Zig
Ziglar writes in his book, Raising Positive Kids in a Negative
World
“Motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something
you should do on a regular basis.” “Ability
is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude
determines how well you do it.” - Lou Holtz
As we begin the new academic year parents have great
dreams to see their children doing better than what they did in the last
year. Children also have great dreams to
do better in their studies, cultural activities, sports and games. For this both parents and their children
should be motivated. Such motivated
person will achieve great things in life.
Make SMART goals - A goal is "SMART" if it is Specific,
Measurable, Ambitious but Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. What do you want to achieve this year? Why do you want to achieve this? Where do you see yourself, ten years from
now?
There is a story of an eagle, which gently coaxed
her offspring toward the edge of the nest. Her heart quivered with conflicting
emotions as she felt their resistance to her persistent nudging. “Why does the
thrill of soaring have to begin with the fear of failing?”
As in the tradition of the species, her nest was
located high on the shelf of a sheer rock face. Despite her fears, the eagle
knew it was time. Her parental mission was all but complete. There remained one
final task- the push. The eagle drew courage from an innate wisdom. Until her
children discovered their wings, there was no purpose for their lives. Until
they learned how to soar, they would fail to understand the privilege it was to
have been born an eagle. The push was the greatest gift she had to offer. And
the decisive moment dawned and the eaglet was gently pushed from the cozy and
comfortable nest into the unknown horizon. It was her supreme act of love. And so
one by one she pushed them, and they flew. Even the eagles need a push.
The difference between achievers and non-achievers
is that the first group is motivated and the second group is not. Most people
are good and qualified. Most of them can do much better than what they are
doing. But they desist and resist change as it would dislodge their comfort
zone and they would prefer to remain where they are and as they are. Fewer
expectations, less demands and less work. And it works, they think. They have
to be shown that the same things can be done in a better way. The missing link
is the spark of motivation. Achievers do not do different things but they do
things differently.
Motivation is everybody’s problem. You are Principal
of a college and you want to motivate your staff. You are a teacher and you
want to motivate your students. Parents want to motivate their children. From
the time when we get up in the morning to time we go to bed at night, we run
into dozens of situations where we need to motivate others. If we’re frustrated in our efforts (and who
isn’t?). We may give up.
Without motivation there is no change. No
learning. No actions. And, most important of all, without
motivation, there are no results. Life can only be understood backwards; but it
must be lived forwards. Pablo Casuals, the great cellist, was asked why, at
eighty-five years of age, he continued to practice five hours a day. He
replied, “Because I think I’m getting better.” Life is about growing; it is
about change. As it is said those who are not busy being born are busy dying.
As said by Henri Bergson in, Creative Evolution, “ To exist is to
change; to change is to mature and to mature is to go on creating oneself
endlessly.”. How true it is that we cannot become what we need to be by
remaining what we are. Motivation accelerates this process of becoming. The
path we shall follow in this article is not one laden with positive platitudes,
but rather it is a quest for insight, wholeness, integrity and better
performance. We shell embark upon a journey of discovery, to reflect upon and
clarify what is truly important and meaningful to you.
Motivation is that invisible force that ignites the
mind, sets your heart with feelings of zeal and zest and propels you into
action. It can persuade, convince, inspire, encourage and lead you into action,
changing your vision and life. It is the driving force in our lives. It comes
from a drive to succeed and have fulfillment in life. One has to cultivate the
right attitude and positive self-talks. Knock off the ‘t’ from can’t and
constantly indulge in auto-suggestion that I can.” “Impossible” has to be
turned into I’m possible. My students have taken “They can because they think
they can”, - to be a magic formula. It has done wonders in the lives of thousands
of students both of St Aloysius Senior Secondary School where I was the
Principal for ten years and the students of St. Aloysius College where I am the
Principal for the last ten years. In many of the human and spiritual resource
development programme I conducted in India and abroad for the last twenty
years, I have witnessed the miracle of motivation. To be inspired and motivated
means to move forward with purpose and enthusiasm. Purpose denotes clarity of
intension while enthusiasm is derived form the Greek entheos, a god or sprit
within. The motivated and inspired person comes to life with the purpose and
passion, with the daily desire to grow and contribute. Only managers who can
deal with uncertainty, with ambiguity, and with battles that are never won but
only fought well can hope to succeed.
Motivation knows your purpose in life, Growing to reach your maximum
potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others, enabling you make your life a
success. Success is a journey rather than a destination. You will never exhaust
your capacity to grow towards your potential or run out of opportunities to
help others. You will never have the problem of trying to “arrive” at an
elusive final destination. The very moment that you make the shift to finding
your purpose, growing to your potential, and helping others, you are on the
path of success. The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we
might have been and what we have become. In other words, success comes as the
result of growing to our potential. It’s been said that our potential is God’s
gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to him. Our potential is
probably our greatest untapped resource. Henry Ford observed, “There is no man
living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” Find out what
you are searching that will set your soul on fire and pursue it. And then as
President Theodore Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where
you are.” Never wait for inspiration or permission or an invitation to get
started. That is motivation.
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankel
relates what he learned from his experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz. He
writes, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the
human freedoms- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to
choose one’s own way.” Again he said, “Everyone has his own specific vocation
or mission in life. Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demand
fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced nor can his life be repeated. Thus
everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.” Stop
being a victim and be responsible. Crisis is often what author and psychologist
Dick Leider refers to as one of life’s “wake up” calls. Who we are, implies
responsibility. There is no tougher challenge we face than to accept personal
responsibility for not only what we are but also what we can be. As the Spanish
proverb says, “He who does not look ahead remains behind.” You need to identify
and sail toward your destination. The past lives now only in your memory, but
the future holds a myriad of possibilities. You can renew yourself mentally by
replacing worn out, stagnant thinking with thoughts that simulate a sense of
hope and positive anticipation about your future. Henry Ford asserted, “The
whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny, and
then to do it.
“Get going. Move forward. Aim
High. Plan a takeoff. Don't just sit on the runway and hope someone will come
along and push the airplane. It simply won't happen. Change your attitude and
gain some altitude. Believe me, you'll love it up here.” - Donald Trump
1. Introduction: Women as stronger sex.
Women are generally referred to
as the weaker sex but from the general health perspective nature considers her
to be stronger. The society considers it otherwise. They are excluded from not
only political, social and economic power but knowledge power as well. “Therefore
while comprising half of humanity, contributing 2/3rd of the world’s
work hours she earns only 1/3 of the total income and owns less than 1/10th
of the work sources,” says one study. The need to consider them as individuals
in their own right. Hence the feminist movement.
2. Empowerment of women through Education:
Literacy still remains a major
problem in most developing countries as women constitute a large portion of the
illiterate. About 60 percent of the
approximately 800 million adult illiterates in developing countries today are
women.
Empowerment is a social action
process that promotes participation of people, organizations, and communities
in gaining control over their lives in their community and society. Not power
over to dominate, but power to effect change. It increases self efficiency, develops
group consciousness, reduces self blame and assumes personal responsibility for
change. In a letter written to Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru rightly said,
“Public morale depends greatly on how women feel and act. I am all against treating women as helpless
human beings who cannot look after themselves and who must run away from the
danger zone. So the only way to tackle the problem is to make women realize
that they ha e to and can face it.”
3. United Nations leadership to create awareness:
In 1967 the UN General Assembly
adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against women.
Member states were asked to submit report on the status of women in their
countries. In response to that India constituted a committee on the Status of women
in India in September 1971. In 1975 committee report was submitted “Towards
Equality”. Gender equality is a basic
precondition for the social, economic and political development of the nation.”
The report said that women should be given national priority. ????
UN declared a decade for women
(1976-1985) to focus on how to get women involved in development process…
violation of their basic rights and basic needs, the role of women in
development. Almost all countries have developed…
improved pro women legislation better facilities for education and greater
focus on the plight of girl child, mother and child and other related issues.
International women’s day 8th March
4. The key to Change and Development in India: Women in leadership in all spheres of
activity, including politics.
Panchayati Raj pros and cons
Political leaders or servants and deputies of their husbands? Leaders or
subordinates. 33 percent Reservation???
Kalpana Chawala, Sunita Williams,
Kiran Bedi, Indira Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Ran Durgavati, Medha Pathkar, Sonia
Gandhi, Suhma Swaraj, Uma Bharati, Suhila Dixit, Suhila Singh, Margaret Thacher,
Benzir Bhutto, Begum Khalida Ziya,
Sruimavo Bandhara Nayike, Article 14: Equality before law
Article 15 no discrimination on
the basis of sex.
And yet, Gang Rape? Murder? Sati?
Dowry deaths? Domestic Violence? Female infanticide. Ratlam Hospital case-
suspecting bones of female fetus.!! How developed we are. We need to develop
women leadership in all spheres of activity including politics. This can be
achieved through Education, Empowerment, Public awareness, Conscientization. Woman
is woman’s own enemy. Dowry demands suicide and murder, Parents selling their
own daughters, sex trade.
5. Conclusion: We need
paradigm shift both men and women.
Women as Durga, Saraswati,
Lakshmi, Shakti, knowedge and wealth. Proactive
steps individually, family wise, society wise nation wise nation wise.
Developmental issues alone should be our focus. Women leadership should be
encouraged; their active participation in planning, decision making and
execution should be ensured at all levels. Changing role of women: House wife
to a professional should be encouraged and respected.
1. Education: Capacity building
“Education is not the amount of information
that is put in your mind and runs riot there undigested all your life. The use
of higher education is to find out how to solve the problems of life” said,
Swami Vivekananda.
Dr. Radhakrishnan said, “It is the function of
a university to build human being, strive to rid them of their vanities and
egotism and emancipate their minds from petty prejudices and narrow loyalties”.
Again he said, “ Help the students to think rightly, make them feel nobly, let
them do rightly, above all let them possess the spirit of compassion, universal
love and brotherhood so that we can live together in a global village as brothers and sisters”.
To be educated one
has to focus on IQ, EQ, and SQ. I would like to define education as information
leading to formation and finally resulting in transformation. It’s unfolding of
the latent capacities and potentials within. In today’s world of knowledge
explosion and IT Revolution has changed the educational scenario. The
challenges of higher education would remain the ability to ensure capacity
building resulting in the transformation of the self and society.
2. IT Revolution and Globalization
The buzzword of the 21sr centaury is ICT
(Information and Communication Technologies). Computer connected to
networks denotes the e mergence of new technologies of communication and its
application in all fields of activity. Globalization and communication
technologies have caused and resulted in the growth of each other and have
influenced one another in complex and multiple ways. New trends and challenges
in education have also come about. A generation of “compulsive information
consumers” has emerged.
With the onslaught of globalization, higher
education also entered into the world market with aggressive marketing focused
on quality, efficiency and employability. The nature and application of
information technology have continued to expand rapidly and together with it
the range of resources available for any subject specific learning. Educator must be imaginative, flexible and
willing to renew their skills of teaching and learning, if they are to realize
the potential of educational technology fully. We have arrived at a global
village concept with all virtual realities on our desktops. Many teachers are
unaware of this significant reality.
There is significant increase in
the number of institutions, where IT is used as a teaching aid. There is a need
to provide technical support to the faculty for developing computer aided
material and availability of relevant hardware and software. Universities and
Colleges will have to empower its
manpower to use IT. For this we need exposure and training. In this respect it
would be useful to follow the model of British Universities
and colleges having instituted ’Millennial Cells’ to prepare for the new
millennium. We should have separate ‘Cyber age Cells’ consisting of teachers,
students, business/industry representative with a view to develop gradual cyber
age compliance in respect of knowledge, curriculum, delivery of teaching,
promotion of learning, building up a support climate, encouraging innovations
in research, foreign links between education and society and turning the human
resources of students, teachers and community into veritable power house of
development and change. For this teachers need to receive training so as to
include IT related topics in their professional, pedagogic and didactic considerations.
3. Teaching and learning through IT
facilities.
Information technology, (IT) includes products that
store, process, transmit, convert, duplicate, or receive electronic
information. Examples of IT include: software applications, operating systems,
web-based information and applications, telephones and other telecommunication
products, video equipment, multimedia products, and office equipment.
Electronic textbooks, instructional software, email, chat, and distance
learning programs are also examples of IT.
Information is a fundamental
resource indispensable for any academic activity. The role of information in
study, teaching and research is well recognized in the academic community. The
information and communication technologies (ICT) have made the transfer of
information so easy that any body in any place can share information without
geographical barrier. The new ICT has enabled the academic community to
overcome the barrier of time in accessing information as well. Students use a variety of IT tools
such as email, websites, discussion boards, and courseware. They may use IT to
attend school from a distance or as an adjunct to traditional classroom
attendance. When these tools are accessible they can significantly reduce the
effort required of individuals with disabilities and increase access to
education. When they are inaccessible, they can block participation by students
and faculty with disabilities.
Teaching in higher education, mostly, concentrates on giving
information which is not the sole objective of higher education. The objectives
are multidimensional in nature, so as to achieve all these, the appropriate
methods should be used in an integrated fashion. It is a well accepted fact that today a single teacher is not capable
of giving the latest and complete information in his own subject; IT can fill
this significant gap as it can provide access to different sources of
information. IT provides variety in the presentation of the content which
helps, learners in concentration and better understanding and long retention of
information which is not possible otherwise. Teaching and learning becomes
participatory and interesting. A sense of discovery emerges daily and it makes
learning easy and long lasting. This would bring qualitative improvement in
teaching and learning process.
There is a great need to create a virtual teacher education centre
where all the necessary sills and training can be provided in different modes
on the network. IT should incorporate all the available IT facilities like tele
education, tele-conferencing, floppy diskettes and CD-ROMS. Networks like
Erent, Internet and the futuristic concept of bringing satellite channel directly to homes by direct to home (DTH)
service and expert talks through virtual classrooms can also be made available.
The present practice of television and other media in distance mode of
education can be substituted by multimedia
system which has an extra advantage of being more interactive through graphics
user interface (GUI) which controls the response of information transfer
process according to the learner’s pace. It helps in using screen as a self
learning material
4. Information Technology and Learning society
IT has
emerged as a big stimulating force and it is strongly influencing the human
mind and its thought process, the society and in the end the entire world. IT
has enhanced its capacity of accumulating, storing and using information. All
what you need is on your desk top. New
technologies are entering into the filed of education. The concepts like Smart
Schooling, De-schooling, Virtual
University, Virtual
Classroom, E-learning, E-library and they are replacing the old and outdated
concepts of learning. A teacher has to assume a new role.
Progress in Science and
Technology, has accelerated the growing importance of knowledge. Now we have to
face the growing challenges of ‘impermanence of knowledge’ and we have to build
an ideal ‘learning society’. The UNESCO Report on Education (1966) has rightly stressed the following
four pillars of education for the future ‘Learning Society”: Learning to know;
Learning to do; Learning to live together; learning to live with others and
Learning to be. Delors, Jaques
1996, Learning: The treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the International
Commission of Education for the Twenty –first Century. France, UNESCO Pub. ERT Education Policy
Group submitted the Thesis: ‘Toward a Learning Society’ (1996) where the group
has recommended new roles of teacher for the ‘Learning Society’: “Now
technology has created a host of new tools for use in the classroom, in
laboratories, at home and on the move. Using these tools both students and
teachers are equipped to become researchers. Teachers then coach their students
to evaluate and use effectively the information they have generated for
themselves. This is far closer to real life situation than the older styles of
teacher transmission to students…” (UN p.15 Nov 2002)
In 1999 the National Task Force
on Information Technology and Software Development, Government of India,
conducted a case study on the use of IT in different sectors, including
education. “This project has demonstrated that IT can be used as a tool for not
only improving life style of the citizens, and provide them with more
information, but can also generate employment’. (Yojana, Jan-2000)
5. Current trends in IT oriented teaching and learning
Increasingly, we are seeing the following trends, directions, and
movements:
- "Research" and "teaching" are perceived as mutually enhancing rather than antithetical.
- Course time is devoted to discovery-based (inquiry-based, resource-based, project-based, and active) learning over traditional lecture modes of transmitting knowledge.
- Teaching emphasis has moved away from memorizing facts towards finding, evaluating, and using information.
- Instructors are realizing what they teach isn't the same as what students learn and are restructuring the curriculum accordingly ("teach less, learn more").
- New teaching and learning styles incorporate collaborative work in diverse teams or groups.
- Course content is interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, and team taught.
- Course content is publicly accessible and shared beyond the members of an individual course.
- Teaching and learning extend beyond the classroom and into the campus and community.
- The instructor is perceived as a partner in a learning community rather than as a sole entrepreneur.
- The audience for student work is expanding from the individual instructor to communities of discourse that include peer feedback and exchange.
- Assessment is multilevel and complex incorporating both formative and summative types and involving reciprocal evaluation of how well teachers teach and how well students learn.
- Today's students have grown up with technology as the air they breathe, are used to being wired 24x7, are comfortable multitasking in multimedia, and bring very different expectations to the classroom as a result.
- Today's employers prize transferable skills (e.g., problem solving, creativity, interdisciplinary teamwork) over encyclopedic knowledge.
5. 1. Learning Technologies in Support of Self-Directed Learning
Self-directed learning is a
continuous engagement in acquiring, applying and creating knowledge and skills
in the context of an individual learner's unique problems. Effectively
supporting self-directed learning is one of the critical challenges in
supporting lifelong learning. Self-directed learning creates new
challenging requirements for learning technologies. Domain-oriented design
environments address these challenges by allowing learners to engage in
their own problems, by providing contextualized support, and by exploiting
breakdowns as opportunities for learning.
Economies of educational
knowledge constitute an emerging concept in which communities contribute
the creation of information repositories, which can be reused and evolved by
all members of the community for the creation of new environments. We argue and
demonstrate that domain-oriented design environments can serve as models for
these economies that a software reuse perspective provides us with insights
into the challenges these developments face, and that the creation and
evolution of these economies are best understood as problems in self-directed
learning.
5.1.2. Effective Learning and the Virtual Learning Environment
Using Virtual
Learning Environments (VLEs) poses important educational issues for
Universities. Without addressing the issues of effective learning, their use
can compound the mistakes of the past and leave the learner with a passive,
unengaging experience leading to surface learning. Educators need to recognise
that learning is a social process and that providing an effective learning
environment which facilitates the active acquisition of subject-specific and
general expertise, and addresses the need to adopt a specific subject or
professional culture, requires more than electronically delivered course notes
and email discussion. Quality of course design, use of appropriate tools and
the context in which learning takes place are prime factors affecting success
in the era of mass higher education and lifelong learning.
There
is an increasing worldwide drive to use the technologies based around the WWW
as a means of addressing a number of challenges which face higher (and further)
education. The WWW itself has brought about the prospect of a "global
education marketplace" and with it the advent of non-traditional
"corporate" higher education providers. At the same time individual
governments have recognized the need for a greatly widened "mass"
access to higher and further education and the need to equip national
workforces with the initial grounding and "lifelong learning" skills
which will be needed to provide the responsiveness and flexibility required for
an ever-accelerating rate of change.
A leading feature of this drive has the
advent of systems and approaches designed to make the pattern of learning more
"distributed". Distributed learning is characterized as learning
which can take place "any time, anywhere", but which encompasses the
activities of on-campus learners as well of those of the "distance
learner". Indeed the distance learner can be seen as a more tightly
delineated subset of distributed learner for whom the option of face to face
contact with tutors and peers is either unavailable or heavily constrained to a
few specific occasions.
A
plethora of names has arisen to describe the software and technologies which
are being developed to provide for distributed learning. For the purpose of
this discussion, a distinction will be drawn between two types of system.
Firstly, a "Virtual Learning Environment" (VLE) or "Learning
Management System" designed to act as a focus for students learning
activities and their management and facilitation, along with the provision of
content and resources required to help make the activities successful.
Secondly, a "Managed Learning Environment" (MLE) which includes all
of the wider features of enrolment, course options management, student record
and profile keeping, the wider management, interchange and publication of
content, and the features needed to allow learners to move or progress between
courses and institutions.
There
are a number of VLEs now available (examples include WebCT, Lotus
LearningSpace, and the focus of this discussion, COSE) with more appearing.
Despite vendors claims to the contrary it is clear that no true single MLE
exists, and that indeed, given the varying needs of different institutions and
national education systems, no single solution is likely to exist. This view is
supported by the very existence of such initiatives as the US NLII
Instructional Management Systems (IMS) Project1, the
European PROMETEUS Project2, and the
IEEE Learning Technologies Standards Committee3. These
are concerned with aspects of producing standards for learning content, its
interchange between VLEs, and access to content residing elsewhere (for example
in digital libraries) by VLEs. Also being examined are the standards required
to allow the interoperation of VLEs with the other systems required to allow
the formation of MLEs which suit the needs of individual, organisations and
institutions.
Whilst
the following discussion will dwell closely on issues associated with VLEs, the
author recognises that their mutual interoperation, and their interoperation
with other management systems and sources of content is vital if the overall
goals of the drive towards distributed learning are to be attained.
6.
The Educational Problems
All the
current enthusiasm for distributed learning is largely based around the
flexibility and power that the WWW and its associated technologies offer, and
the fact that, possibly for the first time in the history of the use of
communications and information technology in learning, these technologies are
increasingly "ubiquitous".
However
it is the case that the prime foci of this enthusiasm are the technology itself
and the large "agenda" goals which are striven for. Without focusing
carefully on how the technologies will actually address these goals and how
they will provide learners with an effective learning experience, the mistakes
of the past could easily be duplicated in a new guise.
Some of
the most serious errors have been errors of educational and course design and
have included:
·
Failure to engage the learner
·
Mistaking "interactivity" for engagement
·
Focussing on content rather than outcomes
·
Mirroring traditional didactic approaches on the technology
All the
above are really all part of the same problem: namely, the adoption of view of
learning as an information delivery process coupled with the practice of
procedures4.
In
addition there are the problems caused by:
Here
the problem is still linked to the didactic approach in that the learner is
seen as operating individually "for themselves". This can, in the
context of VLEs, lead to a genuine sense of isolation, and in ignoring the
social aspects of learning lead to less effective learning.
·
Seeing discourse as
the prime collaborative form6.
There
is a wealth of published material on the undoubted value of computer based
discussion as a vehicle for learning. However, the author would argue that many
VLEs place an over-emphasis on "discourse" at the expense of learners
working together to produce some artifact. Also the question as to whether the
same tools should be used for peer support and guidance as for discourse, or
whether different solutions are required for best results, as yet remains
unanswered.
Coupled
to this are issues of content design and creation. Often there has been an
(understandable) desire to create content employing "rich"
multi-media. This poses two immediate problems. Firstly, the effort and skills
required to produce such content make it unrealistic in terms of both cost and
development time as an approach to producing a significant body of content
across higher education curricula. Secondly, higher education increasingly has
as its learners a generation whose expectations of multi-media have been formed
by the computer games industry and will be unimpressed even by relatively
expensive multi-media educational content produced by commercial
publishers. Therefore the use of multi-media should focus on its value in
the learning context, rather than a desire to excite with its "richness".
7. Effective Learning
We will now turn our
discussion to the question: "what are the conditions required for
effective learning?"
It is
worthwhile to dwell on what is being developed in the individual learner. The
process is concerned not just with the acquisition of subject specific
knowledge and skills, but with the development of more general, or strategic,
approaches and skills. The author has argued previously7 that
this development must also take place in the context of the acquisition of
discipline or professional culture if both sets of knowledge and skills are to
be of value to the individual in, and applied by them to, new scenarios and
fields of study and employment.
This
argument is founded on a view of learning as an active process which must
recognise, and take into consideration that:
·
Learning is a social
process and development is linked to the specific culture in which learning
activities are shared8.
·
Learning activities
need to be "authentic" - normal to the culture in question and
involve its tools and artifacts9,10
·
Learning is situated
in the dual contexts of culture and learning environment and that learning
involves the interaction of learners and experts within them11.
·
Enculturation involves
the development by the learner of the use of culture-specific meaning-making,
or semiotic, tools12
·
Individual and social
learning have a complex and necessary interdependence13.
·
Expertise involves
perceiving the relationship between specific and general knowledge and skills14
·
The need for both
learning activity and assessment to be clearly related to syllabus and to
reward understanding15.
·
The need to match
assessment, content and resources to the learner's current level15.
This
view leads to an approach to course design which is output driven and focuses
on the learning process and the effect it has on the learner, rather than an
input led view which focuses on a body of content and its absorption by the
learner. This approach7 can be
summarised as:
·
Identify Learning
Outcomes - What is the point of the course? How is the successful learner
changed? Learning outcomes should make clear to learners "where they will
be" at the end of the course. They make the context for learning clear as
all the learning activities and assessments that make up the course should be
clearly related to the Learning Outcomes.
·
Design Learning
Opportunities - What can a learner do which will demonstrate that one or more
Learning Outcomes have been met? Whatever the level of the learners' current
tacit and specific knowledge, these activities should be realistic or
"authentic". Any learning opportunity (something learners are asked
to do as part of their learning) is potentially a formative or summative
assessment, and should be clearly related to the Learning Outcomes of the
course.
·
Apply Deconstruction -
Appropriate to the level of the learner, higher level opportunities can be
pre-deconstructed into lower level opportunities for the learner to a greater
or lesser extent. (A model to assist in this process was developed early in the
life of the COSE project.)
·
Consider Group or
Individual Learning - Learning opportunities/assessments can be examined for
the nature and appropriateness of their collaborative/group working potential.
·
Identify or Create
Resources - one way of categorising resources is as Theory
("Codified", or subject-specific, information), External Resources
(e.g. Reading lists, WWW resources, and Lectures) and Hints (Specific
Procedural Advice and Strategic Guidance) and Internal Resources (Other
Learning Opportunities which are part of a deconstruction of the current
opportunity, or which address pre-requisite learning requirements).
8. The COSE VLE and
Learning
Virtual Learning Environments can be
categorised as either Content or Learner Centred16. The COSE VLE was developed specifically to address the
requirements of those tutors wishing to adopt learning paradigms which address
the considerations for effective learning listed earlier. It is fundamentally
Learner Centred in that it takes as its premise that a course consists of a
group of people to whom learning opportunities are assigned. Content and course
are decoupled, combining only when a learning opportunity, together with
resources to aid the learner(s) in addressing it, is assigned to a course. This
contrasts with a Content Centred system in which a course consists of an
organised collection of learning content onto which learners are "enrolled".
The
organisational features of COSE are designed to facilitate active social models
of learning such as cognitive apprenticeship and encourage collaborative
working which includes synthesis, but nevertheless are not constrained to such
constructivist approaches and indeed individual and behaviourist learning
remits can also be incorporated.
9. Web-Based Learning Environment:
Web-based courses and programs
have increasingly been developed by many academic institutions, organizations,
and companies worldwide due to their benefits for both learners and educators.
However, many of the developmental approaches lack two important considerations
needed for implementing Web-based learning applications: (1) integration of the
user interface design with instructional design and (2) development of the
evaluation framework to improve the overall quality of Web-based learning
support environments. This study addressed these two weaknesses while
developing a user-centered, Web-based learning support environment for Global
Positioning System (GPS) education: Web-based distance and distributed learning
(WD2L) environment. The research goals of the study focused on the improvement
of the design process and usability of the WD2L environment based on a
theory-based Integrated Design Process (IDP) proposed in the
study. Results indicated that
the proposed IDP was effective in that the study showed (1) the WD2L
environment’s equivalence to traditional supplemental learning, especially as a
Web-based supplemental learning program and (2) users’ positive perceptions of
WD2L environment resources. The study also confirmed that for an e-learning
environment to be successful, various aspects of the learning environment
should be considered such as application domain knowledge, conceptual learning
theory, instructional design, user interface design, and evaluation about the
overall quality of the learning environment.
As an increasingly powerful,
interactive, and dynamic medium for delivering information, the World Wide Web
(Web) in combination with information technology (e.g., LAN, WAN, Internet,
etc.) has found many applications. One popular application has been for
educational use, such as Web-based, distance, distributed or online learning.
The use of the Web as an educational tool has provided learners and educators
with a wider range of new and interesting learning experiences and teaching
environments, not possible in traditional inclass education (Khan, 1997).
This study addressed these
weaknesses while developing a user-centered, Web-based learning support
environment for Global Positioning System (GPS) education: a Web-based distance
and distributed learning (WD2L) environment. More specifically, there are two
main research goals addressed in this study, and these goals aimed to improve
the design process and usability of the WD2L environment. First, this study
offered a systematic approach to the design, development, and evaluation of a
user-centered, WD2L environment for supporting engineering courses. Second, this
study evaluated the design process model by assessing the overall quality of
the WD2L environment prototype in terms of 1) students’ learning performance
and 2) the quality of resources implemented in the WD2L environment. We first
give an overview of relevant literature that guided the design, development,
and evaluation of the WD2L environment supporting GPS education. The
development process will then be briefly summarized. In addition, evaluation
processes through the proposed formative evaluation framework will be outlined.
Finally, relationships between the design process framework and the
effectiveness of the WD2L environment will be discussed.
9.1. Computer Assisted
Instructions (CAI)
Based on automation Lawrence
Stolurow and Daniel Davis (1965) have found three main computer applications in
the field of education. The three main computer applications are:
·
Computer Assist Learning: The programs of this
application are designed to encourage knowledge by finding out and learning
rather than by drill and practice. The material is so presented that a student
learns by investigation. In this application often simulation is used.
·
Computer Managed Instruction: Here the computer
can serve as classroom terminal assisting the teacher in diagnosing and prescribing
a course of instruction for the student. The actual instruction may be
self-instruction packages or supervise a test and also to direct each student
as an individual to the next appropriate set of tasks. The computer also
retains each student’s record so that the teacher can find out at any time an
individual student’s progress.
·
Computer Assist Instruction: Here the student,
as a means of instruction uses the computer. It can be applied to display
lesson material, reinforce learning, simulate environmental conditions, provide
drill and practice and administer tests and so on. Essentially the computer
program issues a piece of information and then raises a question about it. The
learner supplies an answer if this response is correct, the program moves on to
next step. If it is not so and if response is incorrect, then the information
is presented again and a retest, is administrated. All this depends upon the
individual performance of the students.
10. IT Based
Knowledge Management in Higher Education
Knowledge Management is the process of transforming
information and intellectual assets into enduring value (Kidwell et al-2000).
When information is combined with experience and judgment, it becomes
knowledge. Knowledge includes the information generated by the use of data
through the insight and wisdom of employees. Knowledge originates in
individuals, but is embedded in teams and work processes of the organizations.
It in fact exists in all core functions of an organization, as well as in its
systems and infrastructure. The challenge of Knowledge Management is to make
the right knowledge available to the right person at the right time for make
the right decision.
The primary benefit of the IT
based KM is that it actively addresses both, the Technology culture as well as
the Information culture, at an institution and seeks to advance both
simultaneously. The technology culture can be thought of an institutions use
and integration of technology in planning, development, operation and
assessment. For this the rank and file of the institution should be trained to
use new software and Hardware. Information culture on the other hand is
distinct from what has become known as information system. It involves process
for sharing information within and across the organization to improve
performance. Information culture can provide very easily the data and budget
for starting a new course, information regarding the terms and conditions of
the new job.
As an increasingly powerful,
interactive, and dynamic medium for delivering information, the World Wide Web
(Web) in combination with information technology (e.g., LAN, WAN, Internet,
etc.) has found many applications. One popular application has been for
educational use, such as Web-based, distance, distributed or online learning.
The use of the Web as an educational tool has provided learners and educators
with a wider range of new and interesting learning experiences and teaching
environments, not possible in traditional inclass education (Khan, 1997).
ICT has fundamentally altered
the traditional face of the teaching and learning process. Fowlers et al (2000)
have drawn attention to the fact that “if used appropriately with powerful
pedagogical approaches, IT is bound to enhance the students learning
capacities, by enriching synchronous classroom activities and by providing
students with an engaging, self place asynchronous learning system. This
enables students learn more than they wqould otherwise at costs ultimately
equal to or below that of classroom based instruction.’
IT has strong potential to
improve and manage effectively different aspects of Higher Education. It can
bring about revolutionary changes in the realm of education, besides promoting
equity and better quality and lowering the overall economics of education.
Multimedia, coupled with other advanced audiovisual equipments, internet,
chatting web based education, emailing and the rest have revolutionized the
lecture delivery system for the benefit of the learners, specially from the
distance education mode.
IT based office automation and
decision support system has influenced the productivity and efficiency of the
Indian Higher Education management and administrative systems (Shafi-2002).
While office automation products have been pivotal by processing the available
bulk of data into useful information, decisions support system have contributed
immensely by dealing with information to produce intelligent actions, through
the logical reasoning embedded in them. In a few seconds we can have any
information regarding a student, staff or other course details. The entire
academic achievement of students can similarly be accessed through the touch of
a button. So also, the subject combination, time table, attendance, results and
so many useful information can be easily accessed by students, their parents
and the college administration, thus making it more transparent and efficient.
10.1. Knowledge
Management: A Tool for Performance Improvement in Higher Education
Indian government has now established National Knowledge Commission the
purpose of which is – to build excellence in the educational system to meet the
challenges of the 21st century and increase India’s competitive
advantage in the field of knowledge” (Thakore-2005). Knowledge Management
(KM) is the process of identification and leverage of organizational knowledge
assets to deliver business advantages to the organization and its customers.
There has been a paradigm shift in organizations from an ’information’ based
organizations to ‘knowledge’ based organization.
KM is a conscious strategy of
getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time and helping
people share and put information into action in ways that will improve
organizational performance (Tzai Fucheng et al-2001). An institution wide
approach to KM can lead to exponential improvements in sharing both explicit
and tacit knowledge and subsequently gain benefits. Although KM is primarily
process oriented with strategies determined by the organizational culture,
motivation and policies; KM needs the right methods, technologies and tools for
successful implementation.
Higher
educational institutions are in the knowledge business, since they are involved
in knowledge creation, dissemination and learning (Jennifer Rowley-2002) and colleges
and universities have significant opportunities to apply Knowledge Management
practices to support every part of their mission from education to public
service (Jilinda J Kidwel et al-2000).
“It
is people who manage knowledge and not the processes or technologies”. KM
brings together the three core organizational resources people, processes and
technologies to enable the organization to use and share information more
effectively (Petrides and Nodine-2003). Fig 2. Shows the key realms of KM, which
links people to processes and technology.
With reference to the development
of KM system in and educational institution, Devenport et al (1998), as cited
in Jennifer Rowley (2000), identified four broad types of KM Project
objectives, which match with the institutional objectives viz:
- To create knowledge repositories
- To improve knowledge access
- To enhance the knowledge environment
- To manage knowledge as an asset
To enhance the
performance of these institutions, in the process of Knowledge Assimilation,
Storage and Delivery, which are the key aspects of teaching-learning process,
the top managements of these institutions have to make arrangements to improve
the Technology Infrastructure and People Competencies.
11. Conclusion:
ICT enabled Teacher Education
“We must act now- we cannot wait for everything to be
right-for bandwidth to increase and technology penetration to increase in
schools. Many things in life can wait. But the child cannot. Now is the time
when his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his mind is being
shaped. His name is not tomorrow. It is today.” – Argentinean writer Gabriella
Marcell
The role of faculty will change
from being an information provider to becoming a mentor, facilitator and
co-learner, growing together in knowledge, attitude and skills relevant to
today’s globalized society .Educational system all around the world is under
increasing pressure to use the information and communication technologies (ICT)
to teach students the attitude, knowledge and skills they need in the 21st
centaury. The UNESCO World Report, teachers and teaching in changing world,
describes the radical implication information and communication technologies
have for conventional teaching and learning. It predicts the transformation of
teaching and learning process and the way teachers and learners gain access to
knowledge and information. To effectively harness the power of the new
information and communication technologies to improve learning, the following
essential conditions must be met:
- Teachers must have the knowledge and skills to use the
new digital tools and resources to help all students to have the competitive
edge in today’s globalized society. For this ongoing awareness and training
programme in ICT should be organized so that
they develop competencies to make full use of ICT in teaching and learning
process.
-Students and teachers must have
sufficient access to digital technologies and the Internaet in their
classrooms, Departments and in the college at large.
- Relevant digital content must be available for teachers
and learners.
Biblography
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13. IT in Research and Publication
Research methodology has undergone a welcome change
as research scholar has easy access
to unlimited information through
internet and is exposed to wider spectrum of ideas and concepts. Research
scholars can collaborate with other scholars and exchange their research data
analysis and findings. This has improved the reliability of research findings.
There could be greater collaboration between Universities and Industries which
would be mutually beneficial as well to the society at large.
14. IT in English Language teaching
The
practice of language teaching has undergone enormous changes in recent years as
a result of advances in Information Technology (IT). Universities and schools
have invested heavily in IT in order to provide teachers with facilities which
can make their teaching more varied, more interesting and more effective.
However, since the technology continues to evolve rapidly, many of its language
teaching applications are still being developed. It is hoped that TCELT 2006
will provide an opportunity for language specialists to present innovative
IT-related work, as well as address some of the problems which the new
technology presents.
15. Using technology in teaching and learning: Resources to help you navigate a digital world
Effectiveness
of Multimedia CAI and Conventional Learning Conditions in Relation to
Persistence of
Professional College Students
Changes
in science and technology have had considerable impact on the educational
system, which aims at developing the ability of people to keep pace with each
other in order to effectively apply technology to raise the level of job
efficiency. Therefore, the educational system must be changed. It will not be
restricted in any way; on the other hand, new features using computer –
assisted technology for educational purposes can provide examples of its role,
function and utility in dynamic response to the needs of people in the of
global change. The use of computers in education in various models, e.g.
computer – assisted instruction tends to be higher in both educational
institutions and commercial enterprises. Hence, it is necessary to train
instructors and trainers to become capable and efficient designers of Computers
Assisted Instructions (CAI).
CAI is the use of a computer to
interact directly with the students for learning and testing students
achievement. Due to the flexibility of computers and capacity to provide
branching instructions, it can assume the guidance role of the teacher, while
also providing the students with necessary reference materials, simulated
laboratory facilities and services depending upon the capabilities of the
students to use computers. Some of the applications of CAI are to display
lesson material, provide drill and practice, reinforce learning, simulate
environmental conditions and display relevant stimuli and administer test.
Multimedia
Multimedia applications
significantly expand the scope of many instructional activities. Students no
longer simply write essays but are able to develop presentations that include
text and images and other media components. Software is readily available that
takes images directly from sources and incorporate into a composition or
article.
Semantic Web for Knowledge society
The Semantic Web is a scheme
that was first introduced by Tim Berners-Lee to extend the current web from
documents linked to each other in to a Web that recognizes the meaning of
information in these documents.(Berners-Lee et al 2001)
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