M- LEARNING EFFECTS ON QUALITY OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT Al-sharaabi Waheeb A., University of Science and Technology, Yemen
1. Introduction
4.0 Discussion/Conclusion
In this study, different questions were used in assessing students’ awareness on substance abuse as seen in the result. The findings are not in line with some reports from literature which claimed paucity of awareness on substances abused (Kobiowu,2006;Ene&Stanley,2004;Amosun&Ige et al,2010;Ekpeyong,2012).
However the revelation here is that more respondents claimed they do not know of amphetamines, ecstasy, crack and heroin but contradictorily believed those substances could be abused. It showed most were still confused with the names of these substances of abuse. Aside alcohol and cigarette whose names are common substances of abuse; Marijuana, Cocaine and tranquilizers recurred in both variables as more respondents identified knowing them and also as substances of abuse.
Another important finding here is that more students (49.6%) claimed they got aware of drugs as substance of abuse through the mass media with more (77%) also saying their school authority never taught anything like substance abuse. This contradicts the claim of NDLEA (2009) that preventive drug education curriculum which has been developed with implementation in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions was in progress. This showed that students are still in dire need of the right information through appropriate channels.
Great percentage of students (69.1%) preferred internet/ online materials as better source of information on substance abuse and claimed this was the best in view of the increase in mobile technology trend as source of information. This justifies OER as a veritable tool in this regard and is further confirmed by the ICDE (2006) proclamation that global open educational resources will be one of the main driving forces for efficient and quality e-learning in the future-a tremendous opportunity for everyone to share, use and reuse the world’s knowledge.
UNESCO (2012) in its Paris declaration on OER expects total commitment from Nations in fostering awareness on the use of OER in widening access to education at all levels, to facilitate enabling environment for use of information technologies and finally encourage the open licensing of educational materials produced with public funds. These constitute the core elements/objectives of the declaration.
In conclusion, the ministry of Education, NDLEA, Federal Ministry of health and other relevant organizations should be proactively empowered to develop and coordinate the use of free and accessible educational resources through open mode of education in increasing learning and awareness on the different drug types and dangers of use or misuse. As a matter of fact, anti drug use education should be incorporated into secondary school curriculum in Nigeria to help increase knowledge and curb the menace.
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ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN OPEN AND DISTANCE E-LEARNING:
PERSPECTIVES FROM THE PHILIPPINES Arinto Patricia B., Philippines
ABSTRACT: Rapid advances in information and communications technology in the digital age have brought about significant changes in the practice of distance education (DE) worldwide. DE practitioners in the Philippines’ open university have coined the term ‘open and distance elearning’ (ODeL) to refer to the new forms of DE, which are characterised by a convergence of an open learning philosophy, DE pedagogies, and e-learning technologies. This paper discusses the issues and challenges that ODeL poses for the Philippines’ open university from the point of view of the institution’s leading ODeL practitioners. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy development and administrative changes required to support innovative teaching practice across the institution. The findings and conclusions are relevant for other institutions in the same stage of ODeL development.
IMPROVING THE PUBLIC SERVICE CAPABILITY:
BUILDING A PUBLIC SERVICE PLATFORM FOR THE NATIONAL UNION OF NETWORKED TEACHER EDUCATION IN CHINA
BAO Huaying, HUANG Wenfeng, XIA Lan, LI Xiaolei, Beijing Normal University, School of Continuing Education and Teacher Training, China
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to describe the framework and functions of the public service platform as ‘education cloud’ of the National Union of Networked Teacher Education (NUNTE) and to delineate the application of the public service platform for supporting the cooperation among members of NUNTE that undertake three tasks. As an ‘education cloud’, the public service platform makes it possible for normal universities, distance education institutions and other organizations to select courses and recognize credits among universities, satisfies learners’ flexible and diverse learning needs, and innovates the service pattern of teacher education by technology.
KEY WORDS: National Union of Networked Teacher Education; Public service platform; Open distance learning; Teacher education
INTRODUCTION
The National Union of Networked Teacher Education (NUNTE) in China founded in 2003 under the support and effort of the Chinese Ministry of Education. It combines three nets including the teacher education system, satellite TV net and internet to become a teacher collaborative learning organization that exploring and sharing the high quality educational resources. NUNTE was launched by fourteen members that consist of nine universities(six national and two local key normal universities and Peking university), two distance education institutions (the Open University of China and the National Center for Educational Technology), two education presses (the High Education Press and the People's Education Press), and China Education Television. The mission of NUNTE is to construct a national teacher education network system that led by the key normal and other universities undertaking teacher education, supported by the regional centers providing public service for teacher learning and learning resources, engaged by multiple social forces, to integrate different kinds of teacher education for teachers’ professional development for its members to explore and share the high quality educational resources, and to form an integrated innovation through the technology of modern distant education and the support from governments. The emergence of NUNTE provides chances for cooperation among multiple institutions that undertake teacher education programs and it is a vital important for innovating the service pattern of teacher education in China.
In 2009, NUNTE step up its pace to build a public service platform of NUNTE for its members getting connected to share their high quality educational resources and providing substantial support for their distance education. This platform was built up and ran in test in 2012. Since 2012 fall term, depending on this public service platform, NUNTE has undertaken three tasks including sharing high quality teaching resources for undergraduates, sharing resources for normal universities’
graduates with tuition free to obtain the master degree of education and sharing resources for primary and secondary school teachers’ continue education. Until the 2014 spring term, there have been 1.7 million students selecting shared courses among universities. The public service platform of NUNTE has made the members that major composed by the normal universities connected through uniformly standardizing their teaching plans, curriculum and credits, made the dispersed high quality education resources in different institutions integrated, and satisfied learners’ personal and diverse learning needs.
FRAMEWORK AND FOUNCTIONS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE PLATFORM
As an education cloud, the public service platform of NUNTE is based on cloud computing, which is a cooperative innovation for the service platform to collect high quality resources and to integrate institutions on teacher education including
universities, governments, enterprises and regional learning centers through the technology of Service-Oriented Architecture. The building purpose of this public service platform is to connect the information, resources and services of teacher education with its members and especially to support three tasks undertaken by NUNTE. The framework of the public service platform consists of two parts: one is the basic supportive part and the other one is the applicable service part. It is shown in figure1.1.
Figure 1.1 Framework of the public service platform of the NUNTE