Issues and Ideas in Education
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Physical Learning Environment and Inmates Participation in Post Literacy Project in Government Prisons in Kenya
Full text linkAdult illiteracy remains a worldwide phenomenon in spite of numerous efforts being made by the government, church, community-based and non-governmental organizations. The phenomena surrounding adult illiteracy is fundamentally an abuse of human rights since, it deprives the adult their psychological, social and physical provisions. It is against this background that research was conducted in the Nairobi government prisons (GK prisons) to establish the extent to which physical learning environment influences the participation of inmates in the post-literacy adult classes. Survey and naturalistic designs were employed. Probability sampling procedures were employed to select three adult education officers, six prison welfare officers, 32 teachers and 96 learners (prisoners) and one adult education teacher. To obtain the information from the respondent, questionnaires, interview guide, observation schedule and document analysis were used. Data was collected and summarized into frequencies, percentages, graphs, cross tabulations, charts and narrative reports. The null hypotheses were tested using independent samples t-test and One-way ANOVA. The findings of the study revealed that effective participation in post-literacy project in prisons has been hindered by lack of qualified adult education teachers, lack of facilities and teaching and learning materials
Marching Towards Access and Equity in Higher Education – An Exploration of Infinite Possibilities of MOOC
Full text linkMOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a relatively recent online learning model with infinite possibilities of offering freedom for access to higher education. The MOOC design depicts a future of openness in higher education. The evolution of MOOC based on the ideals that knowledge should be shared freely, and the urge to learn should be met without demographic, economic, and geographical constraints. In this framework, creative use of technologies makes a wide variety of open education provision. Along the movement towards open education, this new scenario opens up spaces for sharing thoughts, collaborating between institutions, educators and learners locally and internationally, and for expediting more meaningful teaching and learning process. In order to raise awareness of MOOCs and their implications for Higher Education sector in India, this paper synthesises features and characteristics of MOOCs and describes their potential as an innovation towards greater openness in Higher Education. Also, the paper tries to discuss possibilities and challenges to integrate MOOCs into higher education system of India
Efficacy of Innovative Learning Engagement Modes
Full text linkChange is an indispensible part of an organization. Change always brings modifications and alterations, which leads to innovations. Classroom pedagogy is not an exception in this. This research is an attempt in the direction to comprehend and make innovations in classroom learning. The paper focuses on the measuring the effectiveness of implemented innovative learning engagement modes in a regular classroom practices. The action research was carried out for this purpose. Sample includes the B.Sc. B.Ed. students of Navrachan University, Vadodara. Mainly, role play, interview, personal diary writing and analysis, bulletin board presentations, peer tutoring and mentoring were the learning engagement modes. The open ended questionnaire was constituted in order to collect the data. Content analysis was done to arrive at the findings and conclusion. The positive impact of the implemented methodologies has been observed form the findings. Findings also support the regular usage of these types of learning engagement modes in regular classroom practices
Child -Centered Teaching: Facilitators’ Perceptions and Practices in Nepalese Early Childhood Development (ECD) Center
Full text linkIt is a blunder if students are regarded as empty vessels to be filled by the teacher. But we find most of the schools in Nepal; the classes are generally conducted in very primitive and traditional manner in the name of maintaining discipline (Gharti, 2006). The present study sheds some spotlight on the facilitators’ perceptions and practices of child- centered teaching in the context of Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers in Nepal. The study was based on qualitative approach and used the case study method. The result showed that the majority of facilitators have positive perception towards teaching profession and used child- centered teaching methods. Most of them reported the unavailability of teaching materials and low monthly pay
Noble Ideas of Swami Vivekananda on Education and in globle Intentions of Lord Macaulay: a Critical Review on School Education in India
Full text linkEducation without character, politics without principles, commerce without morality, Science without humanity, religion without love, culture without unity, administration without justice, knowledge without applications, patriotism without sacrifice are not only useless but positively dangerous so says Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Today’s education in our country has produced more educated person without having in-depth idea of education & mechanised humans without having traits of humanity. It appears that our country is passing through a phase of serious apolitical crisis called value crisis. Everywhere there is a shadow of missing spirit of life as if the true aim of human being is to make wealth effortlessly, swiftly without any hurdle and enjoy a comfortable living standard without adhering to the very basic philosophy of life. Bharat so called India is loosing its cultural supremacy and spiritual diversity in global arena. The paper explores the philosophy of education that was given by Swami Vivekananda. Also it highlights growth and development of school education system of India since Independence and visible loop holes in education system like excessive reliance on recall & memorization process in school education prescribed by British Education system. Further the author advocates vociferously for Revitalizing Teacher Education System , Infusion of Spiritual Element in Curriculum & greater Emphasis on Value Education ,Promotion of Indian Culture , Strong Community Participation in education & integration of Element of Service in Curriculum etc. Deep earnestness, sincerity by stakeholders of education for one of our vital national problem in a new light is the need of the day
Education: An Instrument to Enhance Women Empowerment and Inclusive Growth
Full text linkEducation provides a basis for a positive change and transformation of the society. This exposes new and innovative thoughts, understanding and important skills in a person towards developing self and surroundings. Education empowers women to understand the economics of managing resources and grab the opportunities for value generation in a micro (household) and macro (societal) level. The topic exhibits about the necessity of women education and benefits thereto in the process of competitiveness of a society and a nation at large. Researchers say that educating a woman means educating a family. More empowered the women are; more empowered would be the society. Educated women have multiple advantages (tangible and intangible) as far as families’ and social needs are concerned. They play various roles as a responsible citizens, housewives, mothers etc. and also as contributors to families’ income. Women accounts for half of the human resource. Despite various awareness programmes, regulations worldwide on gender equality and women empowerment, the situation is not good. According to United Nations Development Programme, two thirds of global illiterate population is women. 7 out of 10 women are reported experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, says UN Women. Women earn only 10 % of all the income, only 1% of the property and yet produce half of the world’s food. Irrespective of class, culture or income, women are discriminated all over. The situation in developing and undeveloped countries is worse. According to a global poll by Thomson Reuters, India is said to be the 4th most dangerous country in the world. India needs to do a lot as far as security, freedom, economic empowerment etc. are concerned. Education can play a crucial role in enhancing their social status and empower them to stand against the discrimination. This is a tool to encourage them to attain self reliance and gives them power to fight against the evils
Empowering Teachers to Implement CCE in Classroom: ODL Initiatives
Full text linkContinuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is a major focus of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) – 2005. Along with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at the Central level, many State secondary education boards have implemented CCE at elementary and secondary levels in last few years. In-service teachers, practicing the traditional mode of assessment are yet to come to terms with the CCE. They are facing problems not only with the process but also with the terms (or jargons used in CCE documents). Teachers have been facing problems with the effective implementation of CCE. Many times, parents also have complained that CCE has just replaced the trimester examination with unit tests. Reality is that due to lack of proper orientation, teachers are not able to do justice with CCE processes. To facilitate practicing teachers across the country, Distance Education Programme - Sarve Shiksha Abhiyan (DEP-SSA), a national project of the Ministry of Human Recourse Development, Government of India at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) initiated workshop mode orientation of practicing teachers all around the country. DEP-SSA practiced a unique technology blended workshop model to prepare master trainers at elementary level among various states. Present paper presents a critique of the model of workshop, way of orientation and efforts made to ensure quality and uniformity of training content in this training model. Researcher being a participant in planning and implementation of the experiment, analyzed the whole experiment. It is found that with millions of teacher practicing in school without proper orientation and training, it is not possible to achieve the goals behind implementation of CCE. As the Right to Education Act also provides certain guidelines for the evaluation process to be in holistic perspective, CCE has to play a crucial role. Experiments like one of the DEP-SSA are opening new ways to orient the teacher at their workplace. We can adopt such experiments and adopt them as per local needs and settings to enrich our practicing teachers as onus of successful implementation of CCE lies on their shoulders. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is a major focus of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) – 2005. Along with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at the Central level, many State secondary education boards have implemented CCE at elementary and secondary levels in last few years. The introduction of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is considered as one of the major steps towards improving and strengthening the quality of learner evaluation. Continuous evaluation is an approach that would capture the full range of learners’ performance (Kothari and Thomas, 2012). CCE refers to a school based evaluation, which covers all aspects of school activities related to child’s development. It emphasizes two fold objectives such as continuity of evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes in a comprehensive manner. It covers all the domains of learning i.e. cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. It treats evaluation as a developmental process. Evaluation in the cognitive domain is associated with the evaluation of cognitive abilities such as knowledge, understanding, application, etc. Evaluation in the affective domain means evaluation of attributes such as attitudes, motives, interests, and other personality traits. Evaluation in the psychomotor domain involves assessing learners’ skills to use their hands (e.g. in handwriting, construction and projects). In CCE, student’s performance in both scholastic and co-scholastic areas is assessed. CCE aims to reduce the curricular workload on students and to improve the overall abilities and skills of students by means of evaluation of students’ performance in various types of activities. Teachers have been following the traditional mode of evaluation and they believe in that system because they were trained to do so and they have successfully practiced it since they started teaching. Proper re-training of teachers is needed. In the changed scenario, a teacher ought to maintain a number of records like child’s portfolios, anecdotal records, prepare checklists, rubrics for assessment. Practicing modes and modalities of CCE is a challenge before traditional teachers. More workshops have to be conducted at State levels and care has to be taken that all teachers undergo thorough training before they start implementing CCE in their classrooms (Kothari and Thomas, 2012). It is absolutely essential that teachers need to be provided with orientation about the CCE scheme incorporating both the scholastic and co-scholastic areas of learners’ growth. (Saxena and Namdeo, 2012) Many times, parents also have complained that CCE has just replaced the trimester examination with unit tests. Gohain (2011) reported that according to a survey conducted by National Association of School Principals, 62% of the parents felt that CCE is not a better system. Reality is that due to lack of proper orientation, teachers are not able to do justice with CCE practices. It has been realized that a sincere effort for training of teachers is required
Gender Related Effects of Co-Operative Learning Strategies (Stad And Tai) on Mathematics Achievement
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to determine how the adoption of cooperative learning as an instructional strategy for teaching mathematics influences students’ achievement. The study also determined how moderating variables like gender affect students’ achievement in mathematics when cooperative learning is used as an instructional strategy. so, the investigators aimed at studying the effect of co-operative learning strategies i.e. team assisted individualisation (TAI) and student teams achievement division (STAD) on the mathematics achievement among ninth graders in relation to gender. This is an experimental study with 3x2 factorial designs. Students of ninth standard of the schools affiliated to Haryana Board in Rohtak city constituted the population of the study. 144 students of ninth standard ( 74 boys and 70 girls ) selected through multi-stage random sampling technique were taken as a sample for the study out of which 52 students taught through TAI formed experimental group-1 (E1 ); 46 students taught through STAD formed experimental group-2(E2) and 46 students taught through conventional method of teaching formed control group(C ). Sample of the students were also equated on the basis of socio-economic status and achievement in the subject concerned. Achievement test in mathematics developed and standardized by the investigators was used to assess the achievement of the subjects. Lesson plans, worksheets, check-outs and formative tests were developed for both the strategies TAI and STAD separately to carry out the teaching and learning process in all the three groups for ten weeks only. At the end of the experiment, achievement test in mathematics was given to the subjects. Data were analyzed by using ANOVA and t-test to determine the performance by comparing the mean scores of all the groups. Data analysis revealed that boys and girls students taught through co-operative learning strategies TAI and STAD outscored significantly the control group on post-test showing the obvious supremacy of co-operative learning over conventional method of teaching. Hence, the ultimate result of the study indicated that co-operative learning was found more effective instructional paradigm for mathematics as compared to conventional method of teaching
Corporate Sector Participation: Much Needed Elixir of Life to Indian Higher Education System
Full text linkHigher education sector is one of the major drivers in uplifting the Indian economy, but with striking challenges. Traditional ways of imparting education, poor governance and lack of finance are all responsible for the dismal scene showcasing low GER, absence of India from the list of countries having world’s best institutions and sufferings of Indian students searching for quality education abroad. The three needs -Competitive, Protective and Protractile- calls for professional governance of educational institutions and investment there in by corporate sector. New Companies Bill 2012 also proposes compulsory contribution by corporate sector for CSR activities. If companies contribute to the area of education by Five-way corporate participation model suggested in this paper, higher education of India can be elevated
Effect of Mnemonic Techniques on Learning Acquisition in Relation to Cognitive Styles and Self Concept
Full text linkThe study was conducted on the sample of 500 students of Secondary School Students, as per the requirements of 3 * 2 * 2 factorial design in which the independent variables of Mnemonic Techniques (M), Cognitive Styles (C) and Self Concept (S) were studied. Learning Acquisition on some concepts of Social Studies was taken as dependent variable. There were three levels of Mnemonic Techniques and two levels each of the variables of Cognitive Styles and Self Concept. The study was experimental in nature in which Mnemonic Techniques were studied with Illustrations (M1), without Illustrations (M2) and the third group consisted of the control group (Mo). The results showed that F ratios were significant for the main effects of Mnemonic Techniques, Cognitive Styles and Self Concept as also for the double interaction effects of M*C, C*S and M*S. However, the triple interaction effect of M * C * S was not significant even at .05 level of confidence