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Public Lecture, University of South Africa (Unisa), Johannesburg, South Africa, 4 October 2013 by Professor Asha Kanwar, Commonwealth of Learning // Or more pertinently for us,‘Can the ugly duckling of ODL be transformed into a swan? What is the MOOC Effect? As you know, as distance educators we have been constantly working towards ‘parity of esteem’ with a system of higher education which goes back 900 years. In many developing countries ODL is still regarded as a second chance and second...

lt is estimated that epilepsy affects approximately 50 million people worldwide and about 40 million of them live in developing countries. Studies have indicated high rates of poor knowledge, negative attitude and poor first aid management skills of students with epilepsy among practicing teachers. However, there is paucity of such studies on trainee teachers to ascertain any similarities or differences (if any) and the effect of educational interventions.To determine the effect of a health...

According to reliable online sources for Africa, access to the Internet in 2011 was 16%, and there were 600 million Africans without access to electricity. Yet there are very few low-tech initiatives aimed at bridging this e-learning divide. One such initiative, for Nigeria, was funded by the Commonwealth of Learning in 2011/12: the use of audiovision for in-service teacher training. Audiovision (a term coined by the UK Open University in 1970) is a composite medium in which visual...

This paper examined the knowledge of teachers of Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa, about the pedagogical relevance of humor and laughter in view of their consequentiality to teaching and learning and how they could be used to encourage classroom attendance for learners' who misunderstand academic freedom to be truancy, absenteeism and lateness to classes. Areas of close examinations were the educational relevance of humor and laughter and how they could impact on learning, the various...

Teachers in regular schools have a responsibility to accommodate the needs and interests of all learners. The attitudes and willingness of teachers to include learners with intellectual disabilities in their classes in regular schools in a district with a semi-nomadic pastoral population in north-eastern Uganda was investigated. A survey of 125 school teachers was conducted, using an attitude scale and a willingness sub-scale. The results showed slightly more positive than negative...

This study assessed the relationship between the utilization of internet based information by secretarial teachers in the Nigerian Colleges of Education and the effectiveness of their lesson delivery. 250 secretarial teachers drawn from 58 accredited Nigerian Colleges of Education responded to the questionnaire that was divided into 4 parts. The questionnaire was used to obtain information on the respondents’ bio-data and computer use background, Teacher Information Technology Skill...

The present paper provides an overview of research concerning both acute and chronic effects of exposure to noise on children's cognitive performance. Experimental studies addressing the impact of acute exposure showed negative effects on speech perception and listening comprehension. These effects are more pronounced in children as compared to adults. Children with language or attention disorders and second-language learners are still more impaired than age-matched controls. Noise-induced...

School mapping consists of the building of geospatial databases of educational, demographic and socioeconomic data for educational institutions in order to support educational planning and decision...

Objective To assess how common it is to have multiple overlapping meta-analyses of randomized trials published on the same topic. Design Survey of published meta-analyses. Data sources PubMed. Study selection and methods Meta-analyses published in 2010 were identified, and 5% of them were randomly selected. We further selected those that included randomized trials and examined effectiveness of any medical intervention. For eligible meta-analyses, we searched for other meta-analyses on the...

The skill emphasis in the implementation of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes demands that conscious and concerted effort are made to put in place strategies that would guarantee hand – on learning experiences. Basically, a sure way of realizing these critical objectives is by the instrument of work – based learning (WBL) which implies the establishment of a synergistic relationship between TVET institution, business and industry as well as community – based...

We report observations on how children in a developing country respond to a literacy tablet that is designed to initiate and scaffold literacy learning toward self-sufficiency. This paper describes our first lessons from developing an educational system for enabling children who have no access to schooling to read with minimal outside intervention. We share lessons learned from challenges in the design process, discuss implementation considerations for deploying in remote developing areas,...

This study established the difference between the old generation and new generation secretarial Teachers in Nigerian Colleges of Education and their ability to utilize Information Technology skills to access information from the internet for classroom delivery.250 Secretarial Teachers drawn from 58 Accredited Nigerian Colleges of Education responded to the questionnaire that was divided into 4 parts.The questionnaire was used to obtained information on the respondents' Bio-data and computer...

The present review examines research on the effects of educational technology applications on mathematics achievement in K-12 classrooms. Unlike previous reviews, this review applies consistent inclusion standards to focus on studies that met high methodological standards. In addition, methodological and substantive features of the studies are investigated to examine the relationship between educational technology applications and study features. A total of 74 qualified studies were included...

This paper uses a clustered randomised field experiment to explore the effects of a computer assisted learning (CAL) programme on student academic and non-academic outcomes in poor, rural public schools in China. Our results show that a remedial, game-based CAL programme in math held outside of regular school hours with boarding students in poor rural public schools improved standardised math scores by 0.12 standard deviations. Students from poorer families tended to benefit more from the...

I was trying to explain to a doctoral researcher the other day that the literature work that you do at the beginning of the doctorate is not the same as the literature work for the actual, final th…