ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Local Support for Online Learners with Possible Learning Disabilities
Author: Rekkedal, Torstein
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Distance Education,Learning Disabilities,Vocational Rehabilitation,Online Courses,Adults,Learning Problems,Student Needs,Agency Cooperation,Foreign Countries,Student Personnel Services,Teaching Methods,Educational Environment,Special Needs Students,Adult Education,Interviews,Guidance,Student Attitudes,Program Effectiveness

This article reports from a research study concerning online distance study for competence development of vocational rehabilitation clients. The students included in the study are adults with health problems participating in a rehabilitation process to re-enter into working life. As a group the students are characterized by difficulties, problems and diagnoses that for many represent learning disadvantages. The study examines the results of combining individual online distance learning with support organized by a local vocational rehabilitation enterprise. In this article student support refers to all kinds of non-academic services and help to students, and does not include any face-to-face teaching or tutoring. The amount and type of local support given and how it has been experienced by the individual student may vary between the different enterprises, dependent on their budgets, number of students in the learning room, types of programmes studied and individual needs of the local students. The study indicates that online line study with adequate local support may constitute a good solution for this target group. Both case handlers in the Welfare and Labour Administration, local counselors and the students themselves report positive experiences with the learning solution examined. Statistics on completions and withdrawals demonstrate that the group of potentially disadvantaged learners achieve well in online study when they receive sufficient social, technical and practical support. (Contains 11 tables and 8 figures.)
Dedication, Humbleness, and Audacity: Advice from Pathfinder Faculty to Colleagues New to Online Distance Education
Author: Ribeiro, Luis Roberto de Camargo
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Higher Education,Distance Education,Foreign Countries,College Faculty,Electronic Learning,Interviews,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Information Technology,Tutors,Colleges,Virtual Classrooms,Partnerships in Education,Teaching Methods,Public Colleges,Questionnaires,Conventional Instruction,Educational Technology

This article examines distance education (DE) in the context to which is most frequently applied, i.e., higher education, and from the perspective of some of its most important actors, i.e., teachers. This study, of a qualitative nature, was conducted at a public university in Brazil. Data were collected by means of unstructured interviews, observations, and a questionnaire with close- and open-ended questions. Since DE is a relatively novel educational modality in Brazilian public higher education, this study asked pathfinder faculty to give advice to upcoming colleagues, most of them experienced in face-to-face higher education, but new to DE. Cooperation, commitment, organization, and above all courage and humility to learn and openness to new experiences, are, according to this research, attitudes essential to novice DE teachers. (Contains 1 figure.)
New Challenges Facing Universities in the Internet-Driven Global Environment
Author: Rajasingham, Lalita
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Electronic Learning,Constructivism (Learning),Higher Education,Open Education,Global Approach,Educational Technology,Internet,Computer Uses in Education,Colleges,Technology Integration,Global Education,Artificial Intelligence,Educational History,Curriculum,Teacher Role,Expectation,Barriers

This paper explores some new challenges facing universities in a global multimediated Internet-based environment, as they seek alternative paradigms and options to remain true to their core business. At a time of rapid technological change, and contested, complex concepts associated with globalisation, knowledge is becoming a primary factor of production in a global economy. Universities face macro challenges of responding to the exponential demand for higher education, decreasing government funding, and  the changing nature of knowledge, student expectations and global competition. While advances in the Internet can support constructivist, self-directed interactive learning, its implications for higher education remains complex and problematic. The paper examines potential challenges of new educational approaches within the framework of more traditional open learning and e-learning environments. The main challenge is to develop a university that shifts the paradigm from the conventional national university to a sustainable global learning system that maintains quality in teaching, learning, processing and applying knowledge to real-life problems in diverse cultural contexts. (Contains 1 figure.)
Activity-Based Costing Models for Alternative Modes of Delivering On-Line Courses
Author: Garbett, Chris
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Electronic Learning,Distance Education,Learning Modules,Student Experience,Online Courses,Delivery Systems,Web Based Instruction,Models,Cost Effectiveness,Intermode Differences,Outsourcing,Conventional Instruction,Audits (Verification),Operations Research

In recent years there has been growth in online distance learning courses. This has been prompted by; new technology such as the Internet, mobile learning, video and audio conferencing: the explosion in student numbers in Higher Education, and the need for outreach to a world wide market. Web-based distance learning is seen as a solution to problems of outreach and course delivery. This paper considers module costing models to compare the costs of delivery of: (1) A traditionally delivered face-to-face module; (2) A web-based distance learning module delivered by in-house academic staff; and (3) A web-based distance learning module delivered by external contracted staff. The model uses Activity Based Costing (ABC) utilising data from HEFCE and other sources; and with assumptions made from practice at Leeds Metropolitan University from over ten years experience of delivering web-based distance learning courses. Using the models; different scenarios can be run. The paper concludes that there are savings to be achieved by utilising Web-based distance learning. This saving could, in turn, be passed on to students. Furthermore, the student experience, in terms of contact does not have to suffer and may in fact be enhanced by utilising Web-based distance learning. (Contains 7 figures.)
Interactive Contact as Linguistic Affordance during Short-Term Study Abroad: Myth or Reality?
Author: Allen, Heather
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Attitudes,Learning Experience,Second Language Learning,Social Networks,Linguistic Input,French,Study Abroad,Surveys,Interviews,Intercultural Communication,Foreign Countries

The idea that study abroad (SA) is an ideal context for acquiring language is one largely supported by foreign language (FL) students and their teachers, the latter often recollecting their own successful if not life-transforming sojourns abroad. According to Rivers (1998), SA represents &quot;an environment which most closely resembles the environment of the first language learner: continuously available target language input, in all possible modalities, registers, and domains&quot; (p. 492). Yet despite potential benefits, students often do not take full advantage of learning opportunities during SA, instead spending time outside the classroom socializing with SA peers rather than trying to access social networks in the community that would most enhance FL learning. Given previous research revealing SA participants' limited sustained interactions in the FL during SA, this study investigated interactive contact with French outside the classroom for 18 participants during short-term SA. In particular, this study sought to answer the following question: &quot;How much interactive contact with French did SA participants report and to what degree was each form of contact perceived as a valuable affordance for FL learning?&quot; To investigate participants' experiences and perceptions related to interactive contact with French during SA, a mixed-methods design was used, including quantitative survey data and qualitative interview and learning blog data. Findings illuminate how participants themselves perceive, represent, and interpret a short-term SA experience. Findings related to participants' reported interactive contact in French with host family members, SA peers, and other French speakers in Nantes as well as participants' perceptions of those forms of contact as linguistic affordances are synthesized. (Contains 1 note.)
Learning to Identify the Foreign in Developed Countries: The Example of Ireland
Author: Ireland, Colin
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Speech Communication,Foreign Countries,Developed Nations,Study Abroad,International Education,English,Undergraduate Students,Cultural Awareness,Story Telling,Poets,Authors,Foreign Policy,History,Social Change

Among the responsibilities of international educators is to help students begin the process of identifying the foreign in their new environments in order to learn from it. The major obstacle for Americans studying abroad in developed economies, especially in English-speaking countries, is to become sensitive to the subtleties of foreignness. The purpose of this essay is to highlight how an English-speaking country with a developed, open, globalized economy in Western Europe--in this case, Ireland--can be used to teach American undergraduates how to identify, appreciate, and learn from the foreignness they inevitably encounter when they travel beyond the boundaries of the United States. American students must leave behind the mindset of a superpower and become sensitive to the strategies that a small, relatively powerless nation must adapt in order to survive and thrive economically, politically, and militarily in the community of nations. They can participate in a society and culture where both the spoken and written word wields real power and where storytellers, writers and poets are venerated. They enter an ancient culture that has maintained a remarkable continuity for millennia despite significant linguistic, political and social disruptions; that has suffered the loss of a language and its literature; that has been subjugated by a powerful neighbor and recovered its independence; that for centuries has had its population dispersed worldwide and yet retained a sense of identity. (Contains 7 endnotes.)
Another "Mishegas": Global Citizenship
Author: Woolf, Michael
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: International Education,Citizenship,Global Approach,Study Abroad,Cultural Awareness,Definitions,World Views

The purpose of this essay is to focus on assertions that have accumulated around the work of international education professionals and practitioners: the idea of the global citizen. The propagation of this notion derives from, essentially, two sources: (1) it is a recurrent claim made by study abroad programs; and (2) it is used also as a means of self-description. The objective is to explore some of the assumptions behind the phrase which, ultimately, do a disservice to the credible aspirations embedded in international education. The phrase when used in a personal context usually describes someone who is, or who aspires to be, broad minded, intellectually engaged with other cultures, aware of the interdependence of nations, committed to tolerance and understanding of difference, and so on. That describes, the author argues, a "good" citizen. Shared beliefs in international values impose no rights or legal obligations. It is a voluntary, ethical assertion not a form of membership which is one necessary component of citizenship. The global adjective is obfuscation (or, as Leo Rosten might say, a "mishegas"). (Contains 20 endnotes.)
An Analysis of the Contact Types of Study Abroad Students: The Peer Cohort, the Host Culture and the Electronic Presence of the Home Culture in Relation to Readiness and Outcomes
Author: Savicki, Victor
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Study Abroad,Cultural Influences,Foreign Culture,Peer Relationship,Student Experience,Readiness,Psychological Patterns,College Students,Outcomes of Education,Foreign Countries

In international education the conventional wisdom, supported by research, is that more contact with a host culture yields better results for study abroad students. Such exposure to a foreign culture is seen as the &quot;raison d'etre&quot; for study abroad: the mechanism provoking students to challenge their ethnocentric notions and move toward a more inclusive worldview. However, the relationship between contact and outcomes is a bit more complicated. Some shorter-term programs seem be able to attain outcomes similar to or identical with longer-term programs. There may be different outcomes depending on both quantity and quality of contact. Many factors may account for this more nuanced connection between foreign culture exposure and positive outcomes, not the least of which are parallel, concurrent contacts with other home culture study abroad students, and continued contact with significant people in the student's home culture. This research attempts to explore the relationships between various types of cultural contact (host culture, American student peers, and home culture) and important aspects of the students' study abroad experience. It relates these various aspects of contact to precursors of, and readiness for, study abroad, to several outcomes of study abroad, and to psychological processes employed by students during their sojourn. The aim is to shed light on the impact of various forms of contact, and to suggest possible processes underlying differential contact. These underlying processes have implications for education abroad program design. (Contains 2 figures and 4 tables.)
The Development of Vocational Calling, Identity, and Faith in College Students: A Preliminary Study of the Impact of Study Abroad
Author: Miller-Perrin, Cindy
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Students,Student Development,Learning Experience,Study Abroad,Career Choice,Self Concept,Religion,Cultural Awareness,Second Language Learning,Metacognition,Individual Development,Decision Making,Spiritual Development,Christianity,Liberal Arts,Church Related Colleges

Living and learning in another country, primary conditions of the study abroad experience, are commonly associated with two fundamental outcomes. The first outcome is an increase in &quot;external&quot; connections, manifested through an increased ability to converse in another language and an increased understanding and sensitivity to another culture. The second outcome is an &quot;internal&quot; redirection, a deepening sense of identity and self-awareness. Study abroad experiences and their relationship to external educational goals have been studied extensively in terms of its effects on enhancing foreign language acquisition as well as cultural awareness and intercultural relationships. In contrast, research addressing higher education goals associated with internal effects have not yet been fully explored in terms of their connection to study abroad experiences. This study focuses on several elements of personal growth and internal development that are particularly salient during the college years. The study is a response to the call for greater understanding of the interior aspects of student development, as bound to significant experiences in the life of the college student, particularly the increasingly popular experience of study abroad. The authors' approach to gaining this understanding is to provide empirical evidence of the ways in which an international living and learning experience significantly enhances college student development in the areas of identity, faith, and vocational calling. Accordingly, their research hypothesis is that students who participate in study abroad programs experience significantly greater changes in faith, vocational calling, and identity development than do students who do not participate in such programs. Their findings suggest that many of these changes, in some fashion, do occur. Moreover, the findings suggest that the application of faith to daily living and decision-making increased for students who studied abroad and decreased for those students who did not study abroad. Their research demonstrates some of the potential effects of study abroad on identity development. (Contains 4 tables.)
A Comparative Study on Second Language Vocabulary Development: Study Abroad vs Classroom Settings
Author: Jimenez-Jimenez, Antonio F.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Comparative Analysis,Vocabulary Development,Study Abroad,Classroom Environment,Associative Learning,Second Language Instruction

The present paper aims to achieve a better understanding of the process of vocabulary acquisition by examining the development of lexical knowledge in both classroom and study abroad contexts. Taking Ife, Vives Boix, and Meara's (2000) study as a starting point, this study attempts to determine whether development in both levels of vocabulary acquisition also takes place in classroom settings. The results of this study suggest that classroom instruction does not foster lexicon development neither in size nor in depth of vocabulary knowledge. In relation to this deeper level of lexical knowledge, there is evidence that indicates that analytic and paradigmatic associations are more likely to be acquired in classroom contexts than syntagmatic ones. In contrast, study abroad students experience an increase in both levels, improving at the breadth level to a greater extent than at the associative one. The findings reported in this paper suggest that deeper level of vocabulary knowledge is more likely to be acquired in study abroad contexts since classroom instruction does not seem to offer the appropriate elements to trigger its development. (Contains 3 figures and 6 tables.)
Anonymous Sojourners: Mapping the Territory of Caribbean Experiences of Immersion for Language Learning
Author: Craig, Ian
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cultural Differences,Interviews,Diaries,Foreign Countries,Study Abroad,Qualitative Research,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Questionnaires,Teaching Assistants,Well Being,Adjustment (to Environment),Race,Gender Differences,College Graduates

This paper presents findings of a pilot qualitative study of Caribbean students undertaking overseas immersion primarily for the purpose of perfecting their knowledge of a language and understanding of a culture other than their own. The participants were a group of eleven University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill (Barbados) graduates, five in Colombia, six in France, all working as English-language assistants for eight to ten months during the 2007-2008 academic year. Three data collection instruments were used: (1) diaries kept by participants throughout the sojourn; (2) eleven semi-structured interviews averaging 56 minutes duration, with eight of these being after the sojourn and three during (after three months); and (3) a questionnaire administered six months after return. One of the principal functions of this study is to fill a gap in the research by assessing how the relative size and &quot;recognizability&quot; of the home and host states may affect the sojourner's experience. The results of this study are discussed. (Contains 1 note.)
Study Abroad and the Internet: Physical and Virtual Context in an Era of Expanding Telecommunications
Author: Coleman, James A.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Telecommunications,Social Networks,Internet,Study Abroad,Access to Computers,Questionnaires,French,Student Attitudes,Social Influences,Acculturation,College Students,Family Relationship

Forty years ago, &quot;abroad&quot; meant little contact with home. Times have changed. Today a U.S. study abroad guidance website advises that Internet access is absolutely essential during study abroad, partly for access to local and world information, but &quot;most importantly, it's the best way to connect to one's friends and family back home.&quot; The present questionnaire study reports on U.K. graduates who, across two decades, had undertaken a work placement in Senegal, West Africa, during the penultimate academic year of their four-year degree in French. Data on Internet and telephone communications with home, as well as on homesickness and visits to and from home, illustrate the possibility of locating the study abroad experience in the context of available telecommunications in home and host country. The findings are seen as a necessary preliminary to exploring whether more immediate and frequent contacts with home and virtual social networks may impact upon the degree of integration and acculturation achieved during study abroad. (Contains 4 tables.)
Long-Term Career Impact and Professional Applicability of the Study Abroad Experience
Author: Franklin, Kimberly
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Employment Qualifications,Alumni,Intercultural Communication,Cultural Pluralism,Professional Development,Study Abroad,Career Choice,Metacognition,Cultural Awareness,Outcomes of Education

Research shows that study abroad experience affects professional qualifications. It is evident that employers value the skills and knowledge potentially gained from study abroad and that these competencies are transferable on the job. Nearly all known research lacks a longitudinal component. Of the few studies that focus on long-term outcomes, only three address professional development. Each asks two quintessential questions: (1) Do alumni gravitate toward working in an international capacity; and (2) Was career direction influenced by their experience. This study aimed to evaluate if and how study abroad has long-term impact on participants' professional development. It investigates the professional outcomes and benefits of studying abroad as perceived by study abroad alumni ten years following their undergraduate experience. Participants were questioned about the skills, knowledge, and self-awareness they acquired and maintained from their study abroad experience. Inquiries were made into how and if these acquisitions proved professionally applicable, influenced career paths, included work with international dimension, and contributed to success. The results strongly suggest that study abroad has significant long-lasting career impact and professional applicability. Results demonstrate that a majority of study abroad alumni in the sample gravitate toward a line of work with an international or multicultural dimension. Findings also suggest that knowledge, skills, and self-awareness gained by studying abroad are professionally applicable in the form of intercultural competences and personal growth. (Contains 2 tables.)