To contact us Click
HERE
I was fortunate enough to attend a talk about distance education by Dr. Robert Barmucci, District Dean, Open Campus, Riverside Community College District. He immediately came across to me as the “Dr. Phil of Distance Education,” by providing a humorous, yet intuitive discussion about distance education. And he admits that distance education today is almost synonymous with online education even though in theory it can take several different forms.
The following information was presented by Dr. Barmucci during his talk:
Distance education is growing at a rate of 20-25% compared to 4-5% for traditional education. Further, for-profit education is growing at a faster rate than public education.
Failed educational technology in the past has led to skepticism among some educators about online education. Even so, distance education dates back to 1840 with the first correspondence course in shorthand. Thus, distance education has been around in some form for more than a century and a half. However, the recent growth in distance education can largely be attributed to the internet, which has allowed for the restructuring of technology and its use.
Research has consistently demonstrated that there are no significant differences between online and traditional classes. Dr. Barmucci presented a meta-analytic review of 70 studies to support this claim. His presentation mirrors much of the research presented at this year’s annual American Psychological Association Conference that I attended in New Orleans. Dr. Barmucci also indicated that satisfaction tends to be high among distance education students and many cite the flexibility that such education offers as one of the reasons for taking an online class. As a result, distance education is much more “consumer friendly” than traditional education.
Distance education is still in a mostly primitive form as online classes have only existed for 10 years, versus 700 or more years for traditional education. Online education also requires greater skills for both the student and the educator. For the educator, he or she must not only be the content creator, but media expert among a list of numerous or skills required for effective online presentation of information. In addition, not everything that works in the classroom works equally well online, resulting in the need to create or at least modify current teaching methods.
Trends in Distance Education
1. The Future Is Mobile
This is largely the consequence of technology which is beginning to integrate numerous devices into a single unit.
Time/Place shifting is becoming common, especially among the iPod and Tivo users who have become accustomed to having the content they want when and where they want it.
2. The Future Is Interactive
The computer game business is larger than the movie business, or for professional sports for that matter.
Part of the success of games is that they allow players to make choices in how they want to proceed. The same might be true fro online classes in the future. As a result, courses can be customized to the individual student.
3. The Future Is Integrated
There will likely be an unbundling of courses with courses designed, developed, and/or taught by teams.
4. Categories Will Blur
The distinction between traditional and distance education courses will become harder to distinguish.
This is especially true as more and more faculty are teaching traditional courses that are “Blackboard-Enhanced.”
ConclusionThere is world-wide potential to distance education as your student base is no longer limited to a specific geographic region. In Africa, for instance, more than 125 million children have no access to education. Further, AIDS is killing teachers faster than they can be trained.
Dr. Barmucci concluded by stating, “The hope for distance education is to rehumanize education, not to dehumanize it.” Essentially, he was referring to the fact that larger classrooms have led to a greater disconnect between the educator and the student. With online courses, however, there is a greater potential for one-on-one interaction between the two.
Such a special day. Justin gave Crew a beautiful blessing, and unlike his older brother Crew didn't make a peep through the whole thing. Big C literally screamed his head off from the time Justin started to speak until he sat back down with him. The bishop even said afterward from the pulpit that it looked like we'd have our hands full. And we do! We love our crazy Camden. Any chance Crew will be a calmer kid?! Doubt it but we'll see! It was so fun to have family and close friends there to be a part of this special experience. Thank you so much to those that traveled to be here!!!
Packer's at Bengals tickets still available. The Packer's enter the third pre season game trying to work out the kinks and start rolling towards the regular season. Cedric Benson gets his first taste of action versus his old team. I'm excited for the game Thursday, because the third pre season game is where the starters play at least a half and its a warm up for the season. GO PACK GO!!!
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense ran wild on the Bengals last night. Cedric Benson had a great debut with the Packers, all though Rodgers was the leading rusher for the game with two touchdowns. Now to the defensive side of the ball, they looked legit. The Pass rush was outstanding and coverage down field was awesome. I still think the right corner back position is up for grabs, no one took charge last night. Only one more pre season game is left at Lambeau Field.
Ticket King wants to congratulate Russell Wilson for being named starter of the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson former Wisconsin Badger qb has looked sharp during the pre season and his play as spoken for itself. He won the job over former Packer Matt Flynn, who got paid a ton of money. Watching him at Wisconsin you can tell he is a real leader and commands respect in the huddle. I'm definitely going to get a Russell Wilson jersey. The New Nike Seahawk's jerseys are sweet.
The Packers were upset Sunday by the 49ers at Lambeau Field. The Pack was outplayed, there is nothing much else to say. You could blame the refs for bad calls, but both teams were on the bad end of some calls. You could blame the defense but they were playing from behind the whole game and Jarrett Bush needs to get benched. You could blame no running game, but the 49ers defense is stout upfront. If I were the coach I would tell the players not to hang their head. They got beat by a solid team that was in the NFC Championship game last year. The Pack have a quick turnaround and have to take on their arch rival the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. What not a better way to get the sour taste of a loss out of their mouth by beating up on the Bears. Ticket King still has Packer vs Bear tickets available.
The Packers got totally screwed over in Seattle on the last play of the game, which cost them the win. I was too mad yesterday to even blog about what happened. Not only did the refs make the wrong call they missed a pass interference which they should have made. There is nothing we can do now, except move forward and get ready for the Saints. The Saint are 0-3 and desperately need a win and the Packers are mad as hell right now. The Packers vs Saints game should make for a very interesting game. All I can say is the NFL front office better get the real refs back by next weeks games. GO PACK GO!!!
When we pulled into the garage where they instructed us to park this is what we saw...
This picture doesn't do justice because everyone is sitting down. It was so funny to see this many pregnant women all gathered in one place. We sat down with all the other waddling ladies and dug into our Cafe Rio. An employee came out and announced that they would be handing out numbers so everyone should slowly line up to get one but assured us that this number had nothing to do with where we would sit in the studio so not to rush or worry. We were both starving so with that we sat and ate our Rio until the other ladies cleared out.
We were pretty much the last girls to get our numbers. Number 170 and 171.
Remember how he said that it had nothing to do with seating? Well he lied. When it was time to make our way into the studio they called everyone up in groups of 2o or so in numerical order. We knew we would be in the very last row of the studio but didn't even care because we were still going on the show and we knew we would still get the goods. When we finally got into the studio, sure enough we were filling into the last row when an employee put her hand in front of me and asked how many were in my party. When I replied it was just the two of us she motioned for me to follow her and started walking down the stairs to the front. This is where our second streak of luck comes in. She took us all the way down to the front left side and put us in the front row of a side balcony. We were RIGHT next to Tony!!! (Tony is her DJ in case you aren't an Ellen fan- in which case you probably aren't reading this anyway). See?!!! That's Tony's seat!
The show was amazing! We danced our hearts out. There's only one thing more funny then seeing a whole bunch of pregnant girls all sitting in the same area and that's watching that many pregnant women dance. There was one girl that was due any day and busting out moves I didn't know where possible! Kate Hudson was the guest. She was adorable. And it was really cool to see how Ellen acted when the cameras stopped rolling. She seemed totally calm and just had a big smile on her face. During one commercial break she was over by our side and looking out at the crowd with a big smile. She stopped when she saw me and started laughing. Maybe because I must have looked like a kid on Christmas with a HUGE smile and mouthing 'Hi Ellen, hi Ellen, hi Ellen". She waved back at me and people in our section started cheering.
This Sunday's match-up of the Packers vs 49er Tickets is even bigger than the two teams. Aaron Rodgers vs Alex Smith is revisited yet again. The 2005 NFL Draft will always link how Alex Smith was drafted #1 over Aaron Rodgers who fell in the draft to the Packers. There is no doubt that Rodgers is the superior quarterback and has the hardware and stats to back it up. All I have to say as a Packer fan that I'm so happy the Packers drafted Rodgers. This Sundays match-up will be a epic battle. The 49ers bring in the best defensive in the NFL and have the tools to slow down the Packer's prolific passing attack. Yet again I think Rodgers will get the best of Smith and the Packers will prevail. Football is back baby....Go Pack GO!!!!
Ticket King loves the Packer vs Bear rivalry. Life can't get much better than football on a Thursday night with NFL's oldest rivalry. The Packers need to rebound fast and take out DA Bears. The trash talking has already begun. Jay Cutler and the Bears wide receivers have been saying the Packers defensive backs better watch out. The Bears think they can beat the Packers man to man coverage with their newly acquired off season acquisitions. I can't wait for that match up, I will be attending this game and I'm super pumped. GO PACK GO!!!
Tonight's game show cases some outstanding athletes from both teams. I feel there are a few keys to the game tonight. First try and contain Marshawn Lynch and his big play ability. Second the Packers need to use double moves outside at wide-receiver to get the taller Seahawks defensive backs out of position and not use their height for jump balls. Third Clay Matthews going against left tackle Russell Okung. The pressure on the backside will be huge for the Packers defensive if the clay-maker can continue his dominance. I predict the packers win tonight in a close one 27-24. GO PACK GO!!!