Lecture
Today, there are two main areas of influence of ICT on educational processes:
1. the introduction of distance learning, which is based on new methods of organizing the learning process,
2. The use of ICT to improve the quality of analysis, design in the construction of traditional forms of education.
The phrase "distance education" (DL) has firmly entered the world educational lexicon. Over the past three decades, DL has become a global phenomenon of educational and informational culture, changing the face of education in many countries around the world. An entire industry of educational services has emerged and is rapidly developing, united under the common name "distance education", impressing with a huge number of students, the number of educational institutions, the size and complexity of the infrastructure, the scale of investment and cash flow. A radical breakthrough in the field Do made the PC and the Internet, and in the short term - the mobile Internet and wireless local area networks.
Due to the versatility and scale of DL as a phenomenon, a wide variety of educational services and forms of organization (or models) of DL in large national and international distance education centers - there is no generally accepted, canonical definition of DL.
Obviously, if "distance" means "at a distance," then we are talking about education at a distance, that is, a form of educational process in which the student (student) and teacher (teacher) - at least, as a rule - are not in one audience, and at a considerable distance from each other.
"Distance learning" is a component of "distance education", the activity of a teacher: a teacher and an educational institution. True, with a broad understanding of "learning" - such as, for example, "the joint purposeful activity of a teacher and students, in the course of which personal development, education and upbringing" are carried out (3), the above argument loses its force, since the boundaries between "learning" and " Education "simply erased and they become synonymous. The task of distance learning is to teach without direct contact with the student.
The basic principles on the basis of which distance education systems are created:
1. availability of training. With a chronic lack of time, it is necessary to study more and more. The process of learning with TO can begin whenever it pleases and ends at any time.
2. Radically new forms of presentation and organization of information. Multimedia systems, non-linear forms of presenting information, the presence of a large amount of reference information.
3. reliability of certification of knowledge. Extensive use of testing-based knowledge assessment techniques.
Educational institutions offering distance education programs can be divided into three categories:
"Natural" distant universities. For example, in the USA, there are not too many such educational institutions offering bachelor’s and master’s programs. Decent educational institutions have the necessary accreditation. At the same time, there are also non-accredited programs, so it is important to find out what kind of accreditation a particular program has of interest to you.
Providers of corporate training and / or refresher courses. These organizations conduct trainings, programs leading to obtaining a certificate and other educational programs designed to develop any professional skills. These are, as a rule, programs formed in accordance with the individual requirements of clients. Thus, this type of educational institution offers a program of very different quality.
Traditional universities offering online education. Many traditional universities and colleges have recently begun to offer their programs online, thus expanding the list of courses offered. Unfortunately, very few traditional universities and colleges offer complete and complete online versions of their programs.
There are three main characteristics of a quality distance education program for adult students:
1. Course structure. A quality distance education program does not just copy the lecture program, providing the opportunity to read them on a computer screen. The course must be carefully organized in such a way as to specifically involve the student. At the same time, many students begin to feel that they are more involved in the learning process than they have ever been involved in, studying full-time. The structure of the course should provide greater opportunities to manage the learning process than would be possible with full-time education. The course should be focused on the student, allowing the student to set the course content according to his personal needs and objectives.
2. Means and methods of communication. A distance education program may involve a variety of ways to deliver information, including regular mail, telephone and fax, Internet, email, interactive television, newsgroups, and audio and video conferences. Communication methods should be as consistent as possible with the learning style. Training courses can be synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous courses require the simultaneous participation of teachers and students and their interaction in real time. The means of information delivery in this case include interactive television and video conferencing. Asynchronous methods, as opposed to synchronous, are very flexible and allow the student to choose the time convenient for him to work on the course material. Programs that use asynchronous methods of interaction involve the use of the Internet, e-mail, videotapes and regular mail.
3. Support and contact with students. In contrast to the ideas of many, students enrolled in a good distance education program should not feel isolated from each other. A quality program involves a lot of ways and methods for creating a real atmosphere of interaction. When choosing a distance education program, ask how students receive help and support from their instructors. There should be online support for chat rooms and forums, online bulletin boards, online stores and other student counseling and support tools.
The main characteristics of distance learning:
1. Detailed planning of the student’s activities (setting goals, goals, developing training materials).
2. Interactivity (between the student and the teacher, between the student and the educational material, group training).
3. Motivation (organization of independent cognitive activity)
4. The modular structure of distance learning (the learner must be able to clearly recognize his progress from module to module).
I model. Training as an external student . Training focused on school or university exam requirements is intended for students who, for whatever reason, cannot attend face-to-face institutions. This is actually an external form of external education.
II model. University education . The system of teaching students who study not in-person, but at a distance, by correspondence or remotely, on the basis of new information technologies, including computer telecommunications. In addition to printed textbooks, audio and video tapes, CDs developed by leading teachers at specific universities are offered to students.
III model. Training based on the collaboration of several educational institutions . The cooperation of several educational organizations in the preparation of programs of several educational organizations in the preparation of distance / distance learning programs makes it possible to make them more professional-quality and less expensive.
IV model. Training in specialized educational institutions. Specially created for the purposes of correspondence and distance education, educational institutions are focused on the development of multimedia courses. Their competence also includes the assessment of knowledge and certification of trainees.
V model. Autonomous learning systems . Training within such systems is conducted entirely through television or radio programs, CD-ROMs, as well as additional printed manuals.
VI model. Informal, integrated learning based on multimedia programs . This is a program self-education. They are aimed at training an adult audience - those people who could not finish school. Such projects may be part of a formal educational program, or specifically targeted at a specific educational goal, or aimed at preventive health programs.
The main objectives of distance education models:
1. To enable trainees to improve and replenish their knowledge in various fields within the framework of existing educational programs.
2. Receive a certificate of education, one or another qualification degree based on the results of relevant exams (external studies).
3. To provide quality education in various areas of school and university programs.
Any training requires a certain organizational and informational support. Components of distance education are:
1. A training center (educational institution) that performs the necessary functions of organizational support, also referred to as a distance learning provider;
2. Information resources - training courses, reference, methodical and other materials;
3. Means of providing distance learning technology (organizational, technical, software, etc.);
4. Lecturers and consultants in charge of distance learning courses, called tutors;
5. Students , still called students.
For the organization and proper functioning of the distance education system, it is necessary to perform the following main functions :
Analyzing the existing distance learning systems, it can be concluded that the following technologies are used to support distance learning: case technology, TV technology and network technologies. Consider their features.
With case technology, teaching materials are packaged in a special set (case). This kit is sent to the student for self-study. Communication with teachers-consultants is carried out in regional training centers established for this purpose. It is believed that with sufficient motivation, the student is able to independently study and master a significant amount of material in a wide range of disciplines, if such training is supported by a meaningful case.
Since the 40s, experiments have begun on the use of educational material delivery means other than mail, radio, tape, and television . The learning process is complemented by a continuous process of self-education using recorded on these or other media or broadcast on radio and television lectures. TV technology , as its name implies, is based on the use of television lectures.
Network technologies include Internet technology and technologies that use the capabilities of local and global computer networks. In the Internet technology "World Wide Web" is used to provide students with educational material, as well as for interactive interaction between the teacher and the students. The ability of many-to-many communication is the fundamental difference between Internet technology and other distance learning technologies.
In Russia, the development of the educational services market in the field of distance education is hampered by the relative underdevelopment of the telecommunications system. Under these conditions, training courses that involve the delivery of the entire volume of teaching materials through Internet channels are doomed to very limited use.
In addition, obtaining a large amount of teaching and learning materials via the Internet channels is much more expensive for the student than with regular mailing. CDs are traditionally used to distribute large amounts of information. The large information capacity of compact discs (about 700 MB), combined with the simplicity and cheapness of replication, makes it very effective to send educational materials on such media through regular mail.
Today, undoubtedly, the most modern and promising means of technological support for distance learning are Internet technologies. However, speaking of distance education as an effective system, it is advisable to consider Internet technologies in combination with CD-ROM technologies. The content of the course (content) can and should be supplied on CDs, which ensures cheapness and independence from communication channels. And the Internet should be used in pre-school education for updating information, testing and communicating with students. The described approach is the basis of Web-CD-technology .
The process of developing a distance course itself can be divided into two components: the development of educational and methodological content and the design of the course . At the first stage, the structuring of texts, the logical construction of their parts, the design of the structure of the conceptual apparatus and the instrumental part of the course - control, discussions, and the like are carried out. It is very important that the planning of the hypertext structure of the course, that is, the system of links and transitions between concepts, content and instrumental components. After that, the creation and placement of materials in electronic form, the formation of a system of referrals and links, the implementation of control, communication activities, etc. are carried out.
The set of teaching and learning materials DC should be developed in accordance with the principles:
1. The distance course program should contain goals as components of the educational process in a given discipline, to form the motivation for successful learning of a course by explaining its place and meaning in the training system. It is advisable to accompany the list of topics in a recreation center with an indication of the required level of material absorption.
2. Teaching materials in digital form using hypertext should satisfy the requirement of ease of orientation of students when navigating through links. In the preface to the training materials, it is necessary to explain reference symbols and give advice on rational navigation techniques.
3. DK should include communication between students and the teacher and among themselves.
4. DK is not an electronic copy of printed textbooks or a simple computer textbook. Information and communication technologies (not being an end in themselves) can and should be effectively used to achieve the objectives of the educational process.
The process of creating a DC course requires knowledge of teachers-authors both in the subject area for which DC is created and in the field of information technology, which in practice most often involves the cooperation of two experts: a practice teacher responsible for the course content (the author of the course), and a consultant who owns information technology (knowledge engineer).
The network of open correspondence and distance education currently existing in the world practice is based on six well-known models using various traditional means and means of new information technologies: television, video recording, printed manuals, computer telecommunications.
The components of the distance learning course are:
Informational resources. The most important component of a distance course are information resources, since they contain the content part - content. Content includes:
Means of communication. Communication tools provide a process for the interaction of the student with the training center, in particular with the teacher, and with other students.
One of the most important issues is the organization of effective means of communication, not only compensating for the lack of direct contact between teachers and students, but also, if possible, giving new qualities to their communication.
Traditionally, e-mail (especially newsletters), message boards, virtual conferences, video and audio broadcasts, virtual seminars and discussions stand out here.
The basic mechanisms, through which it is possible to organize effective means of communication, are conventionally divided into asynchronous and synchronous , which are called offline and online, respectively.
Асинхронные средства не требуют у обменивающихся сторон постоянного соединения. К таким средствам можно отнести: e-mail и построенные на основе e-mail автоматические рассылки (так называемые mail-lists), доски объявлений типа Bulletin Board System (BBS), offline-конференции типа "эхо" FidoNet и т. п. Необходимо отметить, что с развитием телекоммуникаций роль таких средств снижается. Однако при традиционно низком качестве телекоммуникаций в России их использование — единственное, что позволяет сделать систему дистанционного обучения эффективной.
Synchronous means involve simultaneous concerted actions of the parties - one speaks, the other listens at the same time.
All considered online tools assume the presence of direct Internet access and are based in one way or another on the services that exist on the Internet. The most effective are online conferences, which allow supporting many different forms of communication in the DL process: seminars, discussions, exchange of experience, scientific conferences. New and promising media include webcasting of video and audio materials and internet telephony.
Testing system. The testing system should ensure the current control of knowledge, and at the final stage give an objective assessment of the student, on the basis of which diplomas, certificates, etc. are issued. The issue of data protection and the means of identification and authentication of the student, which do not allow substitution and distortion of test results, are very important here. The testing system includes:
Administration system. The administration system provides access to personal files, administration bulletin boards, interactive questionnaires, etc.
The structure of the distance learning course
The course home page includes: course description; timetable.
Course materials:
Interaction means:
Student personal data:
Note that educational materials are provided to the student as hypertext textbooks, as well as on CD-ROM for offline study. The latter circumstance makes it possible to transmit large amounts of multimedia information in the cheapest and most efficient way, not related to the problems of the capacity of telecommunication channels. Important elements of training are a full-text search system based on training course materials, a glossary, textbook abstracts and a means of printing the necessary sections. Among the means of online communication, one cannot fail to note the "Whiteboard" - a developed tool for exchanging information using graphic images created by distance learning participants in a browser window, just as it can happen at a regular whiteboard when discussing a particular issue at a seminar in the course of full-time training.
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Information technology in research
Terms: Information technology in research