Rural and Small Schools: A Resource Guide. ERIC Mini-Review.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barker, Bruce O.

    In remote and isolated schools where a certified teacher is not always available, or in small schools where limited student enrollments make hiring teachers for low incident courses cost-prohibitive, instruction via distance may be the "next best thing to being there." Several approaches are available: (1) satellite transmissions--the…

  15. Connecticut Enacts New Legislation Designed To Enhance and Increase Interactive Distance Learning for Telephone and CATV Technologies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John

    The Connecticut State Legislature enacted telecommunications legislation on July 1, 1994 that will, among other things, enhance distance education in the state. The legislation requires that the state's regulatory utility agency, the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) begin dismantling the monopolistic configuration of the existing local…

  16. Social Networking Sites as Communication, Interaction, and Learning Environments: Perceptions and Preferences of Distance Education Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bozkurt, Aras; Karadeniz, Abdulkadir; Kocdar, Serpil

    2017-01-01

    The advent of Web 2.0 technologies transformed online networks into interactive spaces in which user-generated content has become the core material. With the possibilities that emerged from Web 2.0, social networking sites became very popular. The capability of social networking sites promises opportunities for communication and interaction,…

  17. The Crisis of Distance Learning--A Dangerous Opportunity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hughes, Abigail L.

    Focusing on interactive television systems that provide both audio and visual online communication between and among all sites, this paper begins by describing and analyzing a sampling of data on existing programs. The characteristics of existing interactive television instructional programs are described, including course offerings (primarily…

  18. Environmental health and nursing: piloting a technology-enhanced distance learning module.

    PubMed

    Olson, Debra; Stedman-Smith, Maggie; Fredrickson, Ann

    2005-08-01

    The results of a pilot study evaluating a technology-enhanced distance learning module to impart environmental health core concepts to nurses are presented in this article. The internet-based module was developed for continuing professional education and imparts principles of adult education through interactive features including simulated clinical vignettes, an environmental justice case study, and hyperlinks to websites related to environmental protection and health regulation. Mean gains between pre- and post-tests; participant identification of adult learning principles as advanced by Knowles, Holton, and Swanson (1998); and satisfaction were measured among participating RNs (N = 34). A 6% mean gain in learning occurred between pre- and post-tests (95% CI .51 to 1.37, p < .0001). No significant differences in learning occurred for those who prefer face-to-face instruction and those who tend to procrastinate. Ninety-four percent of respondents indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the module. A strong association was found between recognition of adult learning principles as enhancing the assimilation of knowledge and competencies of environmental health and high satisfaction with the module. Distance learning via the Internet shows promise as a format to promote environmental health education for nurses.

  19. Comparative Study on the Performance of Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) Students in Educational Technology Using Blended Learning Strategy and Traditional Face-to-Face Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lorenzo, Arnold R.

    2017-01-01

    Technology offers various tools of improving the teaching -- learning process. It revolutionizes teaching from traditional face-to-face to distance and online learning. This study described and compared the performance of BSE II students in educational technology using the traditional face-to-face classroom interaction and the blended learning…

  20. Second Life for Distance Language Learning: A Framework for Native/Non-Native Speaker Interactions in a Virtual World

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tusing, Jennifer; Berge, Zane L.

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines a number of theoretical principles governing second language teaching and learning and the ways in which these principles are being applied in 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life. Also examined are the benefits to language learning afforded by the Second Life interface, including access, the availability of native speakers of…

  1. Reach the Unreached -IIRS Outreach program for enhanced learning to all

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krishna Murthy, Y. V. N.; Raju, P. L. N.; Srivastav, S. K.; Karnatak, H.; Gupta, P. Kumar; Mahadevaswamy, M.; Viswakarma, J.

    2014-11-01

    With the advent of Information and Communication Technology and improved broadband internet connectivity has enhanced the scope of learning any time anywhere, going beyond the traditional classroom approach. To support distance learning, Indian Space Research Organisation, Government of India has launched dedicated communication satellite called EDUSAT in 2004. The satellite is widely used for variety of applications like Tele-education, Tele-medicine, Village Resource Centres, mobile satellite services, disaster management support and television broadcasting educating farmers for agriculture and other purposes. One of the prime applications of EDUSAT satellite is tele-education at various levels (i.e. school level/UG /PG level) by different ministries / autonomous organizations / departments/institutions/universities in India effectively utilized the EDUSAT for Tele-education. The initial focus of IIRS was to use EDUSAT/INSAT 4CR satellite for distance learning but extended the scope to use broadband internet so that access to large number of institutions/universities /individuals with little cost the User. IIRS distance learning program initiated in 2007 and successfully conducted 12 programs in the last eight years. The first course was attended from twelve universities and the number of institutions /universities increased manifold. The thirteenth course is progress with more than 210 institutions /universities /departments /individuals with more than 3200 number of participants attending the program live and interactive. IIRS program is unique and interactive and demand is increasing not only universities but among research institutions, user departments and individuals.

  2. The Influence of Learner Characteristics on Satisfaction with Interactive Televised Courses in Florida Community Colleges.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bower, Beverly L.; Kamata, Akihito; Smith, Kathleen Shea

    This report describes a pilot project designed to explore the influence of particular personality and demographic characteristics on community college student satisfaction with distance learning, specifically interactive telecommunications (ITV) courses. The study used the Telecourse Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ) and the Sixteen Personality…

  3. Intercultural Learning Perspectives of World Language Educators in Kentucky

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McClees, Ernest Luke, Jr.

    2016-01-01

    A line has become blurred between intercultural interactions and daily personal interactions. The once long distance for trade, travel and communication is at its' smallest gap. However, "American graduates have been cited as being culturally deprived and linguistically illiterate, compared to students from other countries" (2013…

  4. Extending Learning Communities: New Technologies, Multiple Literacies, and Culture Blind Pedagogies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knight, Michelle G.; Dixon, Iris R.; Norton, Nadjwa E. L.; Bentley, Courtney

    2004-01-01

    Technologies such as videoconferencing used for distance education are creating ways for high schools to extend their learning communities to connect youth with professional communities of practice in ways that approximate the face-to-face interactions in traditional classrooms. These technologies are often touted as a way to augment course…

  5. Virtual Worlds: Relationship between Real Life and Experience in Second Life

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anstadt, Scott P.; Bradley, Shannon; Burnette, Ashley; Medley, Lesley L.

    2013-01-01

    Due to the unique applications of virtual reality in many modern contexts, Second Life (SL) offers inimitable opportunities for research and exploration and experiential learning as part of a distance learning curriculum assignment. A review of current research regarding SL examined real world social influences in online interactions and what the…

  6. Kinesthetic Language Learning: How an Accident Led to a Revelation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    West, Travis; Nam, Roger S.; Benckhuysen, Amanda W.

    2016-01-01

    This essay analyzes a critical incident that took place in a hybrid distance-learning Hebrew language class that was adapting interactive, immersion-style, kinesthetic pedagogy during the week-long face-to-face intensive portion of the class--including Total Physical Response techniques in which students respond to the language with whole-body…

  7. Distance Learning and Cloud Computing: "Just Another Buzzword or a Major E-Learning Breakthrough?"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Romiszowski, Alexander J.

    2012-01-01

    "Cloud computing is a model for the enabling of ubiquitous, convenient, and on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and other services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." This…

  8. Interaction and Cognition in Asynchronous Computer Conferencing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schrire, Sarah

    2004-01-01

    This paper is based on a multiple-case study of the learning process in three asynchronous computer conferences. The conferences were part of the distance learning component in doctoral degree courses in computing technology in education offered at an American university. The conferences were analyzed from a number of perspectives, the emphasis in…

  9. ARTutor--An Augmented Reality Platform for Interactive Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lytridis, Chris; Tsinakos, Avgoustos; Kazanidis, Ioannis

    2018-01-01

    Augmented Reality (AR) has been used in various contexts in recent years in order to enhance user experiences in mobile and wearable devices. Various studies have shown the utility of AR, especially in the field of education, where it has been observed that learning results are improved. However, such applications require specialized teams of…

  10. Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Yushun; Zhuang, Yueting

    2008-01-01

    Online interaction with 3D facial animation is an alternative way of face-to-face communication for distance education. 3D facial modeling is essential for virtual educational environments establishment. This article presents a novel 3D facial modeling solution that facilitates quasi-facial communication for online learning. Our algorithm builds…

  11. Using Social Media Technologies to Enhance Online Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friedman, Linda Weiser; Friedman, Hershey H.

    2013-01-01

    Models of distance education have evolved over decades, just in time to collide with modern pedagogies in which communication, interaction, student engagement, and active learning are of critical importance. The number of college students taking online classes continues to grow. Today, nearly 30% of college students are taking at least one online…

  12. Learner Perceptions on Instructional Design of Multimedia in Learning Abstract Concepts in Science at a Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kulasekara, Geetha Udayangani; Jayatilleke, Buddhini Gayathri; Coomaraswamy, Uma

    2011-01-01

    This study was carried out to explore learner perceptions on the instructional design features of interactive multimedia (IMM), which was especially designed to support the open and distance learners studying microbiology as a part of the BSc degree programme of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The purpose of developing this IMM was to…

  13. Voice over Distance: A Case of Podcasting for Learning in Online Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Forbes, Dianne; Khoo, Elaine

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports on a case study of an online pre-service teacher education course in a New Zealand university aimed at exploring the potential of student-generated podcasts as a form of interactive formative assessment at a distance. The study was part of a wider two-year funded project with the overall goal of documenting, developing, and…

  14. Evaluation Criteria for Interactive E-Books for Open and Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bozkurt, Aras; Bozkaya, Mujgan

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this mixed method study is to identify evaluation criteria for interactive e-books. To find answers for the research questions of the study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a four-round Delphi study with a panel consisting of 30 experts. After that, a total of 20 interactive e-books were examined with…

  15. A Conceptual Framework of Virtual Interactive Teacher Training through Open and Distance Learning for the Remote Areas English Teachers of Bangladesh

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parvin, Irene

    2017-01-01

    Since we are living in the information age and the importance of the need for communication among people of different cultures is increasing day by day in the globalizing world, people need to learn the languages of different cultures, particularly English, which is the common language of this global communication. This need for learning English…

  16. Interactive Maps for Community in Online Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavanaugh, Terence W.; Cavanaugh, Cathy

    2008-01-01

    The online courses studied here used the visual medium of the interactive geographic map as a form of dialogue to reduce students' sense of transactional distance during the course, build their skills with Web 2.0 media, and increase their motivation. Using the dynamic map and the related online spreadsheet, the course participants created digital…

  17. Facilitating Interactions through Structured Web-Based Bulletin Boards: A Quasi-Experimental Study on Promoting Learners' Critical Thinking Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Ya-Ting C.; Newby, Timothy; Bill, Robert

    2008-01-01

    This experimental study investigated the effectiveness of structured Web-Based Bulletin Board (WBB) discussions in improving the critical thinking (CT) skills of learners involved in veterinary distance learning, as well as their attitudes toward learning via WBBs. The two dependent variables were learners' CT skills and their attitudes toward…

  18. Distance Education in a Cost Accounting Course: Instruction, Interaction, and Multiple Measures of Learning Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Clement C.; Jones, Keith T.; Moreland, Keith

    2010-01-01

    Students in online and traditional classroom sections of an intermediate-level cost accounting course responded to a survey about their experiences in the course. Specifically, several items related to the instruction and learning outcomes were addressed. Additionally, student examination performance in the two types of sections was compared. The…

  19. Communication between Tutors--Students in DL: A Case Study of the Hellenic Open University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Panagiotis, Anastasiades; Chrysoula, Iliadou

    2010-01-01

    Two-way communication between students and tutors is one of the two key factors contributing to the success of a Distance Learning programme, the other being the complete and well-designed educational package. Both elements are essential to guide students' learning. By means of this communication the tutor can facilitate the interaction of…

  20. The Use of Interactive Environments to Promote Self-Regulation in Online Learning: A Literature Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Delen, Erhan; Liew, Jeffrey

    2016-01-01

    Distance education in the 21st century often relies on educational technology as the primary delivery of teaching to learners. In distance education, the source of the information and the learner do not share the same physical setting; therefore, the information is delivered by a variety of methods. The new emerging tools that are used in online…

  1. Interactive Online Distance Learning at the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Rebecca

    2002-01-01

    From its beginnings 25 years ago, the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu (UH-West O'ahu) has strived to provide its students, mostly working adults with an average age of 32 years, with easy access to classes and advising by maintaining flexible class schedules and office hours. When UH-West O'ahu initiated a distance education program in 1981, the…

  2. Brave New (Interactive) Worlds: A Review of the Design Affordances and Constraints of Two 3D Virtual Worlds as Interactive Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dickey, Michele D.

    2005-01-01

    Three-dimensional virtual worlds are an emerging medium currently being used in both traditional classrooms and for distance education. Three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds are a combination of desk-top interactive Virtual Reality within a chat environment. This analysis provides an overview of Active Worlds Educational Universe and Adobe…

  3. Distance learning: investing in employees' futures.

    PubMed

    Having, Karen M; Collins, Kevin S

    2005-01-01

    The compassion and overall efficiency of those technologists with whom the patient interacts impacts the patient's decision to utilize the facility in the future. Because employee interaction largely influences patient satisfaction, the radiology administrator is challenged to recruit, but more importantly, retain quality employees. Benefit options designed to provide employees the latitude to achieve personal goals as well as professional obligations can be valuable recruitment and retention tools. Ultimately, the purpose of an employee benefit is to promote employee satisfaction, leading to employee retention and culminating in greater patient satisfaction. Since the "ability to influence their career" is reported to be a major area of difference in perceived agreement between the technologist and administrator, it is important to consider avenues for attaining education and skills to meet employee goals far advance. ment within the organization. Distance education, described as a method to provide educational offerings without displacing the learner from the workfarce and his or her community setting, has been successfully implemented in many allied health specialties. Distance learning farmat options include, but not limited to, written correspondence courses, audiotapes, video, Internet, and satellite. These options provide educational access to those with employment and family constraints. The funds that would be spent on recruitment or temporary help can be applied toward training or retraining current employees. Typically, one year of service is required for each year of schooling funded. In some cases, if the training is offered via distance learning, the clinical training portion of the educational program can be conducted at the facility sponsoring the student. Providing clinical training at a facility reduces the student's learning curve associated with transitioning into the open position.

  4. Educating speech-language pathologists for the 21st century: course design considerations for a distance education Master of Speech Pathology program.

    PubMed

    McCormack, Jane; Easton, Catherine; Morkel-Kingsbury, Lenni

    2014-01-01

    The landscape of tertiary education is changing. Developments in information and communications technology have created new ways of engaging with subject material and supporting students on their learning journeys. Therefore, it is timely to reconsider and re-imagine the education of speech-language pathology (SLP) students within this new learning space. In this paper, we outline the design of a new Master of Speech Pathology course being offered by distance education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia. We discuss the catalyst for the course and the commitments of the SLP team at CSU, then describe the curriculum design process, focusing on the pedagogical approach and the learning and teaching strategies utilised in the course delivery. We explain how the learning and teaching strategies have been selected to support students' online learning experience and enable greater interaction between students and the subject material, with students and subject experts, and among student groups. Finally, we highlight some of the challenges in designing and delivering a distance education SLP program and identify future directions for educating students in an online world. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  5. Development and alumni assessment of an interdisciplinary PhD program offered through a blended learning environment.

    PubMed

    Goldberg, Debora Goetz; Clement, Dolores G; Cotter, J James

    2011-01-01

    There is a growing need for doctoral-prepared allied health professionals in health care practice, research, and teaching. This paper describes the development and evolution of the PhD Program in Health Related Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University, which was designed to meet the demand for flexible learning environments by working allied health professionals. The program, now on its 14th year, offers interdisciplinary education in allied health fields through a blended learning environment that includes online and on-site education. An alumni assessment of the program was conducted in 2006 and 2008 to understand how well the program trained its graduates and how well the program responded to the needs of students. Six primary areas were reviewed: 1) extent to which program goals were achieved, 2) general skills and knowledge development for the student, 3) adequacy of the advising function of the program, 4) specific skill development for the student, 5) adequacy of instructional technology, and 6) impressions of the overall program. Findings from the alumni assessment led to changes in curriculum, enhanced use of distance education teaching, additional instructor training on distance-based multimedia technologies, and enhanced student-faculty interaction. Assessment of this program identified key areas, such as technology support, student-student interaction, and student-instructor interaction, which should be emphasized in the development or redesign of allied health educational programs offered in blended learning formats.

  6. Health Education Online: Issues Arising from the Development and Roll-Out of a Pilot Distance Education Programme for NHS Staff

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Peter; Gunter, Barrie; Nicholas, David

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: To evaluate a remote learning initiative involving filming live lectures and disseminating these via digital interactive television (DiTV), satellite to PC terminals and VHS cassette. This was accompanied by online learning materials. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were used for the aspects of the study reported in this…

  7. The Impacts of Distance Interactivity on Learners' Achievements in Online Mobile Language Learning: Social Software and Participatory Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mellati, Morteza; Khademi, Marzieh

    2015-01-01

    The expansion of technological applications such as computers and mobile phones in the past three decades has impacted our life from different perspectives. Language teaching is no exception and like other fields of study, language teaching has also influenced by new language teaching sources and software. More recently, there has been a…

  8. Mastering the Online Master's: Developing and Delivering an Online MA in English Language Teaching through a Dialogic-Based Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Will; Watson, Julie

    2014-01-01

    With an ever increasing array of technologies offering potential for the delivery of educational e-content and support of online communication and interaction, distance learning has an opportunity to make the transition to authentic online learning and teaching as never before. However, it seems that institutions are only slowly exploiting this…

  9. Transitioning from Traditional Courses to Technologically Supported Classrooms. IDEA Paper #62

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Proctor, Janice; Bumgardner, Tiffany

    2016-01-01

    This paper focuses on the authors' experiences teaching on Ohio University's Learning Network (OULN), which uses interactive television and real-time face-to-face interaction as a distance-education (DE) delivery tool. One of the authors is a sociology professor, and the other is her former student and an experienced OULN system operator. The…

  10. Interaction and Critical Inquiry in Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Conferencing: A Research Agenda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopkins, Joseph; Gibson, Will; Ros i. Sole, Cristina; Savvides, Nicola; Starkey, Hugh

    2008-01-01

    This paper reviews research on learner and tutor interaction in asynchronous computer-mediated (ACM) conferences used in distance learning. The authors note claims made for the potential of ACM conferences to promote higher-order critical inquiry and the social construction of knowledge, and argue that there is a general lack of evidence regarding…

  11. The Hawaii Teleschool: An Evaluation of Distance Learning for Advanced Placement Calculus Instruction in "Paradise."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barker, Bruce O.; Bannon, James

    This paper describes the Hawaii Interactive Television System (HITS) program and provides an evaluation of the first year of broadcasts for the advanced placement (AP) calculus course. HITS allows two-way video-audio interaction among origination sites, but the configuration used by the Department of Education for its Teleschool program is the…

  12. Problems and Practical Solutions of Web-Based Courses: Lessons Learned from Three Educational Institutions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miltiadou, Marios; McIsaac, Marina S.

    The purpose of this paper is to review problems encountered in World Wide Web-based courses delivered at three different educational institutions (i.e., two community colleges and a university) in the metropolitan Phoenix (Arizona) area. Implications are discussed based on distance education theories of interaction. Interaction is a vital issue to…

  13. Guided Interaction as Intercultural Learning: Designing Internationalisation into a Mixed Delivery Teacher Education Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spiro, Jane

    2011-01-01

    In this paper the process of building an international student community is explored. Strategies discussed include guided interaction within a virtual environment between home students studying in their own culture and international students studying at a distance. The context includes both the state and private sector in South East Asia, Latin…

  14. Analysing Interactions in a Teacher Network Forum: A Sociometric Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lisboa, Eliana Santana; Coutinho, Clara Pereira

    2013-01-01

    This article presents the sociometric analysis of the interactions in a forum of a social network created for the professional development of Portuguese-speaking teachers. The main goal of the forum, which was titled Stricto Sensu, was to discuss the educational value of programmes that joined the distance learning model in Brazil. The empirical…

  15. E-learning based distance education programme on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Science - An initiative of IIRS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Karnatak, H.; Raju, P. L. N.; Krishna Murthy, Y. V. N.; Srivastav, S. K.; Gupta, P. K.

    2014-11-01

    IIRS has initiated its interactive distance education based capacity building under IIRS outreach programme in year 2007 where more than 15000+ students were trained in the field of geospatial technology using Satellite based interactive terminals and internet based learning using A-View software. During last decade the utilization of Internet technology by different user groups in the society is emerged as a technological revaluation which has directly affect the life of human being. The Internet is used extensively in India for various purposes right from entrainment to critical decision making in government machinery. The role of internet technology is very important for capacity building in any discipline which can satisfy the needs of maximum users in minimum time. Further to enhance the outreach of geospatial science and technology, IIRS has initiated e-learning based certificate courses of different durations. The contents for e-learning based capacity building programme are developed for various target user groups including mid-career professionals, researchers, academia, fresh graduates, and user department professionals from different States and Central Government ministries. The official website of IIRS e-learning is hosted at http://elearning.iirs.gov.in. The contents of IIRS e-learning programme are flexible for anytime, anywhere learning keeping in mind the demands of geographically dispersed audience and their requirements. The program is comprehensive with variety of online delivery modes with interactive, easy to learn and having a proper blend of concepts and practical to elicit students' full potential. The course content of this programme includes Image Statistics, Basics of Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry and Cartography, Digital Image Processing, Geographical Information System, Global Positioning System, Customization of Geospatial tools and Applications of Geospatial Technologies. The syllabus of the courses is as per latest developments and trends in geo-spatial science and technologies with specific focus on Indian case studies for geo-spatial applications. The learning is made available through interactive 2D and 3D animations, audio, video for practical demonstrations, software operations with free data applications. The learning methods are implemented to make it more interactive and learner centric application with practical examples of real world problems.

  16. The Prototype of the Virtual Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilson, Jack M.; Mosher, David N.

    1994-01-01

    Introduces an interactive distance learning environment prototype developed jointly by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and AT&T which allows students to participate in virtual classroom environments by using computer teleconferencing. Student collaboration, note taking, question answering capabilities, project background, learning…

  17. Satellite Based Live and Interactive Distance Learning Program in the Field of Geoinformatics - a Perspective of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raju, P. L. N.; Gupta, P. K.; Roy, P. S.

    2011-09-01

    Geoinformatics is a highly specialized discipline that deals with Remote Sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and field surveys for assessing, quantification, development and management of resources, planning and infrastructure development, utility services etc. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), a premier institute and one of its kinds has played a key role for capacity Building in this specialized area since its inception in 1966. Realizing the large demand, IIRS has started outreach program in basics of Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS for universities and institutions. EDUSAT (Educational Satellite) is the communication satellite built and launched by ISRO in 2004 exclusively for serving the educational sector to meet the demand for an interactive satellite based distance education system for the country. IIRS has used EDUSAT (shifted to INSAT 4 CR recently due to termination of services from EDUSAT) for its distance learning program to impart basic training in Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS, catering to the universities spread across India. The EDUSAT based training is following similar to e-learning method but has advantage of live interaction sessions between teacher and the students when the lecture is delivered using EDUSAT satellite communication. Because of its good quality reception the interactions are not constrained due to bandwidth problems of Internet. National Natural Resource Management System, Department of Space, Government of India, under Standing Committee in Training and Technology funded this unique program to conduct the basic training in Geoinformatics. IIRS conducts 6 weeks basic training course on "Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS" regularly since the year 2007. The course duration is spread over the period of 3 months beginning with the start of the academic year (1st semester) i.e., July to December every year, for university students. IIRS has utilized EDUSAT satellite for conducting 4 six weeks training course during 2007 till 2009 and INSAT 4CR for conducting the next 2 programs. Till March 2011, fifty four universities with the participation of over 4000 students have benefited from the program (Table 7 and Figure 8). IIRS also organized workshops on "EDUSAT based distance learning: experiences & future learning" in 2007, 09 and 2011. Feedbacks have been taken to address the issues on course structure, duration etc. and plan for improvement in future programs and wider participation. Majority of the participants expressed satisfaction and provided positive feedback and willing to participate in the future programs.

  18. The Influence of Personality and Chronotype on Distance Learning Willingness and Anxiety among Vocational High School Students in Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Randler, Christoph; Horzum, Mehmet Baris; Vollmer, Christian

    2014-01-01

    There are many studies related to distance learning. Willingness and anxiety are important variables for distance learning. Recent research has shown that anxiety and willingness towards distance learning are moderated by personality. This study sought to investigate whether distance learning willingness and distance learning anxiety are…

  19. Dorsolateral Striatal Lesions Impair Navigation Based on Landmark-Goal Vectors but Facilitate Spatial Learning Based on a "Cognitive Map"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kosaki, Yutaka; Poulter, Steven L.; Austen, Joe M.; McGregor, Anthony

    2015-01-01

    In three experiments, the nature of the interaction between multiple memory systems in rats solving a variation of a spatial task in the water maze was investigated. Throughout training rats were able to find a submerged platform at a fixed distance and direction from an intramaze landmark by learning a landmark-goal vector. Extramaze cues were…

  20. Analysis of Interactivity and Autonomy of Existing Digital Educational Resources: The Case of Life and Earth Sciences in Morocco

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ettazarini, Said

    2017-01-01

    The educational policy in Morocco is aimed at promoting the wide use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education and the adoption of interactive and autonomous digital resources for distance teaching and self-learning. The objective of this research is to evaluate the suitability of the existing digital educational resources for…

  1. Distance Training in the European Union. ZIFF Papiere 96.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keegan, Desmond

    A study examined distance training in the European Union (EU) countries. First, recent literature on the following topics was reviewed: technology-supported learning, flexible and distance learning, development of open distance learning, and teleconferencing and distance learning. Next, enrollments and trends in distance learning in the EU as a…

  2. Distance learning in the public health workplace.

    PubMed

    Patel, M

    2000-09-01

    The Master of Applied Epidemiology (MAE) Program implemented in Canberra to produce public health practitioners with specified competencies in the control of communicable diseases. Twenty one of the 24 months of training is distance learning defined as, 'where the learner is physically remote from the training institution'. During this time the trainees are in supervised employment in Public Health centres across the country. Here they learn directly from first hand experiences in the work place. They return to Canberra for short, intensive periods of interactive sessions with their peers and supervisors. Lessons learnt from conducting this program are discussed in this article. They include: all trainees are not suited to this form of training; the quality of support from the field supervisors is highly variable and their role in modelling crucial to the trainees performance; demands on the academic staff is high; and the frequency of contact between trainee and academic supervisor varies considerably. To date this program has made major contributions by enhancing communicable disease surveillance and control but it demands intensive resources to sustain, quality training, and support. This model of distance learning can be adapted in the Pacific both for graduate degree courses and also for continuing education for all levels of health professionals.

  3. Distance learning in toxicology: Australia's RMIT program

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ahokas, Jorma; Donohue, Diana; Rix, Colin

    2005-09-01

    RMIT University was the first to offer a comprehensive Masters of Toxicology in Australasia 19 years ago. In 2001 the program was transformed into two stages, leading to a Graduate Diploma and Master of Applied Science in Toxicology. Now, these programs are fully online and suitable for graduates living and working anywhere in the world. The modular distance-learning courses are specifically designed to equip students with essential skills for entering fields such as chemical and drug evaluation; risk assessment of chemicals in the workplace; environmental and food toxicology. RMIT's online course delivery system has made it possible to deliver themore » toxicology programs, both nationally and internationally. The learning material and interactive activities (tests and quizzes, discussion boards, chat sessions) use Blackboard and WebBoard, each with a different educational function. Students log in to a Learning Hub to access their courses. The Learning Hub enables students to extend their learning beyond the classroom to the home, workplace, library and any other location with Internet access. The teaching staff log in to the Learning Hub to maintain and administer the online programs and courses which they have developed and/or which they teach. The Learning Hub is also a communication tool for students and staff, providing access to email, a diary and announcements. The early experience of delivering a full toxicology program online is very positive. However this mode of teaching continues to present many interesting technical, educational and cultural challenges, including: the design and presentation of the material; copyright issues; internationalisation of content; interactive participation; and the assessment procedures.« less

  4. Interactive Videoconferencing for Collaborative Learning at a Distance in the School of 21st Century: A Case Study in Elementary Schools in Greece

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anastasiades, Panagiotes S.; Filippousis, George; Karvunis, Labros; Siakas, Spiros; Tomazinakis, Arsitokritos; Giza, Panagiota; Mastoraki, Hellen

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to present the design, implementation and evaluation of the methodology which focuses on the pedagogical utilization of Interactive Videoconferencing (IVC) in the contemporary elementary school. As part of the project "ODYSSEAS", during the school year 2007-2008, 46 students and 4 teachers from two elementary…

  5. Has Distance Learning Become More Flexible? Reflections of a Distance Learning Student

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Theda

    2012-01-01

    This paper provides insight into the way in which distance learning had changed over the past 30 years from the perspective of the author as a distance learning student. The question is then asked as to whether current practice is reducing flexibility for distance learning students? The paper starts with a discussion of flexible learning and the…

  6. Interactive Machine Learning at Scale with CHISSL

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Arendt, Dustin L.; Grace, Emily A.; Volkova, Svitlana

    We demonstrate CHISSL, a scalable client-server system for real-time interactive machine learning. Our system is capa- ble of incorporating user feedback incrementally and imme- diately without a structured or pre-defined prediction task. Computation is partitioned between a lightweight web-client and a heavyweight server. The server relies on representation learning and agglomerative clustering to learn a dendrogram, a hierarchical approximation of a representation space. The client uses only this dendrogram to incorporate user feedback into the model via transduction. Distances and predictions for each unlabeled instance are updated incrementally and deter- ministically, with O(n) space and time complexity. Our al- gorithmmore » is implemented in a functional prototype, designed to be easy to use by non-experts. The prototype organizes the large amounts of data into recommendations. This allows the user to interact with actual instances by dragging and drop- ping to provide feedback in an intuitive manner. We applied CHISSL to several domains including cyber, social media, and geo-temporal analysis.« less

  7. Using the Internet: Concept to Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenhalgh, J. B.

    1997-01-01

    State, federal, and corporate grants enabled Georgian Court College (New Jersey) to connect to the Internet, establish a multimedia lab, and purchase equipment for interactive distance learning. Describes the implementation of new programs utilizing Internet technology and highlights sample Internet projects in social work, education, aquatic and…

  8. Fiber Optics: Deregulate and Deploy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suwinski, Jan H.

    1993-01-01

    Describes fiber optic technology, explains its use in education and commercial settings, and recommends regulations and legislation that will speed its use to create broadband information networks. Topics discussed include distance learning; interactive video; costs; and the roles of policy makers, lawmakers, public advocacy groups, and consumers.…

  9. The Egghead and the TV Eye.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Marium

    This paper describes the first venture of the author (a professor at Kentucky's Morehead State University) into the world of distance learning technology, specifically interactive television. Highlights include the one-way video classroom; multimedia development; compressed video classroom; and use of listservs. An informal evaluation of the…

  10. Evaluation of different delivery modes of an interactive e-learning programme for teaching cultural diversity.

    PubMed

    Hawthorne, Kamila; Prout, Hayley; Kinnersley, Paul; Houston, Helen

    2009-01-01

    UK medical schools find it challenging to provide standardised teaching to expanding year intakes. In addition, developing and implementing diversity training can cause difficulties. This paper describes the evaluation of an interactive e-learning programme to raise awareness and understanding of communication difficulties in diversity consultations. The programme was part of an undergraduate portfolio-based community module. Three hundred and two students were assigned to one of three delivery methods--a large group setting, small groups with a facilitator, and as part of distance learning while on community placement. The evaluation included analysis of their coursework marks, a self-completed evaluation questionnaire, and small group discussions. Two hundred and twenty-three students took part in the evaluation. They were able to apply the concepts they learnt to clinical examples from their own experiences. Type of delivery did not affect coursework marks, but students tended to prefer the e-learning as part of a distance learning package. They offered helpful suggestions to improve its complexity and range. The acceptability and utility of this e-learning module both in face to face teaching and remote placement has been demonstrated, and evaluation by the students has provided valuable information for its further development. All medical schools should include some diversity training, and further research should concentrate on the effects of this type of learning on longer term outcomes such as attitude and performance tests. Such tools could reduce demands on staff time in facilitation of small groupwork, and their cost effectiveness could be increased by making them available to other medical schools.

  11. Understanding children's science identity through classroom interactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Mijung

    2018-01-01

    Research shows that various stereotypes about science and science learning, such as science being filled with hard and dry content, laboratory experiments, and male-dominated work environments, have resulted in feelings of distance from science in students' minds. This study explores children's experiences of science learning and science identity. It asks how children conceive of doing science like scientists and how they develop views of science beyond the stereotypes. This study employs positioning theory to examine how children and their teacher position themselves in science learning contexts and develop science identity through classroom interactions. Fifteen students in grades 4-6 science classrooms in Western Canada participated in this study. Classroom activities and interactions were videotaped, transcribed, and analysed to examine how the teacher and students position each other as scientists in the classroom. A descriptive explanatory case analysis showed how the teacher's positioning acted to develop students' science identity with responsibilities of knowledge seeking, perseverance, and excitement about science.

  12. Tutoring math platform accessible for visually impaired people.

    PubMed

    Maćkowski, Michał Sebastian; Brzoza, Piotr Franciszek; Spinczyk, Dominik Roland

    2018-04-01

    There are many problems with teaching and assessing impaired students in higher education, especially in technical science, where the knowledge is represented mostly by structural information like: math formulae, charts, graphs, etc. Developing e-learning platform for distance education solves this problem only partially due to the lack of accessibility for the blind. The proposed method is based on the decomposition of the typical mathematical exercise into a sequence of elementary sub-exercises. This allows for interactive resolving of math exercises and assessment of the correctness of exercise solutions at every stage. The presented methods were prepared and evaluated by visually impaired people and students. The article presents the accessible interactive tutoring platform for math teaching and assessment, and experience in exploring it. The results of conducted research confirm good understanding of math formulae described according to elaborated rules. Regardless of the level of complexity of the math formulae the level of math formulae understanding is higher for alternative structural description. The proposed solution enables alternative descriptions of math formulae. Based on the research results, the tool for computer-aided interactive learning of mathematics adapted to the needs of the blind has been designed, implemented and deployed as a platform for on-site and online and distance learning. The designed solution can be very helpful in overcoming many barriers that occur while teaching impaired students. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Distance learning in the Applied Sciences of Oncology.

    PubMed

    Barton, Michael B; Thode, Richard J

    2010-04-01

    The major impediment to the expansion of oncology services is a shortage of personnel. To develop a distance learning course for radiation oncology trainees. Under the sponsorship of the Asia Pacific Regional Cooperative Agreement administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a CD ROM-based Applied Sciences of Oncology (ASOC) distance learning course of 71 modules was created. The course covers communications, critical appraisal, functional anatomy, molecular biology, pathology. The materials include interactive text and illustrations that require students to answer questions before they can progress. The course aims to supplement existing oncology curricula and does not provide a qualification. It aims to assist students in acquiring their own profession's qualification. The course was piloted in seven countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America during 2004. After feedback from the pilot course, a further nine modules were added to cover imaging physics (three modules), informed consent, burnout and coping with death and dying, Economic analysis and cancer care, Nutrition, cachexia and fatigue, radiation-induced second cancers and mathematical tools and background for radiation oncology. The course was widely distributed and can be downloaded from http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Training/Aso/register.html. ASOC has been downloaded over 1100 times in the first year after it was posted. There is a huge demand for educational materials but the interactive approach is labour-intensive and expensive to compile. The course must be maintained to remain relevant. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. The profile of problem-solving ability of students of distance education in science learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Widiasih; Permanasari, A.; Riandi; Damayanti, T.

    2018-05-01

    This study aims to analyze the students' problem-solving ability in science learning and lesson-planning ability. The method used is descriptive-quantitative. The subjects of the study were undergraduate students of Distance Higher Education located in Serang, majoring in Primary Teacher Education in-service training. Samples were taken thoroughly from 2 groups taking the course of Science Learning in Primary School in the first term of 2017, amounted to 39 students. The technique of data collection used is essay test of problem solving from case study done at the beginning of lecture in February 2017. The results of this research can be concluded that In-service Training of Primary School Teacher Education Program are categorized as quite capable (score 66) in solving science learning problem and planning science lesson. Therefore, efforts need to be done to improve the ability of students in problem solving, for instance through online tutorials with the basis of interactive discussions.

  15. Web-Based Testing Tools for Electrical Engineering Courses

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-09-01

    ideas of distance learning are based on forming “ virtual teams” [2]. Each team is equipped with the same software packages and share information via...using virtual laboratories where they can simulate a laboratory experience in a web-based environment. They can also control laboratory devices over...possible to create a set of virtual laboratories that allow students to interact with the learning material at the same time that the student is

  16. Watching from a distance: A robotically controlled laser and real-time subject tracking software for the study of conditioned predator/prey-like interactions.

    PubMed

    Wilson, James C; Kesler, Mitch; Pelegrin, Sara-Lynn E; Kalvi, LeAnna; Gruber, Aaron; Steenland, Hendrik W

    2015-09-30

    The physical distance between predator and prey is a primary determinant of behavior, yet few paradigms exist to study this reliably in rodents. The utility of a robotically controlled laser for use in a predator-prey-like (PPL) paradigm was explored for use in rats. This involved the construction of a robotic two-dimensional gimbal to dynamically position a laser beam in a behavioral test chamber. Custom software was used to control the trajectory and final laser position in response to user input on a console. The software also detected the location of the laser beam and the rodent continuously so that the dynamics of the distance between them could be analyzed. When the animal or laser beam came within a fixed distance the animal would either be rewarded with electrical brain stimulation or shocked subcutaneously. Animals that received rewarding electrical brain stimulation could learn to chase the laser beam, while animals that received aversive subcutaneous shock learned to actively avoid the laser beam in the PPL paradigm. Mathematical computations are presented which describe the dynamic interaction of the laser and rodent. The robotic laser offers a neutral stimulus to train rodents in an open field and is the first device to be versatile enough to assess distance between predator and prey in real time. With ongoing behavioral testing this tool will permit the neurobiological investigation of predator/prey-like relationships in rodents, and may have future implications for prosthetic limb development through brain-machine interfaces. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Classroom-based and distance learning education and training courses in end-of-life care for health and social care staff: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Pulsford, David; Jackson, Georgina; O'Brien, Terri; Yates, Sue; Duxbury, Joy

    2013-03-01

    Staff from a range of health and social care professions report deficits in their knowledge and skills when providing end-of-life and palliative care, and education and training has been advocated at a range of levels. To review the literature related to classroom-based and distance learning education and training initiatives for health and social care staff in end-of-life and palliative care, in terms of their target audience, extent, modes of delivery, content and teaching and learning strategies, and to identify the most effective educational strategies for enhancing care. A systematic review of the literature evaluating classroom-based and distance learning education and training courses for health and social care staff in end-of-life and palliative care. Online databases CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PSYCHINFO between January 2000 and July 2010. Studies were selected that discussed specific education and training initiatives and included pre-and post-test evaluation of participants' learning. 30 studies met eligibility criteria. The majority reported successful outcomes, though there were some exceptions. Level of prior experience and availability of practice reinforcement influenced learning. Participative and interactive learning strategies were predominantly used along with discussion of case scenarios. Multi-professional learning was infrequently reported and service user and carer input to curriculum development and delivery was reported in only one study. Classroom-based education and training is useful for enhancing professionals' skills and perceived preparedness for delivering end-of-life care but should be reinforced by actual practice experience.

  18. Employability in Online Higher Education: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silva, Ana Paula; Lourtie, Pedro; Aires, Luisa

    2013-01-01

    Over the past 15 years, learning in distance education universities has become more interactive, flexible, collaborative, and participative. Nevertheless, some accounts have highlighted the importance of developing more instrumental and standardized educational practices to answer the challenges of employability. In fact, the choice of skills that…

  19. 'Ten Golden Rules' for Designing Software in Medical Education: Results from a Formative Evaluation of DIALOG.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jha, Vikram; Duffy, Sean

    2002-01-01

    Reports the results of an evaluation of Distance Interactive Learning in Obstetrics and Gynecology (DIALOG) which is an electronic program for continuing education. Presents 10 golden rules for designing software for medical practitioners. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/YDS)

  20. Distance Education and Online Instruction: Profession or Field?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simonson, Michael

    2001-01-01

    Finn (1953) implied research and practice could not be conducted effectively without clear terminology. Keegan's (1986) work became the foundation for more modern definitions, including one espoused by this journal, "institutionally-based, formal education, where the learning group is separated and where interactive technologies are used to…

  1. Educational Challenges and Research Opportunities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gans, Dian Althea

    1997-01-01

    Suggests that teaching and research should not be antithetical in the undergraduate science classroom. Describes an approach to teaching human nutrition as a distance education class via interactive television (ITV). Reports on a survey that explored similarities and differences in demographics, learning, and/or behavioral change between ITV and…

  2. Teaching and learning experiences in a collaborative distance-education environment.

    PubMed

    Martin, Peter; Scheetz, Laura Temple

    2011-01-01

    The Great Plains Distance Education Alliance (Great Plains IDEA) emphasizes the importance of a collaborative environment for instructors and students in distance education. The authors highlight a number of important principles for distance-education programs and point out similarities and differences when compared to traditional face-face-to classes such as communication, classroom management, connectivity, and technical challenges. They summarize general topics concerning the faculty, the syllabus, office hours, the calendar, and announcements. Three essential lesson components are noted: an overview, the lesson itself, and supplemanetary material. The authors also take the student perspective, emphasizing the diversity of students, the importance of computer proficiency, and student interactions. Finally, they summarize a first round of course evaluations in the Great Plains IDEA gerontology master's program.

  3. Co-Creating a Culturally Responsive Distance Education Cancer Course with, and for, Alaska's Community Health Workers: Motivations from a Survey of Key Stakeholders.

    PubMed

    Cueva, Katie; Revels, Laura; Kuhnley, Regina; Cueva, Melany; Lanier, Anne; Dignan, Mark

    2017-09-01

    To gain input on a proposed culturally responsive, distance-delivered cancer education course informed by empowerment theory and adult-learning principles, Alaska's Community Health Aides/Practitioners (CHA/Ps) and CHA/P leadership were invited to take an online survey in February 2015. The proposed course will be developed as part of the "Distance Education to Engage Alaskan Community Health Aides in Cancer Control" project. The results of the survey demonstrate that respondents are both interested in taking the proposed class and engaging in course development. The results also indicate that respondents have the technological comfort and capacity to be engaged in online learning and have primarily positive experiences and perceptions of distance education. This survey is the beginning of the interactive development of the online cancer education course and part of a continuing endeavor to promote wellness with, and for, Alaska's people by empowering Alaska's CHA/Ps and inspiring positive behavioral change to both prevent cancer and support those who feel its burdens.

  4. Inclusive Approach to the Psycho-Pedagogical Assistance of Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akhmetova, Daniya Z.

    2014-01-01

    Author focuses on three groups of problems: quality of distance learning and e-learning; necessity to develop the facilitation skills for teachers who work using distance learning technologies; realization of inclusive approach for the organization of distance learning in inclusive groups where people with disabilities study with people without…

  5. Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Orey, Michael; Koenecke, Lynne; Snider, Richard C.; Perkins, Ross A.; Holmes, Glen A.; Lockee, Barbara B.; Moller, Leslie A.; Harvey, Douglas; Downs, Margaret; Godshalk, Veronica M.

    2003-01-01

    Contains four articles covering trends and issues on distance learning including: the experience of two learners learning via the Internet; a systematic approach to determining the scalability of a distance education program; identifying factors that affect learning community development and performance in asynchronous distance education; and…

  6. 46 CFR 10.412 - Distance and e-learning.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Distance and e-learning. 10.412 Section 10.412 Shipping... CREDENTIAL Training Courses and Programs § 10.412 Distance and e-learning. The Coast Guard may allow the training of mariners by means of distance learning and e-learning in accordance with the standards of...

  7. Self-Regulated Learning Ability of Chinese Distance Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Hong; Chen, Li; Panda, Santosh

    2014-01-01

    This study reports on self-regulated learning (SRL) of Chinese distance learners by using a structured SRL scale. SRL of adult and lifelong learners is a well-researched area, though its application within distance education is a new area of investigation. Open and distance learning lean heavily on self-learning and self-learning resources, though…

  8. Longitudinal analysis of student performance in a dental hygiene distance education program.

    PubMed

    Olmsted, Jodi L

    2002-09-01

    The purpose of the study was to determine if learners who receive face-to-face instruction in an educational program performed statistically better on established benchmark assessments (GPA, course averages, and NBDHE) than learners at a distance from the didactic course instructor. A comparative, quasi-experimental, ex-post facto study was conducted. The treatment variable was program type: face-to-face vs. distance. The performance of five consecutive classes was analyzed, from 1997 to 2001. These five classes consisted of 221 learners, 105 of them at the host site and 115 using distance learning. The experimental groups were divided based upon location--host or cooperating college (distance) site learners. Study results identified no significant difference between host and distance learner performance for the entire educational program. The use of interactive television (ITV) for delivery of an educational program using distance education technology provided acceptable results in learner didactic performance. Learners at both the host and cooperating college (distance) sites performed equally well. The results were used to document program outcomes.

  9. Learning characteristics of veterinary technology students in a distance-education and an on-campus program.

    PubMed

    Varnhagen, Connie K; Wright, David L

    2008-01-01

    Distance-education programs have the potential to greatly increase the number of veterinary technicians. The demographic characteristics, readiness for independent and online learning, learning styles, and academic locus of control of a group of distance-education and on-campus veterinary technology students were examined. Distance-education students preferred independent learning and were more internally motivated to learn. Distance-education students with greater degrees of independence and internal motivation participated more fully, were more satisfied with their learning, and achieved higher grades. Students who preferred problem solving and active experimentation were particularly successful in distance education. These findings could have important implications for advising students interested in distance-education programs.

  10. Scientific Presenting: Using Evidence-Based Classroom Practices to Deliver Effective Conference Presentations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corwin, Lisa A.; Prunuske, Amy; Seidel, Shannon B.

    2018-01-01

    Scientists and educators travel great distances, spend significant time, and dedicate substantial financial resources to present at conferences. This highlights the value placed on conference interactions. Despite the importance of conferences, very little has been studied about what is learned from the presentations and how presenters can…

  11. Designing the Undesignable: Social Software and Control

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dron, Jon

    2007-01-01

    Social software, such as blogs, wikis, tagging systems and collaborative filters, treats the group as a first-class object within the system. Drawing from theories of transactional distance and control, this paper proposes a model of e-learning that extends traditional concepts of learner-teacher-content interactions to include these emergent…

  12. Changing Channels. Nontraditional Careers for Women.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Linn Technical Coll., MO.

    This viewer guide describes Changing Channels, which uses satellite teleconferences to provide distance learning for students and educators throughout Missouri and the United States. This series of live interactive programs features successful women in high tech nontraditional jobs. The series is composed of five kits, each with two tapes and an…

  13. Back to School at Work: Training Strategies for the 90's.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klinck, Nancy A.

    1993-01-01

    Describes corporate training programs that use technology, including videotapes, hypermedia curriculum, and distance learning systems in the automotive industry, using fiber optics and cable to transmit university courses; the petroleum industry, using a video network; and the health care industry, via an interactive video conferencing system.…

  14. Distance Learning Partnerships for Underserved Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chavkin, Nancy Feyl; And Others

    1994-01-01

    Describes a partnership that was formed to develop a fiber optic interactive network and its interface with the development of algebra curriculum and social services in the PATH (Partnership for Access to Higher) Mathematics project in Texas. Equipment connections, costs, and classroom layout are described; and social work components are…

  15. Advanced Interactive Web Technologies in Industry Training.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vassileva, Tania; Astinov, Ilario; Bojkov, Dimitar; Tchoumatchenko, Vassiliy; Scholten, Ulrich; Furnadziev, Ivan

    Today, faced with the problems of global competition, increasing costs, and complex production engineering, a company can only be successfully managed if the employees are motivated and highly qualified. To cope with this demand the new educational scheme for cost-effective retraining, lifelong learning and distance education at the workplace…

  16. Academic Advising in a Virtual University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steele, George E.; Thurmond, Karen C.

    2009-01-01

    Many institutions are implementing personalized Web-based student services, which will have a profound effect on interacting with students and achieving learning outcomes for students at a distance. A new conceptual model is necessary for describing the relationship between the advisor and students, as mitigated through use of technology. In this…

  17. Joint learning of labels and distance metric.

    PubMed

    Liu, Bo; Wang, Meng; Hong, Richang; Zha, Zhengjun; Hua, Xian-Sheng

    2010-06-01

    Machine learning algorithms frequently suffer from the insufficiency of training data and the usage of inappropriate distance metric. In this paper, we propose a joint learning of labels and distance metric (JLLDM) approach, which is able to simultaneously address the two difficulties. In comparison with the existing semi-supervised learning and distance metric learning methods that focus only on label prediction or distance metric construction, the JLLDM algorithm optimizes the labels of unlabeled samples and a Mahalanobis distance metric in a unified scheme. The advantage of JLLDM is multifold: 1) the problem of training data insufficiency can be tackled; 2) a good distance metric can be constructed with only very few training samples; and 3) no radius parameter is needed since the algorithm automatically determines the scale of the metric. Extensive experiments are conducted to compare the JLLDM approach with different semi-supervised learning and distance metric learning methods, and empirical results demonstrate its effectiveness.

  18. Is blended learning a viable option in public health education? A case study of student satisfaction with a blended graduate course.

    PubMed

    So, Hyo-Jeong

    2009-01-01

    This study reports findings from a case study that examined student satisfaction with a blended graduate-level course in a Masters of Public Health program. This case study used a mixed research method to collect and analyze data from the satisfaction survey and face-to-face interviews. The satisfaction survey revealed that student satisfaction with the quality of this blended course was high. Large percentages of students indicated that they would recommend this course to others and would be willing to take another distance learning course in the future. The satisfaction level was related to students' age and the number of previous distance learning courses that they had taken. Face-to-face interviews revealed that the success of this blended course was associated with the opportunities for face-to-face interaction and meaningful collaborative learning, the integration of technology components, and the course instructor. Overall findings suggest that what is important in blended learning is the integration of hard and soft technology: how to select an appropriate mode of delivery and to design instructional activities to meet the need of students and the course objectives. Implications for designing blended learning courses are discussed.

  19. A virtual computer lab for distance biomedical technology education.

    PubMed

    Locatis, Craig; Vega, Anibal; Bhagwat, Medha; Liu, Wei-Li; Conde, Jose

    2008-03-13

    The National Library of Medicine's National Center for Biotechnology Information offers mini-courses which entail applying concepts in biochemistry and genetics to search genomics databases and other information sources. They are highly interactive and involve use of 3D molecular visualization software that can be computationally taxing. Methods were devised to offer the courses at a distance so as to provide as much functionality of a computer lab as possible, the venue where they are normally taught. The methods, which can be employed with varied videoconferencing technology and desktop sharing software, were used to deliver mini-courses at a distance in pilot applications where students could see demonstrations by the instructor and the instructor could observe and interact with students working at their remote desktops. Student ratings of the learning experience and comments to open ended questions were similar to those when the courses are offered face to face. The real time interaction and the instructor's ability to access student desktops from a distance in order to provide individual assistance and feedback were considered invaluable. The technologies and methods mimic much of the functionality of computer labs and may be usefully applied in any context where content changes frequently, training needs to be offered on complex computer applications at a distance in real time, and where it is necessary for the instructor to monitor students as they work.

  20. Distance and Face-to-Face Learning Culture and Values: A Conceptual Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tejeda-Delgado, Carmen; Millan, Brett J.; Slate, John R.

    2011-01-01

    With distance learning increasing in popularity across the country and the world, a review of the extant literature as it relates to distance learning and face-to-face learning is warranted. In particular, this paper examined distance learning, including a historical overview, prevailing themes in past research, and studies relating the importance…

  1. Student perceptions of a virtual learning environment for a problem-based learning undergraduate medical curriculum.

    PubMed

    de Leng, Bas A; Dolmans, Diana H J M; Muijtjens, Arno M M; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

    2006-06-01

    To investigate the effects of a virtual learning environment (VLE) on group interaction and consultation of information resources during the preliminary phase, self-study phase and reporting phase of the problem-based learning process in an undergraduate medical curriculum. A questionnaire was administered to 355 medical students in Years 1 and 2 to ask them about the perceived usefulness of a virtual learning environment that was created with Blackboard for group interaction and the use of learning resources. The students indicated that the VLE supported face-to-face interaction in the preliminary discussion and in the reporting phase but did not stimulate computer-mediated distance interaction during the self-study phase. They perceived that the use of multimedia in case presentations led to a better quality of group discussion than if case presentations were exclusively text-based. They also indicated that the information resources that were hyperlinked in the VLE stimulated the consultation of these resources during self-study, but not during the reporting phase. Students indicated that the use of a VLE in the tutorial room and the inclusion of multimedia in case presentations supported processes of active learning in the tutorial groups. However, if we want to exploit the full potential of asynchronous computer-mediated communication to initiate in-depth discussion during the self-study phase, its application will have to be selective and deliberate. Students indicated that the links in the VLE to selected information in library repositories supported their learning.

  2. International Perspectives of Distance Learning in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Joi L., Ed.; Benson, Angela D., Ed.

    2012-01-01

    This book, written by authors representing 12 countries and five continents, is a collection of international perspectives on distance learning and distance learning implementations in higher education. The perspectives are presented in the form of practical case studies of distance learning implementations, research studies on teaching and…

  3. Internet-Based Distance Learning in Higher Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hofmann, Donald W.

    2002-01-01

    Suggests that the effectiveness of Internet-based distance learning has increased with its increased popularity. Looks at the differences between the effectiveness of Internet-based distance learning and traditional methods. Indicates that distance learning is more effective because of the necessity for students to become active learners.…

  4. Distance Education and Distance Learning: Some Psychological Considerations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cropley, Arthur J.; Kahl, Thomas N.

    1983-01-01

    Compares and contrasts distance education and face-to-face education in terms of selected psychological dimensions, i.e., organization and learning, motivation, learning and communication processes, didactic activities and materials, and evaluation and feedback. Psychological aspects of distance education that may be favorable to learning are also…

  5. Evaluation of a distance-learning immunology and pathology module in a postgraduate biomedical science course.

    PubMed

    Ryan, M T; Mulholland, C W

    2005-01-01

    An electronic presentation of materials for a distance-learning immunology and pathology module from a postgraduate biomedical science course is evaluated. Two different electronic presentation formats for the delivery of the educational material to distance learners are assessed. Responses from users of this material highlighted a preference for a format that has a design tailored to distance learning. There was no significant difference in learning outcome between those taking the module on campus and by distance learning. This suggests that the prerequisites for entry, learning materials and direction given to the students studying by distance learning are adequate for these students to achieve the learning objectives outlined in the course. The evaluation also gave direction for areas within the (CAL) application that can be improved for future students.

  6. Creation of Medicinal Chemistry Learning Communities Through Enhanced Technology and Interdisciplinary Collaboration

    PubMed Central

    Roche, Victoria

    2012-01-01

    Objectives. To build an integrated medicinal chemistry learning community of campus and distance pharmacy students though the use of innovative technology and interdisciplinary teaching. Design. Mechanisms were implemented to bring distance students into campus-based medicinal chemistry classrooms in real time, stimulate interaction between instructors and various student cohorts, and promote group work during class. Also, pharmacy clinician colleagues were recruited to contribute to the teaching of the 3 medicinal chemistry courses. Assessment. Student perceptions on the value of technology to build community and advance learning were gleaned from course evaluations, in class feedback, and conversations with class officers and student groups. Responses on a survey of second-year students confirmed the benefits of interdisciplinary content integration on engagement and awareness of the connection between drug chemistry and pharmacy practice. A survey of clinician colleagues who contributed to teaching the 3 medicinal chemistry courses found their views were similar to those of students. Conclusions. The purposeful use of technology united learners, fostered communication, and advanced content comprehension in 3 medicinal chemistry courses taught to campus and distance students. Teaching collaboration with pharmacy clinicians enhanced learner interest in course content and provided insight into the integrated nature of the profession of pharmacy. PMID:23129857

  7. Creation of medicinal chemistry learning communities through enhanced technology and interdisciplinary collaboration.

    PubMed

    Henriksen, Brian; Roche, Victoria

    2012-10-12

    Objectives. To build an integrated medicinal chemistry learning community of campus and distance pharmacy students though the use of innovative technology and interdisciplinary teaching.Design. Mechanisms were implemented to bring distance students into campus-based medicinal chemistry classrooms in real time, stimulate interaction between instructors and various student cohorts, and promote group work during class. Also, pharmacy clinician colleagues were recruited to contribute to the teaching of the 3 medicinal chemistry courses.Assessment. Student perceptions on the value of technology to build community and advance learning were gleaned from course evaluations, in class feedback, and conversations with class officers and student groups. Responses on a survey of second-year students confirmed the benefits of interdisciplinary content integration on engagement and awareness of the connection between drug chemistry and pharmacy practice. A survey of clinician colleagues who contributed to teaching the 3 medicinal chemistry courses found their views were similar to those of students.Conclusions. The purposeful use of technology united learners, fostered communication, and advanced content comprehension in 3 medicinal chemistry courses taught to campus and distance students. Teaching collaboration with pharmacy clinicians enhanced learner interest in course content and provided insight into the integrated nature of the profession of pharmacy.

  8. Distance and devices - potential barriers to use of wireless handheld devices.

    PubMed

    Martyn, Julie; Larkin, Kevin; Sander, Teresa; Yuginovich, Trudy; Jamieson-Proctor, Romina

    2014-03-01

    This paper reports the findings of a research project investigating the use of iPods by student nurses to enhance their interactions with content, instructors and peers while located at a distance from their university campus. Wireless handheld devices (WHD) are an important tool in nursing environments that are undergoing rapid technological change. Preferred treatments, drug dosages, postsurgical care, and preventive healthcare regimens continually change and such devices allow students to rapidly confirm information while in the clinical area, thus fostering active learning and safe practice. A case study approach was adopted with each participating student cohort comprising a case. Multiple data collection methods were used to enable rich descriptions of each case. This paper focusses on factors, relating to the use of iPods, which influenced student learning in distance courses at two regional Queensland universities. It furthermore highlights a range of creative interventions reported by students and educators in resolving issues with their devices. The study found that connectivity difficulties, technology literacy level, compatibility of study resources with the WHDs, and small screen size were all factors that impacted negatively on the use of iPods in distance courses. The paper describes the responses of students and educators to the use of iPods for learning. This study concluded that nursing students and nursing educators alike may experience problems when WHD's are introduced to courses as a platform for learning. However, both students and educators can be innovative and resourceful in managing these problems and, when access to course resources that were enabled for viewing on the WHDs were available, the learning experience of the students and the teaching experience for the educators were enhanced. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. A Delphi Study on Collaborative Learning in Distance Education: The Faculty Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Neill, Susan; Scott, Murray; Conboy, Kieran

    2011-01-01

    This paper focuses on the factors that influence collaborative learning in distance education. Distance education has been around for many years and the use of collaborative learning techniques in distance education is becoming increasingly popular. Several studies have demonstrated the superiority of collaborative learning over traditional modes…

  10. Distance Learning in Higher Education. CHEA Update Number 3.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council for Higher Education Accreditation, Washington, DC.

    This report discusses issues related to distance learning in higher education. Section 1, "The Expanding Universe of Distance Learning," examines: data from a new national survey on higher education distance learning; Internet access in elementary and secondary schools; the 1999 national survey of information technology in higher…

  11. 7 CFR 1700.31 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant... § 1700.31 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. RUS, through the Telecommunications Program, makes grants and loans to furnish and improve telemedicine services and distance learning...

  12. Tidewater Community College Distance Learning Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tidewater Community Coll., Norfolk, VA.

    This study of distance learning at Tidewater Community College (TCC) was conducted to determine enrollment patterns, retention, and success in distance learning courses and student perceptions. Distance learning was defined as students enrolled in one of three modes of course delivery: telecourse, online, and compressed video. The time frame for…

  13. 7 CFR 1700.31 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant... § 1700.31 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. RUS, through the Telecommunications Program, makes grants and loans to furnish and improve telemedicine services and distance learning...

  14. 7 CFR 1700.31 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant... § 1700.31 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. RUS, through the Telecommunications Program, makes grants and loans to furnish and improve telemedicine services and distance learning...

  15. 7 CFR 1700.31 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant... § 1700.31 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. RUS, through the Telecommunications Program, makes grants and loans to furnish and improve telemedicine services and distance learning...

  16. 7 CFR 1700.31 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant... § 1700.31 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. RUS, through the Telecommunications Program, makes grants and loans to furnish and improve telemedicine services and distance learning...

  17. Distance Learning: A Way of Life-Long Learning

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    promise of future benefits. 15. SUBJECT TERMS training, educational technology , distributed learning , distance learning , collaboration, online instruction...knowledge." - Aristotle Introduction Modern learning technology assumes various names: distance learning , distributed training, computer-based...training, web-based learning , or advanced distributed learning . No matter the name, the basic concept is using computer technology for instruction with no

  18. Innovation in Open & Distance Learning: Successful Development of Online and Web-Based Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lockwood, Fred, Ed.; Gooley, Anne, Ed.

    This book contains 19 papers examining innovation in open and distance learning through development of online and World Wide Web-based learning. The following papers are included: "Innovation in Distributed Learning: Creating the Environment" (Fred Lockwood); "Innovation in Open and Distance Learning: Some Lessons from Experience…

  19. Higher Education through Open and Distance Learning. World Review of Distance Education and Open Learning, Volume 1. A Commonwealth of Learning Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harry, Keith, Ed.

    This book reports on the expansion of open and distance learning during the past decade, examining ways in which open and distance learning for higher education has responded to the needs of the new society, and summarizing the lessons of recent practice for policymakers and educators. After an introductory chapter, "Open and Distance…

  20. Distance-Learning for Advanced Military Education: Using Wargame Simulation Course as an Example

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keh, Huan-Chao; Wang, Kuei-Min; Wai, Shu-Shen; Huang, Jiung-yao; Hui, Lin; Wu, Ji-Jen

    2008-01-01

    Distance learning in advanced military education can assist officers around the world to become more skilled and qualified for future challenges. Through well-chosen technology, the efficiency of distance-learning can be improved significantly. In this paper we present the architecture of Advanced Military Education-Distance Learning (AME-DL)…

  1. Making Distance Learning E.R.O.T.I.C.: Applying Interpretation Principles to Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ross, Anne; Siepen, Greg; O'Connor, Sue

    2003-01-01

    Distance learners are self-directed learners traditionally taught via study books, collections of readings, and exercises to test understanding of learning packages. Despite advances in e-Learning environments and computer-based teaching interfaces, distance learners still lack opportunities to participate in exercises and debates available to…

  2. Accreditation and Assuring Quality in Distance Learning. CHEA Monograph Series, 2002.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council for Higher Education Accreditation, Washington, DC.

    This report describes the scope and impact of distance learning on higher education and identifies the primary challenges that distance learning poses for accreditation. The responses of the accrediting community designed to assure quality in distance learning are outlined. Data from a variety of sources show that 5,655 institutions are accredited…

  3. Distance Learning and Non-Formal Education: Existing Trends and New Possibilities of Distance Learning Experiences.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Romi, Shlomo

    2000-01-01

    Reviews the characteristics of non-formal education as expressed in various academic-theoretical definitions, presents the links in this field to distance learning, and recommends future directions for exploring distance learning in non-formal education. Discusses the use of information and communication technology and considers problems with…

  4. Animated Agents Teaching Helping Skills in an Online Environment: A Pilot Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duggan, Molly H.; Adcock, Amy B.

    2007-01-01

    Human service educators constantly struggle with how to best teach students the communication skills required of entry-level human service professionals. While teaching such skills is easier in a traditional face-to-face environment, teaching communication skills via distance learning presents its own challenges. Developing interactive web-based…

  5. Distance Learning Plan for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS): A Study for the DBMU

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1994-09-01

    according to the standard (H.261) motion video compression algorithm.24 n Schaphorst, Richard, notes presented at TELECON XIII, San Jose , California, 10...include automatic microphone mixing systems with one microphone for every two student seats, a large screen interactive computer display and the Socrates

  6. The Internet and Its Importance for Those with Disabilities: An Example.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uhran, John J., Jr.; Beery, Peter; Wilkerson, Melissa

    This paper presents a generalized solution to the problems that people with disabilities face regarding accessing the Internet. Of particular interest is the way in which the authors' paradigm allows for enhanced interaction with information resources, including distance learning and education in general. A basic overview is provided of the…

  7. PROVIDE: A Pedagogical Reference Oracle for Virtual IntegrateD E-ducation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Narasimhan, V. Lakshmi; Zhao, Shuxin; Liang, Hailong; Zhang, Shuangyi

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents an interactive educational environment for use over both "in situ" and distance-based modalities of teaching. Several technological issues relating to the design and development of the distributed virtual learning environment have also been raised. The PROVIDE framework proposed in this paper is a seamless distributed…

  8. Targeting Rural Students with Distance Learning Courses: A Comparative Study of Determinant Attributes and Satisfaction Levels.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, Melodie R.; Peters, Mary Jane

    1999-01-01

    A marketing course attended by 65 on-campus students and 30 accessing it via interactive video resulted in no differences in student satisfaction. Onsite students had more problems with instructor accessibility than did offsite students, possibly because instructors overcompensated to avoid isolation of the distant learners. (SK)

  9. Construction of Multi-Mode Affective Learning System: Taking Affective Design as an Example

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Hao-Chiang Koong; Su, Sheng-Hsiung; Chao, Ching-Ju; Hsieh, Cheng-Yen; Tsai, Shang-Chin

    2016-01-01

    This study aims to design a non-simultaneous distance instruction system with affective computing, which integrates interactive agent technology with the curricular instruction of affective design. The research subjects were 78 students, and prototype assessment and final assessment were adopted to assess the interface and usability of the system.…

  10. Some Aspects of Grading Java Code Submissions in MOOCs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Király, Sándor; Nehéz, Károly; Hornyák, Olivér

    2017-01-01

    Recently, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been offering a new online approach in the field of distance learning and online education. A typical MOOC course consists of video lectures, reading material and easily accessible tests for students. For a computer programming course, it is important to provide interactive, dynamic, online coding…

  11. Study on an Interactive Truck Crane Simulation Platform Based on Virtual Reality Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sang, Yong; Zhu, Yu; Zhao, Honghua; Tang, Mingyan

    2016-01-01

    The modern web-based distance education overcomes space-time restriction of the traditional teaching forms. However, being short of specifically observable and operable experimental equipment makes the web-based education lack advantages in the knowledge learning progress, which needs strong stereoscopic effect and operability. Truck crane is the…

  12. The Effectiveness of Interactivity in Multimedia Software Tutorials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whitman, Lisa

    2013-01-01

    Many people face the challenge of finding effective computer-based software instruction, including employees who must learn how to use software applications for their job and students of distance education classes. Therefore, it is important to conduct research on how computer-based multimedia software tutorials should be designed so they are as…

  13. Online Professional Development: Combining Best Practices from Teacher, Technology and Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Signer, Barbara

    2008-01-01

    This article provides a model of online professional development that is consistent with recommendations from the fields of teacher education, technology staff development and online learning. A graduate mathematics education course designed and implemented using the model is presented to exemplify the model's core components and interactions. The…

  14. Clean Water in the Pacific. [Videotape]. PRELSTAR: A Pacific Islands Distance Learning Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, Honolulu, HI.

    This 11-minute videotape and poster can be used for interactive instruction in grades 6-12 science classes. Issues examined in this videotape include preserving precious water resources, protecting the environment from pollutants caused by urban and agricultural development and industry within changing lifestyles, and ensuring the availability of…

  15. Biology 100: A Task-Centered, Peer-Interactive Redesign

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Francom, Greg; Bybee, David; Wolfersberger, Mark; Merrill, M. David

    2009-01-01

    Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii) has students from over 70 countries attending classes. One of BYU-Hawaii's current aims is to increase the effectiveness of course instruction and help students take more responsibility for their own learning as they look to increase distance education offerings to students in different countries.…

  16. Online Metacognitive Tasks for EFL Distance Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garcia-Sanchez, Soraya

    2016-01-01

    Online courses have benefited from the adequate use of digital resources that allow learners to be the center of their own learning process. More often online instructors not only aim at what students have to individually do but learners are also engaged in interacting with the educational community by means of a variety of metacognitive…

  17. Distance Education: Having It Your Way

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cowan, Wendy; Gale, Mark

    2014-01-01

    Is it possible to build a virtual community for teaching and learning where students have opportunities for instructor and peer interaction? In this article, Wendy Cowan and Mark Gale describe such a community at Athens State University, where the college of education faculty designed a set of courses so that students had multiple choices for…

  18. Use of a Virtual Learning Platform for Distance-Based Simulation in an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Curriculum.

    PubMed

    Carman, Margaret; Xu, Shu; Rushton, Sharron; Smallheer, Benjamin A; Williams, Denise; Amarasekara, Sathya; Oermann, Marilyn H

    Acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) programs that use high-fidelity simulation as a teaching tool need to consider innovative strategies to provide distance-based students with learning experiences that are comparable to those in a simulation laboratory. The purpose of this article is to describe the use of virtual simulations in a distance-based ACNP program and student performance in the simulations. Virtual simulations using iSimulate were integrated into the ACNP course to promote the translation of content into a clinical context and enable students to develop their knowledge and decision-making skills. With these simulations, students worked as a team, even though they were at different sites from each other and from the faculty, to manage care of an acutely ill patient. The students were assigned to simulation groups of 4 students each. One week before the simulation, they reviewed past medical records. The virtual simulation sessions were recorded and then evaluated. The evaluation tools assessed 8 areas of performance and included key behaviors in each of these areas to be performed by students in the simulation. More than 80% of the student groups performed the key behaviors. Virtual simulations provide a learning platform that allows live interaction between students and faculty, at a distance, and application of content to clinical situations. With simulation, learners have an opportunity to practice assessment and decision-making in emergency and high-risk situations. Simulations not only are valuable for student learning but also provide a nonthreatening environment for staff to practice, receive feedback on their skills, and improve their confidence.

  19. The Leadership Roles of Distance Learning Administrators (DLAs) in Increasing Educational Value and Quality Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McFarlane, Donovan A.

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines the leadership roles of distance learning administrators (DLAs) in light of the demand and need for value and quality in educational distance learning programs and schools. The author explores the development of distance learning using available and emerging technologies in relation to increased demand for education, training,…

  20. Teaching and Learning at a Distance: What it Takes To Effectively Design, Deliver, and Evaluate Programs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cyrs, Thomas E., Ed.; Menges, Robert J., Ed.; Svinicki, Marilla D., Ed.

    1997-01-01

    In this volume, experienced distance educators provide insights into new trends in computer-based teaching and learning in postsecondary education. The book is divided into four parts: (1) Issues and Trends; (2) Instructional Design Principles for Distance Learning; (3) Alternative Delivery Systems for Distance Learning; and (4) Administrative…

  1. Distance Learning 2001: Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning (17th, Madison, Wisconsin, August 8-10, 2001).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin Univ. System, Madison.

    This document contains 82 papers and 6 workshop presentations from a conference on distance teaching and learning. The following are among the papers included: "Examples and Tools for Building Web-Based Learning Experiences" (Steven A. Ackerman, Thomas Whittaker); "Online Testing in Distance Education" (Tricia Ahern);…

  2. Distance Learning for Food Security and Rural Development: A Perspective from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLean, Scott; Gasperini, Lavinia; Rudgard, Stephen

    2002-01-01

    The distance learning experiences of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization led to the following suggestions for applying distance learning strategies to the challenges of food security and rural development: use distance learning for the right reasons, be sensitive to context, use existing infrastructure, engage stakeholders, and…

  3. Topics on Distance Learning Conference Proceedings (Hammond, Indiana, June 5-6, 2001).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Purdue Univ., Hammond, IN. Calumet Campus.

    The purpose of this conference was to focus attention on the increasing role of distance learning in academia and industry and to inform and educate the participants in several key aspects of distance learning. In addition, the conference spotlights the accomplishments of technology in education and showcases the many leaders in distance learning.…

  4. Development of an international online learning platform for hepatopancreatobiliary surgical training: a needs assessment

    PubMed Central

    Warner, Susanne G; Connor, Saxon; Christophi, Christopher; Azodo, Ijeoma A; Kent, Tara; Pier, David; Minter, Rebecca M

    2014-01-01

    Background The Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA) and the Australian and New Zealand Hepatic, Pancreatic and Biliary Association (ANZHPBA) are developing an online distance learning curriculum to facilitate an interactive didactic experience for hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) fellows in the operationalization of existing HPB fellow curricula. Two needs assessment surveys were carried out to identify the optimal structure and process for deployment in fellow education. Methods A 22-question survey querying fellows' learning styles and current and anticipated use of learning tools was disseminated electronically to 38 North American and Australasian HPB fellows. A follow-up 20-question survey was administered to assess fellows' feelings regarding online content. Results Response rates were 55% (n = 21) for the first survey and 42% for the second (n = 16). In the first survey, 67% of respondents claimed familiarity with the required HPB curriculum, and 43% indicated dissatisfaction with current personal study strategies. A total of 62% (n = 13) reported studying with focused clinical relevance versus using a prescribed curriculum (n = 1, 5%). Fellows anticipated participating using online tools once (n = 10, 48%) or two or three times (n = 5, 24%) per week. Most respondents (n = 18, 86%) would meaningfully follow one or two discussions per month. The second survey identified themes for improvement such as discussion topics of interest, avoidance of holiday timing and mandatory participation. Conclusions An international online distance learning format is an appealing mechanism for improved dissemination and operationalization of the established HPB fellow curricula. Fellows will engage in interactive discussions monthly. Controversial topics or those requiring complex decision making are best suited to this learning format. PMID:24961380

  5. Distance Learning: What's Holding Back This Boundless Delivery System?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruder, Isabelle

    1989-01-01

    Discusses distance learning, identifies who distance learners may be, and examines issues involved in establishing distance learning systems. Topics discussed include teacher concerns, including job security and certification; curriculum concerns, including state and local requirements and cross-cultural issues; cooperative development,…

  6. Action research to improve methods of delivery and feedback in an Access Grid Room environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McArthur, Lynne C.; Klass, Lara; Eberhard, Andrew; Stacey, Andrew

    2011-12-01

    This article describes a qualitative study which was undertaken to improve the delivery methods and feedback opportunity in honours mathematics lectures which are delivered through Access Grid Rooms. Access Grid Rooms are facilities that provide two-way video and audio interactivity across multiple sites, with the inclusion of smart boards. The principal aim was to improve the student learning experience, given the new environment. The specific aspects of the course delivery that the study focused on included presentation of materials and provision of opportunities for interaction between the students and between students and lecturers. The practical considerations in the delivery of distance learning are well documented in the literature, and similar problems arise in the Access Grid Room environment; in particular, those of limited access to face-to-face interaction and the reduction in peer support. The nature of the Access Grid Room classes implies that students studying the same course can be physically situated in different cities, and possibly in different countries. When studying, it is important that students have opportunity to discuss new concepts with others; particularly their peers and their lecturer. The Access Grid Room environment also presents new challenges for the lecturer, who must learn new skills in the delivery of materials. The unique nature of Access Grid Room technology offers unprecedented opportunity for effective course delivery and positive outcomes for students, and was developed in response to a need to be able to interact with complex data, other students and the instructor, in real-time, at a distance and from multiple sites. This is a relatively new technology and as yet there has been little or no studies specifically addressing the use and misuse of the technology. The study found that the correct placement of cameras and the use of printed material and smart boards were all crucial to the student experience. In addition, the inclusion of special tutorial type sessions were necessary to provide opportunities to students for one-on-one discussion with both lecturer and other students. This study contributes to the broader understanding of distance education in general and future Access Grid Room course delivery in particular.

  7. Rethinking Lifelong Learning through Online Distance Learning in Chinese Educational Policies, Practices and Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Min

    2008-01-01

    This paper offers a critique of the Chinese philosophy of online distance learning as a means of building a lifelong learning society. Literature about lifelong learning and its implications for online distance learning is reviewed. Documents, reports and research papers are examined to explore the characteristics of the Chinese philosophy of…

  8. Facilities Offered by the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) Distance Learning Centre towards Learners' Academic Goal--An Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adegbile, J. A.; Oyekanmi, J. O.

    2011-01-01

    Distance learners in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria unlike other distance learners of different parts of the world are faced with various educational, social and psychological problems associated with the code of distance learning. The facilities offered by the University of Ibadan distance learning centre towards the users' multifarious needs…

  9. Application of Distance Learning Technology to Strategic Education.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1996-02-26

    service or government agency. STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT APPLICATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY TO STRATEGIC EDUCATION BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL...APPLICATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY TO STRATEGIC EDUCATION by Lieutenant Colonel Greig W. Mitchell United States Army Commander David M...distance learning technology can also enhance the functions of research and public service. The purpose of research programs in higher education is

  10. Community of inquiry model: advancing distance learning in nurse anesthesia education.

    PubMed

    Pecka, Shannon L; Kotcherlakota, Suhasini; Berger, Ann M

    2014-06-01

    The number of distance education courses offered by nurse anesthesia programs has increased substantially. Emerging distance learning trends must be researched to ensure high-quality education for student registered nurse anesthetists. However, research to examine distance learning has been hampered by a lack of theoretical models. This article introduces the Community of Inquiry model for use in nurse anesthesia education. This model has been used for more than a decade to guide and research distance learning in higher education. A major strength of this model learning. However, it lacks applicability to the development of higher order thinking for student registered nurse anesthetists. Thus, a new derived Community of Inquiry model was designed to improve these students' higher order thinking in distance learning. The derived model integrates Bloom's revised taxonomy into the original Community of Inquiry model and provides a means to design, evaluate, and research higher order thinking in nurse anesthesia distance education courses.

  11. Virtual Labs and Virtual Worlds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boehler, Ted

    2006-12-01

    Virtual Labs and Virtual Worlds Coastline Community College has under development several virtual lab simulations and activities that range from biology, to language labs, to virtual discussion environments. Imagine a virtual world that students enter online, by logging onto their computer from home or anywhere they have web access. Upon entering this world they select a personalized identity represented by a digitized character (avatar) that can freely move about, interact with the environment, and communicate with other characters. In these virtual worlds, buildings, gathering places, conference rooms, labs, science rooms, and a variety of other “real world” elements are evident. When characters move about and encounter other people (players) they may freely communicate. They can examine things, manipulate objects, read signs, watch video clips, hear sounds, and jump to other locations. Goals of critical thinking, social interaction, peer collaboration, group support, and enhanced learning can be achieved in surprising new ways with this innovative approach to peer-to-peer communication in a virtual discussion world. In this presentation, short demos will be given of several online learning environments including a virtual biology lab, a marine science module, a Spanish lab, and a virtual discussion world. Coastline College has been a leader in the development of distance learning and media-based education for nearly 30 years and currently offers courses through PDA, Internet, DVD, CD-ROM, TV, and Videoconferencing technologies. Its distance learning program serves over 20,000 students every year. sponsor Jerry Meisner

  12. Occasional Papers in Open and Distance Learning, Number 18.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnan, Peter, Ed.

    Six papers examine innovations and trends in distance learning, frequently drawing upon empirical research or informal observations on distance learning students at Charles Sturt University (Australia). "On-Line Study Packages for Distance Education: Some Considerations of Conceptual Parameters" (Dirk M. R. Spennemann) discusses issues…

  13. Multi-level machine learning prediction of protein-protein interactions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    PubMed

    Zubek, Julian; Tatjewski, Marcin; Boniecki, Adam; Mnich, Maciej; Basu, Subhadip; Plewczynski, Dariusz

    2015-01-01

    Accurate identification of protein-protein interactions (PPI) is the key step in understanding proteins' biological functions, which are typically context-dependent. Many existing PPI predictors rely on aggregated features from protein sequences, however only a few methods exploit local information about specific residue contacts. In this work we present a two-stage machine learning approach for prediction of protein-protein interactions. We start with the carefully filtered data on protein complexes available for Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) database. First, we build linear descriptions of interacting and non-interacting sequence segment pairs based on their inter-residue distances. Secondly, we train machine learning classifiers to predict binary segment interactions for any two short sequence fragments. The final prediction of the protein-protein interaction is done using the 2D matrix representation of all-against-all possible interacting sequence segments of both analysed proteins. The level-I predictor achieves 0.88 AUC for micro-scale, i.e., residue-level prediction. The level-II predictor improves the results further by a more complex learning paradigm. We perform 30-fold macro-scale, i.e., protein-level cross-validation experiment. The level-II predictor using PSIPRED-predicted secondary structure reaches 0.70 precision, 0.68 recall, and 0.70 AUC, whereas other popular methods provide results below 0.6 threshold (recall, precision, AUC). Our results demonstrate that multi-scale sequence features aggregation procedure is able to improve the machine learning results by more than 10% as compared to other sequence representations. Prepared datasets and source code for our experimental pipeline are freely available for download from: http://zubekj.github.io/mlppi/ (open source Python implementation, OS independent).

  14. Assessing culturally sensitive factors in the learning environment of science classrooms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, Darrell L.; Waldrip, Bruce G.

    1997-03-01

    As schools are becoming increasingly diverse in their scope and clientele, any examination of the interaction of culturally sensitive factors of students' learning environments with learning science assumes critical importance. The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop an instrument to assess learning environment factors that are culturally sensitive, to provide initial validation information on the instrument and to examine associations between students' perceptions of their learning environments and their attitudes towards science and achievement of enquiry skills. A measure of these factors of science student's learning environment, namely the Cultural Learning Environment Questionnaire (CLEQ), was developed from past learning environment instruments and influenced by Hofstede's four dimensions of culture (Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism, and Masculinity/Femininity). The reliability and discriminant validity for each scale were obtained and associations between learning environment, attitude to science and enquiry skills achievement were found.

  15. Virtual Interactive Classroom: A New Technology for Distance Learning Developed

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    York, David W.; Babula, Maria

    1999-01-01

    The Virtual Interactive Classroom (VIC) allows Internet users, specifically students, to remotely control and access data from scientific equipment. This is a significant advantage to school systems that cannot afford experimental equipment, have Internet access, and are seeking to improve science and math scores with current resources. A VIC Development Lab was established at Lewis to demonstrate that scientific equipment can be controlled by remote users over the Internet. Current projects include a wind tunnel, a room camera, a science table, and a microscope.

  16. Tutors' Influence on Distance Language Students' Learning Motivation: Voices from Learners and Tutors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xiao, Junhong

    2012-01-01

    Teachers' influence on students' learning motivation is a well-researched topic. Nevertheless, the majority of such studies are situated in the conventional learning context despite the rapid growth of distance language learning. This study set out to investigate tutors' influence on students' learning motivation in the Chinese distance language…

  17. Challenges Encountered by a Distance Learning Organisation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malik, Sangeeta

    2012-01-01

    Distance learning as the name indicates is a learning, learner gets from distant places. In this learning system, learner and educators are separated by space & time. Lots of distance learning organizations are spreading to meet the increased demand of current & future needs of adult education. The rapid spread of these organizations doesn't mean…

  18. Challenges in Delivering Library Services for Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swaine, Cynthia Wright

    The first section of this paper on library services for distance education discusses the status of distance learning in higher education. What distance learning means for libraries is addressed in the second section, including considerations related to diverse locations, agreements with participating institutions, delivery limitations, librarian…

  19. Distance Learning: Information Access and Services for Virtual Users.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iyer, Hemalata, Ed.

    This volume centers broadly on information support services for distance education. The articles in this book can be categorized into two areas: access to information resources for distance learners, and studies of distance learning programs. Contents include: "The Challenges and Benefits of Asynchronous Learning Networks" (Daphne…

  20. Educational technology integration and distance learning in respiratory care: practices and attitudes.

    PubMed

    Hopper, Keith B; Johns, Carol L

    2007-11-01

    Educational technologies have had an important role in respiratory care. Distance learning via postal correspondence has been used extensively in respiratory care, and Internet-based distance learning is now used in the training of respiratory therapists (RTs), clinical continuing education, and in baccalaureate degree and higher programs for RTs and educators. To describe the current scope of respiratory care educational technology integration, including distance learning. To investigate online research potential in respiratory care. A probabilistic online survey of United States respiratory care program directors was conducted on educational technology practices and attitudes, including distance learning. A parallel exploratory study of United States respiratory care managers was conducted. One-hundred seventy-seven (53%) program directors participated. One-hundred twenty-eight respiratory care managers participated. For instructional purposes, the respiratory care programs heavily use office-productivity software, the Internet, e-mail, and commercial respiratory care content-based computer-based instruction. The programs use, or would use, online resources provided by text publishers, but there is a paucity. Many program directors reported that their faculty use personal digital assistants (PDAs), often in instructional roles. 74.6% of the programs offer no fully online courses, but 61.0% reported at least one course delivered partially online. The managers considered continuing education via online technologies appropriate, but one third reported that they have not/will not hire RTs trained via distance learning. Neither group considered fully online courses a good match for RT training, nor did they consider training via distance learning of comparable quality to on-campus programs. Both groups rated baccalaureate and higher degrees via distance learning higher if the program included face-to-face instruction. Online distance-learning participatory experience generally improved attitudes toward distance learning. There was a good match between manager RT expectations in office-productivity software and program instructional practices. Educational technologies have an important role in respiratory care. Online distance learning for baccalaureate and higher degrees in respiratory care is promising. Online distance learning in respiratory care must include face-to-face instruction. Distance-learning deployment in respiratory care will require resources. A follow-up probabilistic survey of United States respiratory care managers is needed. Online surveys conducted for respiratory care are promising, but neither less expensive nor easier than conventional means.

  1. A Path-Analytic Study of Some Correlates Predicting Persistence and Student's Success in Distance Education in Nigeria

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ojokheta, K. O.

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the influence of some predictors in the enhancement of persistence and students success in distance education in the two most recognised and respected distance learning institutions in Nigeria--the Distance Learning Institute (DLI) of University of Lagos and Distance Learning Centre of University of Ibadan. The need for this…

  2. The Challenges of Quality Assurance in a Distance Learning Environment. A Report and Recommendations in a Series on Distance Learning Policy Issues.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Southern Regional Education Board, Atlanta, GA.

    The Distance Learning Policy Laboratory of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and many states and regional organizations are coming to a consensus on the principles and goals that should shape distance learning policies. In the case of quality assurance, the SREB believes there are four guiding principles that states should follow.…

  3. Using Finance Policy To Reduce Barriers to Distance Learning. A Report and Recommendations in a Series on Distance Learning Policy Issues.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Southern Regional Education Board, Atlanta, GA.

    This study explored the ways in which state and system financing policies can advance the use of distance learning technologies and the goals outlined in other reports by the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory more effectively. The subcommittee on finance that examined the issue approached the task by establishing a framework that considered:…

  4. The Role of Gender in Distance Learning: A Meta-Analytic Review of Gender Differences in Academic Performance and Self-Efficacy in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perkowski, Justine

    2013-01-01

    This meta-analytic review was performed to determine the relationship between gender and two constructs measuring success in distance learning--academic performance and self-efficacy--with a particular interest in identifying whether females or males have an advantage in distance learning environments. Data from 15 studies resulted in 18 effect…

  5. Student Information-Age Mindset: A Key to Success in Distance Learning Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Madrigal, Osiel; Schreiber, Deborah

    2011-01-01

    This study provides empirical evidence that an information-age mindset exists; it is not necessarily age-specific; and it appears to be related to both the student's interaction with a digital environment over time, and the success or failure while online. Eight of ten identified information-age mindset attributes are significant, and represent…

  6. I Would Have Had More Success If…: Student Reflections on Their Performance in Online and Blended Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, G. Sherrie

    2010-01-01

    Anecdotal research is a common phenomenon in the study of distance education. In an effort to review some of the factors that affect student satisfaction, an existing instrument was used to gauge learner perceptions of online interaction/communication, learning and performance, collaboration, hardware and software issues and the quality of…

  7. Emergent Fields through Adaptation and Identity: Overcoming Social Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeGennaro, Donna; Brown, Tiffany

    2009-01-01

    We examine the inseparability of one's environment with the elements of adaptation and identity. Specifically, we revisit the Project H.O.M.E. learning environment as we suggest that the entities of adaption and environment are not only binding, but also naturally in constant flux as they interact with each other. Contrary to nature, however, the…

  8. Interactions in Virtual Learning Environments: New Roles for Digital Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borba, Marcelo C.; Chiari, Aparecida Santana de Souza; de Almeida, Helber Rangel Formiga Leite

    2018-01-01

    For the last 10 years, online pre-service teacher distance education has increased significantly in Brazil. As a result, research on this educational modality has also increased, in particular, research investigating the different roles students and teachers play in these courses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of digital…

  9. Connecticut Takes a Cautious First Step in Establishing a Statewide, Interactive, Distance Learning Cable Franchise Operator Interconnection.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pietras, Jesse John

    Remote education has arrived in Connecticut and is promising to expand, as this discussion of its development, progress, and difficulties demonstrates. In June 1993, state legislation mandated a feasibility study of ways to bring about bidirectional educational programming among Connecticut's 26 cable-franchise operators. Cost allocation for the…

  10. Bridging the Great Divide: Connecting Alaska Native Learners and Leaders via "High Touch-High Tech" Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berkshire, Steven; Smith, Gary

    The Rural Alaska Native Adult program of Alaska Pacific University is specifically designed for adult Native learners. Courses in business administration, human services, and teacher education are offered to rural Native adult students via an interactive Internet-based format after an initial 1-week residency. The Internet component is facilitated…

  11. Effectiveness of Mobile Learning in Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yousuf, Muhammad Imran

    2007-01-01

    The main aim of this research is to better understand and measure students' attitudes and perceptions towards the importance of mobile learning in distance education. Results of this survey clearly indicate that facilitating mobile learning can improve the entire distance education by enhancing ways of communication among distance learners, tutors…

  12. A Journey to Legitimacy: The Historical Development of Distance Education through Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Casey, Denise M.

    2008-01-01

    This article demonstrates the parallels between development of technology and the increased acceptance of distance learning. First, definitions of distance learning are provided. Second, the history of distance learning and its use of technological innovations are presented. Third, an overview of the academic institutions that are offering…

  13. Development of an online nursing management course: successful experience between Brazil and Portugal.

    PubMed

    Tronchin, Daisy Maria Rizatto; Peres, Heloisa Helena Ciqueto; Lima, Antônio Fernandes Costa; Alavarce, Débora Cristina; Prata, Ana Paula; Santos, Margarida Reis; Aroldi, Juscilynne Barros da Costa

    2015-12-01

    Objective To describe the experience of planning and developing online refresher courses in nursing management for nurses in the contexts of Brazil and Portugal. Method The instructional design was based on meaningful learning theory, andragogy, and dialectical methodology, so it valued interaction between the actors, emphasizing the scenarios of practice and applying the concepts covered. The course structure is divided into nine theoretical units, four case studies, and an essay exam. Results The course was positively evaluated by the participants, who reported opportunities for acquisition of new knowledge, interaction and exchange of experiences, motivation to study the topics, and self-learning. Conclusion It is expected that description of this experience will stimulate proposals for new courses and programs in distance education modalities, improving the processes of teaching and learning so as to give support to future analyses of their impact on the development and enhancement of management skills in nursing.

  14. Open Classroom: Distance Learning In and Out of Schools. Open and Distance Learning Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bradley, Jo, Ed.

    This collection of essays, which is separated into 4 sections, concerns open and distance learning at school level, or grades K-12. The first section, "The Knowledge Society," includes the following chapters: "Classroom Open Learning: A Case of Old Wine in New Bottles?" (Jenkins); "Living and Learning in the Information…

  15. Supporting Distance Learners for Collaborative Problem Solving.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verdejo, M. F.; Barros, B.; Abad, M. T.

    This paper describes a computer-supported environment designed to facilitate distance learning through collaborative problem-solving. The goal is to encourage distance learning students to work together, in order to promote both learning of collaboration and learning through collaboration. Collaboration is defined as working together on a common…

  16. Distance Learning in British Universities: Is It Possible?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lentell, Helen

    2012-01-01

    The wider context (political and economic) for developing sustainable distance learning in UK universities is encouraging and new learning technologies promise much improved products and services. But conventional campus-based universities struggle to build and/or expand sustainable distance learning provision. This article identifies the core…

  17. Exploring Cloud Computing for Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    He, Wu; Cernusca, Dan; Abdous, M'hammed

    2011-01-01

    The use of distance courses in learning is growing exponentially. To better support faculty and students for teaching and learning, distance learning programs need to constantly innovate and optimize their IT infrastructures. The new IT paradigm called "cloud computing" has the potential to transform the way that IT resources are utilized and…

  18. Cooperative Learning at a Distance: An Experiment with Wikis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Campbell, Katherine; Ellingson, Dee Ann

    2010-01-01

    The merits of incorporating group work into learning environments are well established. Online classes and other distance learning settings, however, can make it challenging to introduce traditional group projects. Wikis use technology to facilitate group work in distance learning settings. Wikis allow individuals in different locations to…

  19. Topics on Distance Learning: Proceedings 2000 (Hammond, Indiana, June 6-7, 2000).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Purdue Univ., Hammond, IN. Calumet Campus.

    This proceedings of the 2000 Topics on Distance Learning conference contains summaries of the following presentations: "The ABC's of Distance Learning via Full Motion Video" (Liz Owens); "Assessing the Cost of Technology in Instruction Using an Economic Model" (Joseph Lovrinic); "Collaboration Lessons Learned from the…

  20. A Begrudging, Recalcitrant Academic Observes What She's Learning: Distance Learning in Leadership Formation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hess, Lisa M.

    2014-01-01

    Neither advocacy nor condemnation of distance learning, this essay offers observations and critical reflection on four years' longitudinal engagement with distance learning pedagogies for formation in higher theological education. Instead, readers are invited to curiosity, communal-institutional discernment, and intense ambivalence.…

  1. Greeting You Online: Selecting Web-Based Conferencing Tools for Instruction in E-Learning Mode

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Judy

    2014-01-01

    Academic distance learning programs have gained popularity and added to the demand for online library services. Librarians are now conducting instruction for distance learning students beyond their traditional work. Technology advancements have enhanced the delivery mode in distance learning across academic disciplines. Online conference tools…

  2. Blended Learning in Distance Education: Sri Lankan Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liyanagunawardena, T. R.; Adams, A. A.; Rassool, N.; Williams, S. A.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of online learning in distance educational delivery at Yellow Fields University (pseudonymous) in Sri Lanka. The implementation of online distance education at the University included the use of blended learning. The policy initiative to introduce online for distance education in Sri Lanka…

  3. From Add-On to Mainstream: Applying Distance Learning Models for ALL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zai, Robert, III.; Wesley, Threasa L.

    2013-01-01

    The use of distance learning technology has allowed Northern Kentucky University's W. Frank Steely Library to remove traditional boundaries between both distance and on-campus students. An emerging model that applies these distance learning methodologies to all students has proven effective for enhancing reference and instructional services. This…

  4. E-Learning and Distance Education in Nigeria

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ajadi, Timothy Olugbenga; Salawu, Ibrahim Olatunde; Adeoye, Femi Adetunji

    2008-01-01

    This paper discusses the relevance of e-learning in the position of distance education in Nigeria. It commences by discussing the meaning of e-learning and distance education. It also discusses the historical background of distance education in Nigeria as well as the operations of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) as the first federal…

  5. Implications of Online Learning for the Conceptual Development and Practice of Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garrison, Randy

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to examine the foundational principles and practices of distance education for the purpose of understanding recent developments in the areas of online and blended learning. It is argued that mainstream distance education has not embraced the full collaborative potential of online learning. Distance education…

  6. Measuring Self-Regulation in Self-Paced Open and Distance Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kocdar, Serpil; Karadeniz, Abdulkadir; Bozkurt, Aras; Buyuk, Koksal

    2018-01-01

    Previous studies have described many scales for measuring self-regulation; however, no scale has been developed specifically for self-paced open and distance learning environments. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a scale for determining the self-regulated learning skills of distance learners in selfpaced open and distance learning…

  7. Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rekkedal, Torstein; Dye, Aleksander

    2007-01-01

    The article discusses basic teaching-learning philosophies and experiences from the development and testing of mobile learning integrated with the online distance education system at NKI (Norwegian Knowledge Institute) Distance Education. The article builds on experiences from three European Union (EU) supported "Leonardo da Vinci"…

  8. A Critical Examination of the Teaching Methodologies Pertaining to Distance Learning in Geographic Education: Andragogy in an Adult Online Certificate Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schultz, Richard B.

    2012-01-01

    Differences between student audiences are an important aspect not only of traditional learning in higher education, but also in the distance learning environment. Facilitators of distance learning coursework must be cognizant of the differences which adult students bring to the classroom and their varying expectations and reasons for learning.…

  9. Machine learning enhanced optical distance sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Amin, M. Junaid; Riza, N. A.

    2018-01-01

    Presented for the first time is a machine learning enhanced optical distance sensor. The distance sensor is based on our previously demonstrated distance measurement technique that uses an Electronically Controlled Variable Focus Lens (ECVFL) with a laser source to illuminate a target plane with a controlled optical beam spot. This spot with varying spot sizes is viewed by an off-axis camera and the spot size data is processed to compute the distance. In particular, proposed and demonstrated in this paper is the use of a regularized polynomial regression based supervised machine learning algorithm to enhance the accuracy of the operational sensor. The algorithm uses the acquired features and corresponding labels that are the actual target distance values to train a machine learning model. The optimized training model is trained over a 1000 mm (or 1 m) experimental target distance range. Using the machine learning algorithm produces a training set and testing set distance measurement errors of <0.8 mm and <2.2 mm, respectively. The test measurement error is at least a factor of 4 improvement over our prior sensor demonstration without the use of machine learning. Applications for the proposed sensor include industrial scenario distance sensing where target material specific training models can be generated to realize low <1% measurement error distance measurements.

  10. Distance Learning With NASA Lewis Research Center's Learning Technologies Project

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Petersen, Ruth

    1998-01-01

    The NASA Lewis Research Center's Learning Technologies Project (LTP) has responded to requests from local school district technology coordinators to provide content for videoconferencing workshops. Over the past year we have offered three teacher professional development workshops that showcase NASA Lewis-developed educational products and NASA educational Internet sites. In order to determine the direction of our involvement with distance learning, the LTP staff conducted a survey of 500 U.S. schools. We received responses from 72 schools that either currently use distance learning or will be using distance learning in 98-99 school year. The results of the survey are summarized in the article. In addition, the article provides information on distance learners, distance learning technologies, and the NASA Lewis LTP videoconferencing workshops. The LTP staff will continue to offer teacher development workshops through videoconferencing during the 98-99 school year. We hope to add workshops on new educational products as they are developed at NASA Lewis.

  11. Assessing the Applicability of 3D Holographic Technology as an Enhanced Technology for Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalansooriya, Pradeep; Marasinghe, Ashu; Bandara, K. M. D. N.

    2015-01-01

    Distance learning has provided an excellent platform for students in geographically remote locations while enabling them to learn at their own pace and convenience. A number of technologies are currently being utilized to conceptualize, design, enhance and foster distance learning. Teleconferences, electronic field trips, podcasts, webinars, video…

  12. Automated Categorization Scheme for Digital Libraries in Distance Learning: A Pattern Recognition Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunal, Serkan

    2008-01-01

    Digital libraries play a crucial role in distance learning. Nowadays, they are one of the fundamental information sources for the students enrolled in this learning system. These libraries contain huge amount of instructional data (text, audio and video) offered by the distance learning program. Organization of the digital libraries is…

  13. Distance Learning for Mobile Internet Users

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Necat, Beran

    2007-01-01

    This paper provides an overview on the current state of art in the field of Distance learning for mobile users. It mentions a large range of technologies, services and approaches that may be used to bring distance learning to mobile internet users. These technologies are supposed to considerably increase innovative e-learning solutions for the…

  14. Connecting Multiple Intelligences through Open and Distance Learning: Going towards a Collective Intelligence?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Medeiros Vieira, Leandro Mauricio; Ferasso, Marcos; Schröeder, Christine da Silva

    2014-01-01

    This theoretical essay is a learning approach reflexion on Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and the possibilities provided by the education model known as open and distance learning. Open and distance learning can revolutionize traditional pedagogical practice, meeting the needs of those who have different forms of cognitive…

  15. Vocational Education Distance Learning Delivery System. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hardy, Darcy Walsh

    A project was conducted to identify criteria and procedures for using a distance learning delivery system at the University of Texas TeleLearning Center to teach Health Occupations II to high school seniors. Another objective was expanding the current distance learning program for health occupations to include between 15 and 20 school districts.…

  16. The Impact of Student Motivation on Participation and Academic Performance in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pittman, Candice Nicole

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of motivation on students' participation and academic performance in distance learning. Distance learning continues to grow in popularity as more and more students enroll in distance education courses. These courses require more responsibility on the part of the student. Some students are unaware of the amount of…

  17. Analysis of Web-based learning methods in emergency medicine: randomized controlled trial.

    PubMed

    Leszczyński, Piotr; Gotlib, Joanna; Kopański, Zbigniew; Wejnarski, Arkadiusz; Świeżewski, Stanisław; Gałązkowski, Robert

    2018-04-01

    In medical education, Web-based learning is increasingly used as a complement to practical classes. The objective of the study was to perform a comparative analysis of three different forms of e-learning course on emergency medicine in terms of an indicator of knowledge growth and students' satisfaction. For the purpose of the study, we developed and implemented a tool in the form of an online course: A - non-animated presentation, B - video, C - interactive video. The participants were undergraduate students of emergency medicine and nursing ( n = 106). A pre-test and a post-test were carried out, and the resulting data were analyzed using parametric tests ( t -test, ANOVA, post-hoc). Final questionnaires assessing six parameters of satisfaction were also evaluated. A significant increase in knowledge in the experimental group which used an interactive video was observed ( p = 0.04). Moreover, the number of replays of learning material was the highest in group C (2.09 ±2.48). The level of post-course satisfaction turned out to be comparable in all three groups ( p = 0.62). The study allowed the interactive course to be identified as the most effective method of distance learning among selected ones. Due to the limitations of the study, we conclude that there is a need for further studies on the effectiveness of e-learning in emergency medicine.

  18. Distance learning perspectives.

    PubMed

    Pandza, Haris; Masic, Izet

    2013-01-01

    The development of modern technology and the Internet has enabled the explosive growth of distance learning. distance learning is a process that is increasingly present in the world. This is the field of education focused on educating students who are not physically present in the traditional classrooms or student's campus. described as a process where the source of information is separated from the students in space and time. If there are situations that require the physical presence of students, such as when a student is required to physically attend the exam, this is called a hybrid form of distance learning. This technology is increasingly used worldwide. The Internet has become the main communication channel for the development of distance learning.

  19. Open and Distance Learning Today. Routledge Studies in Distance Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lockwood, Fred, Ed.

    This book contains the following papers on open and distance learning today: "Preface" (Daniel); "Big Bang Theory in Distance Education" (Hawkridge); "Practical Agenda for Theorists of Distance Education" (Perraton); "Trends, Directions and Needs: A View from Developing Countries" (Koul); "American…

  20. Guidance on the Use of Learning Strategies in Distance Education (DE) as a Function of Age and Gender

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alliprandini, Paula Mariza Zedu; Pavesi, Marilza Aparecida; Dayanne, Vicentini; Sekitani, Juliane Tiemi

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to determine whether there are differences in the use of learning strategies used by students enrolled in courses offered in the format of Distance Learning (DL) by gender and age of participants. A total of 402 students responded to a range of learning strategies evaluations-version adapted for distance learning, containing 49…

  1. Studying health information from a distance: refining an e-learning case study in the crucible of student evaluation.

    PubMed

    Booth, Andrew; Levy, Philippa; Bath, Peter A; Lacey, Terence; Sanderson, Mark; Diercks-O'Brien, Gabi

    2005-12-01

    To present a formative evaluation of the impact of a multimedia case study as a component of a masters course in health informatics delivered by distance learning. First and second year health informatics students undertaking four core modules of a masters programme at the University of Sheffield. Individual qualitative user surveys and interviews. Formative evaluation has played a significant role in refining the case study through its text-based, intermediate and CD-ROM based stages. Feedback from students has resulted in clarification of case study tasks, clearer definition of teaching roles and a revised approach to assessment. At the same time it has highlighted the importance of ongoing revision and maintenance in keeping the scenarios realistic and current. The multimedia case study has met many of its original aims in providing greater cohesion for core modules and encouraging greater levels of interaction and multidisciplinary collaboration.

  2. Interactive Televised Social Work Practice Courses: an Evaluation of On-Site and Remote-Site Students' Educational Outcomes and Satisfaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rehder, Kylene

    2013-01-01

    Social work is a growing profession and its education is expanding through the use of technology supported learning environments. Although distance education opportunities are increasing, social work educators and administrators continue to question its suitability. Much of the skepticism is rooted in the belief that to effectively educate about…

  3. Interactive radio: distance education in the classroom.

    PubMed

    1988-01-01

    The Honduran Association for Socioeconomic Growth and Development (AVANCE) in conjunction with the U.S. Agency for International Development's Radio Learning Project has developed and promoted programs for radio that encourage interactive learning in Latin America. The Second Interamerican Conference on Interactive Radio was recently held in Tela, Honduras where educators and participants came to attend workshops on scriptwriting, instructional design, community support and other related topics. The participants had the opportunity to study the second generation of interactive radio. Beginning in 1973, Nicaragua began an interactive radio program written for early grade mathematics students. Currently, Honduras is marketing a mathematics program entitled, La Familia de los Numeros," or the Family of Numbers to other countries. In Bolivia, an organization called, "Fe y Alegria," or Faith and Happiness is broadcasting educational programs through the use of interactive radio. In Ecuador, testing has begun to study the viability of interactive radio for their educational system, and in Costa Rica, replication of Honduras' "Familia de los Numeros" has begun. Teachers have noted an improved grasp of subject matter and better attentiveness through the use of interactive radio programs. The programs present 30 minutes of mathematics information and 30 minutes of language information. For each grade, 170 programs have been developed.

  4. Reconstructing spatial organizations of chromosomes through manifold learning

    PubMed Central

    Deng, Wenxuan; Hu, Hailin; Ma, Rui; Zhang, Sai; Yang, Jinglin; Peng, Jian; Kaplan, Tommy; Zeng, Jianyang

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Decoding the spatial organizations of chromosomes has crucial implications for studying eukaryotic gene regulation. Recently, chromosomal conformation capture based technologies, such as Hi-C, have been widely used to uncover the interaction frequencies of genomic loci in a high-throughput and genome-wide manner and provide new insights into the folding of three-dimensional (3D) genome structure. In this paper, we develop a novel manifold learning based framework, called GEM (Genomic organization reconstructor based on conformational Energy and Manifold learning), to reconstruct the three-dimensional organizations of chromosomes by integrating Hi-C data with biophysical feasibility. Unlike previous methods, which explicitly assume specific relationships between Hi-C interaction frequencies and spatial distances, our model directly embeds the neighboring affinities from Hi-C space into 3D Euclidean space. Extensive validations demonstrated that GEM not only greatly outperformed other state-of-art modeling methods but also provided a physically and physiologically valid 3D representations of the organizations of chromosomes. Furthermore, we for the first time apply the modeled chromatin structures to recover long-range genomic interactions missing from original Hi-C data. PMID:29408992

  5. Reconstructing spatial organizations of chromosomes through manifold learning.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Guangxiang; Deng, Wenxuan; Hu, Hailin; Ma, Rui; Zhang, Sai; Yang, Jinglin; Peng, Jian; Kaplan, Tommy; Zeng, Jianyang

    2018-05-04

    Decoding the spatial organizations of chromosomes has crucial implications for studying eukaryotic gene regulation. Recently, chromosomal conformation capture based technologies, such as Hi-C, have been widely used to uncover the interaction frequencies of genomic loci in a high-throughput and genome-wide manner and provide new insights into the folding of three-dimensional (3D) genome structure. In this paper, we develop a novel manifold learning based framework, called GEM (Genomic organization reconstructor based on conformational Energy and Manifold learning), to reconstruct the three-dimensional organizations of chromosomes by integrating Hi-C data with biophysical feasibility. Unlike previous methods, which explicitly assume specific relationships between Hi-C interaction frequencies and spatial distances, our model directly embeds the neighboring affinities from Hi-C space into 3D Euclidean space. Extensive validations demonstrated that GEM not only greatly outperformed other state-of-art modeling methods but also provided a physically and physiologically valid 3D representations of the organizations of chromosomes. Furthermore, we for the first time apply the modeled chromatin structures to recover long-range genomic interactions missing from original Hi-C data.

  6. Facilitating Distance Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rossman, Mark H., Ed.; Rossman, Maxine E., Ed.

    1995-01-01

    This collection of articles on distance learning reflects the perspectives and concerns of the learner and the facilitator of learning in distance education setting. Eight chapters are included: (1) "The Evolution and Advantages of Distance Education" (John E. Cantelon) traces the history of distance education and demonstrates how it transcends…

  7. Distance Learning '99. Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning (15th, Madison, Wisconsin, August 4-6, 1999).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin Univ. System, Madison.

    This document contains 71 papers and 11 workshop presentations on distance teaching and learning from a conference on educational research. The following are among the papers included: "Bridging Distances and Differences" (Nancy Anderson); "The Role of Site Directors in Faculty and Student Success" (Edith M. Barnett, Jeanie P.…

  8. What's the Difference, Still? A Follow-Up Review of the Quantitative Research Methodology in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Randolph, Justus

    2005-01-01

    A high quality review of the distance learning literature from 1992-1999 concluded that most of the research on distance learning had serious methodological flaws. This paper presents the results of a small-scale replication of that review. From three leading distance education journals, a sample of 66 articles was categorized by study type and…

  9. A Comparative Study of Student Satisfaction Level in Distance Learning and Live Classroom at Higher Education Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mahmood, Azhar; Mahmood, Sheikh Tariq; Malik, Allah Bakhsh

    2012-01-01

    The technology has embraced the innovative learning methodologies. Distance Learning has taken the place of traditional face-to-face educational environment. The purpose of this study was to compare the level of student satisfaction of graduate distance learning educational psychology course to a traditional classroom educational psychology course…

  10. Effectiveness of Computer-Based Educational Technology in Distance Learning: A Review of the Literature.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lesh, Steven G.; Rampp, Lary C.

    Learning at a distance has been on the fringe of educational acceptance since the first correspondence course was delivered through the mail system in return for academic credit. As distance learning has matured, elements of enhanced instructional design and advances in educational technology have migrated this medium of learning closer to the…

  11. Distance Learning: Practice and Dilemmas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tatkovic, Nevenka; Sehanovic, Jusuf; Ruzic, Maja

    2006-01-01

    In accordance with the European processes of integrated and homogeneous education, the paper presents the essential viewpoints and questions covering the establishment and development of "distance learning" (DL) in Republic of Croatia. It starts from the advantages of distance learning versus traditional education taking into account…

  12. 7 CFR 1703.100 - Purpose.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... RURAL DEVELOPMENT Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program-General § 1703.100 Purpose. The purpose of the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Loan and Grant Program is to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas through the use of...

  13. 7 CFR 1703.100 - Purpose.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... RURAL DEVELOPMENT Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program-General § 1703.100 Purpose. The purpose of the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Loan and Grant Program is to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas through the use of...

  14. 7 CFR 1703.100 - Purpose.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... RURAL DEVELOPMENT Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program-General § 1703.100 Purpose. The purpose of the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Loan and Grant Program is to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas through the use of...

  15. 7 CFR 1703.100 - Purpose.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... RURAL DEVELOPMENT Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program-General § 1703.100 Purpose. The purpose of the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Loan and Grant Program is to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas through the use of...

  16. Distance Learning and the Music Teacher: Before Signing Up for a Distance-Learning Program, It Is Essential to Learn as much about the Program as Possible

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherbon, James W.; Kish, David L.

    2005-01-01

    Most music teachers today are accustomed to teaching and learning practices that have undergone little change throughout many decades. Face-to-face instruction in music education has been the norm at all levels, although elements of technology and distance learning have filtered into their personal and professional lives, often in small and…

  17. Adaptive distance metric learning for diffusion tensor image segmentation.

    PubMed

    Kong, Youyong; Wang, Defeng; Shi, Lin; Hui, Steve C N; Chu, Winnie C W

    2014-01-01

    High quality segmentation of diffusion tensor images (DTI) is of key interest in biomedical research and clinical application. In previous studies, most efforts have been made to construct predefined metrics for different DTI segmentation tasks. These methods require adequate prior knowledge and tuning parameters. To overcome these disadvantages, we proposed to automatically learn an adaptive distance metric by a graph based semi-supervised learning model for DTI segmentation. An original discriminative distance vector was first formulated by combining both geometry and orientation distances derived from diffusion tensors. The kernel metric over the original distance and labels of all voxels were then simultaneously optimized in a graph based semi-supervised learning approach. Finally, the optimization task was efficiently solved with an iterative gradient descent method to achieve the optimal solution. With our approach, an adaptive distance metric could be available for each specific segmentation task. Experiments on synthetic and real brain DTI datasets were performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed distance metric learning approach. The performance of our approach was compared with three classical metrics in the graph based semi-supervised learning framework.

  18. Adaptive Distance Metric Learning for Diffusion Tensor Image Segmentation

    PubMed Central

    Kong, Youyong; Wang, Defeng; Shi, Lin; Hui, Steve C. N.; Chu, Winnie C. W.

    2014-01-01

    High quality segmentation of diffusion tensor images (DTI) is of key interest in biomedical research and clinical application. In previous studies, most efforts have been made to construct predefined metrics for different DTI segmentation tasks. These methods require adequate prior knowledge and tuning parameters. To overcome these disadvantages, we proposed to automatically learn an adaptive distance metric by a graph based semi-supervised learning model for DTI segmentation. An original discriminative distance vector was first formulated by combining both geometry and orientation distances derived from diffusion tensors. The kernel metric over the original distance and labels of all voxels were then simultaneously optimized in a graph based semi-supervised learning approach. Finally, the optimization task was efficiently solved with an iterative gradient descent method to achieve the optimal solution. With our approach, an adaptive distance metric could be available for each specific segmentation task. Experiments on synthetic and real brain DTI datasets were performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed distance metric learning approach. The performance of our approach was compared with three classical metrics in the graph based semi-supervised learning framework. PMID:24651858

  19. A pilot study to investigate the impact of interactional television on student evaluation of faculty effectiveness.

    PubMed

    Fetzer, S J

    2000-02-01

    While the dominant theme of distance education research has been the learner, learner achievement is not necessarily the only important consideration in assessing the effectiveness of ITV programs. With nearly half of the nursing programs recently surveyed by Reinert and Fryback (1997) offering or planning to offer distance learning in the near future, researchers and developers must seek to understand the impact of ITV on the teacher. These programs require faculty who are committed and prepared to teach outside of the traditional classroom. Selection of faculty requires attention to appropriate qualifications and knowledge of strategies to bridge teacher-learner separation created by distance education. Faculty, peers, and administrators should consider the teaching environment when interpreting data designed to evaluate teacher effectiveness of ITV teaching.

  20. Trend of E-Learning: The Service Mashup

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yen, Neil Y.; Shih, Timothy K.; Jin, Qun; Hsu, Hui-Huang; Chao, Louis R.

    2010-01-01

    With the improvement of internet technologies and multimedia resources, traditional learning has been replaced by distance learning, web-based learning or others' e-learning learning styles. According to distance learning, there are many research organizations and companies who make efforts in developing the relevant systems. But they lack…

  1. Future Directions in Distance Learning and Communication Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shih, Timothy; Hung, Jason

    2007-01-01

    Future Directions in Distance Learning and Communication Technologies presents theoretical studies and practical solutions for engineers, educational professionals, and graduate students in the research areas of e-learning, distance education, and instructional design. This book provides readers with cutting-edge solutions and research directions…

  2. A Review of Two Distance Learning Books [book review].

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koszalka, Tiffany A.; Spector, J. Michael

    2003-01-01

    Reviews two books that are representative of the substantive books aimed at those who wish to design effective distance learning. Together these books provide a reasonably complete perspective on how to design effective distance learning. They have many strengths, and few weaknesses. (SLD)

  3. Globalization, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Open/Distance Learning in Nigeria: Trends, Issues and Solution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olusola, Akande Joshua; Alaba, Sofowora Olaniyi

    2011-01-01

    The main thrust of this paper is to discuss the development of open and distance education in Nigeria and the major manifestations of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education in open and distance learning. This study further discusses the importance and use of ICTs in open and distance learning in making education…

  4. Blending Face-to-Face and Distance Learning Methods in Adult and Career-Technical Education. Practice Application Brief No. 23.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wonacott, Michael E.

    Both face-to-face and distance learning methods are currently being used in adult education and career and technical education. In theory, the advantages of face-to-face and distance learning methods complement each other. In practice, however, both face-to-face and information and communications technology (ICT)-based distance programs often rely…

  5. Exploring Differences between Self-Regulated Learning Strategies of High and Low Achievers in Open Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geduld, Bernadette

    2016-01-01

    Open distance students differ in their preparedness for higher education studies. Students who are less self-regulated risk failure and drop out in the challenging milieu of open distance learning. In this study, the differences between the application of self-regulated learning strategies by low and high achievers were explored. A multi-method…

  6. e-Learning for Expanding Distance Education in Tertiary Level in Bangladesh: Problems and Progress

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Masum, Md. Abdullah; Chowdhury, Saiful Islam

    2013-01-01

    E-learning has broadly become an important enabler to promote distance education (DE) and lifelong learning in most of the developed countries, but in Bangladesh it is still a new successful progressive system for the learning communities. Distance education is thought to be introduced as an effective way of educating people of all sections in…

  7. Learner Agency in Language Learning: The Story of a Distance Learner of EFL in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xiao, Junhong

    2014-01-01

    Learner agency plays a key role in self-regulated learning. Yet, there is a paucity of research into its role in the distance learning context. Using reflective narratives written by a distance learner of English in China, this longitudinal case study aims to investigate the ways in which learner agency mediates the language learning in the…

  8. Reducing the distance: equity issues in distance learning in public education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Campbell, Patricia B.; Storo, Jennifer

    1996-12-01

    Distance learning and educational equity both began with an emphasis on access, on providing underserved students with an increased access to education. Today definitions of equity have gone beyond simple access to include equal or equivalent treatment and outcomes while definitions of underserved students have expanded to include girls, children of color, children with limited English proficiency and children with disabilities. At the same time the definition of distance learning has expanded to include new technologies, new audiences and new roles. Based on these new definitions and roles, the article raises a number of equity challenges for distance learning educators centering around who is taught, what is taught and how the teaching is done. To answer these challenges, a series of recommendations are suggested that educators can implement to make distance learning a leader in increasing educational equity for all students. The time to act is now.

  9. The use of multimodal strategies for distance education in the GRECCs.

    PubMed

    Kresevic, Denise; Burant, Christopher; Denton, Jennifer; Heath, Barbara; Kypriotakis, George

    2011-01-01

    The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has found distance education to be particularly valuable as a means to disseminate information to large numbers of busy learners in geographically diverse settings. Specifically, Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Centers (GRECCs) of the VA have used various forms of distance learning to provide geriatrics-focused education to diverse health care providers. Such formats allow programs to be available to audiences regardless of distance or time. Although the distance-learning format has clear benefits, there are also some barriers that have hindered its wider adoption, including technical difficulties and ease of use. Organizers of distance education programs are challenged to overcome these barriers to provide a quality learning experience for the audience. The GRECCs will likely continue to be leaders in exploring innovative distance-learning strategies to accomplish their mission of quality geriatric education.

  10. Designing Instruction for the Distance Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Asunda, Paul A.

    2010-01-01

    A changing education landscape, diverse learner needs and technological advancements make this the perfect time for online and distance learning. Distance learning is increasingly becoming a preferred means for individuals to gain access to education and job preparation opportunities; this meets the public's learning needs "and" that of an…

  11. Instructor and Student Attitudes Toward Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inman, Elliot; Kerwin, Michael; Mayes, Larry

    1999-01-01

    Discusses data collected from 11 distance-learning classes. The instructors were willing to teach distance-learning classes again, but said the courses were of equal or lesser quality than traditional classes. The 334 students surveyed were highly satisfied with the courses and instructors. Contains 17 references. (TGO)

  12. Asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy and self-regulated learning as predictors of academic achievement in an online class

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGhee, Rosie M. Hector

    This research is a correlational study of the relationship among the independent variables: asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning, and the dependent variable; academic achievement. This study involves an online computer literacy course at a local community college. Very little research exists on the relationship among asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy and self-regulated learning on predicting academic achievement in an online class. Liu (2008), in his study on student interaction in online courses, concluded that student interaction is a complex issue that needs more research to increase our understanding as it relates to distance education. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy, self-regulated learning and academic achievement in an online computer literacy class at a community college. The researcher used quantitative methods to obtain and analyze data on the relationships among the variables during the summer 2010 semester. Forty-five community college students completed three web-based self-reporting instruments: (a) the GVU 10th WWW User Survey Questionnaire, (b) the Online Technologies Self-Efficacy Survey, and (c) selected items from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Additional data was obtained from asynchronous discussions posted on Blackboard(TM) Learning Management System. The results of this study found that there were statistically significant relationships between asynchronous interaction and academic achievement (r = .55, p < .05) and between online technologies self-efficacy and academic achievement (r = .50, p < .05). However, there were low correlations between self-regulated learning and academic achievement ( r = -.02, p < .05). The results of this study reflect the constructivist tenants that the student is at the center of the learning experience. Driscoll (2005) said constructivist pedagogy sees the learner as an active participant in their learning experience rather than a passive vessel to be filled with information. This study is beneficial to theorists, administrators, leaders, online instructors, online course designers, faculty, students and others who are concerned about predictors for online students' success. Also, it serves as a foundation for future research and provides valuable information for educators interested in taking online teaching and learning to the next level.

  13. [Distance education: use of the WebCT as a support tool for teaching intravenous therapy in nursing undergraduate programs].

    PubMed

    Dias, Denise Costa; Cassiani, Silvia Helena De Bortoli

    2003-01-01

    This investigation focused on a learning environment via internet, through which Intravenous Therapy (IVT) was taught. Due to its complexity, Intravenous Therapy was chosen against numerous subjects to be taught through an e-learning environment, by comprising both technical procedures and conceptual aspects that can be discussed through a virtual learning environment. The objectives of this study were to develop educational material about Intravenous Therapy to guide students through the learning related to intravenous therapy, to have the related educational material evaluated by experts, and to evaluate the students' use of this material, considering difficulties and/or advantages, participation/interaction in this environment, and usability of its tools. The interface used for the internet-based training program was WebCT.

  14. Interactive Multimedia Distance Learning (IMDL)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1999-01-01

    scales to their original values. Media Toolbar. The Media Toolbar provides the instructor the ability to choose camera positions, use the whiteboard ...on the classroom server computer. Whiteboard . Activates a whiteboard associated with the MIDL system. The whiteboard is used to annotate the course...button. Media Control Panel. The Media Control Panel allows the instructor to choose a camera position, use the whiteboard , play some computer video, use

  15. Measurement, Ratios, and Graphing: Safety First. A Lesson Guide with Activities in Mathematics, Science, and Technology. NASA CONNECT.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Hampton, VA. Langley Research Center.

    NASA CONNECT is an annual series of free integrated mathematics, science, and technology instructional distance learning programs for students in grades 5-8. Each program has three components: (1) a 30-minute television broadcast which can be viewed live or taped for later use; (2) an interactive Web activity that allows teachers to integrate…

  16. Impact of the Placement and Quality of Face-to-Face Meetings in a Hybrid Distance Learning Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colucci, William; Koppel, Nicole

    2010-01-01

    As online and hybrid courses are becoming a wide-spread option for higher education, researchers are exploring various delivery methods. Hybrid courses involve blending two modes of interaction--both face-to-face as well as online. The exact distribution and timing of face-to-face meetings verse online delivery is a question that instructors have…

  17. 3D Technology Selection for a Virtual Learning Environment by Blending ISO 9126 Standard and AHP

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cetin, Aydin; Guler, Inan

    2011-01-01

    Web3D presents many opportunities for learners in a virtual world or virtual environment over the web. This is a great opportunity for open-distance education institutions to benefit from web3d technologies to create courses with interactive 3d materials. There are many open source and commercial products offering 3d technologies over the web…

  18. Practice Makes Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Neill, Judy

    This paper focuses on how people learn to help educators design curriculum that will enable students to successfully complete a distance learning class. Up-front organization, clear communication about performance expectations, outcome driven assessment, and imaginative learning strategies are critical to successful distance learning.…

  19. Developing Distance Learning Courses in a "Traditional" University.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lawton, Sally; Barnes, Richard

    1998-01-01

    Comparison of distance learning that was developed with a business-planning approach (market research, cost-benefit analysis, feasibility study, strategic marketing) with one that did not use these techniques showed that business planning ensures that distance-learning courses are not viewed as a "cheap" option. The method identifies…

  20. Designing, Developing and Implementing WWW-Based Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riley, Peter C.

    The rapid advancement of communication technologies is resulting in a wide array of design and development choices for distance learning projects. The 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is developing a prototype distance learning project designed to serve geographically separated learner populations. Project staff…

  1. An Investigation of Teaching Strategy in the Distance Learning Mathematics Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DePriter, Tiffany

    2013-01-01

    Distance learning has become increasingly popular among higher learning institutions, and more academic disciplines, such as mathematics, are now being offered at a distance. This experimental study investigated whether an objectivist-based teaching strategy or a constructivist-based teaching strategy yields greater achievement scores for adult…

  2. Language Distance Learning for the Digital Generation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duran-Cerda, Dolores

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this article was to shed light on the potential of distance learning to overcome challenges in distance, space, time, and human and economic resources that limit access to language learning opportunities in cultural, literary, historical, geographical, and cross-cultural frames. Language and literature educators collectively have…

  3. Manpower Development for Workers in Tertiary Institutions: Distance Learning Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hassan, Moshood Ayinde

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which workers patronize distance learning approach to further their education. Other purposes include: determine problems facing workers in the process of improving their knowledge and skills through distance learning approach; establish the level of attainment of manpower development…

  4. The Distance Learning of Foreign Languages: A Research Agenda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Cynthia

    2014-01-01

    Research into the distance learning of languages is now established as a significant avenue of enquiry in language teaching, with evident research trajectories in several domains. This article selects and analyses significant areas of investigation in distance language learning and teaching to identify new and emerging gaps, along with research…

  5. Distance Learning in Scientific and Professional Fields of Communication (Interdisciplinary Approach)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skorikova, Tatyana Petrovna; Khromova, Sergey Sergeevich; Dneprovskaya, Natalia Vitalievna

    2016-01-01

    Modern level of informational technologies development allows the authors of educational courses to decrease their dependence from technical specialists and to independently develop distance-learning courses and their separate online components, which require special methodical learning. The aim of present study is to develop a distance-learning…

  6. Evaluation of Hybrid and Distance Education Learning Environments in Spain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferrer-Cascales, Rosario; Walker, Scott L.; Reig-Ferrer, Abilio; Fernandez-Pascual, Maria Dolores; Albaladejo-Blazquez, Natalia

    2011-01-01

    This article describes the adaptation and validation of the "Distance Education Learning Environments Survey" (DELES) for use in investigating the qualities found in distance and hybrid education psycho-social learning environments in Spain. As Europe moves toward post-secondary student mobility, equanimity in access to higher education,…

  7. Effects of Distance Learning on Learning Effectiveness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Hong-Cheng; Yen, Jih-Rong

    2014-01-01

    The development of computers in the past two decades has resulted in the changes of education in enterprises and schools. The advance of computer hardware and platforms allow colleges generally applying distance courses to instruction that both Ministry of Education and colleges have paid attention to the development of Distance Learning. To…

  8. 7 CFR 1700.57 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. 1700.57 Section 1700.57 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... Authorities § 1700.57 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. (a) Administrator: The...

  9. Nursing Distance Learning Course Comparison of Assignments and Examination Scores

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mundine, Jennifer

    2016-01-01

    Nursing programs have embraced distance learning in their curricula, but discussion is ongoing about course assignments and grading criteria to increase examination scores in nursing distance learning courses. Because course examinations are a predictor of success on the postgraduate licensing examination (NCLEX-RN), the purpose of this study was…

  10. 7 CFR 1700.57 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. 1700.57 Section 1700.57 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... Authorities § 1700.57 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. (a) Administrator: The...

  11. 7 CFR 1700.57 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. 1700.57 Section 1700.57 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... Authorities § 1700.57 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. (a) Administrator: The...

  12. 7 CFR 1700.57 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. 1700.57 Section 1700.57 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... Authorities § 1700.57 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. (a) Administrator: The...

  13. 7 CFR 1700.57 - Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. 1700.57 Section 1700.57 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... Authorities § 1700.57 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program. (a) Administrator: The...

  14. Virtual Bioinformatics Distance Learning Suite

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tolvanen, Martti; Vihinen, Mauno

    2004-01-01

    Distance learning as a computer-aided concept allows students to take courses from anywhere at any time. In bioinformatics, computers are needed to collect, store, process, and analyze massive amounts of biological and biomedical data. We have applied the concept of distance learning in virtual bioinformatics to provide university course material…

  15. Sustainable Assessment and Evaluation Strategies for Open and Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okonkwo, Charity Akuadi

    2010-01-01

    This paper first presents an overview of the concepts of assessment and evaluation in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) environment. The large numbers of students and numerous courses make assessment and evaluation very difficult and administrative nightmare at Distance Learning (DL) institutions. These challenges informed exploring issues relating…

  16. Neurotechnology to accelerate learning: during marksmanship training.

    PubMed

    Behneman, Adrienne; Berka, Chris; Stevens, Ronald; Vila, Bryan; Tan, Veasna; Galloway, Trysha; Johnson, Robin; Raphael, Giby

    2012-01-01

    This article explores the psychophysiological metrics during expert and novice performances in marksmanship, combat deadly force judgment and decision making (DFJDM), and interactions of teams. Electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) are used to characterize the psychophysiological profiles within all categories. Closed-loop biofeedback was administered to accelerate learning during marksmanship training in which the results show a difference in groups that received feedback compared with the control. During known distance marksmanship and DFJDM scenarios, experts show superior ability to control physiology to meet the demands of the task. Expertise in teaming scenarios is characterized by higher levels of cohesiveness than those seen in novices.

  17. Costing Distance Education and Open Learning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning-- A Survey of Policy and Practice. Final Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Commonwealth of Learning, 2004

    2004-01-01

    Ideological arguments are made for open learning, economic ones for distance education. If it can produce similar results to those of conventional education at a lower cost, then distance education has a powerful appeal. With increasing demand for access to educational opportunities at all levels, and often decreasing budgets in real terms for…

  18. Strategy for a Sustained Quality Delivery Mode of ODL Programmes for Massive Enrollments and E-Learning: The Case for Zimbabwe Open University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kabanda, Gabriel

    2014-01-01

    The market dynamics in distance education has precipitated phenomenal growth opportunities in enrollments and e-learning. The purpose of the paper was to develop a strategy for sustained quality delivery mode of distance education progammes that precipitate massive enrollments and e-learning in an open and distance learning (ODL) institution using…

  19. Assessing Learning Styles among Students with and without Learning Disabilities at a Distance-Learning University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heiman, Tali

    2006-01-01

    Differences in the learning styles of students with and without learning disabilities (LD) at a distance-learning university were examined. Two hundred and twelve students answered self-report questionnaires on their learning styles. Results revealed that students with LD preferred to use more stepwise processing, including memorizing and…

  20. E-Learning in Malaysia: Moving forward in Open Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abas, Zoraini Wati

    2009-01-01

    Many higher education institutions have embarked on e-learning as a means to support their learning and teaching activities. In distance learning institutions, e-learning has enabled them to reach out to students dispersed over a wide geographical area, locally and internationally. In some countries, e-learning has also given students the…

  1. E-Learning and Technologies for Open Distance Learning in Management Accounting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kashora, Trust; van der Poll, Huibrecht M.; van der Poll, John A.

    2016-01-01

    This research develops a knowledge acquisition and construction framework for e-learning for Management Accounting students at the University of South Africa, an Open Distance Learning institution which utilises e-learning. E-learning refers to the use of electronic applications and processes for learning, including the transfer of skills and…

  2. The Future of Learning: From eLearning to mLearning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keegan, Desmond

    The future of electronic learning was explored in an analysis that viewed the provision of learning at a distance as a continuum and traced the evolution from distance learning to electronic learning to mobile learning in Europe and elsewhere. Special attention was paid to the following topics: (1) the impact of the industrial revolution, the…

  3. New Definitions for New Higher Education Institutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyer, Katrina A.

    2009-01-01

    New terms were exploding early in the development of distance learning and virtual universities. Distance learning, online learning, e-learning, and distributed learning were applied to the various new forms of learning using online or Web-based materials and processes. However, largely thanks to the immediate popularity of the Western Governors'…

  4. Integrating E-Learning into the Workplace.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harun, Mohd Hishamuddin

    2001-01-01

    Discussion of electronic learning and knowledge management in the workplace focuses on learning and training in the medical and health care setting in Malaysia. Highlights include learning and the knowledge economy; just-in-time continuing medical education; distance education; and modular distance learning. (Author/LRW)

  5. Improving Distance Courses: Understanding Teacher Trainees and Their Learning Styles for the Design of Teacher Training Courses and Materials at a Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dzakiria, Hisham; Razak, Asmahan Abdul; Mohamed, Abdul Halim

    2004-01-01

    Literature on distance education and teacher education seems to show that what we do not know about Distance Teacher Trainees (DTT) and their learning process involved exceeds what we know about it. As more DTT enroll in distance education programmes globally, distance education providers and institutions will witness trainees coming with…

  6. Determination of Critical Achievement Factors in Distance Education by Using Structural Equality Model: A Case Study of E-MBA Program Held in Sakarya University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evirgen, Hayrettin; Cengel, Metin

    2012-01-01

    Nowadays, distance learning education has started to become familiar in behalf of classical face to face education (F2F) model. Web based learning is a major part of distance education systems. Web based distance learning can be defined shortly as an education type which doesn't force students and educators being into the same mediums. This…

  7. A Comparative Analysis of the Academic Performance of Distance and On-Campus Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magagula, C. M.; Ngwenya, A. P.

    2004-01-01

    This study examined (1) the profile of the distance and on-campus learners, (2) the academic performance of distance and on-campus learners, (3) the advantages and disadvantages of learning through distance education and on-campus education, and (4) how the disadvantages of learning through distance education could be reduced. The study found that…

  8. Learning across Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cowan, Kristina

    2009-01-01

    A 2008 report, "Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning," commissioned by North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) and others, defines online learning as "teacher-led education that takes place over the Internet, with the teacher and student separated geographically." The term "distance learning" includes online education, but is…

  9. Distance Learning and University Effectiveness: Changing Educational Paradigms for Online Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howard, Caroline; Schenk, Karen; Discenza, Richard

    2004-01-01

    "Distance Learning and University Effectiveness: Changing Educational Paradigms for Online Learning" addresses the challenges and opportunities associated with information and communication technologies (ICTs) as related to education. From discussing new and innovative educational paradigms and learning models resulting from ICTs to addressing…

  10. Social Web Content Enhancement in a Distance Learning Environment: Intelligent Metadata Generation for Resources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    García-Floriano, Andrés; Ferreira-Santiago, Angel; Yáñez-Márquez, Cornelio; Camacho-Nieto, Oscar; Aldape-Pérez, Mario; Villuendas-Rey, Yenny

    2017-01-01

    Social networking potentially offers improved distance learning environments by enabling the exchange of resources between learners. The existence of properly classified content results in an enhanced distance learning experience in which appropriate materials can be retrieved efficiently; however, for this to happen, metadata needs to be present.…

  11. Distance Learning and the Health Professions: A Synthesis Report of the Literature Investigating Continuing Professional Health Education at a Distance.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curran, Vernon; Noseworthy, Tanya

    This synthesis report provides an extensive overview of literature evaluating use and effectiveness of distance learning technologies in delivering continuing education (CE) for health professionals. Chapter 2 discusses advantages and disadvantages of correspondence materials, explores suggestions for improving print-based learning materials, and…

  12. Distance Learning Courses on the Web: The Authoring Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Santos, Neide; Diaz, Alicia; Bibbo, Luis Mariano

    This paper proposes a framework for supporting the authoring process of distance learning courses. An overview of distance learning courses and the World Wide Web is presented. The proposed framework is then described, including: (1) components of the framework--a hypermedia design methodology for authoring the course, links to related Web sites,…

  13. A Study of Distance Learning Technology in Utah: A Statewide Overview.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chow, Stanley H. L.; And Others

    This report was commissioned by the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) to provide USOE with information about the potential applications of distance learning technology in schools. The study includes: (1) a statewide assessment of instructional, staff development, and administrative needs which may be met by distance learning technology; and…

  14. Distance Learning 2000: Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning (16th, Madison, Wisconsin, August 2-4, 2000).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin Univ. System, Madison.

    These proceedings contain 75 papers from information sessions that address important human factors in distance education from several perspectives, including implementation planning, management and policy, instructional design, teaching methods, faculty development, learning environments, learner supports, and evaluation. Among the papers are:…

  15. Characteristics and Activities of Teachers on Distance Learning Programs That Affect Their Ratings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stanišic Stojic, Svetlana M.; Dobrijevic, Gordana; Stanišic, Nemanja; Stanic, Nenad

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis of teachers' ratings on distance learning undergraduate study programs: 7,156 students enrolled in traditional and 528 students enrolled in distance learning studies took part in the evaluation questionnaire, assessing 71 teachers. The data were collected from the Moodle platform and from the Singidunum University…

  16. Distance Education in the United States: From Correspondence Courses to the Internet

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caruth, Gail D.; Caruth, Donald L.

    2013-01-01

    Online learning is a descendant of distance education. Online education has a shared history with correspondence learning. In 1873, Anna Eliot Ticknor founded the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. Ticknor's Society established one of America's first correspondence schools, a distance learning option conducted through the mail. This Society was…

  17. Incorporating Distance Learning into Counselor Education Programs: A Research Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wantz, Richard A.; Tromski, Donna M.; Mortsolf, Christina Joelle; Yoxtheimer, Greggory; Brill, Samantha; Cole, Alison

    The purpose of this study is to determine the number of counselor education programs that utilize distance learning, to identify the distance learning software delivery products used, and to identify features of software used. The researchers also attempt to identify faculty perceptions related to and experience with the importance of distance…

  18. Bibliometric and Social Network Analysis of Doctoral Research: Research Trends in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skinner, Jason Kirtland

    2015-01-01

    The study investigated research topics of doctoral dissertations that examined issues in distance learning from 2000-2014. Twelve reviews of research on distance learning, spanning from 1997-2015, were identified. It was found that only one of these reviews of research (Davies, Howell, & Petri, 2010) looked at doctoral dissertations. The…

  19. The Open College of the North West, Distance Learning, and the "Open Tech" Programme.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Percy, Keith; Saunders, Murray

    1982-01-01

    A regional program of pre-university courses in northwestern England open to adults with no entry qualifications is discussed. It uses some distance learning techniques but is investigating expansion to technical education through distance learning. The complexities and potential costs of such a substantial directional change are examined. (MSE)

  20. Effectiveness of Asynchronous Reference Services for Distance Learning Students within Florida's Community College System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Profeta, Patricia C.

    2007-01-01

    The provision of equitable library services to distance learning students emerged as a critical area during the 1990s. Library services available to distance learning students included digital reference and instructional services, remote access to online research tools, database and research tutorials, interlibrary loan, and document delivery.…

  1. NASA Langley/CNU Distance Learning Programs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caton, Randall; Pinelli, Thomas E.

    NASA Langley Research Center and Christopher Newport University (CNU) provide, free to the public, distance learning programs that focus on math, science, and/or technology over a spectrum of education levels from K-adult. The effort started in 1997, and currently there are a suite of five distance-learning programs. This paper presents the major…

  2. New-to-College "Academic Transformation" Distance Learning: A Paradox

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goomas, David T.; Clayton, Alexis

    2013-01-01

    At an urban Dallas community college, first-time-in-college (FTIC) distance learning students enrolled in a three-credit academic transformation class were compared with FTIC students enrolled in the same course in on-campus classes. The distance-learning students were more at risk as measured by final semester grades and retention compared to…

  3. Digital Competence Model of Distance Learning Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    da Silva, Ketia Kellen A.; Behar, Patricia A.

    2017-01-01

    This article presents the development of a digital competency model of Distance Learning (DL) students in Brazil called CompDigAl_EAD. The following topics were addressed in this study: Educational Competences, Digital Competences, and Distance Learning students. The model was developed between 2015 and 2016 and is being validated in 2017. It was…

  4. Distance-Learning Programs. Case Studies in TESOL Practice Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henrichsen, Lynn E., Ed.

    The 14 cases in this book show how distance learning takes a variety of forms in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The 15 chapters include the following: (1) "Beyond Adding Telecommunications to a Traditional Course: Insights into Human and Instructional Factors Affecting Distance Learning in TESOL" (Lynn E.…

  5. Implementing a Learning Model for a Practical Subject in Distance Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weller, M. J.; Hopgood, A. A.

    1997-01-01

    Artificial Intelligence for Technology, a distance learning course at the Open University, is based on a learning model that combines conceptualization, construction, and dialog. This allows a practical emphasis which has been difficult to implement in distance education. The course uses commercial software, real-world-based assignments, and a…

  6. Student Support Gaps in an Open Distance Learning Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arko-Achemfuor, Akwasi

    2017-01-01

    Studying through distance education can be problematic for any student, but it can be worse for rural students for diverse reasons. To ensure that students studying through the open distance learning (ODL) system have an enduring learning experience, ODL builds student support as one of its components. The University of South Africa (Unisa)…

  7. Assessment of Readiness to Participate in Distance Learning of the Certified Florida Behavioral Workforce

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baston, George R.

    2011-01-01

    This research study explored perceptions of readiness to participate in distance learning among the certified behavioral workforce in Florida. The study sought to determine if there were significant differences in perception of readiness to participate in distance learning between certified behavioral health professionals at the administrator…

  8. Distance Learning and Jihad: The Dark Side of the Force

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bates, Rodger; Mooney, Mara

    2014-01-01

    The ability to reach a variety of audiences in diverse environments has made distance learning a major form of education and training in the 21st century. Though traditionally encountered in the educational and business communities, distance learning has proven an important resource for a variety of other constituencies. Terrorist groups have…

  9. Distance Learning for Gifted Students: Outcomes for Elementary, Middle, and High School Aged Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wallace, Patricia

    2009-01-01

    Although distance learning often is cited as a potentially useful strategy to provide appropriately challenging academic coursework to gifted students, little research has been conducted on its use or effectiveness with this population, particularly with younger students in elementary school. In this study, distance learning outcomes for gifted…

  10. Access and Success in Learning: Technologies for Scaling Up Open and Distance Learning Programme in the Institute of Distance Learning, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Essel, Rebecca; Owusu-Boateng, William

    2011-01-01

    ODL (Open and Distance Learning) has come to stay. In recent years, there has been some extra-ordinary increasing international interest in it and Ghana is no exception. Currently, new ways of providing education are inevitable and ODL provides an effective alternate way. It represents approaches that focus on opening access to education and…

  11. A regularized approach for geodesic-based semisupervised multimanifold learning.

    PubMed

    Fan, Mingyu; Zhang, Xiaoqin; Lin, Zhouchen; Zhang, Zhongfei; Bao, Hujun

    2014-05-01

    Geodesic distance, as an essential measurement for data dissimilarity, has been successfully used in manifold learning. However, most geodesic distance-based manifold learning algorithms have two limitations when applied to classification: 1) class information is rarely used in computing the geodesic distances between data points on manifolds and 2) little attention has been paid to building an explicit dimension reduction mapping for extracting the discriminative information hidden in the geodesic distances. In this paper, we regard geodesic distance as a kind of kernel, which maps data from linearly inseparable space to linear separable distance space. In doing this, a new semisupervised manifold learning algorithm, namely regularized geodesic feature learning algorithm, is proposed. The method consists of three techniques: a semisupervised graph construction method, replacement of original data points with feature vectors which are built by geodesic distances, and a new semisupervised dimension reduction method for feature vectors. Experiments on the MNIST, USPS handwritten digit data sets, MIT CBCL face versus nonface data set, and an intelligent traffic data set show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

  12. College Students Attitudes toward Learning Process and Outcome of Online Instruction and Distance Learning across Learning Styles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nguyen, Dat-Dao; Zhang, Yue

    2011-01-01

    This study uses the Learning-Style Inventory--LSI (Smith & Kolb, 1985) to explore to what extent student attitudes toward learning process and outcome of online instruction and Distance Learning are affected by their cognitive styles and learning behaviors. It finds that there are not much statistically significant differences in perceptions…

  13. Enhancing SCORM Metadata for Assessment Authoring in E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Wen-Chih; Hsu, Hui-Huang; Smith, Timothy K.; Wang, Chun-Chia

    2004-01-01

    With the rapid development of distance learning and the XML technology, metadata play an important role in e-Learning. Nowadays, many distance learning standards, such as SCORM, AICC CMI, IEEE LTSC LOM and IMS, use metadata to tag learning materials. However, most metadata models are used to define learning materials and test problems. Few…

  14. An Assistive Computerized Learning Environment for Distance Learning Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klemes, Joel; Epstein, Alit; Zuker, Michal; Grinberg, Nira; Ilovitch, Tamar

    2006-01-01

    The current study examines how a computerized learning environment assists students with learning disabilities (LD) enrolled in a distance learning course at the Open University of Israel. The technology provides computer display of the text, synchronized with auditory output and accompanied by additional computerized study skill tools which…

  15. A distance learning model in a physical therapy curriculum.

    PubMed

    English, T; Harrison, A L; Hart, A L

    1998-01-01

    In response to the rural health initiative established in 1991, the University of Kentucky has developed an innovative distance learning program of physical therapy instruction that combines classroom lecture and discussion via compressed video technology with laboratory experiences. The authors describe the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating a specific distance learning course in pathomechanics for the professional-level master's-degree physical therapy students at the University of Kentucky. This presentation may serve as a model for teaching distance learning. Descriptions of optimal approaches to preclass preparation, scheduling, course delivery, use of audiovisual aids, use of handout material, and video production are given. Special activities that may enhance or deter the achievement of the learning objectives are outlined, and a problem-solving approach to common problems encountered is presented. An approach to evaluating and comparing course outcomes for the distance learnere is presented. For this particular course, there was no statistically significant difference in the outcome measures utilized to compare the distance learners with the on-site learners.

  16. Measuring the Accuracy of Simple Evolving Connectionist System with Varying Distance Formulas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Al-Khowarizmi; Sitompul, O. S.; Suherman; Nababan, E. B.

    2017-12-01

    Simple Evolving Connectionist System (SECoS) is a minimal implementation of Evolving Connectionist Systems (ECoS) in artificial neural networks. The three-layer network architecture of the SECoS could be built based on the given input. In this study, the activation value for the SECoS learning process, which is commonly calculated using normalized Hamming distance, is also calculated using normalized Manhattan distance and normalized Euclidean distance in order to compare the smallest error value and best learning rate obtained. The accuracy of measurement resulted by the three distance formulas are calculated using mean absolute percentage error. In the training phase with several parameters, such as sensitivity threshold, error threshold, first learning rate, and second learning rate, it was found that normalized Euclidean distance is more accurate than both normalized Hamming distance and normalized Manhattan distance. In the case of beta fibrinogen gene -455 G/A polymorphism patients used as training data, the highest mean absolute percentage error value is obtained with normalized Manhattan distance compared to normalized Euclidean distance and normalized Hamming distance. However, the differences are very small that it can be concluded that the three distance formulas used in SECoS do not have a significant effect on the accuracy of the training results.

  17. Distance Education and Open Learning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Criteria and Conditions for Quality and Critical Success Factor-- Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning. A Survey of Policy and Practice. Final Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Commonwealth of Learning, 2004

    2004-01-01

    Both of these "Surveys of policy and practice" were conducted on behalf of COL by the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) as part of COL's partnership agreement with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning. The first report identifies…

  18. Dorsolateral striatal lesions impair navigation based on landmark-goal vectors but facilitate spatial learning based on a “cognitive map”

    PubMed Central

    Poulter, Steven L.; Austen, Joe M.

    2015-01-01

    In three experiments, the nature of the interaction between multiple memory systems in rats solving a variation of a spatial task in the water maze was investigated. Throughout training rats were able to find a submerged platform at a fixed distance and direction from an intramaze landmark by learning a landmark-goal vector. Extramaze cues were also available for standard place learning, or “cognitive mapping,” but these cues were valid only within each session, as the position of the platform moved around the pool between sessions together with the intramaze landmark. Animals could therefore learn the position of the platform by taking the consistent vector from the landmark across sessions or by rapidly encoding the new platform position on each session with reference to the extramaze cues. Excitotoxic lesions of the dorsolateral striatum impaired vector-based learning but facilitated cognitive map-based rapid place learning when the extramaze cues were relatively poor (Experiment 1) but not when they were more salient (Experiments 2 and 3). The way the lesion effects interacted with cue availability is consistent with the idea that the memory systems involved in the current navigation task are functionally cooperative yet associatively competitive in nature. PMID:25691518

  19. A Strategic Planning Process Model for Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pisel, Kenneth P.

    2008-01-01

    As more institutions seek to implement or expand distance learning programs, it becomes critical to integrate distance learning programs into broader strategic visions and plans. Using the informed opinion from a panel of peer-nominated experts via iterative Delphi questionnaires, a 10-phased strategic planning process model for distance education…

  20. Quality Assurance, Open and Distance Learning, and Australian Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reid, Ian C.

    2005-01-01

    Open and distance education has integrated quality assurance processes since its inception. Recently, the increased use of distance teaching systems, technologies, and pedagogies by universities without a distance education heritage has enabled them to provide flexible learning opportunities. They have done this in addition to, or instead of,…

  1. Quality Assurance in Distance Learning Libraries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tripathi, Manorama; Jeevan, V. K. J.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The paper aims to study how the present distance learning libraries can improve upon their existing services and introduce new ones to enhance quality of services to distance learners. Design/methodology/approach: The paper includes a review of literature on quality assurance in open and distance education in general and student support…

  2. Distance Education and Distributed Learning. Current Perspectives on Applied Information Technologies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vrasidas, Charalambos, Ed.; Glass, Gene V., Ed.

    This book describes the current state of developments in distance education and distributed learning. The volume brings together some of the leading contemporary contributors in the areas of educational technology and distance education. Topics covered include research and evaluation in distance education, online communities, faculty productivity,…

  3. Strategic Plan for the Academic Component of the Army National Guard Distance Learning Demonstration.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1998-07-01

    II - Directed study on Distance Learning Technologies - Action Memorandum. a reserve unit where they perform the same job as they did as full-time...a virtual learning community and provide a classroom without walls. The harnessing of appropriate technology to meet the training needs offers...its force through training, the Distance Learning capabilities also becomes part of community resources that advance the education of local residents

  4. Burnout Syndrome in Students of a Distance Learning Program: The Open University of Cyprus Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pavlakis, Andreas; Kaitelidou, Dafni

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: Distance learning seems to have a crucial impact on the social and emotional life of students. Within the framework of distance learning at the Open University of Cyprus, the "Healthcare Management" department conducted a study regarding the levels of stress, anxiety and depression reported by the student population. The…

  5. Distance Learning Course Design Expectations in China and the United Kingdom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xu, Jingjing; Rees, Terri

    2016-01-01

    This article provides insight into different expectations between Chinese and British academic culture for distance learning. The article is based on a pedagogic research project, a case study, and is centered on a distance learning course in maritime law proposed by a British university for a university in China. Some important commonalities and…

  6. The Development of a Survey Instrument to Measure Transactional Distance in Secondary Blended Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lane, Dennis Glenn

    2017-01-01

    The goal of this study was to develop a survey instrument to measure transactional distance in secondary blended learning environments. This study resulted in a 35-item survey instrument, the Blended Learning Assessment Scale of Transactional Distance (BLASTD), which was tested using a convenience sample of secondary students (n = 222) at a…

  7. Automated Inattention and Fatigue Detection System in Distance Education for Elementary School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hwang, Kuo-An; Yang, Chia-Hao

    2009-01-01

    Most courses based on distance learning focus on the cognitive domain of learning. Because students are sometimes inattentive or tired, they may neglect the attention goal of learning. This study proposes an auto-detection and reinforcement mechanism for the distance-education system based on the reinforcement teaching strategy. If a student is…

  8. Distance Training: How Innovative Organizations Are Using Technology To Maximize Learning and Meet Business Objectives. Jossey-Bass Business and Management Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schreiber, Deborah A.; Berge, Zane L.

    This book contains 19 papers examining ways in which innovative organizations are using distance learning technology to maximize learning and meet business objectives. The following papers are included: "Preface" (Deborah A. Schreiber, Zane L. Berge); "Organizational Technology and Its Impact on Distance Training" (Deborah A.…

  9. What Is the Role of Distance Learning in the State University System? Information Brief. Volume 6, Issue 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida Board of Governors, State University System, 2008

    2008-01-01

    Distance learning is the term used when the delivery of instruction involves the separation of student(s) and the instructor by time and/or space. Some forms of distance learning include correspondence, telecourses, online instruction, computer assisted instruction, and instructional delivery that relies upon satellite, cable, broadcast (TV or…

  10. Supporting Students in Open and Distance Learning. Open and Distance Learning Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simpson, Ormond

    This book, which is intended for individuals involved in recruiting and teaching students in open and distance learning (ODL) situations, examines academic and nonacademic student support issues in ODL. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 14 chapters: (1) models and definitions of ODL systems; (2) rationale for student…

  11. The Resonance Factor: Probing the Impact of Video on Student Retention in Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geri, Nitza

    2012-01-01

    Teaching and instructing is one of the challenging manifestations of informing, within which distance learning is considered harder than face-to-face instruction. Student retention is one of the major challenges of distance learning. Current innovative technologies enable widespread use of video lectures that may ease the loneliness of the…

  12. Perspectives on Distance Education and Social Media

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powers, Lisa; Alhussain, Ruqaya; Averbeck, Clemens; Warner, Andre

    2012-01-01

    There is a dramatic shift in the tools that are used in today's technology-based distance education. While distance education is not new, there are new types of socially rich, mobile technologies that empower learners to be more in control of what they learn, when they learn it, and how they learn it. Students are taking more responsibility for…

  13. A Framework for Developing Competencies in Open and Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arinto, Patricia B.

    2013-01-01

    Many open universities and distance education institutions have shifted from a predominantly print-based mode of delivery to an online mode characterised by the use of virtual learning environments and various web technologies. This paper describes the impact of the shift to open and distance e-learning (ODeL), as this trend might be called, on…

  14. Transactional Distance among Open University Students: How Does it Affect the Learning Process?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kassandrinou, Amanda; Angelaki, Christina; Mavroidis, Ilias

    2014-01-01

    This study examines the presence of transactional distance among students, the factors affecting it, as well as the way it influences the learning process of students in a blended distance learning setting in Greece. The present study involved 12 postgraduate students of the Hellenic Open University (HOU). A qualitative research was conducted,…

  15. Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Distance Education Students' Learning Styles and Critical Thinking Dispositions in Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yüksel, Ismail; Türkses, Ercüment

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to examine distance education students' learning styles and critical thinking dispositions. This cross sectional survey was conducted on 114 Turkish distance education students from various departments in a state university. The data of the study were collected through Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scale (GRSLSS) and…

  16. China's Radio and TV Universities: Reflections on Theory and Practice of Open and Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wei, Runfang

    2010-01-01

    Distance education and open learning are western innovations, representing the educational concepts, cultures and societies of western countries. The introduction of distance education and the adoption of open learning in China's radio and TV universities are by no means an indication that they will and can be copied wholesale. Open and distance…

  17. High School Students in the New Learning Environment: A Profile of Distance E-Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirby, Dale; Sharpe, Dennis

    2010-01-01

    The relative ubiquity of computer access and the rapid development of information and communication technology have profoundly impacted teaching and learning at a distance. Relatively little is currently known about the characteristics of those students who participate in distance e-learning courses at the secondary school level. In an effort to…

  18. Attitudes and Perceptions of Students to Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ojo, David Olugbenga; Olakulehin, Felix Kayode

    2006-01-01

    In the West African Region of Africa, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is the first full fledged university that operates in an exclusively open and distance learning (ODL) mode of education. NOUN focuses mainly on open and distance teaching and learning system, and delivers its courses materials via print in conjunction with…

  19. An Analysis of the Market Potential for Distance Learning Opportunities in Transportation Professional Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Durkop, Brooke R.; Jasek, Debbie; Kuhn, Beverly T.

    The feasibility and sustainability of a distance learning program at the Texas Transportation Institute, which is part of the Texas A&M University system, was investigated. A literature review and online survey of current transportation professionals were conducted to examine the market potential for a distance learning program and to identify…

  20. Curriculum Integration in Distance Learning at Primary and Secondary Educational Levels on the Example of eTwinning Projects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gajek, Elzbieta

    2018-01-01

    Curriculum integration is one of the concepts which has been discussed for years. Telecollaborative projects, which employ elements of distance learning, provide opportunities for putting the idea into practice. Analysis of eTwinning projects undertaken in Polish schools aims at demonstrating the integrative role of distance learning approaches…

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