Well
in this essay I will talk about the different ways that exist to give support
and help to a distance course’ student. In this era where technology is
consuming the world, the use of distance courses is a new concept that improves
the autonomy in the students that take this kind of classes; but sometimes the
learner will feel, and I include myself in this, that he is does not learning
because he is not having enough support or help by the teacher and he starts to
feel disappointed about the distance class.
The
student usually is a person that cannot assist to a classroom but has the
decision to continue learning but has not the possibilities or the time to do
it, so distance class is the perfect option to that kind of people. The distance
classes are specially design to the needs of their students, a lot of universities
(Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca (UTM),
Universidad Interactiva y a Distancia del E. de Guanajuato (UNIDEG), Universidad
Virtual del Estado de Guanajuato (UVEG), Universidad de Guadalajara
(UDGVIRTUAL), Universidad Veracruzana Virtual (UV), Universidad Michoacana de
San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMICH), Universidad Autónoma de la Laguna (UAL), Universidad
Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEMOR), Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro
(UAQ), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN).) are creating virtual careers, which are careers in
a distance way, to make the people that are working or they will feel unconformable
by being on a classroom because of they think are old in comparison with the
young students that are on the universities.
All
of this looks nice but sometimes a series of difficult can be presented to the
students such like the network falls, the light goes out, there is no signal to
access, for mention some ones. These are problems that can affect the learner
to access to the virtual classroom, and also the interest could fell.
In
my opinion, I consider from the text three more important aspects where the
communication between student and teacher is more frequent:
1.
Interactivity
and Distance Teaching: Traditional distance-learning systems have been designed
around the learning isolate, an individual learner who generally works by him-
or herself and has communication links with his or her tutor through the postal
and telephone systems (and, more recently, through fax machines). A typical
isolated learner has few, if any, communication links with other learners.
Early exponents of distance education, such as the UK Open University, soon realized
the importance of tutor-student and student-student interaction in the
educational process and, being aware this element was lacking in their first
distance courses, instituted local and regional study center systems to provide
the facility for these interactions to take place. (Howard, 1995)
2.
The
Berlitz `English for Banking' Course: The Berlitz School of Languages has
traditionally provided language courses for specific employment sectors.
Berlitz courses are delivered `in context'. The School does not provide a
generic course in English, but relates the language syllabus to the students'
working environment. Thus Berlitz has developed a number of English language
courses for different market sectors, such as banking and telecommunications. [1]
3.
Interactive
Multimedia Systems: Full interactive multimedia systems such as the Multimedia
Teleschool are expensive to establish and run. Direct broadcast by satellite
requires the use of costly television studios and the rental of time on
satellites in addition to the range of terrestrial networks. Effective
implementation of such systems currently is best carried out by consortia of organizations
where expertise is spread throughout the group and large numbers of students
can offset the high cost of delivery.
I think that some other
solutions to the communication problem could be video-conference, in this
process the teacher and student can be speak using the web cam and with this
they are in contact and the help can be easier.
Other possible solution
could be the remote control applications, these are programs that gives access
to the teacher to enter your computer and navigate on your data, is a very useful
tool but has a very dangerous con, when you give access to the other person he
can see all your information, so it can be like violation of privacy.
Finally I proposed a
creative way to be on contact could be the Skype calls or maybe the apps that
can facility the conversation teacher-student.
In conclusion, I think
that the ways and the methods that give and improve the communication exist but
the expansion and motivation to use it are an intrinsic process that the
students need to do by themselves.
Dear Camilo,
RispondiEliminaThank you for sharing your information. I agree that alienation is a huge drop-out igniter. The lack of interaction between teacher and students may drive learners insane. Luckily, there are many ways in which teachers can interact with students. Facebook, video chat, email, and phone, are some technological platforms that could be use to maintain that aspect alive. Once again, thank you very much for your contribution.
Attentively,
José Luis Marín Jiménez
PD. I like the fact that your blog is in Italian, do you have any idea how learners in Italy are doing in regards of distance education?
well thanks by your comment in response to the question about Italy the distance education is apply on the economic sciences in other areas isn't apply.
EliminaGood job!
RispondiEliminaIr true what you mention that are many tools to communicate, the only problem is that the students do not use it. For that reason as teacher we must facilitate those tools and motivate them.
exactly but as one teacher told me some times the motivation is personal but we as teachers need to stimulate that motivation
EliminaWell, I'd like to begin by saying that sometimes, when having distance classes, I have felt the same way... like I´m not learning anything. But at the end, I results that in fact I learned something, even though I didn´t realize it during the process.
RispondiEliminaI liked the solution you proposed, about having video conferences. It is a very good way to be in touch even in the distance.
Regards!
Very good job! We agree in many ideas. I think you are right when you talk about many way to comunicate students but we do not use them all the time. I like your solutions but I believe that in order to make them work both teacher and student must be willing to give a part.
RispondiEliminaThe cooperation between teacher and student is the most important thing in this types of courses
RispondiElimina