FINALS: How does your organization/school practice electronic communication?

INTRODUCTION

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN DISTANCE LEARNING

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The employment of ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION in educational process especially distance learning cannot be discounted. It is the easiest and the best way of communication between the individual students and their instructors across distances. In distance education the use of electronic communication technology is essential (Oyeleye, Uche, & Otedola, 2015).

Being a full time distance learner of Benguet State University, I am deeply grateful to the advent of electronic communication that is integrated in the education system of Benguet State University - Open University.  Not only that it is way affordable to earn a degree, but also I am cognizance of the fact, that without electronic- communication, it will be impervious for me in pursuing my lifelong aspiration of a continued Master’s education.

A. POLICY:

SOURCE: http://www.entranceuniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Benguet-State-University.jpg

 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY AT BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY 

The Benguet State University-Open University (BSU-OU) was enacted in 1997 through University Board Resolution No. 768 in realization of Article XIV (Education) of the 1987 Philippine Constitution and R. A. No. 7722 common as the Higher Education Act in 1994 as follows:

      -     Article XIV (Education) – “to make quality education at all levels accessible to all Filipinos and to develop “non-formal, informal and indigenous learning systems as well as self-learning/independent and out-of-school study programs particularly those that respond to community needs.”

     -      R. A. No. 7722 - “the State shall protect, foster and promote the right of all citizens to affordable quality education at all levels, shall take appropriate steps to ensure that education shall be accessible to all….”, and “the state shall likewise promote the continuing intellectual growth, the advancement of learning and research, development of responsible and effective leadership, education of high and middle level professionals and the enrichment of cultural heritage.”

WHAT IS OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING? 

In an open-distance mode of learning, the students no longer attend classes in classrooms regularly.  At BSU-OU students are provided course modules and they see their professors and classmates once every month.  Supplementary consultations with the professors are also done by any modes of communication, i.e. through fax, internet, telephone or text messaging.   

With this arrangement, students are therefore able to acquire new skills and knowledge wherever they are whether at home, at work or even while on travel and at their own pace and time.  

HOW DOES THE OPEN UNIVERSITY DIFFER FROM THE GRADUATE SCHOOL? 

The BSU-OU offers Master’s Degree programs and short and non-degree courses that are not endeavored by the Graduate School in the University.  It likewise differs from the Graduate School by providing an open and distance mode of learning (Open University).

B. RESEARCH:

 

SOURCE: http://digilib.bsu.edu.ph/greenstone/web/images/03.jpg

In a study on use of digital library by distance learning students as myself, Koohang (2001) found that the students vibrate positive perception towards the utilization of digital library.  As a distance learner, the exponential growth of Electronic Communication, changes the way I perceive, study, read and how printed materials are employed to facilitate my study.  I use materials that are printed from the Internet in order to study and read later on. 

Liu and Yang (2004) explained how the use of E-com in distance learners’ journey of knowledge impacted their research.   They reported that distance learners demonstrated preference for fast and easy information retrieval and their field of study likewise affected their utilization of institution libraries in a study on graduate students' adoption of information sources. 

I may seldom use a traditional/physical library, as well as most distance learners do, probably because the incentives are not there as the libraries lack current library materials, E-communication access (Oladokun, 2002), lack of library use instructions and time to use the library (Mabawonku, 2004).  In a study on library use by distance learners by Mabawonku (2004), it was found that many of the students attributed their low use of the traditional//physical library to their tight schedules which were fully occupied with lectures and interactions with lecturers. This may affect their library habits and subsequently their optimal use of the library.

C. CHANGES RESULTING IN THE USE OF E-COM

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As distance learners, we utilize Electronic communication through on-line discussion to facilitate the exchange of ideas and knowledge on the given learning which tantamount to our recitation.  On-line discussion tools have two basic categories: asynchronous (e-mail, mailing lists, and threaded discussions) and synchronous (chat).  In a synchronous discourse, students in effect talk to each other over the Internet in much the exact way they speak over the telephone; in asynchronous discourse, the communication is more similar as an exchange of letters, even if conceivably much more rapid.  In summary, classes with no face-to-face meetings are the opportune candidates for synchronous on-line discussions that approximate the serendipitous and dynamic qualities of small discussion groups.  Classes that already meet face-to-face may find asynchronous electronic forums a valuable supplement to their regular discussions.  A class can likewise, of course, get the advantages of both by using an asynchronous discussion forum through the course of the term with periodic chat sessions for special events or guests.

 

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The most basic, but still very useful, technique is the use of the campus e-mail system to broadcast messages to the students.  For large lecture courses or classes that need frequent out-of-class communication this method solely can save considerable amounts of time. E-mail lists—a group of e-mail addresses gathered under a single alias such as "devc203" or "ecom203" and commonly known as a listserve—can be particularly beneficial for large classes.  Lists can also permit members of the class to communicate towards each other. 

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Slightly more resource intensive and complicated are threaded discussion forums such as Yahoogroups and various web-based forums; such forums maintain a permanent record of each person's contribution so that every succeeding participant can review the entire course of discourse and add his or her own contribution to it.  Chat sessions take possibly the most specialized software, the most planning, and considerable guidance on chat room procedures and etiquettes.

D. PROBLEMS:

Despite the obvious advantages and promises to distance learning, there are problems that necessitate being resolved when it comes to E-communication.  One of these is the “misuse of technology”.  The said problem has an effect on the overall quality of distance learning as a product. 

SOURCE: http://blog.atomiclearning.com/sites/blogs.atomiclearning.com/files/Puzzle.png

Misuse of Technology.  Aside from the cost of the Electronic communication technology, there is the possibility of not utilizing all its potential.  Some of these problems originate from a lack of training, some from the instructors attitudes toward using the E-com technology, and still others by hardware problems. It seems to be self-evident that instructors need to be trained to adopt distance learning E-com technology, but usually they are not.  Once again, it appears that administration may feel that the technology alone will improve the course. 

Advancement in technology does not equate to effective distance education.  The best distance education practices rely upon on creative, well-informed instructors (Greenberg, 1998).  Bates (1995) suggests that newer E-com technologies are not inherently better than obsolete ones and many of the lessons acquired from the application of older technologies will still put into use to any newer technology.  Again, the instructor should be trained to capitalize of both their experience and being able to accommodate that experience to the new environment of distance learning.  The instructors must be trained not only to use E-com technology, but further to shift the way in which they deliver and organize material (Palloff & Pratt, 2000).

CONCLUSION:

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It is generally accepted that Electronic communication technologies is a prominent factor in E-education process, quality services, organizational structure, work and etc.  Therefore Educational policy makers will need to work with other sectors to cultivate a multi-sectoral approach to development that will effectively advance the potential of E-com and promote more effectively processes that include promotion of transparency and accountability. E-education has great potentials to attain education for all and therefore should be maximally harnessed by every probable avenue.

Electronic Communication has apparently changed the way people are educated.  It will continue to change the way business is conducted and it will continue to change the global market place. While universities, corporations, and governments are rapidly embracing this tool for learning, many issues remain.

It is necessary that the pedagogy continues to evolve and grow as E-com technologies change.  The biggest concern is how distance learning and E-com technology will change the educational system in the long run.

As Roger Crawford so eloquently asserted:

A generation of youths is emerging already immersed in a multimedia ‘‘data storm’’.  Their comprehensions and expectations of the world are mediated over their experiences of multimedia and E-Com’s and these differ from those of previous generations nourished on linear technologies.  Educating these children employing models of teaching and learning that are grounded in concepts of understanding and understanding that are linear and finite will not help them to be successful in E-Com technological global factor where multi-disciplinary, holistic approaches predominate.

 

SOURCE: http://brokeassboysclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/PREP-distance-learning.jpg

Let us capitalize ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION in the fulfillment of our dreams, regardless of space, distance, and social status.  Digital divide should no longer serve as a deterrent of our self-aspirations.  Thank you BSU-OU, thank you TECHNOLOGY.

Supplementary Readings:

 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/392641/news/nation/pnoy-signs-open-distance-learning-law

http://fitzvillafuerte.com/online-university-reviews-of-philippines-schools-help-americans-save-money.html

http://www.rappler.com/nation/79025-ofws-higher-education-afar

Works Cited

Bates, T. (1995). Technology: Open learning and distance education. New York: Routledge.

Greenberg, G. (1998). IEEE Technology and Society Magazine.

Koohang, A. (2001). Students' perception toward the use of digital learning assignments portion f a hybrid programme. British Journal of Educational Technology .

Liu, Z., & Yang, Z. (2004). Factors influencing Distance-Education Graduates Students' Use of Information Sources: A User Study. The Journal of Academic Librarianship , 30.

Mabawonku, I. (2004). Librarary use in distance learning: A surey of undergraduates in three Nigerian universities. African Journal of Library, Archival and Informaion Science 14 .

Oladokun, O. (2002). The practice of distance librarianship in Africa Library.

Open University. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from Benguet State University: http://www.bsu.edu.ph/ou

Oyeleye, A. O., Uche, I. K., & Otedola, M. (2015). Electronic Education (E-education) and its Effect in Distance Learning Programmes in Nigeria. Tojdel , 3 (1).

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2000). Making the transition: Helping teachers to teach online. Nashville Tennessee.

E-COM Strength and Opportunities

What Is SWOT Analysis?

SOURCE: https://businessolutioncenter.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/what-is-swot-analysis/

SWOT analysis is a structured practice used by an organization in advancing a strategic plan for mission and goal accomplishment. SWOT analysis lies in studying an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in its organization environment.

You can likewise think of SWOT analysis as the measure of asking four relevant questions:

What moulds us strong?

What makes us weak?

What opportunities are in the marketplace by which we can earn profit?

What type of threats out there that can impair our organization, its mission and its goals?

SWOT delves into two types of environments: the internal environment, which focuses on strengths and weaknesses, and the external environment, which focuses on opportunities and threats (Grimsley).

 

SOURCE: VSO International

 

SMS STORY

Introduction

The proliferation of mobile phone service into rural areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in recent years has built a new medium of supporting workers based in such locations. The innovative SMS Story project is a controlled testing in which teachers at elementary schools receive resources via mobile phone text messages. These resources comprise of daily short stories and complementary lesson plans delineated to enhance the teaching of reading to students (Kaleebu, Gee, Maybanks, Jones, Jauk, & Watson, 2013).

Mobile technology in education in Papua New Guinea

Most of the teachers now own or utilise mobile phones. Baseline evidence for this study showed that 91.9% of the teachers have mobile phones and the technology has been utilised by many for some time –the average length of time that teachers had possessed a phone was 2.7 years. Answering the concerns about the effect of mobile phones on student learning (Watson, 2011), a policy was made and launched to give guidance to schools (Department of Education 2009). In previous years, many education and health development projects have commenced to explore other mobile strategies like bulk text messaging and free phone advice lines (Watson and Sabumei, 2013).

Executive Summary

According to Voluntary Service Overseas or VSO (Kaleebu, Gee, Maybanks, Jones, Jauk, & Watson, SMS Story Impact Assessment Report, 2013), the objective of the SMS Story research project was to analyze if daily mobile phone text message stories and lesson plans would progress children’s ability to read in Papua New Guinea (PNG) elementary schools. The research was a controlled test in which half of the teachers received text messages for five months and half did not. The stories and lesson plans were tailored to introduce children to reading English and followed elemental phonics and key word based methodology.

Teachers in the test received a cartoon poster explaining how to utilise the daily text messages and received a total of 100 text message stories and 100 relevant text message lessons for two academic terms.  They did not undergo any in-service training. Research was held in rural elementary schools in two provinces, Madang and Simbu, and has included a baseline reading assessment, midpoint lesson and classroom assessments and an end-point reading evaluation.

SMS Story was sponsored by the Australian Government, through a research grant from the Economic and Public Sector Program. The project was designed and managed by Voluntary Services Overseas, in partnership with the Department of Education.

 

Figure 1: SMS Story poster

 The Story The lesson plan

SOURCE OF BOTH PICTURES ABOVE:  VSO International

 Using software to send messages to a mass audience

Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) is using a software programme called FrontlineSMS to be able to send text messages. This software has thrived in ensuring that 100% of active schools received all messages at the time frame of the term 2 mid-point survey (40 days into the programme).  FrontlineSMS is open source software and utilise a modem to transmit text messages from a laptop to target groups of users. It is software intended to utilise by nongovernment organisations and is free-of-charge (the software is free, yet users must still shoulder the cost of sending text messages).  FrontlineSMS shows advantages in its capacity to synchronise with Excel contact databases and save and access past received and sent messages. The cost of transmitting the messages is imposed by the SMS provider. The same SIM card is being used to send the messages so that teachers can determine the number of the sender and send responds by text message. The cost-benefit study of the trial is one of its more innovative features (Kaleebu, Gee, Maybanks, Jones, Jauk, & Watson, SMS Story Impact Assessment Report, 2013).

SWOT Analysis of SMS Story

STRENGTH:

·         Mobile phone technology grants for quick approach to required resources, eradicating the need to wait for arrival of books or the installation of media labs.

·         Mobile technology could present learners with an interactive and personalise education.

·         Mobile phones are handy and a natural fit for utilisation in the learning environment. They encourage teachers/students to learn “anytime and anywhere.”

·         Everyday text messages consisting of lesson plans and stories play as a cue to the teachers of their duties to follow and teach an effective methodology.  This daily admonition is better than resource books transported towards the schools at one time that teachers may not consult to at full length of the teaching term.

·         It is effortless to send reading resources to teachers early to facilitate readiness for lesson and classroom exercises.  For example, stories and lesson plans can be sent one day prior the scheduled lesson.  Sending SMSs in advance, like in the afternoon the day before and provide teachers the time to prepare lesson materials and probe the meaning of words.

WEAKNESSES:

·         This process is greatly dependent on the teacher who gets the daily SMSs.  So, in the instance that the teacher is away, the students may not be receive the reading resource.  Furthermore, if one day is missed, there is a glaring possibility that missing out on part of a successive serialised story will happen to the students.

·         The design is on the basis of a one-way communication model which diminishes the participation of schools and teachers in the planning process.  School events and activities are not taken into consideration. Hence, at times text messages may not be coached because schools students and teachers are occupied with special events of school and stories might not accord the “themes” that are components of elementary teachers’ medium term outlining.

·         Teachers were not given with ways of hearing sounds and figuring out the meaning of words utilised in the stories. Therefore, teachers are not acquainted with the sounds and words adopted in text messages; they may send inaccurate information to children, by possibly not correctly pronouncing words.

·         No other call from teachers for the text messages to be in any alternative language but English.

OPPORTUNITIES:

·         It is easy to send reading resources to students/teachers via mobile phone text messaging, rather than using courier services, postal or other ways to deliver books into schools.

·         SMS Story is expandable and extremely cost effective.  Increasing the number of teachers is quick and simple. In the actual setting, teachers could be persuaded to share and forward messages. Parents likewise could have access to better reading at home.

·         Text messages can be accessed on any mobile phone, even the basic handset. A project that includes text messaging does not desire participants to adopt a specific type, make or brand of mobile phone.

·         Text messages which cannot be conveyed to the recipient will usually be remained in the mobile phone provider of networks for the duration of around 24 hours.  Meaning that if a teacher’s mobile handset has run out of battery, or is turned off, the text message will come across once the phone is switched on, if such occurs in the 24 hours receiving of the text message.

·         Receipt of messages does not use a great amount of battery power. This is essential and valuable in contexts wherein teachers have restricted access to electricity for recharging batteries of mobile phone handset.

·         Receipt of text messages does not amount the user any money for mobile phone credit.

·         Sending text messages is ultimately cost effective.

THREATS:

·         FrontlineSMS may not function effectively with a massive number of teachers. This is for the reason that as the number of recipients increase, it entails more and more time for text messages to crossover to recipients.  For projects comprising of a very large number of recipients, other engagement of a network provider or software options will be necessary to be considered.

·         FrontlineSMS does not permit for pre-programming of text messages, for instance a week or a month prior. Therefore, messages have to be transmitted at the appointed time.  This staffing issue may be answered by automation technology.

·         There are no possibilities for outright feedback. Whereas FrontlineSMS permits teachers to text back with queries, it is impossible for teachers to generate a phone call to the same number for urgent questions.

·         The distribution of the resources to the school counts on the mobile phone network. If there are instances of network failure, resources will not arrive to the school as planned.  In many rural provinces in PNG, there is no mains electricity supply yet. Teachers may have restrained access to electricity; it means that it is sometimes hard for them to recharge their mobile phone handset batteries. In other cases, teachers need to shell out money to recharge their batteries at nearby trade stores. This was the only cost involved to using the SMS Story service, and had no effect on the levels of participation amongst the teachers in the active group.

·         The project restricted the length of lesson plans and stories to one text message that naturally constrains content. The dependability of phones to “stitch together” several text messages was a concern and so several text message length stories were not used.

RECOMMENDATION:

·         Providing ‘free’ phone numbers to permit teachers (and students) to hear songs, stories, new sounds and words;

·         Reporting and collecting basic education data and student assessment outputs;

·         Loading content (such as songs, stories or sounds) onto teachers’ mobile phones;

·         Employing software applications running in smartphones for student assessment or diagnostics of special educational needs;

·         Community or student reporting of teacher absenteeism; and

·         Using  complementary daily stories and activities this time, for adult literacy

FURTHER READINGS:

http://www.frontlinesms.com/2013/07/26/sms-story-research-project-papua-new-guinea/

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Pr-Sa/SWOT-Analysis.html

http://articles.bplans.com/how-to-perform-swot-analysis/

WORKS CITED

Grimsley, S. (n.d.). External Opportunities & Threats in SWOT Analysis: Examples & Definition. Retrieved October 16, 2015, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/external-opportunities-threats-in-swot-analysis-examples-definition-quiz.html

Kaleebu, N., Gee, A., Maybanks, N., Jones, R., Jauk, M., & Watson, A. H. (2013). SMS Story Impact Assessment Report. VSO, Papua New Guinea.

Kaleebu, N., Gee, A., Maybanks, N., Jones, R., Jauk, M., & Watson, A. H. (2013). SMS story: Early results of an innovative education trial. Contemporary PNG Studies , 19.