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Greetings Dear readers of TOJDE, I am pleased to inform you that in the 8th year of TOJDE finished and TOJDEis appeared on your screen now as Volume 9, Number: 1. This the first issue of the year 2008. As you know the volume 8 Number 3 was the special issue of TOJDE on “Web 2.0 and Social Software in Distance Education” subject. During 6 months I received more than 45 submissions. Some of them rejected by me for the reason that their subjects were not fit for TOJDE’s publishing content strategy and policy, and some of them rejected by TOJDE’s editors. And others can be publish this year’s issues In this issue we published one notes for Editor, 15 articles, already three reviews and this time 24 authors from ten different countries are placed in this issue. These published articles are from Austria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION: Eradicate the Poverty Level of the Women Farmer in Bangladesh has been sent from Bangladesh Open University and written by Zobaida AKHTER, Ph.D. for Notes for Editor section. She mentioned in her material argues that efforts to promote women in farming are confronted by challenges including poverty, misconception regarding education, training, farming etc. The paper also states that the utilization and development of distance education would effectively address the problem of education and training aimed at rural women. The first article of this issue is coming from Vienna, AUSTRIA, Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change at Graz University, FH Joanneum Graz, and Federal Environment Agency written by Gilbert AHAMER on “Virtual Structures For Mutual Review Promote Understanding Of Opposed Standpoints” . Gilbert metion ih his paper that , in level 2 of SGC students write, review, assess and update standpoints while making use of a web based discussion forum. A statistical analysis of student activities is provided alongside conclusions regarding motivations of different clusters of students. Independent sets of skills might be discerned in the final academic result. The Second article is from Bengaldesh and it is dealt with “Effectiveness Of Different Medium Of Education To Imparting Knowledge At Bangladesh Open University”, written by Anwarul ISLAM and Nasirul ISLAM , Open School, Bangladesh Open University. They an emphasise that Open and distance learning system meanly based on different types of media to impart education to the learners. Bangladesh Open University (BOU) offered education through open and distance learning system. The third and fourth articles are from Turkey. The third one is on “Redesigning A Course For Blended Learning Environment”, written by Feza ORHAN from Yildiz Technical University, Faculty of Education, Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies, Istanbul, TURKEY. Her paper describes a collaborative study of the blended learning approach, designed to pave the way for higher education students to integrate online and face-to-face learning environments in an “Instructional Technology and Material Development” course at the University of Yildiz Technic in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to investigate the students’ perceptions of the blended learning environment and to trace the integration between online and face-to-face learning environments. The 4th articles arrived from Bolu Izzet Abant University, Turkey on Attitudes Of Turkish Distance Learners Toward Internet-Based Learning: An Investigation Depending on Demographical Characteristics, written by Erkan TEKINARSLAN. The purpose of his study is to develop an attitude scale toward Internet-based learning (IBL) and to investigate whether attitude levels of Turkish distance learners in an IBL environment differ according to their demographical characteristics (i.e. age, gender, marital status, parental status, employment status, grade point average (GPA). E-learning is significant breakthrough in teaching and learning. Internet or web technologies are important because they facilitate and enhance communications among instructors and learners and provide tools to encourage creativity and initiative. If internet-based learning environments are to benefit students, then it is important from the student’s perspective that they are not seen as overly complex and hard to use is mentioned in the fifth article came from IRAN and written by Masoud REZAEI, Hamid Movahed MOHAMMADI, Ali ASADI and Khalil KALANTARY titled as Predicting E-Learning Application In Agricultural Higher Education Using Technology Acceptance Model. The sixth article which is entitled as “Comparative Study Of Student Support Services of Aiou And Ukou”, writer by Amtul Hafeez CHOUDHRY, Aijaz Ahmed GUJJAR, Muhammad Rashid HAFEEZ from PAKISTAN”. Their paper attempt to compare the availability, quality, similarities and differences of student support services in Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) and also to identify and enlist the deficiencies that AIOU students are facing in the student support services. The study found out that student support services of AIOU are quantitatively developing rapidly on the lines of UKOU. Though the regional campuses of both the institutions have almost the same status in the provision of student support service yet the UKOU students have better services in the guidance and counseling, modern communication facilities and career guidance. Moreover, there also exists Open University student association in UKOU. The conclusions led to the recommendation that AIOU regional campuses may be made independent like UKOU, counseling and guidance cell might be established at every regional campus, modern communication facilities like toll free, auto answer may be provided at AIOU regional campuses. The seventh article is came NIGERIA, on “OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING: An Emerging System for Alternative Higher Education in Nigeria” subject written by Emmanuel Chisa IBARA In his paper mentioned that considering the level of infrastructural decay in the conventional higher education system, open and distance learning as an alternative system of education has become imperative for the realization of the primary objectives of higher education in Nigeria. Recommendations that will enhance the prospects of open and distance learning as viable alternative system of higher education were proffered. The 8th article is arrived to us from TURKEY. The article which is entitled “The Relationship Between Student Characteristics, Including Learning Styles, And Their Perceptions And Satisfaction In Web-Based Courses In Higher Education”, which written by Sami SAHIN, Gazi Egitim Fakültesi, Gazi Universty. Hes study founds that the three dimensions of Moore’s Transactional Distance Theory may be linked with Kolb’s two dimensional views of individual learning styles. For example, introductory biology courses with high structure are perceived as more satisfactory by students who prefer a more “abstract conceptual” learning style for “knowledge grasping.” The author recommends that courses are designed to accommodate multiple learning styles with variety on all dimensions of transactional distance. Next and the ninth article article is written by Sahin KESICI, Selcuk University, Konya, TURKEY, on “A SAMPLE FOR GUIDANCE APPLICATION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION TECHNOLOGIES: A Case Study on Graduate Students’ Opinions About Web-Assisted Career Guidance Systems”. The purpose of this study was to analyze the use of distance education technologies in career guidance and counseling. Using qualitative research methods, web-assisted systems in career guidance were studied and feedback gained graduate students completing their no-thesis master program in the Program of Psychological Counseling and Guidance in the Institute of Social Sciences at Selcuk University during spring semester in 2007 was analyzed from. Purposeful sampling was administered to collect data from semi-structured interviews with these graduate students. Data were coded using Nvivo2 software and then themes were determined. Based on related literature, findings from this research were discussed and some suggestions were provided. The tenth article is written by Ahmed Gad abdel-WAHAB, Faculty of Commerce, University of Mansoura, Mansoura, EGYPT, on “Modeling Students' Intention To Adopt E-Learning A Case From Egypt. E-learning is becoming increasingly prominent in higher education, with universities increasing provision and more students signing up. This paper examines factors that predict students' intention to adopt e-learning at the Egyptian University of Mansourra. Understanding the nature of these factors may assist Egyptian universities in promoting the use of information and communication technology in teaching and learning. The main focus of the paper is on the university students, whose decision supports effective implementation of e-learning. The eleventh article arrived from India which is titled as “Designing E-Learning Programs For Rural Social Transformation And Poverty Reduction”, written by C. S. H. N.MURTHY and Gaurav MATHUR. They suggest in their paper that the benefits of E-learning then become extensive and soon integrate with the needs of the lower strata of the society in order for achieving a rapid social transformation in the lives of the farmers, vocational groups, artisans and small income self help groups comprising women, girls and physically challenged. The paper suggests a number of new generation E-Learning programs as strategies of development communication with a promise of high returns for the industry for its investment in these programs with socially relevant messages and media convergence. Next article is which numbered as 12, from again TURKEY. Article is entitled as “The Relationship Between Teacher Immediacy Behaviours And Distant Learners’ Social Presence Perceptions In Videoconferencing Applications”, written by Mujgan BOZKAYA, from Open Education Faculty, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, TURKEY. She tried to compare in her paper between physically present and distant located learners did not indicate significant differences in social presence. Also results indicate that the predicted social presence score for distance instruction is slightly lower than for the on-site instruction for high nonverbal behavior while the reverse is true of low non verbal behaviors. Predicted social presence for face to face instruction is quite higher than for the distance instruction for the high verbal behaviors while the reverse is true of low verbal behaviors. It means that students’ social presence is predicted to be higher in the face to face setting comparing to the videoconferencing course in both models. In addition, when both nonverbal and verbal behaviors increase, the predicted social presence is facilitated, controlling for the grouping variable. The Thirteenth article is related with The Effects of Interactive Learning Environments On Cooperative Learning Achievement And Student Anxiety In Environmental Education subject. It is written by Soner YAVUZ, Zonguldak Karaelmas University, TURKEY. His study aimed to investigate the effect of distance education and technology assisted cooperative learning projects on students’ achievement and attitude in “Chemistry events and concepts in our life”. In the light of this aim, student achievement scores as outcomes of student cooperative learning projects were evaluated together with technology attitude scale. The fourteenth article is from JORDAN which is entitled as “E-Learning As A Knowledge Management Approach For Intellectual Capital Utilization” and written by Issa SHEHABAT, Saad A. MAHDI, Kamel KHOUALDI. This paper addresses human resources utilization at the university environment. We address the design issues of e-learning courses that can capture the teacher knowledge. The underlying objective is that e-learning is a key knowledge and major resources for many universities. Therefore, the design of e-learning should be an important part of the university knowledge management process. Teachers' knowledge in any important topic or field should be managed in a way that the university can benefit from it in case of teacher leaving or retired. Hence, intellectual personal knowledge management will be explored through the development of e-learning systems. Some concepts from the Artificial Intelligence field can be used in developing such systems. The last and fifteenth article is again from Turkey. Written by Rasit OZEN Abant Izzet Baysal University, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, BOLU, TURKEY. The aim of this study is to investigate primary school teachers’ opinions in relation to in-service training (INSET) programs via distance education. The subjects of this study were primary school teachers (n=70) working in the city center of Bolu-Turkey in the spring semester of 2006–2007 academic year. During the study, the qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews held with primary school teachers by the researcher. The results of the interviews revealed that the INSET needs of the participants should be analyzed before these programs start, the instructional activities of these programs should emphasize the application of the topic areas studied during these programs, should emphasize the active participation of the participants to the program in order to meet their INSET needs and an evaluation of the program should be made when these programs are over in order to examine to what extent the objectives of the program are achieved. I this issue already I gave a place two book and one conference reviewing. The first is “Encyclopedia of Information Ethics and Security” edited by Quigley, M. (2007) (Ed.). And Published Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing. (ISBN-10: 159140987X & ISBN-13: 978-1591409878). It is reviewed by Yavuz Akbulut, from Anadolu University, TURKEY. The book serves as a great reference source for professionals working on information and communication technologies, professionals teaching at educational institutions, both experienced and novice researchers interested in the field, and ordinary citizens who want to be enlightened about ethical practices and implications of information and communication technologies. In addition, moral and social implications of information and communication technologies provided in the source can help educational administrators and policy-makers. The second book is Teach Beyond Your Reach: An instructor’s guide to developing and running successful distance learning classes, workshops, training sessions and more and written by Neidorf, R. (2006). Medford, NJ: Information Today Inc. (ISBN 0-910965-73-0). Reviewed by Yavuz AKBULUT, Anadolu University, TURKEY. The book serves as a terrific resource for both novice distance educators and as a reference for those who are more experienced. It lays out most of the things needed to teach online through coaching the readers to understand the current situation and pass onto next levels of sophistication in e-learning practices. Two critical things that are emphasized in the book are interaction as the core of learning, and collaboration among the distance education practitioners. The focus is not on developing Web pages, troubleshooting specific software or providing student support services. Rather, it focuses on the requirements for instruction and underlines where we might need to collaborate with others to create the best practice both for us and for our students. The last review is about 4ht ICODL 2007, FORMS OF DEMOCRACY IN EDUCATION: Open Access and Distance Education–Athens, Greece. Reviewed by Antonis LIONARAKIS, Hellenic Open University, GREECE Which is held on from 23 to 25 of November 2007. In the other sections are again in the same format as usual as TOJDE’s presenting style. News and some announcements are placed in this issue too.Dear readers, you can reach us online either directly at http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr or by visiting Anadolu University homepage at http://www.anadolu.edu.tr from English version, clicking on Scientific Research button and than go to the Referred Journals. To receive further information and to send your recommendations and remarks, or to submit articles for consideration, please contact TOJDE Secretariat at the below address or e-mail us to tojde@anadolu.edu.tr Hope to stay in touch and meeting in our next Issue, 1st of April 2008 Cordially,Prof. Dr. Ugur Demiray Editor-in-Chief Anadolu University Yunusemre Campus 26470-Eskisehir TURKEY Tel: +90 222 335 0581 ext. 2521 or Direct: +90 222 ... GSM: +90 542 232 21 167 Fax: +90 222 320 4520 or Emails: udemiray@anadolu.edu.tr or ugdemiray@hotmail.comURL: http://home.anadolu.edu.tr/~udemiray URL: http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr |
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