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Greetings Dear readers of TOJDE, I am pleased to inform you that in the 7th year of TOJDE is appeared on your screen now as Volume 7, Number: 3. Very much thanks to all of you once more that we met with you 23rd time, since January 2000. In this issue we published one notes for Editor 15 articles like in this issue, three book reviews, news and announcements for our readers. 25 authors from eight different countries are pleaced in this issue. These published articles are from Bangaldesh, Canada, India, Moldova, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Turkey and USA.The learning organization concept is getting more important in our life day by day at any fields of professionalism, especially for education institution. In this millennium its impotency is increasing in the name of virtual learning environments too. In this issue I gave a place one Notes for Editor from Turkey, Anadolu University. It is written by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Deniz TASCI on the subject that “Online Learning Programs as Learning Organizations: A Case Study of Information Management Programs at Anadolu University, Turkey”. She indicates in her notes that the results of a study in which facilitators’ attitudes toward effectiveness of various media used in the Information Management Associate Degree Program (IMP) of Open Education Faculty at Anadolu University, Turkey. The study has shown that textbooks are not viewed as efficient as multimedia programs and web environments by facilitators although they indicate that textbooks should still be used in online courses. The participants also found multimedia programs distributed on CDs more effective than the web environments. The first article of this issue is coming from National Open University of Nigeria, which is written by Olugbenga David OJO and Felix Kayode OLAKULEIN. Their article titled as “The Place of Multiple Intelligence in Achieving the Objectives and Goals of Open and Distance Learning Institutions: a critical analysis”. Their paper examined the nature of open and distance learning institutions as organizations where synergy of efforts of all personnel is required in other to achieve the aims and objectives of the institution. The paper is concluded that the importance ofmultiple intelligence in the actualization of the broad goals and the specific objectives of distance learning institutions can not be overemphasized in the various aspects of the institutional framework of distance learning. Second article is from India and dealt with “Impact of VoIP and QoS on Open and Distance Learning” which is written as joint article by P. C. SAXENA from SCSS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Sanjay JASOLA and Ramesh C. SHARMA from Indira Gandhi National Open University New Delhi, INDIA. The potential for mobility in voice over wi-fi networks will derive demand for the technology. Wireless VoIP is poised to rival VoIP as an alternative telephony tool. Internet has been used to transport data in the form of packet. In the past, Internet did not support any kind of sophisticated quality of service (QoS) mechanism. Although the type of service (TOS) field in the Internet protocol (IP) header has been existing and has been allowing the differentiated treatment of packets, it was never really used on a large scale. The voice is sensitive to delay and jitter so bandwidth must be guaranteed while transporting it. With the extensive use of Internet for carrying voice, there is a need to add QoS functionality in it. QoS with reference to VoIP has been discussed in their paper. Next 4 articles arrived from Turkey. The third article is “A Study on Students’ Views on Blended Learning Environment” which is written by Buket AKKOYUNLU and Meryem Y. SOYLU. They are from Faculty of Education Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. In the 21st century, information and communication technologies (ICT) have developed rapidly and influenced most of the fields and education as well. Then, ICT have offered a favorable environment for the development and use of various methods and tools. With the developments in technology, blended learning has gained considerable popularity in recent years. Their paper explores those students’ views on blended learning environment. The study was conducted on 64 students from Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies in 2005–2006 fall semester in Instructional Design and Authoring Languages in PC Environment at Hacettepe University. The results showed that the students enjoyed taking part in the blended learning environment. The fourth article is from again from Turkey. It is dealt with the role of the socio-cultural context in designing appropriate support services which is titled “The Role of The Socio-Cultural Context in Designing Appropriate Support Services And Enhancing Interaction in Distance Education In Turkey”, written Salih USUN, Department of Educational Sciences Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University. His article reports understanding the socio-cultural context is the key to developing appropriate support systems for distance learners. The socio-cultural context in Turkey is a critical ingredient in the development of Turkish distance education programmes, in which two elements of Turkish culture-patronage and an oral tradition-seem to play a significant role. The main aim of this study is to determine the role of the socio-cultural context in designing appropriate support services and enhancing interaction in the Turkish Distance Education System, namely, the Open Education Faculty (OEF). The fifth article quite interesting dealt with web game-based education, came from Hacettepe University, Turkey, written by Nilgun SECKEN. Her subject is entitled as “A Web Based Puzzle for Energy Sources” from Faculty of Education, Department of Chemistry Education Ankara. She focuses on a web based puzzle which is prepared for primary-school students aiming at teaching of energy sources as a supplementary source. In the mean time, prepared puzzle reveals the advantages and disadvantages of renewable and fossil energy sources. Here, the student’s aim is to complete the puzzle by answering the questions respectively. She stated that applying of distance education through the internet or web based will be interesting ways of solution. I hope it is very interesting article to learn about Freire's principles for Tojde readers The sixth article which is jointly written by Erman YUKSELTURK, Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, TURKEY and Fethi Ahmet INAN, Instructional Design and Technology, The University of Memphis, USA. Paper based on affective factors of dropout online learning environment subject. Article is titled “Examining the Factors Affecting Student Dropout in an Online Certificate Program”. Their paper study examined the factors affecting student dropouts in an online certificate program. In this research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used. Online Course Dropout Survey was developed and used to determine which factors affect student attrition from the program. The dropout survey was sent by e-mail to 98 students who had dropped the program. Twenty-six students returned the survey. The findings show that the most important factor affecting student retention is finding sufficient time to study. Having personal problems and affordability of the program took second and third place. The seventh article is also joint study. It came from too far which is written by Jessica N. AGUTI, department of distance education, Makerere University of Uganda, and Prof. Dr. William J. FRASER, department of curriculum studies, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria; SOUTH AFRICA. Professor William J. FRASER, is also one of valuable editors of TOJDE, since the year 2000. Their paper is entitled as “Integration of Information Communication Technologies (Icts) in The Distance Education Bachelor Of Education Programme, Makerere University, Uganda University”. In this paper authors are try to report on the problems experienced by the Department of Distance Education, Makerere University, Uganda with the B.Ed. (External) programme with specific reference to the technology needs and expectations of the programme. With a total enrolment of nearly 3,500 students in 2003, this programme was one of the largest distance education programmes for teachers in the country. It was therefore important to establish what technologies the stakeholders of this programme had access to, what technologies they believed could be used for the programme and for what purpose, and finally what prerequisites should be put in place for this technology to work. The authors also looked critically at a number of prerequisites thought to enhance the effectiveness of ICTs in the B.Ed. (External) programme from an African perspective hoping that the integration of ICT in the programmes would lift the distance education mode of delivery of these programmes from a classical first and second generation, to a third generation level of operation. The eight article is arrived to us again from Turkey The article which is entitled " Developing Web-oriented Homework System to Assess Students’ Introductory Physics Course Performance and Compare to Paper-based Peer Homework” written by Neset DEMIRCI Balikesir University Necatibey Faculty of Education, Department of Physics Education, Balikesir, TURKEY" This title is discussed point of a web-oriented homework system, which is developed to assess students’ introductory physics course performance. Later on, these results are compared with paper-based (peer) homework performance for mid enrollment physics courses. One of two identical sections of introductory physics course students received paper-based, hand graded group homework while the other received the individual web-based homework. Then two groups’ on conceptual and problem-solving performance measures are compared. No significant differences were found in students’ Force Concept Inventory (FCI) test scores; however, average homework performance scores were significant that could be attributed to the homework method used in favor of paper-based peer homework group. Next and he ninth article was sent to TOJDE by Elena RAILEAN. She is Lecturer State University of Moldova. Her paper is titled as “The Models of Didactical Process Communications in Traditional And Distance Learning Systems: Analyses The State Of The Art”. She mentioned in her paper that an analysis of the state of the art of research and development for the different models of didactical processes in traditional and distance learning systems. The educational system is an open and dynamic system. In such context as the educational system, seven models of didactical process communications can be observed. The contemporary models are based on collective knowledge building in collaborative learning environments. The last model needs self –regulated students’ competence of learning. The tenth article from Bangladesh, which is written by Associate Professor AKM ALAMGIR on Continuing Medical Education. It is titled as “Countrywide Survey for Assessment of Preparedness of NGO Health Service Providers in Bangladesh About Distance Based Learning for Continuing Medical Education”. His study is cross-sectional qualitative survey was conducted countrywide from 15 January to 01 March 2004 to explore the potentials of health care service providers (physicians, nurses, paramedics etc.) for using distance-based learning materials. Face-to-face in-depth interview was taken from 99 randomly selected direct service providers, 45 midlevel clinic mangers/physicians and 06 administrators or policy planners. In his article pointed out that Quasi-open questionnaire was developed for three different levels. Pre-trained interviewer team assisted data collection at field level. Total procedure was stringently monitored for completeness and consistency to ensure quality data. SPSS software was used to process and analyze both univariate and multivariate multiple responses. The study suggested wide acceptance of distance-based learning methods as supplementary to the continuing medical education among the countrywide health service providers. The eleventh article reached to TOJDE from well known researchers from Canada which is written by Gertrude DUDINK and Zane BERGE, from UMBC, CANADA, on “Balancing Top-Down, Bottom-Up, and Peer-to-Peer Approaches to Sustaining Distance Training”. Their paper focused on special attention is paid to the content of the change messages involved, guided by Rogers’ five attributes of innovations. Next article is which numbered 12, from Turkey. Article is entitled as “Developing Cultural Awareness In Foreign Language Teaching” and written by Ismail CAKIR Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, TURKEY. He indicates in his paper that culture has taken an important place in foreign language teaching and learning studies. It has been widely recognized that culture and language is used as a main medium through which culture is expressed. However, “pure information” is useful but does not necessarily lead learners’ insight; whereas the development of people’s cultural awareness leads them to more critical thinking. Most frequently confronted that students to a great extend know the rules of language, but are not always able to use the language adequately as it requires since they are not knowledgeable enough about the target culture. Bearing all this in mind, the aim of this article has been to provide necessary information for the foreign language teachers and learners so that they can establish a good connection with the target language and its culture. The thirteenth article is about “Improving Learning of Programming Through E-Learning by Using Asynchronous Virtual Pair Programming”, written by Abdullah M. ZIN, Sufian IDRIS and Nantha Kumar SUBRAMANIAM from Malaysia. Their paper focused on the problem of learning programming subjects, especially through distance learning and E-Learning, has been widely reported in literatures. Many attempts have been made to solve these problems. This has led to many new approaches in the techniques of learning of programming.One of the approaches that have been proposed is the use of virtual pair programming (VPP). Most of the studies about VPP in distance learning or e-learning environment focus on the use of the synchronous mode of collaboration between learners. This research studies the effectiveness of asynchronous VPP in the learning of object-oriented programming among students at Open University Malaysia (OUM). The result of the research has shown that most of the learners have given positive feedback, indicating that they are happy with the use of asynchronous VPP. At the same time, learners did recommend some extra features that could be added in making asynchronous VPP more enjoyable. The fourteenth article is also from Turkey. It titled as ”Social Constructivism and International Cooperation In Distance Education”, written by Elif TOPRAK, Anadolu University Open Education Faculty Eskisehir, TURKEY. International cooperation in Distance Education which is a very popular phenomenon today can be explained by the rise of social constructivism in social sciences, namely Education and International Relations, for the purpose of this paper. Social constructive approach in International Relations with its emphasis on building social bridges via learning common values and social constructivism in education highlighting learning communities, pave the way for institutionalization of cooperation in Distance Education. The fifteenth article is again from Turkey. It is entitled as “The attitudes of reschool Teacher Candidates Study Through the Distance Education Approach Towards Teaching Profession and Their Perception Level of Teaching Competency” and written by Mehmet GULTEKIN from Anadolu University, Faculty of Education, Eskisehir, TURKEY. The purpose of this study is to determine the attitudes of preschool teacher candidates studying through distance education approach towards teaching profession and to determine their perception levels of teaching competency. The population and sampling of the study were the senior students of Anadolu University, Open Education Faculty, Preschool Teacher Training Undergraduate Program. The study was conducted through 957 teacher candidates. A survey was used in order to measure the attitudes of teacher candidates towards teaching profession and to determine their perception levels of teaching competency as a data collection instrument for this study. The study revealed that the attitudes of teacher candidates towards teaching profession are quite positive, and their perception levels of teaching competency are very good. Moreover, the teacher candidates consider the program they enrolled in so beneficial for them to gain teaching competencies Two book reviews are published in this issue. They are related wit interaction of people with computed during their educational purposes. The first one is entitled as “AFFECTIVE AND EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION: Game-Based and Innovative Learning Approaches”, Edited by Maja PIVEC. The book is reviewed by Dr. A. Askim GULUMBAY, Faculty of Education, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey. The book consist of that learning process can be seen as an emotional and personal experience that is addictive and leads learners to proactive behavior. New research methods in this field are related to affective and emotional approaches to computer-supported learning and human-computer interactions. Bringing together scientists and research aspects from psychology, educational sciences, cognitive sciences, various aspects of communication and human computer interaction, interface design and computer science on one hand and educators and game industry on the other, this should open gates to evolutionary changes of the learning industry. The major topics discussed are emotions, motivation, games and game-experience. The second book is “Online collaborative learning: Theory and practice”. It is reviewed by Ali SIMSEK Anadolu University, TURKEY. In this book is a collection of articles related to computer-mediated collaborative learning environments. It is edited by Tim S. Roberts from the Central Queensland University, Australia. The publisher is InfoSci, an imprint of Idea Group located both in the United States (Pennsylvania) and the United Kingdom (London). The book covers 13 chapters; each chapter is based on an article. In addition, there are separate sections for the Preface, the Authors, and the Index. The total number of pages is 321+xiv. The authors of the chapters are selected academicians from various universities in Australia, Finland, United States, Germany, Canada, Denmark, and United Kingdom. They represent diverse areas of interests such as education, informatics, communication, psychology, mathematics, science, computing, technology, and management. 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, in October 2006. Cordially, July 2006 Prof. Dr. Ugur Demiray Editor-in-Chief Anadolu University Yunusemre Campus 26470-Eskisehir TURKEY Tel: +90 222 335 0581 ext. 2521 or Direct: +90 222 249 0576 GSM: +90 542 232 21 167 Fax: +90 222 320 4520 or +90 222 249 0576 Emails: udemiray@anadolu.edu.tr or ugdemiray@hotmail.com URL: http://home.anadolu.edu.tr/~udemiray URL: http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr |
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