obstacles to IT Education process

Quality education is a universal goal.Whatever problems exist are seen as ones which can be handled through better administrative and technological planning - that is, technology believers perceive no intrinsic obstacles to total quality assurance using information technology in higher education.The problems associated with technology in the college classroom in terms of issues such as poorly functioning equipment, over-promotion of technology-based learning to students, and lack of quality in courses delivered by technology.A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on critics of educational technology who say students choosing online courses are not getting the education they pay for, and question whether universities should be providing such instruction.


In response to growing criticism of the recent, rapid, unregulated growth of distance education, a number of recognized higher education organizations have formulated quality standards and guidelines. A prominent example is the document "Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Academic Degree and Certificate Programs, " from the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications;.These principles have been endorsed by a number of higher education governing and policymaking bodies in the western United States, as well as by the regional accrediting community. The core assumption of these guidelines is that, "The institution's programs holding specialized accreditation meet the same requirements when offered electronically.

Guidelines in a widely-accepted definition of "quality" as applied to online education, they are quoted below:

* Each program of study results in learning outcomes appropriate to the rigor and breadth of the degree or certificate awarded.
* An electronically offered degree or certificate program is coherent and complete.
* The program provides for appropriate real-time or delayed interaction between faculty and students and among students.
* Qualified faculty provide appropriate oversight of the program electronically offered.
* The program is consistent with the institution's role and mission.
* Review and approval processes ensure the appropriateness of the technology being used to meet the program's objectives.
* The program provides faculty support services specifically related to teaching via an electronic system.
* The program provides training for faculty who teach via the use of technology.
* The program ensures that appropriate learning resources are available to students.
* The program provides students with clear, complete, and timely information on the curriculum, course and degree requirements, nature of faculty/student interaction, assumptions about technological competence and skills, technical equipment requirements, availability of academic support services and financial aid resources, and costs and payment policies.
* Enrolled students have reasonable and adequate access to the range of student services appropriate to support their learning.
* Accepted students have the background, knowledge, and technical skills needed to undertake the program.
* Advertising, recruiting, and admissions materials clearly and accurately represent the program and the services available.
* Policies for faculty evaluation include appropriate consideration of teaching and scholarly activities related to electronically offered programs.
* The institution demonstrates a commitment to ongoing support, both financial and technical, and to continuation of the program for a period sufficient to enable students to complete a degree/certificate.
* The institution evaluates the program's educational effectiveness, including assessments of student learning outcomes, student retention, and student and faculty satisfaction. Students have access to such program evaluation data.
* The institution provides for assessment and documentation of student achievement in each course and at completion of the program.

An inspection of leading quality-in-online-education guidelines reveals three central themes.

1. Quality is defined in terms of "appropriate" and "complete" online education, with appropriateness and completeness to be adjudged by faculty. Faculty agreement, of course, is apt to refer to faculty with interests in promotion of online education, with tacit consent of peers in a typical academic culture which strongly encourages faculty course development autonomy and an administration more interested in "getting into the online education game" than in creating quality standards impediments to launching online offerings. Using the same textbook as the traditional course is often sufficient to meet this criterion.

2. Students must have access to support services (ex., library, computer, faculty access, peer interaction). In fact, most make available to online students only a fraction of the library resources, computer resources, faculty access, peer interaction, and other advantages of on-campus students. However, as long as the most important resources are available online in some form, this standard is ordinarily deemed to have been met.

3. Quality is defined in terms of "evaluation" of specific, measurable "learning outcomes" or "competency-based objectives." This is met by the instructor formulating a set of syllabus statements of the "At the end of the course, the student will be able to ...." type, and making sure examination questions relate to these statements. As in traditional courses, content of the objectives is the prerogative of the faculty member - having objectives, not their content, is what quality standards assess.


The Borkian Vision of the Future of Education

1. Education will become highly interactive, engaging the student every 20 seconds or so for a response, much in contrast to present-day passive lecture methods.

2. Education will become highly individualized, with world-accessible records of learning attempts by particular students, to enable computer presentation of education tailored for each student's past learning experiences and styles.

3. Education will become highly flexible in interaction, enabling natural-language tutoring using the Socratic method of tutorial question and student response.

4. Education will become highly accessible, opening opportunities for the disadvantaged in this country as well as for the millions in developing nations.

5. Education will become highly computer-mediated, replacing (not supplementing, which would be an added cost) the lecture method in courses for 15 or more students.

6. Distance education will begin to displace campus-based education because the high costs of an interactive computer-mediated course can be justified only through their use by a large number of students than only distance education can provide.

REFERENCES:

http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/SSCORE/garson2.htm

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