Adult Educators’ Quality Student Support in Open Distance e-

Learning (ODeL)By Esther Njiro, Senior Lecturer, College of Education, Department of ABET and Youth Development UNISA

njiroei@unisa.ac.za

A paper to be presented at the National Association of Distance Education and Open Learning in South Africa (NADEOSA) Pre-Conference Colloquium and Conference at University of Pretoria, Groenkloof Campus June 24th and 25th 2014.

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

• Introduction

• Purpose and objectives

• Theoretical framework & Literature Review

• Discussion &Conclusions

• Recommendations

INTRODUCTION

• Dramatic advances in information and telecommunication technologies and the increasing importance of lifelong learning have prompted more and more institutions and organizations to develop flexible internet-based education and training programs.

• The purpose of this paper is to highlight issues of quality adult education student support for eLearning in an open distance Learning (ODL).

• What is eLearning and how is it practiced in ODL institutions?• Why eLearning and what are the constraints? • What can be done to accelerate eLearning?• What support do student need for quality eLearning for adults?

What is eLearning

• E-learning is about the use of multimedia technologies and the internet. It may or may not include exchanges between students or between student, supporting organisations and tutors.

• E-learning is well suited for developing the skills needed in a knowledge-based society, in particular how to find, evaluate, organize, and apply information relevant to specific work areas. Using technology for learning prepares learners for knowledge-based work.

• E-learning is particularly suited for lifelong learners, those already in the workforce, who may already have at least a first degree, who have jobs and families, and/or who do not want to come on campus on a regular basis

DEFINITION OF TERMS

• E-learning is often used as a more generic term and as a synonym for online education and more as a synonym for distance education.

• The term covers a wide set of applications and processes such as web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classroom and digital collaboration. It includes delivery of content via internet. There is also the digital collaboration such as intranet/extranet(LAN/WAN) audio-and videotapes, satellite broadcast, Television and CD ROM.

• Adult leaners according to Tight (1996:14), should not be defined by their y age but by claims that adulthood is expected to display As one grows older they are able to support themselves and have increased independence.

How is eLearning practiced in ODL

How is eLearning practiced in ODL

Type of tool Examples ApplicationBlogs Stephen’s web(

http://www.downes.caAllows an individual to make regular postings to the Web, e.g., a personal diary or an analysis of current events

Wikis Wikipedia An “open” collective publication, allowing people to contribute or create a body of information

Social Networking Facebook http://www.facebook.com/My spacehttp://www.myspace.com

A social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study, and live around them

Understanding Web 2.0 and its Implications for E-Learning

Multimedia archives PockrdacastsYouTube (http://youtibe.com)Flickr (http://flickr.com)iTubes e-portfolio

Allows end-users to access, store, download, and share audio recordings, photographs, and videos

Synchronous communication

SkypeElluminateAdobe Connect

Allows free “real-time” audio and visual communicationover the Web

3-D virtual worlds Second life (http://secondlife.com)

Real-time semi-random connection/ communicationwith virtual sites and people

Understanding Web 2.0 and its Implications for E-Learning

Type of tool Examples Application3-D virtual worlds Second life

(http://secondlife.com)Real-time semi-random connection/ communicationwith virtual sites and people

Multiplayer games Lord of the Rings Online (http://www.lotto.com

Enables players to compete against or collaboratewith each other or a third party/parties representedby the computer, usually in real time

Mobile listening Mobile phonesUbiquitous computing devises and applications

Enables users to access multiple information formats(voice, text, video, etc.) at any time, any place

Open Content MIT courseware Digital learning materials available free over theInternet, for use either by instructors or learners.

Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 represents not just a new generation of tools, • They are a significant shift in approaches to teaching and learning

that challenge the very existence of formal educational institutions. • These tools can be integrated within a more structured context, and

provide significant educational benefits through empowering students to create and manage their own digital learning materials

• There is no sign that the pace of change in ICTs is slowing. If anything, the context is even more complex and challenging now than ever before.

• In such a volatile context, it is critical that ODL institutions have processes in place that encourage dynamic change, innovative uses of technology, and monitoring and evaluation of what works and what does not.

Why eLearning?

• eLearning promotes what has been proven to be good learning including:

1) Learning is active, i.e. the learner must carry out a variety of cognitive operations on new information, in order to make it personally meaningful.

2) Learning is individual, i.e. every learner builds their own knowledge, using past experience and existing knowledge to make sense of new information. All new information is dealt with in different ways by different learners.

3) Learning is cumulative, i.e. what a learner already knows will play a large part in determining what sense they can make of new information.

4) Learning is self-regulated, characterised by both (a) the learner’s awareness of their own learning activity, and (b) the learner’s ability to take action based on this reflection.

5) Learning is goal-oriented, i.e. clear goals are needed if learning is to be effective. These goals need to be explicit and to be understood by the learner.

6. Learning is situated, i.e. it depends heavily on the social and physical context (people, resources, tools) in which learning activity takes place.

7) Learning can be learned

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF ELEARNING

• To meet the flexible needs of today’s students.

• To enhance teaching and learning.

• To better prepare students for the requirements of business and industry.

• To develop independent learning skills through exposure to online programming

• Education therefore needs to be focused particularly on the knowledge and skills required in knowledge-based companies. What are those skills? The Conference Board of Canada (1991) surveyed employers in knowledge-based companies and identified the following:

• good communication skills (reading/ writing/speaking/listening);• ability to learn independently;• social skills: ethics, positive attitudes, responsibility;• teamwork;• ability to adapt to changing circumstances;• thinking skills: problem solving; critical/• logical/numerical;• knowledge navigation: where to get/how• to process information;• entrepreneurial skills: taking initiative to• seize an opportunity;• • IT and computing skills.

Where is eLearning to day

CONSTRAINTS TO E-LEARNING

• Quality is about increasing numbers of adult learners entering South African higher education institutions (HEIs) through open educational opportunities to include a growing student population irrespective of race, gender, age, creed or class.

• To do this they have to increasing student numbers by recruiting from the non-traditional student pool which comprises of workers, mature learners with specific focus on the female students.

• Quality assurance in higher education in South Africa is assigned to the Council of Higher education (CHE), who discharges this responsibility to its permanent sub-committee, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC).

• The formulation of criteria for quality teaching and learning practices in HEIs is well established in South Africa with bodies such as the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE), the National Association for Distance Education and Open-learning in South Africa (NADEOSA), and the South Africa Quality Assurance (SAQA) setting rigorous criteria

Constraints to eLearning

• In many developing countries including South Africa, the necessary minimal technology infrastructure needed to support the Web are a computer and a telephone -- simply do not exist.

• Even where the minimal infrastructure is in place, many people do not have the necessary computer, keyboarding and literacy skills to make effective use of the Web.

• Most applications of the Web still have to fit into narrow bandwidths, limiting educational materials to text and static graphics.

• Teachers need to adapt and change their teaching methods to fully exploit the educational advantages of the Web, Without adequate support and instruction, teachers will merely add cost to the current system by bolting on the technology to traditional classroom methods.

• Teachers need technical support, both in terms of ensuring the networks, software and equipment work properly and are adequately maintained, also in the design and development of Web sites. This requirement adds substantially to costs in HEIs.

CONCLUSIONS

• The interactive, participatory form of learning that has developed around the use of the Web is culturally unsuited to the predominant mode of teaching and learning in traditional societies, which give great respect to the teacher, and where students are not expected to question the wisdom of elders.

• To justify the expense and stress of major changes in work methods, Web-based learning needs to be used strategically and be adequately resourced.

• Unfortunately, many administrations at HEIs lack both the web vision to use it for strategic change and they lack the willingness to reallocate sufficient resources to ensure success.

Recommendations

• e-learning is becoming a major component of post-secondary education and training, and therefore deserves careful attention.

• The Web enables free and global access to a very wide range of high quality (as well as low quality) learning resources located on Web sites. It is critical that DE teachers and students know the quality information in various sites.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• eLearning will help us know the type of students we have by their manner of using the internet sources. The support they need for teaching and learning requires continued research

• Digital natives are those (usually young people) who scan online pages very rapidly (boys especially) and click extensively on hyperlinks rather than reading or digesting information and they have difficulty making relevant judgments about the pages they retrieve.

• Students of all age groups including digital migrants and silver surfers are spending time on the web and Web 2.0 technologies widely for a variety of purposes

THANK YOU