Abstract

Classroom teachers are assuming more and more responsibility for meeting the needs of students from a larger number of diverse backgrounds and with increasingly diverse special needs.  Many practicing teachers identify students with special needs as their greatest concern and challenge, but often one of their greatest rewards.  One way of differentiating instruction to provide Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is through WebQuests.

WebQuests, inquiry oriented activities in which most of the information is drawn from the web, not only meet two requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but also allow teachers the opportunity to provide multiple levels of assistance to all students.  Specifically, WebQuests have the ability to not only provide accommodations for all students with special needs but they have the ability to provide all students with special needs access to the general education curriculum as well.  When teachers become familiar with WebQuests and use them in their daily instruction with students, it is very likely that the educational opportunities and outcomes for all students will substantially increase.

Abstract

Learning scientists have discovered that deep learning is more likely to occur in complex social and technological environments, one example of this is computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) situations.  This was the main guideline when partners of Socrates Comenius 2.1-project FISTE (A Future Way for In-Service Teacher Training Across Europe) started to plan and implement an online-course for European teachers.  The result of FISTE partners’ collaboration, an online-course called aimed at introducing the course participants, the European teachers, to new opportunities and ideas how to use ICT pedagogically in teaching.  This in turn could offer them possibilities for sharing their experiences and good pedagogical practices and also to encourage them to consider the meaning of collaboration in teaching and learning.

The course lasted for six months and it included six different units which involved both technical and pedagogical issues considering the pedagogical use of ICT.  The experiences the participants and the FISTE-tutors had during the course were mostly positive and encouraging, yet all the people who were involved with the course felt it was quite a challenging experience because it included so many new things to all participants.  This paper will present the main principles concerning the course, an overall introduction of the course content and also experiences the participants and the FISTE —partners gained during the course as tutors.

Abstract

For universities located in rural areas, field placement supervisors often find it difficult to locate placements for student teachers who specialize in areas (e.g., special education, P.E.) with a limited number of cooperating teachers in each school. In those cases, placements for student teachers may require the cooperation of schools outside the prescribed radius from the university campus. Because university faculty may be assigned to multiple schools across a wide region, traveling to and from distant placements reduces the amount of time spent with student teachers and cooperating teachers after observation of instruction.

The use of web cameras for video conferencing allows students teachers and their supervisors to engage in debriefing sessions that are less impacted by time restrictions, teaching schedules, and travel time. Video conferencing after observations of instruction promotes more thorough, meaningful feedback by the supervisors and more reflective responses by the student teacher, which may result in improved instructional effectiveness. In the current program (n=6), which is being piloted in selected sites throughout the area, university faculty provided web cameras to cooperating teachers to use for video conferencing.

Abstract

Demands for a more personalized approach to education as well as flexibility have spurred learners to seek alternatives to the traditional approach.  As a result of technological advantages in society, the options for learning in and outside the classroom have broadened tremendously.  The great option is “Virtual classroom”.  A virtual classroom is a system that creates an environment designed to facilitate teachers in the management of educational courses for their students, especially a system using computer hardware and software, which involves distance learning.

Education in the virtual classrooms has been described as being “just as vivid, meaningful and dynamic as face-to-face interactions in a traditional classroom — or even more so”.  As the virtual classroom is one that aims to give the student an experience equal to or better than the sort they would find in a traditional classroom, there are obviously many advantages of the virtual classroom to the student, as well as the teacher and the associated educational institution. Virtual classrooms “foster the dimensions of interest, involvement, imagination, and interactivity”, which make the virtual classroom an “immersive environment in which to learn”, perhaps even more immersive than the traditional classroom because of what is offered by new technologies used in the virtual classroom.

This paper discusses the virtual classroom as a new move in the non-formal distance education, which is an advanced technique of Education Technology.  The Collaborative and Independent virtual learning types form the key features for Communication, Assessment and Support.  Moreover, a comparison of this virtual classroom with the traditional classroom blooms out the merits of virtual classroom which is definitely “A Boon to the Learners”.

Abstract

This paper addresses both the need and benefit of using technology in our K-12 and higher education settings.  It also provides suggestions and samples for application of modern technology in schools.  Teachers will be challenged to advance their lessons using technology that students are already familiar with and using in their personal lives.  Finally, resources are provided for all levels and subjects.

Abstract

Proficiency in English is a prerequisite for students to bag a place in the on/off campus interviews. Irrespective of the profession, vocation and background the students have to hone their LSRW skills in English. Selection procedures like group discussion and video conferencing are hurdles to students who lack language proficiency in English. All prestigious, science based disciplines at the graduate and postgraduate level such as computer science, engineering, and medicine seem to be predominantly available only in English. The English proficiency of students educated in the vernacular medium is often deemed insufficient. This has led to a paradigm shift in the teaching/learning of English at the collegiate and higher education level.

Apart from experimenting new teaching methods, teachers are now applying modern technology to support cultivation of language and linguistic skills to foster better achievement at higher education levels.This paper describes blogs as a simple, relatively low-tech, and effective tool to enhance language skills. Blogs are important for technologists, teachers, parents, and researchers who are interested in computer-mediated communication. Physical constraints such as the body, biological sex, race, or age can have a profound effect on self-definition and self-presentation (Collins & Kuczaj, 1991); many of these attributes become flexible in online environments. The anonymity afforded within virtual worlds allows more flexibility in exploring their identity through their language, their role play, and the personae they assume (Calvert, 2002).

The focus of this paper is on the “boon” rather than the “bane” of technology. It presents practical methods for using blogs as a teaching tool for inducing students to communicate without inhibitions.  It reports results of a general survey of students in undergraduate courses. This topic is limited to use of blogs as a teaching tool to supplement rather than supplant face-to-face classroom teaching.

Abstract

The educational system around the world is undergoing a tremendous change in the area of knowledge and strategy. In general, the curriculum practices have revolutionized by the academicians and educational administrators. The learners have also demand varied types of knowledge and skills required for their day-to-day activity. Nature and the forms of educational system should accommodate the requirement of the nation and society in general individual learner in particular. The traditional classroom approaches requires a tremendous change in the way of delivery and knowledge transmission for the development of cognitive and non-cognitive areas of learning with emphasize on qualities of personal and social growth. The education commissions and committees have also recommended and stressed that education should be made both universally available and more relevant. In this context this paper suggests a learner-centered approach for the demands of the nation and the society at large. The learner-centered approach suggested by this paper, a Virtual Classroom (VC) approach is a stress on its architecture, facilities, interactivity and network. Based on the criteria the authors has developed three models of VC approach and future benefits of these approaches for knowledge management system for effective acquisition, sharing, utilization and creation of knowledge in the area of teaching-learning process.

Abstract

The ability to read is essential to school-based learning and skilled responding in an information rich society. Unfortunately, many students in today’s schools do not become skilled readers. Many reading researchers (Blachman 1996, 1997; Felton, 1993; Fletcher & Lyon, 1998; Torgesen, 1997) agree that the vast majority of problems experienced by early readers can be prevented through appropriate, explicit, and comprehensive early instruction. Previous research also indicates that parents/families can have a positive influence on the children’s reading abilities. However, parents may not have the skills to teach reading in an explicit and systematic manner. It is here that the computer-based reading programs, which are systematic and explicit in their instruction, hold great promise.

This preliminary investigation examined the effects of two parent implemented computer-based reading programs (Funnix and Headsprout) on the reading skills of 25 students at-risk for reading failure. All students were pre and post-tested on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. All parents were provided one-on-one training by the researchers. Treatment fidelity data was collected.  Further, a questionnaire was administered with parents and students to elicit their perceptions of the effectiveness and desirability of the programs. The results indicated that computer-based programs were effective in increasing certain basic early literacy skills of students at-risk for reading failure. A description of the computer programs, results (effect sizes and statistically significant results), implications, and limitations of the study will be discussed.

Abstract

The task of preparing teachers to use technology in the classroom now extends beyond the walls of the university and into the classrooms of in-service teachers, as many states require technology competency for maintaining teaching credentials.  In order to meet these needs, colleges and universities must seek alternative, but efficient modes for delivering this instruction.  One such method is the hybrid or blended format technology literacy course.  The hybrid format appears to have potential for this purpose. This method provides accommodation for in-service teachers who have difficulty coming to campus during the school day, while still providing the human interaction of the face-to-face classroom (Palloff & Pratt, 2003).

This study investigates the efficacy of three delivery modes of a technology literacy course (face-to-face, hybrid, fully-online) on preservice and in-service teachers’ technology integration and attitudes towards technology. Results suggest that online and hybrid delivery modes of a technology literacy course may be reasonable alternatives to train in-service and preservice teachers in computer skills and integration.