Deterrents to participation in web‐based continuing professional education

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions of certified public accountants concerning deterrents to participation in Web‐based continuing professional education. A survey instrument was mailed to a random sample of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants’ membership, and 444 usable surveys were returned. Four broad dimensions of deterrence to participation in Web‐based education were identified through factor analysis. The two most influential deterrents were Concerns about Electronically Mediated Communication and Concerns about the Quality of Course Offerings. The other two were Concerns about Access to Technology‐Associated Resources and Concerns about the Availability of Necessary Personal Resources. The vast majority of respondents reported that they had access to the technology and that they perceived themselves as having the personal characteristics necessary for participation in Web‐based education activities. However, the proportion of respondents using Web‐based education for continuing professional learning in 1998 was minimal.     

Writing web‐based distance education courses for adult learners

Abstract

This study examines faculty writing style in Web‐based courses aimed at adult learners, a key audience for university‐level courses. Taking into account independent‐study courses and others, the investigator conducted faculty interviews, looking at written and oral strategies implicit in teaching; print vs. Web formats; and adherence to educational philosophies. Faculty who were interviewed revealed minimal experience in both print and Web realms, minimal style differences beyond teaching netiquette or using occupational jargon, and adherence to active learning or social constructivism.     

Indian adult education and the post‐colonial legacy

Under the Raj education concentrated on reproducing a small Anglicized elite capable of administering the country. Adult education was minimal and confined to a few urban centres. After Independence Indian adult education was burdened with the project of modernization as India under Nehru and the nationalist movement desperately tried to industrialize the state according to western and soviet models. Despite the relative success of the first Five Year Plan's literacy programme, levels of funding dropped while bureaucracy and falsification of figures increased. Despite Gandhi, Indian education also suffered from elitist discourses inherited from the British Raj which assumed a ‘trickle‐down’ effect and resulted in the over‐balancing of the system towards higher education. Western experts (with the honourable exception of Frank Laubach) have tended to confirm the bias, but even Laubach's agenda raised suspicion. Only with the coming of the NAEP in 1978 was a serious attempt to redress the balance made. Subsequent radical educationists have once again taken up the banner of ‘Gandhi’ in the cause of educating the very poor and the project of modernization has given way to more needs‐based programmes.     

The subject‐person of adult education in the crisis of modernity

The philosophical and theoretical background of this article is the recent debate in conventional education, highlighting problems with the subject‐person of education (e.g., Oelkers, 1987). This debate has its origins in the questioning by philosophers of the project of modernity, of its future (e.g., Habermas, 1985; Wellmer,1985), and of its subject‐person (e.g., Frank et ah, 1990). The philosophy of education is affected by this debate primarily for two reasons: first, the subject‐person is at the core of the project of modernity and therefore of the inseparably linked idea of conventional education. Second, modernity is in itself an educational project (e.g., Oelkers, 1983), for, if education fails to bring forth the enlightened and emancipated subject‐person, modernity also fails. Therefore, if there is today, as is generally admitted, a crisis of modernity, conventional education and its conception of the subject‐person, as well as the corresponding learning model are inevitably affected. This also applies to adult education, in so far as adult education refers to models of the subject‐person that are still deeply rooted in conventional education.     

The problem of education‐based discrimination

While the research, theory and policy literature on race, class and gender discrimination in education is extensive, the problem of education‐based discrimination itself has been widely overlooked. Indeed, the dominant ideologies of meritocracy and human capital (into which we are inculcated throughout our lives by schools, media and the state) proclaim that higher levels of education are and should be linked with greater reward. In a world where education is regularly invoked to legitimate inequality, it can appear nonsensical even to raise concern about education‐based discrimination as a matter of social injustice. We need, however, to challenge those who have taught us not to see what has essentially become an elephant in our living room. Otherwise, we will find ourselves unable ever to use our public systems of education for universal emancipation and empowerment.     

Longitudinal study of stages of beginning teacher development in a field‐based teacher education program

Abstract

Field‐based teacher education programs are part of a growing trend in education to provide long‐term classroom teaching experience and acculturation to the school environment as part of the certification process. This article reports on a study of stages of teacher development across ½ years of full‐time teaching as teacher candidates work to complete coursework in fulfillment of a masters of education program. Beginning teachers completed a Teachers Concerns Checklist at six points in the program. Factor analysis and ANOVA were utilized to develop a chronology of stages across these years to inform programmatic development. Findings suggest reduced concerns for classroom management as full‐time teaching begins and increased concerns for delivery of instruction as teachers are immersed in full‐time teaching. Strong concerns for professional development emerge only after a full year of teaching. Implications for the academic program, supervision, and future research are discussed     

Lifelong education and adult education — the state of the theory

Some years ago when the concept of lifelong education was in vogue and when there was a constant flow of literature about it being published by a core of writers gravitating around or employed by UNESCO, the constant warning was not to confuse the concept of lifelong education with adult education because this would unduly limit the concept and distort the educational philosophy it represented. This warning has not, generally, been heeded by writers and the expression ‘lifelong education’ has consequently lost the distinctive meaning writers like Dave, Cropley, Gelpi and Lengrand tried to give it in the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1979 Cropley edited a book called Lifelong Education: A Stocktaking which, in fact, tried to take stock of the state of the theory and to identify the problems with its promotion. Gelpi took up the latter task in some detail in a subsequent article but failed to address certain problems with the concept of lifelong education itself, raised earlier by Lawson. This paper goes over all this ground and then tries to clarify some confusions with the concept of lifelong education by examining two different interpretations or views of lifelong education, the ‘maximalist’ and the ‘minimalist’, which have evolved through the literature of the subject, identifying the former with the core of writers mentioned above. It then examines the role of adult education within the two interpretations, arguing that the ‘maximalist’ view has largely disappeared to the detriment of adult education, and reproposing it anew to adult education writers and practitioners.     

A Systemic Approach to Teacher Development: lessons from a national Logo‐based computers in education program

ABSTRACT

Teacher training is a key component of any computers in education program. This article addresses how success in teacher training depends on long‐term planning and on a flexible systemic approach to training and support. It describes the system of teacher development established within the context of a widespread national program reaching one out of three elementary school children in Costa Rica and the lessons learned over a five year implementation process.     

Student‐teachers' evaluation on the use of different modes of problem‐based learning in teacher education

Problem‐based learning (PBL) has been widely adopted in many university programmes. Evaluations of PBL in medicine, dentistry, nursing and social work reveal positive outcomes from both tutors and learners. However, few evaluations have been published about using PBL in teacher education programmes. This paper reports how the 13 student‐teachers in the Integrated Humanities Major Method course evaluated the use of three different modes of PBL delivery, namely: the classical PBL; an alternate pattern of PBL and teacher‐led deductive workshops; and a modified PBL using problem‐based scenario inductive inquiry workshops. The learning experiences of the student‐teachers were captured via an open‐ended questionnaire to discuss the feasibility and receptivity of endorsing full or partial use of PBL in the teacher education programme. The outcome shows strong preference for the use of the modified PBL approach while the majority agreed the classical PBL style is the most challenging among the three modes.     

Identifying at‐risk students in videoconferencing and web‐based distance education

Abstract

Based on the multivariate framework of student attrition developed by leading researchers in the field of distance education and instructional technology, this study centers on a method of assessing the ability of a student to complete a distance learning course. The focus of the investigation is construction and validation of a brief survey instrument to identify at‐risk students enrolled in Web‐based and videoconferencing courses.     

What does evidence‐based practice in education mean?

Abstract

Teaching has suffered both as a profession in search of community respect, and as a force for improving the social capital of Australia because of its failure to adopt the results of empirical research as the major determinant of its practice. There are a number of reasons why this has occurred, among them a science‐aversive culture endemic among education policymakers and teacher education faculties. There are signs that change may be afoot. The National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy has pointed to, and urged us to follow, a direction similar to that taken recently in Great Britain and the USA towards evidence‐based practice. Acknowledging the importance of teacher education, the National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership began a process for establishing national accreditation of pre‐service teacher education. Two problems do require attention. The generally low quality of much educational research in the past has made the process of evaluating the evidence difficult, particularly for those teachers who have not the training to discriminate sound from unsound research designs. Fortunately, there are a number of august bodies that have performed the sifting process to simplify judging the value of research on important educational issues.     

Stopping to thinks school‐based and higher education‐based primary student teachers' reflections on their learning

This paper examines trainees' perceptions of the impact, on secondary mathematics trainees, of collaborative school‐based work involving small groups of trainees, a university tutor and a class teacher. The findings suggest that trainees' become better able to plan and deliver a coherent yet diverse sequence of lessons, that their awareness of children's learning styles and misconceptions was raised and that preconceived notions about teaching and learning were challenged and mediated. A few trainees found the experience unhelpful and threatening. The role of the tutor was found to influence trainees' responses to the program and, to an extent, moderate the effects of variations in teacher involvement. Some implications are discussed.     

Alternative teacher education in the Netherlands 2000–2005. A standards‐based synthesis

Findings are synthesized from six evaluation studies of alternative teacher certification programs introduced in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2005. The available evidence raises concerns about the feasibility of accelerated workplace learning for aspiring teachers. Intake assessments amounted mostly to selection procedures, while less attention was paid to advising candidates. In candidates' workplace learning, work often overrode learning. They received little mentoring and were offered few opportunities to qualify themselves in all basic aspects of teaching. Conclusions and recommendations regarding the development of alternative teacher education are formulated on the basis of five quality standards for teacher education.

Entre 2000 et 2005, les Pays‐Bas ont mis en place des parcours parallèles pour la formation des enseignants. Dans cet article, l'auteur présente les résultats de six études qui ont évalué la qualité de ces parcours parallèles. Les résultats disponibles soulèvent des questions quant à la possibilté de réaliser des formations accélérées effectuées sur le terrain et destinées aux futurs enseignants. Dans ces formations accélérées, l'évaluation initiale (intake assessment) servait la plupart du temps à sélectionner les candidats tandis que peu d'attention était accordée à la fonction conseil. Lorsque les candidats étaient formés sur le terrain, la pratique prenait le dessus sur la formation. Ils n'étaient guère encadrés et avaient peu l'occasion de se familiariser avec tous les aspects fondamentaux du métier d'enseignant.

S'inspirant de cinq standards de qualité pour la formation des enseignants, l'auteur présente ses conclusions et ses recommandations pour la mise en place de parcours parallèles en ce qui concerne la formation des enseignants.

Se sintetizan los resultados de seis estudios en los que han sido evaluados programas alternativos de certificación de profesores que han sido introducidos entre 2000 y 2005 en los Países Bajos. La evidencia disponible plantea cuestiones sobre la viabilidad de aprendizaje acelerado por futuros profesores en el lugar de trabajo. Las evaluaciones llevadas a cabo se limitaban a menudo a procedimientos de selección, mientras que se solía prestar menos atención al asesoramiento de los candidatos. En su lugar de trabajo, el proceso de aprendizaje de los futuros profesores fue relegado a segundo plano a causa del trabajo. Resultó que los futuros profesores recibieron poca tutoría y que se les ofrecieron pocas oportunidades de cualifarse en todos los aspectos de la enseñanza. Se sacan conclusiones y se hacen recomendaciones en cuanto al desarrollo de programas alternativos de formación del profesorado a base de cinco criterios de calidad para la formación del profesorado.

In diesem Forschungsbericht werden die Ergebnisse von sechs Evaluationsstudien zu den zwischen 2000 und 2005 in den Niederlanden eingeführten alternativen Lehrerausbildungsprogrammen zusammengezogen. Die Befunde lassen Fragen über die Realisierbarkeit von beschleunigtem Lernen während der Arbeit durch ankommende Lehrer aufkommen. Zulassungsprüfungen beinhalteten meistens Ausleseverfahren, wobei der Beratung von Kandidaten weniger Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde. In dem Lernen von Kandidaten während der Arbeit war der Arbeitsaspekt haüfig stärker vertreten als das Lernen. Sie empfingen wenig Betreuung und erhielten wenig Gelegenheit, sich in allen grundlegenden Lehrerfähigkeiten zu qualifizieren. Es werden Schlussfolgerungen und Empfehlungen bezüglich der Entwicklung von alternativen Lehrerausbildungsprogrammen formuliert aufgrund von fünf Qualitätsstandarden zur Lehrerausbildung.