Monday, August 27, 2012

Free Appropriate Education - Really?

Our nation prides itself on providing a free and appropriate education for every child in the United States. The funny part is, the education is not free... technically our tax dollars are going to provide quality educational programs for our children. But, did you know that the United States was evaluated under the "Global Challenge 2012" on its education systems and ended up with a grade of 76.5? With all the school systems in the United States, Maryland was number 1, but the score was only 87.8... and Massachusetts coming in second with an 84.2 this really is not saying too much about the education system of the United States. Well, let's take an in depth look on what kind of education our tax dollars actually help to fund.
According to the dictionary, education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. Now, in regards to this definition are our schools preparing our children for real LIFE in what we know as a traditional classroom setting? Now, don't get me wrong, I highly agree that the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic are vital parts of education because without them our children cannot convey and communicate their knowledge and ideas. But, society has taken away another vital part of education, and that is the part of experiencing culture and diversity through knowledge of the arts and music, developing social skills through play out at recess and taking out Physical Education (P.E.) therefore, creating obese children. So, is this an appropriate education? Does this type of education benefit all children?
Let's explore the traditional classroom learning experience... it is typically very direct instruction with drills, repetition, and the model of sit still and be quiet. However, not all students learn best in this manner. Every child has a specific learning style and the typical classroom does not necessarily accommodate how each individual child may learn. Not to mention, classrooms today are quite overcrowded and learning can be quite difficult for most students due to the fact that individualized attention is almost obsolete. Therefore, how do we close this learning gap?
I have to say, no matter how much learning is done in the classroom environment, the core of all learning begins at home. Therefore, I have to say communication between parents and teachers is a great necessity. Also, if the children experience issues not being able to adapt to the traditional classroom model, alternative methods should be considered. If a consensus cannot be agreed upon, then possible outside academic support such as a tutor might be necessary.
As you can see our education system has a lot of gaps and much room for improvement, but unless budget cuts cease, more teachers are hired, class sizes reduce, and they bring back music, art, recess, and P.E. our education system along with our youth are going to continue to decline. Please take this issue very seriously and do not let your child be left behind. Please make sure that learning does not stop in the classroom and continues in the home. And, if they are having any sort of problem, do not wait too long to get them the outside support that may be needed.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

School Facilities Determines Students Academic Performance

The development of any society is dependent on the general level of education attained by its population most especially the youths. It therefore means that the educational system must be flexible, functional and optional enough to have something to offer to all members of the society including the youths, adults, privileged and the less privileged. The desire to meet the educational needs in particular those members of the under privileged is now a major challenge to the educators over the past years.
Education brings about a change in the manner of conduct of an individual which makes him to present himself as a responsible, sagacious and dependable member of his society. Education is regarded as an activity which gees on in the society with its aims depending on the nature of the society in which it takes place. It is a process through which an individual is trained to become useful to himself and the society at large with the acquisition of the cultural values and norms of the society. It occurs at all stages of life and can occur anywhere, but for the purpose of this study, the focus shall be on the type of education acquired in the school academic environment otherwise known as formal education. A school is a place like home where learning activities takes place and it comprises of individual from different cultural background which live and interact together as a cohesive community with a major common objectives and purpose for learning. It is a place where a learner acquires specialized knowledge and skills needed for their survival and to promote their innate capabilities for learning.
The school prepares an individual for future adult roles, the purpose of the school is mainly to serve as a channel for acquiring knowledge and skills and to enhance the full all round development of an individual. It is therefore necessary for instructors and school administrators to ensure that the school academic environment does not deviate from its main purpose in the sense that instructors control and maintain the type of activities that occur in the school environment in terms of extracurricular activities.
The schools exist because of the students. The quality of the student's performance depends on the quality of the school in terms of availability of required and adequate infrastructural facilities in such a school. Schools with well equipped facilities and well experienced personnel tend to produce brilliant students who show the ways for others students and lead them in various stages in Life. It could therefore be said that the performance of the students depends on the school facilities, which in returns determine their future lives. Parents and guardians should be encouraged to send their wards to schools with well-equipped facilities because it will result in better future for their children.
This fact has been proven to be true as the performance of some students from well equipped facilities schools differs from other students who are in school with less equipped facilities. Availability of required learning facilities in schools enhances student's academic performance. When learning materials are provided, learning activities proceed at a very fast speed. In a situation where the learning environment is not conducive, academic activities proceed at a low rate which then result in poor academic performance of students in promotional and certificate examine. And such is the case of four students of Ifako International School, Ifako, Ifako-Ijaye, Lagos State Nigeria.
Two of the students performed excellently in the competition as Olatide Wright and Torsho Dennis of the senor secondary school came second and fifth respectively in the Gessomate art competition. Adefoluso Orimalade and Soremekun Ibrahim of the junior secondary school came third and forth respectively. This level of performance does revealed the states of Ifako international school as a school with well experienced teachers and adequate faculties suitable for teaching and learning purposes and ideal school for parents who wants the best education for their children. The students are the image of the school and the school cannot exist without the students, the students produced by each school give or show the real image of the school in the society. The school should help provide the required materials and regulates the activities of all extracurricular activities within the school environment so that effective learning activities can occur.
Academic excellence is the desired of every school owner. The quality of teaching and learning that takes place in any educational establishment determines the level of academic excellence. In other for effective teaching and learning process to occur within the school academic environment. There must be provision of required learning aids such as conducive school physical environment, well painted classroom, adequate chairs, moderate distance from an industrial area to prevent unwanted noise and well experienced teachers. Things don't just happen; they are made to happen. All concerned bodies of education should ensure that all the aforementioned criteria are seriously considered so that the desired educational goals and objectives can be achieved and thus ensuring better future for our children.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

What Are The Benefits Of An Online Education

Getting an education is not for everyone, but has proved to be a great option for thousands of people. Some people enjoy being on campus, in a classroom and having direct connection with an instructor. For them, a formal education is best and that works for them. Others would rather fit an education around their convenience and take education at their pace. What's great is that both are available and both are continuing to grow in size and funding, so there are plenty of options.
If you are deciding to go the online route then you probably want to know more of the benefits. There are several benefits, many that will spark your interest and encourage you to pursue an online education further. So, what are they? Find a pace that favors you and stick to it. Most formal education is structured with one pace and everyone must follow. However, this does not work for most people. To be able to structure your own pace is one of the greatest perks of being educated online. It helps students grasp material easier and helps students obtain better results. So, if you would like to select your own pace, then select online education. How much money would you like to save? Most online programs are much cheaper than tradition education on a university campus because they don't demand the fees that tradition education does.
Also, you don't have to go anywhere and spend money on transportation. Sit down at home with your computer and save money because you didn't have to travel. What type of schedule do you have? Some people are required to work strange hours for work and they can't make it to classes. With an online education, you can complete the course work when you have time. So, whenever you finish working and are settled in at home, get started with your course work. It's easy to fit education around other things in your life. Scheduling is not an issue. If you have a family, don't miss a single second with your kids and spouse. Complete course work after you put the kids to bed or after a date with your spouse. It's easy to have a family and be educated at the same time.
So, how does it sound to you? Sounds pretty good doesn't it? Online education is one of the fasting growing ways to get educated and it's improving life across the globe. Start looking for online programs today.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Steps to Carry Out the Research Projects (BTech)

Steps on: How to conduct a Research Work and complete a provisional Project Report?
EXERCISE-A
I. Select a broad area of the study and of interest to the mankind.
II. Preferably select the area from the areas of the Academic Discipline.
III. Dissect the broad area (Selected) in order to identify the Sub-Areas for the study.
IV. Further dissect the selected area into subareas as discretely as possible.
V. Finally concentrate on on those areas/sub-areas which would probably be time constraint,finance constraint and expenditure constraint by the process of elimination.
VI. Finalise a sub-area that could be managed within the known constraints.Keep in mind that there should be good scope for the study in that field.
VII. Within the chosen sub-area,formulate the Research Questions for which there is a scope of getting/finding the answer(s).
VIII. These questions finally form the basis for the research questions which could also be converted into a research statements.Formulate also the sub-objectives (if any).
IX. Plan for the Literature Review,Instrument Construction,Data Collection,Data Analysis,Draft Report and finally Final Report.
X. Double check at each and every stage of the work by comparing the theory and also the practice,
EXERCISE-A
1) Broad Area of the Study
2) Academic Discipline
3) Sub-Area (After Dissection of the Broad area )
4) Constraints
5) Specific Research Questions
6) Specific Research Objectives /Statements
7) Main Focused Areas of study
8) Sub-Objectives of the study
9) Relevance of the study & Practice
10) Contributions to the Existing Bodies of the Knowledge
11) Contributions to the Practitioners of the same Field
12) Contributions to the Program Development
13) Contributions towards the Policy Formulation
EXERCISE-B Variables Identification Procedure.
1) Concepts
2) Indicators(s)
3) Variable(s)
4) Units of the Measurement (s)
5) Operational Definition of the Study -Population
I. Literature Review
1) Literature Review
2) Contents Involved
3) Time FrameRequired
4) Cost Involved (in Rupees)
5) Technical Expertise Required
6) Knowledge Gaps.
7) Skill Gaps
8) Any Other (s)
II. Instrument Construction
1) Literature Review
2) Contents Involved
3) Time FrameRequired
4) Cost Involved (in Rupees)
5) Technical Expertise Required
6) Knowledge Gaps.
7) Skill Gaps
8) Any Other (s)
III. Data Collection
1) Literature Review
2) Contents Involved
3) Time FrameRequired
4) Cost Involved (in Rupees)
5) Technical Expertise Required
6) Knowledge Gaps.
7) Skill Gaps
8) Any Other (s)
IV. Data Analysis
1) Literature Review
2) Contents Involved
3) Time FrameRequired
4) Cost Involved (in Rupees)
5) Technical Expertise Required
6) Knowledge Gaps.
7) Skill Gaps
8) Any Other (s)
V. Draft Report
1) Literature Review
2) Contents Involved
3) Time FrameRequired
4) Cost Involved (in Rupees)
5) Technical Expertise Required
6) Knowledge Gaps.
7) Skill Gaps
8) Any Other (s)
VI. Final Report
1) Literature Review
2) Contents Involved
3) Time FrameRequired
4) Cost Involved (in Rupees)
5) Technical Expertise Required
6) Knowledge Gaps.
7) Skill Gaps
8) Any Other (s)
EXERCISE-C Construct the Hypothesis (Assumptions/Assertations/Ideas/Relationships/Situations)
1) Objective(s)/Research Questions
2) Objective(s)/Research Questions
3) Hypothesis to be Tested
4) Instrument(s) for the Testing
5) Any Others(s)Remarks
EXERCISE-D Study Design Conceptualization
1) Type of the Design-Cross Sectional Design,Longitudinal Design,Experimental Design,Comparative Designs.
2) Reasons for the Selection,
3) Strengths of the Design
4) Strengths of the DesignStudy
5) Population Details
6) Respondents Identification
7) Sample Selection Details
8) Any Others(s)Remarks.
EXERCISE-E Develop a Research Instrument
Rules for the Questionnaire Formation:
Formulate the Questionnaire by
1. Examining the sub-objectives.
2. Examing the Research Questions.
3. Examining the Hypothesis.
4. Identifying the required Variables.
5. Identifying the information required to be addressed.
6. Formulating the scope/objective in-order to obtain the new information.
1) Specific Objective(s)
2) Specific ResearchQuestion(s)
3) Hypotheses
4) Type & Kind of the Information Required
5) Identification of the Variables
6) Formulation of the Questions for the Questionnaire.
EXERCISE-F Sample Selection
1) Population Types
2) Population Size
3) Mode of the Sample (Population)Selection
4) Strengths of the Selection
5) Limitations of the Selection
EXERCISE-G Data -Analysis
1) Software for the Analysis
2) Variables for the Analysis
3) Varibles Cross-Tabulations
4) Statistical Procedure for the Variables (Selected )
5) Major Variables Construction
6) Any Others(s) Remarks
EXERCISE-H Develop a frame of the analysis.
1) Software for the Analysis
2) Variables for the Analysis
3) Varibles Cross-Tabulations
4) Statistical Procedure for the Variables (Selected )
5) Major Variables Construction
6) Any Others(s) Remarks
EXERCISE-I Develop an outline of the chapters.
1) Main Theme of the study
2) Task Objectives
3) Chapter Headings
4) Chapter Numbers
5) Any Others(s) Remarks.
EXERCISE FOR EVERY STAGE (Self-Check Questionnaire)
1) Relevance of the Scope of the study,
2) Relevance to the Discipline /Interest of the study.,
3) Relevance to the Inter-Disciplines,
4) Relevance to the Objectives of the Study,
5) Relevance to the Research Questions of the study,
6) Relevance to the pursuits of the study
7) Relevance to the Adequate Resources,
8) Available Relevance to the study populations,
9) Relevance to the Conclusions/Discussions/Results.