Traditional vs Distant Adult Education - Coursework Example

Running head: Adult Education TRENDS AND ISSUES IN ADULT EDUCATION (Is an education received at a distance the same as an education received in a traditional environment?) Abstract Knowledge is power and the power of knowledge can be obtained only through education. It is necessary even for the illiterates to attain literacy even after they grown up because of the changing needs of the society. Education can be of different types; formal and informal. Informal education usually employs the distance learning procedures. It is difficult for the adults to attend regular classes at the colleges because of their commitments in their social, family and the professional life. Traditional education and the distance education have lot of differences even though the objectives are the same. This paper briefly analyses the similarities and differences between traditional education and distance education for adults. Introduction Adult education is the education provided to adults who have problems or inconvenience in attending the regular studies. Lifelong education is the slogan implemented by many countries. Even the well educated people need to continue their education till the end of their life because of the knowledge burst virtually in every second from all corners of the world. There are lots of people who failed to achieve basic education during their younger days because of some problems. Such people when they grown up might develop a thirst for education. But they may not be able to go to the regular institutions because of their tie ups with different entities in the society. Moreover, it is difficult for them to attend the regular classes in the schools or colleges along with the much younger students because of the issues of complex or egos. Distance education is the best option for such people. Distance education provides the opportunity to all to learn at their own convenience staying anywhere in the world. Computer technologies have developed a lot and even virtual classrooms are available on net. An adult who opt for distance education can communicate with the instructor using videoconferencing technologies. Moreover, a teacher staying in America can teach a student staying in India or China and vice versa, using the internet technologies. Adults usually adopt distance education for their learning needs because of the advantages associated with it compared to the traditional education. Distance education and traditional education have lot of differences even though the objectives are the same. This paper briefly compares distance education and traditional education. Distance and traditional education Distance education is the studies associated with the one external to the university campus. In such education people often may not attend the direct class regularly as in the case of traditional education. People usually stay at the conveniences of their own homes while attending distance education classes using internet coaching methods or postal coasting methods. Distance education with the help of postal coaching is less at present because of the improvement in internet related technologies. The person who opts for postal coaching needs to wait for the lessons or notes to arrive through posts. On the other hand, while using internet coaching method, the person need not wait and he can instantly access the lessons online directly or through virtual classrooms setup in the internet. The major advantage of distance learning is that the person can schedule his learning as per his convenience. On the other hand it is not possible for a person to take such advantage while using traditional education. The person can avoid lengthy journeys to attend classes if he opts for distance learning. Shelia Tucker of East Carolina University in her research to find out the answer to the question; Is Distance Education: Better, Worse, Or As Good As Traditional Education?, has found that Distance education is almost similar to traditional education. In her research using same teaching methods with the help of the same teacher, but with different classes (direct face to face and virtual classes using online technologies), she concluded that no significant variations are there in the outcomes of face to face classes and distance classes. In fact, distance education students scored higher in all studies. Yet, this is not sufficient evidence to conclude that distance education is superior to traditional education (Tucker, 2001). “With few exceptions, students using technology in distance education have similar learning outcomes to students in the traditional classroom setting” (Tucker, 2001). In a traditional classroom the teacher was able to demonstrate more things with the help of examples and the students may get direct hands own experiences on such things. For example, the lab experiments needed for the Physics or Chemistry learning can be easily achieved in a traditional classroom whereas such direct experience of lab works cannot be achieved through distance education. In another research conducted by Robert M. Bernard, (Professor Concordia University Montreal, Quebec), Yiping Lou (Assistant Professor Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA) and Philip C. Abrami (Professor Concordia University Montreal, Quebec), to compare the outcomes of Distance Education and Traditional Instruction; also concluded the more or less similarities between distance education and traditional education. Their findings are given below. Measure N1 Mean E.S.2 95% C.I.3 Q4 Statistic Achievement 155 +.24 +.22 to +.26 4558.35, p < .001 Success Rate 26 –.11 –.06 to –.05 73.85, p < .001 Attitude: Course 60 +.03 +.06 to +.15 411.49, p < .001 1 Number of effect sizes analyzed. (Note: three measures and missing data are not reported.) 2 Mean Effect Sizes are Cohen’s d (where appropriate, standard deviations are pooled) and are weighted for differential sample sizes. 3 95% confidence intervals. A Mean ES lying within this range is significant at the .05 level. 4 Q is a measure of variability and p is the probability associated with the test of Homogeneity of Effect Size (e.g., the range of achievement was from –.17 to +3.5). (Bernard et al, n. d) Distance education is more helpful to the ordinary people. The role of critical adult education today is to work with the growing sector of humanity like; movements of the indigenous, the landless, the homeless and the unemployed, to create a world where they receive the basics of life –food, housing education, healthcare (Merriam et al, 2006, p.4). It is difficult for poor people to spend full time in the traditional classes because of the necessity of some kind of profession to find the livelihood. Such people can use distance education for their learning purposes and improvements in their career along with their profession. Even though the aim of education is to make good citizens, for many it is not so, at least for the poor, unemployed homeless or landless people. They perceive education as a mean for obtaining their livelihood and hence distance education can cater such needs of the ordinary public. On the other hand traditional education is not meant for a particular segment of people. It can cater the needs of all the people. Some of the major issues surrounding distance education or adult education today are related to funding, stimulating demand, flexible supply and disadvantaged groups (Adult Education trends and issues in Europe, 2009, p.15). Most of the educational agencies are giving more importance to the traditional education and funding is not a problem for such education. On the other hand distance educational needs often overlooked by the educational agencies and adequate funding for this sector will not be allocated. Because of this lack of funding, the quality of the distance education may not be the same as that of the traditional education. It is difficult to give customized education in traditional classrooms. The needs of each student might be different. The teacher may find it extremely difficult to address the needs of each student in a traditional classroom. On the other hand in distance education using virtual or online classes, the teacher can address the needs of each and every student easily. Adults are autonomous, self-directed, goal-oriented, relevancy-oriented and practical in nature compared to normal students (Lieb, 1991). Their educational needs might be different from that of the normal students because of the above facts. Adults always look for the utility of the actions they engaged in. For example, a normal student may study different subjects during his school or college days in order to acquire general awareness about all the topics whereas same thing cannot be adults may not go for acquiring knowledge in all the possible topics. They will be highly selective in their approach while taking opting for education during adulthood. For example, it is not wise to anticipate that an adult working in the computer department of an organization may go for education in humanities subjects. Most probably he will look for education in the computer field itself in order to make his education more useful to him. Distance education helps an adult to select only the subjects he wants to learn. Conclusions Generally speaking, distance education and traditional education are more or less same. In distance education the individual needs can be addressed whereas in traditional education it is difficult. Direct hands own experience may get through traditional education in the classroom whereas such direct experiences may not be possible in distance education. Apart from such small differences, both educations can yield similar outcomes. References 1. Adult Education trends and issues in Europe, (2009), Retrieved on 04 December 2009 from http://www.eaea.org/index.php?k=10263 2. Bernard Robert M., Lou Yiping and Abrami Philip C.(n. d), Comparing Distance Education and Traditional Instruction Retrieved on 04 December 2009 from http://www.unb.ca/naweb/proceedings/2002/Po2Bernard.htm 3. Lieb Stephen, (1991), Principles of adult learning, Retrieved on 04 December 2009 from http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm 4. Merriam Sharan B. › Visit Amazons Sharan B. Merriam Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central , Courtenay Bradley C & Cervero Ronald M. (2006), Global Issues and Adult Education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa and the United States (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) Publisher: Jossey-Bass (March 10, 2006) 5. Tucker Shelia, (2001), Distance Education: Better, Worse, Or As Good As Traditional Education? Retrieved on 04 December 2009 from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter44/tucker44.html Read More