Distance Learning Framework Research Articles

Maximizing University Students’ Spoken Interaction in English within the Distance Learning Framework in Wartime

Maximizing University Students’ Spoken Interaction in English within the Distance Learning Framework in Wartime

Critical assessment of the Lesotho minimum accreditation standards for Open and Distance Learning (ODL)

ABSTRACT In 2021 Lesotho adopted a quality assurance framework for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) for higher education sector. Globally, governments use quality assurance frameworks as strategies to address productivity, efficiency and effectiveness within the higher education sector. By adopting ODL discourses, this paper critically assessed the adequacy of the Lesotho Minimum Accreditation Standards for Open and Distance Learning framework in responding to the needs of students within the sector. From the findings it emerged that the framework used largely strategic indicators as aspects of quality failing to apply pointers that reflect authentic learning. It has been argued that the strategic indicators do not necessarily address the issues of learning. Furthermore, the framework failed to address central issues in ODL. Couched in general and discreet terms, the framework ran short of addressing issues of quality within the contexts of ODL. While it is generally acknowledged that quality assurance models have taken centre stage globally, it is important that such a framework should be responsive to the educational milieu of the country and, in particular, to the nature of ODL. The paper recommended that the quality assurance framework for ODL should identify the essences of ODL and develop key components to inform implementation thereof.

CURRENT TEACHING METHODS IN THE DISTANCE COMMUNICATION FORMAT

Currently, the distance learning format is of great relevance. The primary objective of this mode of education is to establish a secure learning and working environment for all participants in the educational process. Within the distance learning framework, material delivery can take on either an asynchronous approach (where students engage with the material independently, without direct teacher involvement) or a synchronous one (in real-time).
 Asynchronous formats encompass a range of tools and platforms such as Google tools, website creation (using appropriate platforms), educational platforms (New School, Matific), recordings of educational material (video lessons, video instructions), online tests (Google Forms, LearningApps, ClassTime), interactive whiteboards (Padlet), student project activities (Google Presentations), quizzes (Kahoot, myQuiz, Quiziz), and various other forms of interactive learning.
 Given the current circumstances and the unexpected shift to distance learning, teachers proactively engage in planning and creating chat spaces with students. Utilizing messengers streamlines communication, with chats serving as a platform for sharing homework updates, providing consultations to applicants, and conducting surveys – essentially, planning synchronous training.
 In the synchronous mode, various means are employed for presenting material. Video conferences, facilitated through platforms like Meet, Zoom, Discord, Skype, and FreeConferenceCall, are the most prevalent communication method in remote conditions. Meetings are arranged using pre-established links or QR codes. This format is versatile, extending its use to online discussions, voting, and consultations.
 Long and boring online lessons are not the best way to teach. Therefore, teachers should use and combine different teaching methods to help learners learn effectively. Modern methods, gadgets and programs make it possible to bring the level of online learning closer to live communication with students.

Some issues of accumulated pedagogical experience in organizing the activities of the university department in the context of digital transformation of higher education and the transition to distance and mixed forms of education in a pandemic

The article continues the research, started with the onset of the pandemic and, as a result, a series of articles by a team of authors, that were devoted to: analysis of the current regulatory framework for distance learning and its mixed forms, the use of modern information technologies and various pedagogical methods. This article is a summary of the intermediate results of the experience of the last more than two years, during which universities have been working in an extreme mode of transition to distance and mixed forms of student education. The practical component of the article contains a brief summary of the results of the expert group surveys, that the authors conducted repeatedly during the pandemic, and on various topics. In addition, special attention is paid to the organization of research work of students using a project approach and modern information technologies in these conditions. The options for students to switch to accessible and open source software, when performing laboratory work are also considered.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Distance Learning Framework to Adapt to the Changing Landscape of Anatomy Instruction in Medical Education During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

This study presents the design of a DL-framework to deliver anatomy teaching that provides a microfiche of the onsite anatomy learning experience during the mandated COVID-19 lockdown. First, using nominal-group technique, we identified the DL learning theories to be employed in blueprinting the DL-framework. Effectiveness of the designed DL-framework in anatomy teaching was demonstrated using the exemplar of the Head and Neck (H&N) course during COVID-19 lockdown, in the pre-clerkship curriculum at our medical school. The dissemination of the DL-framework in the anatomy course was informed by the Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) model. The efficiency of the DL-framework was evaluated using the first two levels of Kirkpatrick's model. Versatility of the DL-framework was demonstrated by aligning its precepts with individual domains of key learning outcomes framework. The framework's blueprint was designed amalgamating principles of: Garrison's community inquiry, Siemens' connectivism and Harasim's online-collaborative-learning; and improved using Anderson's DL-model. Following the implementation of the DL-framework in the H&N course informed by ADDIE, the framework's efficiency was evaluated. In total, 70% students responded to the survey assessing perception toward DL (Kirkpatrick's Level: 1). Descriptive analysis of the survey results showed that the DL-framework was positively received by students and attested that students had an enriched learning experience, which promoted collaborative-learning and student-autonomy. For, Kirkpatrick's Level: 2 i.e., cognitive development, we compared the summative assessment performance in the H&N course across three cohort of students. The results show that the scores of the cohort, which experienced the course entirely through DL modality was statistically higher (P < 0.01) than both the other cohorts, indicating that shift to DL did not have an adverse effect on students' learning. Using Bourdieu's Theory of Practice, we showed that the DL-framework is an efficient pedagogical approach, pertinent for medical schools to adopt; and is versatile as it attests to the key domains of students' learning outcomes in the different learning outcomes framework. To our knowledge this is the first-study of its kind where a rationale and theory-guided approach has been availed not only to blueprint a DL framework, but also to implement it in the MBBS curriculum.

EVOLUTION IN THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR DISTANCE LEARNING IN A PANDEMIC ENVIRONMENT - THE EXPERIENCE OF BULGARIA

In higher education, students and doctoral students are a key factor in testing and developing innovative research methods and pedagogical techniques. Their focus is on the present and future of educational technology in its historical variation from face-to-face learning, through distance learning (d-learning), e-learning (e-learning), mobile learning (m-learning) and u-learning (u-learning). The full-time form, the part-time form and the distance learning form are imposed as forms of education in the European Higher Education Area. Distance learning is inherently one of the most attractive forms of higher education. Its technological richness and the absence of a direct need to leave the workplace or place of residence provide an increasing opportunity for its use by managers, professionals, and "lifelong learners". This calls for a national regulation of distance learning in higher education. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the Bulgarian experience in the national regulation of distance learning in higher education from the first national ordinance enforced in 2004 and the new Cvid-19 in medias ordinance from 2021. In 2004, distance learning was defined as an organization of the learning process in which the student and the teacher are separated in terms of their location, but not necessarily in terms of time, as the distance created is compensated by technological means. The Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the current trends in digital technology, combined with strategic documents at national and European level, logically necessitate an update of the regulatory framework for distance learning in the EU member states and in particular in the Republic of Bulgaria. Based on one-year discussions within a working group of representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, the National Centre for Distance Learning and leading universities in terms of experience and technology, a new Ordinance on state requirements for organizing distance learning in of higher education has been developed and adopted in 2021. The ordinance is also coordinated with the National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation. The role of the agency is to assess the distance form of education in two stages - assessing the level of the environment in the respective higher school and assessing the opportunities for conducting distance learning in a specific professional field or specialty of the regulated professions. The new ordinance published in the State Gazette in March 2021 (in force since September 1, 2021) provides a new definition of the distance-learning form of higher education, which is specified in three separate paragraphs. It is defined that “a form of higher education in which students, teachers and administrators can be separated by location, but not necessarily by time, as the distance created is compensated by technologies, methods and means of e-learning”. The role of digital technologies has been introduced - "Distance learning is realized through digital technologies for managing the learning process, based on a system of different type, location and time of use of human, material and information activities and resources." The process approach is integrated in teaching - "To compensate for the distance, the higher schools model the respective educational and administrative activities as information processes and implement them through information and communication technologies." In addition to award higher education degrees, higher education institutions are allowed to organize distance learning and to improve the qualification of specialists with higher education, as well as for continuing and additional professional training. In view of the degree of information and technological provision in the implementation of distance learning, the environment for its implementation is classified into four levels. They are bound by the right to conduct training for the acquisition of the relevant degrees of higher education. The possibility for remote conducting of semester and final state examinations and videoconference defence of diploma theses is regulated. As a result of the new regulation, a triple positive effect was achieved. Students improve their digital skills for working in an electronic environment. It has a positive effect on teachers as qualification and skills for work through the means of e-learning, lecture courses are digitalized. Higher education institutions implement simultaneously the government policy for increasing the quality of education. Finally, the national information and educational infrastructure is being improved, which helps to connect them in European and global networks for higher education. The main conclusion of the study is that the Covid-19 and the new regulation of distance learning pushed forward all Bulgarian universities on the road of fast digitalization and introduction of the most advanced e-learning technologies.

Towards a Robust Visual Place Recognition in Large-Scale vSLAM Scenarios Based on a Deep Distance Learning.

The application of deep learning is blooming in the field of visual place recognition, which plays a critical role in visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (vSLAM) applications. The use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) achieve better performance than handcrafted feature descriptors. However, visual place recognition is still a challenging task due to two major problems, i.e., perceptual aliasing and perceptual variability. Therefore, designing a customized distance learning method to express the intrinsic distance constraints in the large-scale vSLAM scenarios is of great importance. Traditional deep distance learning methods usually use the triplet loss which requires the mining of anchor images. This may, however, result in very tedious inefficient training and anomalous distance relationships. In this paper, a novel deep distance learning framework for visual place recognition is proposed. Through in-depth analysis of the multiple constraints of the distance relationship in the visual place recognition problem, the multi-constraint loss function is proposed to optimize the distance constraint relationships in the Euclidean space. The new framework can support any kind of CNN such as AlexNet, VGGNet and other user-defined networks to extract more distinguishing features. We have compared the results with the traditional deep distance learning method, and the results show that the proposed method can improve the performance by 19–28%. Additionally, compared to some contemporary visual place recognition techniques, the proposed method can improve the performance by 40%/36% and 27%/24% in average on VGGNet/AlexNet using the New College and the TUM datasets, respectively. It’s verified the method is capable to handle appearance changes in complex environments.

Організація освітнього процесу в закладах вищої освіти в умовах пандемії

The organization of the educational process in higher education institutions in a pandemic is analyzed. It is focused on the relevance of using distance learning. It operates on the basis of modern psychological, pedagogical and information and communication technologies. Based on the researches of scientific and pedagogical sources, global and national trends in the development of distance education in Ukraine are named according to certain features. Global trends include globalization, integration, internationalization, informatization. National trends identify the renewal of regulatory and legislative support for distance education, regulatory policy for the provision of distance learning and educational services and practices for ensuring their quality. Attention is drawn to the problem of teachers’ digital competencies development, finding ways to form and develop the readiness of teaching staff in the field of adult education to carry out professional activities in terms of distance learning. The analysis of normative documents regulating distance learning is carried out. The results of the Polish-Ukrainian study on “Students in the terms of the COVID-19ˮ, organized by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Pedagogical University to determine the features of distance learning in the terms of COVID-19 pandemic is described. The study covered 412 various specialties students of the Faculty of Pedagogical Education. The survey reflected the issue of distance learning assessment and the tools used by teachers. It was found that the most teaching staff used Zoom, Viber and the MOODLE platform, which meets all the basic criteria for e-learning systems. During the quarantine period, the University administration created all the conditions for the use of this platform. It is concluded that it is necessary to update the legal framework for distance learning, to adapt practical and seminar classes to the conditions of online learning, to increase the level of digital literacy and readiness teaching staff to use distance technology, to provide scientific and methodological support for the educational process in terms of distance learning. Keywords: distance learning, pandemic, digital literacy, technological competence, Internet technologies.

Evolution in the Regulatory Framework for Distance Learning in a Pandemic Environment - The Experience of Bulgaria

Evolution in the Regulatory Framework for Distance Learning in a Pandemic Environment - The Experience of Bulgaria

Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Distance Learning Framework to Expedite Medical Education during COVID-19 pandemic: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has forced medical schools to suspend on-campus live-sessions and shift to distance-learning (DL). This precipitous shift presented medical educators with a challenge, ‘to create a “simulacrum” of the learning environment that students experience in classroom, in DL’. This requires the design of an adaptable and versatile DL-framework bearing in mind the theoretical underpinnings associated with DL. Additionally, effectiveness of such a DL-framework in content-delivery followed by its evaluation at the user-level, and in cognitive development needs to be pursued such that medical educators can be convinced to effectively adopt the framework in a competency-based medical programme.Main:In this study, we define a DL-framework that provides a ‘simulacrum’ of classroom experience. The framework’s blueprint was designed amalgamating principles of: Garrison’s community inquiry, Siemens’ connectivism and Harasim’s online-collaborative-learning; and improved using Anderson’s DL-model. Effectiveness of the DL-framework in course delivery was demonstrated using the exemplar of fundamentals in epidemiology and biostatistics (FEB) course during COVID-19 lockdown. Virtual live-sessions integrated in the framework employed a blended-approach informed by instructional-design strategies of Gagne and Peyton. The efficiency of the framework was evaluated using first 2 levels of Kirkpatrick’s framework. Of 60 students, 51 (85%) responded to the survey assessing perception towards DL (Kirkpatrick’s Level 1). The survey-items, validated using exploratory factor analysis, were classified into 4-categories: computer expertise; DL-flexibility; DL-usefulness; and DL-satisfaction. The overall perception for the 4 categories, highlighted respondents’ overall satisfaction with the framework. Scores for specific survey-items attested that the framework promoted collaborative-learning and student-autonomy. For, Kirkpatrick’s Level 2 that is, cognitive-development, performance in FEB’s summative-assessment of students experiencing DL was compared with students taught using traditional methods. Similar, mean-scores for both groups indicated that shift to DL didn’t have an adverse effect on students’ learning.Conclusion:In conclusion, we present here the design, implementation and evaluation of a DL-framework, which is an efficient pedagogical approach, pertinent for medical schools to adopt (elaborated using Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice) to address students’ learning trajectories during unprecedented times such as that during the COVID-19 pandemia.

NARRATIVE METHOD IN PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS

The article is focused on analysis of existing understanding of narrative method of teaching by modern scholars, as well as the specific ways and goals of its application in their everyday practice. Particular consideration is given to exploration of narratives in social work education in higher education settings. Detailed description and in-depth analysis is provided on the use of narratives in teaching social work Bachelor program courses at the School of Social Work of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. An analysis is provided for the content of topics of studies where such narratives are used like life history, oral narratives etc. The presented specific cases of narrative use cover the following issues: students’ creating and telling the narrative on behalf of the imagined character with the relevant characteristics; using visualization (photos), based on which the narrative is created; creating and delivering the future narrative by participation of the other character; understanding the history narrative; analysis and interpretation of narratives collected by the use of oral narrative or life story. It is claimed that using the narrative promotes students’ activization, empowers them for the project work, enables their gaining new experience and experiential learning. Moreover, developing and telling the narratives enhances students’ intense communication and creativity as well as their engagement into the education process which is of high importance within the distance learning framework. The narrative is of high value for the social work education and training as this approach ensures developing capacity to listen to the clients’ stories, to analyze and to understand their life stories, to assist in changing clients’ lives by using success stories.

Management of English Language Learning Process for Children and Adolescent through Distance Learning Program at Homeschooling

The research aimed to illustrate how distance learning programs can be organized or administered at "Primagama Course Place" in Makassar. This study combined qualitative development with the design of the case study. For this study, the writer has used several measures to collect data: interviews, observations, and documents. With the credibility, transferability, reliability, and confirming ability the validity of the information was checked. The final results of the study indicated that the students were planning the online classes, learning sources, information technology, and developing the curriculum. The most recent study findings showed that online preparation was developed, sources were studied, information technology and curriculums design were developed; students were able to understand the online programs and other books through their IT; distance learning framework was introduced by the day-to-day newspaper and parent control; programs evaluated.

Allocation of Tutors and Study Centers in Distance Learning Using Geospatial Technologies

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is Pakistan’s largest distance learning institute, providing education to 1.4 million students. This is a fairly large setup across a country where students are highly geographically distributed. Currently, the system works using a manual approach, which is not efficient. Allocation of tutors and study centers to students plays a key role in creating a better learning environment for distance learning. Assigning tutors and study centers to distance learning students is a challenging task when there is a huge geographic spread. Using geospatial technologies in open and distance learning can fix allocation problems. This research analyzes real data from the twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The results show that geospatial technologies can be used for efficient and proper resource utilization and allocation, which in turn can save time and money. The overall idea fits into an improved distance learning framework and related analytics.

UDLF

The Unsupervised Distance Learning Framework (UDLF) [1] is a software developed to facilitate the general use and evaluation of novel unsupervised learning methods. These methods aim at post-processing the ranking information for different tasks, being especially useful for multimedia retrieval. The major advantage of UDLF is that it provides a unified and extensive model for implementing different unsupervised methods. Any execution or experiment can be easily conducted by setting a configuration file, no recompilation is required. To evaluate the retrieval results, the framework computes different effectiveness and efficiency measures and it allows for exporting visual output results to external files. UDLF is written in C++, works out of the box, does not require external libraries, and is compatible with different operating systems including Linux, MacOS, and Windows. The source code is publicly available on GitHub under the terms of the GPLv2 license.

Exploratory study of academic excellence associated with persistence in ODL setting

Purpose This study observes that academic excellence associated with satisfaction leads to persistence, loyalty and future careers as perceived by students in an open distance learning framework. The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the influences of academic excellence as the origin of satisfaction, and how and in which routines those associated factors were interconnected. Design/methodology/approach The inquiry employed the mixed-methods (exploratory design) approach. It was qualitatively identified first that academic excellence included student orientation, academic counseling, learning materials, tutorial supports, evaluation systems, feedback mechanisms and referral schemes. These seven factors had repercussions on students’ persistence, loyalty and future careers. Quantitatively, seven factors of academic excellence and the latter are independent and dependent variables, respectively. Respondents were randomly selected to accumulate data through a survey from the overseas students of Universitas Terbuka Indonesia. Importance-performance analysis and customer-satisfaction index were concurrently applied to measure the excellence level and its importance degree. Ten hypotheses were established and then examined using structural equation modeling to encapsulate the interrelations intensity among the engaged factors. Findings Eight out of ten hypotheses were statistically validated by the analysis excluding tutorial supports and feedback mechanisms factors. It was inferred that evaluation systems were the most critical factor and orderly followed by referral schemes, academic counseling, learning materials and student orientation. Academic excellence had an impact on persistence and loyalty, followed by career advancement. Originality/value The study identified minor disparity of qualitative and quantitative results. Further query with wider perspectives was needed by also enlarging the sample to minimize the gaps.

Making the best of what we have: Lifelong distance e-learning revitalizing small remote schools

This paper presents the design and initial implementation of an ICT-based distance learning framework that exploits current trends in distance learning, in particular e-learning tools and features that are collectively known as “Web 2.0 tools” (e.g., blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasting). The project involves people who live in remote areas and aims for the mutual interaction, creation, share and reuse of information in order to provide useful lifelong education towards shaping the local mentality of the remote community from that of an overlooked inhabitant of a forgotten region to a European citizen, at the same time respecting linguistic and cultural diversities.

Learning needs analysis of collaborative e-classes in semi-formal settings: The REVIT example

&lt;p&gt;Analysis, the first phase of the typical instructional design process, is often downplayed. This paper focuses on the analysis concerning a series of e-courses for collaborative adult education in semi-formal settings by reporting and generalizing results from the REVIT project. REVIT, an EU-funded research project, offered custom e-courses to learners in several remote European areas and received a ‘best practice’ distinction in social inclusion. These e-courses were designed and developed for the purpose of providing training in aspects of the learners’ professional domains related to the utilization of information and communication technologies. The main challenge was to prove that it is possible and economically feasible to provide meaningful training opportunities via distance education, by utilizing existing infrastructure (“revitalizing schools”) and by making use of modern digital technology affordances coupled with suitable distance learning techniques and Web 2.0 tools. ADDIE, the generic instructional systems design model, enhanced with a rapid prototyping phase, was put forth in order to allow stakeholders to interact with a prototypical e-course, which served as an introductory lesson and as a reference point, since its evaluation informed the design choices of all subsequent e-courses. The learning needs approach adopted in REVIT combined learner analysis, context analysis, and needs analysis into a coherent analysis framework in which several methods (observation, estimation, document analysis, survey, and dialogue) were exploited. Putting emphasis on the analysis phase and decoupling the design from the delivery of the e-courses facilitated adaptation and localization. Adaptation and localization issues concerning the adoption of the REVIT distance learning framework, taking into account the socio-cultural and pedagogical context, are discussed. A central result reported is that the analysis phase was crucial for the success of the whole endeavour and that carrying it out properly is not straightforward or easy. The analysis framework presented in this paper could be useful in other similar e-learning situations whose “educational-identity” also involves distance and adult learning in a semi-formal setting.&lt;/p&gt;

Rethinking Continuing Professional Teacher Development within the Open Distance Learning Framework

Rethinking Continuing Professional Teacher Development within the Open Distance Learning Framework

From Context to Distance

Clustering data described by categorical attributes is a challenging task in data mining applications. Unlike numerical attributes, it is difficult to define a distance between pairs of values of a categorical attribute, since the values are not ordered. In this article, we propose a framework to learn a context-based distance for categorical attributes. The key intuition of this work is that the distance between two values of a categorical attribute A i can be determined by the way in which the values of the other attributes A j are distributed in the dataset objects: if they are similarly distributed in the groups of objects in correspondence of the distinct values of A i a low value of distance is obtained. We propose also a solution to the critical point of the choice of the attributes A j . We validate our approach by embedding our distance learning framework in a hierarchical clustering algorithm. We applied it on various real world and synthetic datasets, both low and high-dimensional. Experimental results show that our method is competitive with respect to the state of the art of categorical data clustering approaches. We also show that our approach is scalable and has a low impact on the overall computational time of a clustering task.

A systems framework for distance learning in engineering graduate programs

AbstractDistance learning (DL) is undergoing a rapid growth in academia, business, industry, and the military. Recent technological developments in computer‐based training, along with shrinking internal resources, and rising industry interest in sustainable workforce development, provide a strong impetus for DL investments. Due to the multiplicity of efforts involved in planning and executing a DL program, it is imperative that organizations view this nontraditional mode of knowledge transfer from a systems perspective. This paper presents a coordination‐centric systems framework for implementing a DL program using the SIMILAR systems engineering process. The paper also suggests linking SIMILAR to two complementary models, Triple C and D‐E‐J‐I, to enhance the overall systems approach. Implementing DL from a systems view aids in identifying the interrelating components, resource interfaces, and improvements needed in techniques used to deliver educational material at a distance. The proposed framework is effective in assisting DL instructors, students, administrators, and other stakeholders to improve the learning environment and manage the complex interaction of people, technology, and instructional processes. Because of its large and diverse operational base, the military is embracing DL programs aggressively. An example is presented of the DL program for graduate systems engineering program at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng