Educating the Educators Making Optimal use of Resources
at their Own Workplace
Dhammika A. Tantrigoda, Department of Physics, University of Sri Jayawardanepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
And
RamaniU. Tantrigoda, Department of Chemistry, Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
Abstract
University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka recently commenced a Master of Science Degree programme in Physics Education with the intension of upgrading the knowledge and quality of secondary school physics teachers. This paper examines the possibility and advantages of offering this as an online course incorporating ODL methodology. The nature of the course will enable the use of the facilities in the environment of the student to enrich their learning experience. As the target group of the course is secondary school teachers, majority of them have access to laboratory and computer facilities. All experimental and computational work of the course can be designed in such a way that these could be successfully carried out at their own work place not interfering with their primary duty as teachers. Teachers carrying out their research activities related to education will have the added advantage of obtaining an instant feed back from the most important category of stakeholders; students and the peers. Results of such research carried out by teachers following this programme stationed at different parts of the country may be combined to understand more realistic view of the problem or the situation that is being studied.
Introduction
Department of Physics, University of Sri Jayawardanepura which is one of the fourteen conventional universities in Sri Lanka, recently commenced an M.Sc. Degree programme in Physics Education. This programme is mainly targeted at teachers involved in teaching Physics at the G.C.E-Advanced Level (i.e. university entrance) and other educationists who are interested in upgrading their teaching skills and knowledge in Physics. This is the first instance that a Sri Lankan University has commenced a M.Sc. Degree programme in Physics Education. Lectures and practical classes of the programme are scheduled for Friday evenings and Saturdays, following the practice adopted by other M.Sc. programmes conducted by the University.
When the programme was advertised in the national press it was revealed that there is a large number of teachers in different parts of the country who are interested in reading for an M.Sc. in Physics Education, but reluctant to do so due to many problems, one being travelling to the university from their work places, in most cases situated far way from the university. Taking matters into consideration, the department is now contemplating in conducting the programme in distance mode, in addition to face-to-face mode so that a large number of teachers who are working in remote schools will be benefited. The novel feature of the proposed programme in distance mode is to maximise the facilities available at the work place of the learner to facilitate the leaning process4,6. This is an attempt to convert the working environment of the student to a rewarding learning environment.
M.Sc. Programme In Physics Education
Objectives:
There are many objectives in the proposed postgraduate programme; major ones are to produce secondary school Physics teachers who are capable of
- developing skills and attitudes in students that will be of long term value in increasingly technological world rather than focusing on large quantities of factual material which will have only short term relevance through concept based teaching.
- using effectively the knowledge of Physics in designing low cost equipments for Laboratory studies in Physics.
- carrying out research related to teaching using research skills developed in the course and designing projects that would develop skills and competencies in the students and supervise them.
- upgrading their knowledge in the recent developments and trends in Physics and using modern teaching and evaluation tools.
- understanding philosophical aspects of physics and recognizing the usefulness and limitations of Physics and appreciate its applicability in other disciplines and everyday life.
Programme Structure And Contents
The programme consists of two parts each of one academic year duration. Part 1 includes six modules that have been designed to provide a thorough revision of topics in General Physics, introduce relevant areas of Education and to enhance knowledge of Mathematics, Electronics and Computing as tools of Physics teaching. Philosophical aspects of Physics also have been included in this part.
Candidates who obtain a Grade Point average equal or more than 3.0 at part 1 examination are eligible to supplicate for the Diploma in Physics Education or can proceed to part 2 to continue their studies towards an M.Sc. in Physics Education.
Part 2 of the programme comprises five modules on various aspects of Physics Education and a research component in which students are expected to carry out a research project and submit a dissertation under the guidance of a supervisor appointed by the University.
Candidates who have obtain a Grade Point average equal or more than 3.0 at the part 2 examination and have similar results at part 1 examination are eligible to supplicate for the M.Sc. in Physics Education.
Lectures and practical classes are conducted on Friday evenings (from 4.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.) and Saturdays (from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.) at the Department of Physics. Participation for lectures and practical is essential. In addition, candidates are expected to devote a reasonable amount on self-studies including practical work, assignments and research related to the program.
Masters Degree Through Open And Distance Learning
Training of graduate teachers will contribute very much to improve the quality of secondary school education. Life long learning is now a well-accepted principle through out the world. With respect to this, various programmes at different levels including Masters programmes in various disciplines have been carried out successfully using open and distance learning in many fields in many countries. As mentioned in the introduction it was revealed that there is a large number of teachers who are serving in the various parts of the island are interested in joining the physics education programme, but travelling problems and other commitments prevent them from enrolling in the programme. Most of the teachers who are having this difficulty are those who employed in remote parts of the island and they are the people who really need to get exposed to a study programme of this nature. It is obvious that the only way to reach such groups is through open and distance learning methods where you address a wider clientele6.
At the moment the Open University of Sri Lanka is successfully conducting many programmes in the distance mode. The university have expertise in preparing course material and it is hoped that the staff of the department of Physics at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura work with them in the preparation of lesson material for the course. It is also hoped to make use of suitable audio/video tapes and CDs that are prepared by other traditional open learning institutes for this purpose. All the students of the programme are science graduates who have read Physics as a subject, at the University level and familiar with modern technology to a reasonable level. If not, it will not be very difficult train them in use of such technology for their study purposes.
Maximising The Resources Available At Work Places
Almost all schools having GCE Advanced Level science classes have at least one desktop computer and telephone facilities. Schools, which do not have such facilities, will soon have them through various ongoing aid programmes. It is proposed to use these existing facilities in schools to implement certain part/s of the programme which will be offered online supplemented by the other teaching material such as books, tapes etc. Those schools, which do not have direct Internet facilities, may still use popular “Internet cards” and “dial up email” facilities for study purposes.
Practical exercises will be an important part of the Physics Education programme. In the programme all practical exercises will be designed in such a way that they could be carried out at the school utilizing equipment available at the school. Students will be encouraged to make small electronic equipment such as power supplies and signal generators using cheaply available components. In such cases it is essential to provide the students with proper circuit diagrams and other relevant information. Alternatively, students should be provided with specific web links that will provide necessary information. This type of exercise will certainly boost self-reliance of the student.
Introducing a subject to the secondary school students to capture their interest is a challenge faced by every teacher. This task becomes more challenging when one is teaching to a class comprising students coming from different backgrounds related to education such as biological science stream and mathematics stream. Mathematics students would like to have Physics flavoured with more mathematics while the biological science students may prefer a more qualitative approach. It is no secret among teachers that presenting mere “raw” subject material inundated with formulae and equations make a subject boring. Educational research component in the programme will look into aspects of this nature by having a research project as an integral part of the programme. Research topics may vary over a wide spectrum; such as obtaining views of secondary school students with regard to the method of introducing new areas of Physics, level of mathematics that should used in teaching of Physics or problems related to the way in which questions have been designed for in the past question papers. One advantage here is that they could undertake such projects with their own students and students from a nearby school at the same level. Through this research component, teachers will gain knowledge and skills in research methodologies and the outcome of these could be implemented then and there.
Another resource that the teachers who are following the proposed M.Sc. programme have at their disposal is a very large group of peers. Some may be in the teaching profession for a long period and may be very knowledgeable about different aspects of teaching. At the same time there may be teachers who have completed their studies at the first degree level recently and still very fresh in their subject knowledge and also more versatile in use of modern technology such as computers. In addition, help and assistance could be obtained from experienced teachers in other areas of study such as languages in deciding the best way of communicating with the students for teaching and evaluating purposes. Communication between these peer group members would also be a part solution to one of the serious problem faced by the students who are pursuing distance education. i.e. isolation 1,2,3.
Networking The Students
It is expected have at least fifty students following this programme in one batch. A network of students can made soon after they register themselves for the programme. A discussion forum could be initiated at the university server or at any other suitable place. Through this network they should be able to communicate with each other as well as with their tutors to exchange their ideas2,3. It will be very useful when they are carrying out their experimental work or when they are engaged in their project work. In case of project work helping may vary from exchange of information starting from advanced technical details to mundane information such as places from where components for a certain project could be purchased cheaply.
Very often the whole batch may collect information for similar research projects. They may have conducted the same survey in their own schools. When all the data obtained from each school are collected together, there will be very unbiased collection. These data have been obtained from different parts of the country having different educational facilities from students coming from entirely different backgrounds with different future planes and aspirations. This type of data will be very valuable even to make certain decisions at the national level. Further, having a network of this nature will also contribute towards alleviating the students from isolation further.
Discussion and Conclusion
Most of the postgraduate courses conducted by local universities require the students to attend lectures and practical classes during the weekends. Students who are working at places far way from the university will have enormous problems in travelling long distances to attend such classes. Even those who are staying close by would prefer to have the weekend free simply because working continuously for six days or even more make them really fatigue. This will equally applicable to the lecturers of the programme. Providing courses of this nature using Open and Distance Learning techniques will one possible solution.
M.Sc. in Physics Education recently started by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, hoped to address the problems faced by students by offering the masters program in the distance mode. It has been discussed in this paper how the resources available at the working environment of the student can be used to the maximum to make the programme successful. This involves optimal use of human as well as physical resources in the environment of the student. It has been also proposed to network the students using available facilities so that they learn not only from the instructors, but also from each other. Method that we discussed for the Physics Education programme is equally valid for other types programmes aimed at teacher training. Careful and detailed planning and programming at the beginning is essential to run a programme of this nature successfully and effectively. This would include studying the facilities available at schools and designing suitable experiments and formulating suitable research projects accordingly. As mentioned earlier students of the programme should be given the opportunity to be creative and turn out their own elementary equipment for experimental studies. This type of training will very much useful to teachers required to serve schools in remote areas of the country where there are no much-sophisticated equipment. Through research projects and surveys the network of students in the programme can share the information collected and draw meaningful conclusion using the whole ensemble of data.
Maximising the facilities at the work place of Open and Distance Learning students has been the main theme of this paper. Our example has been a programme in educational sector and maximising the resources available at schools may not be very difficult. But when students working at other places how to maximise the resources available may not be straightforward. However, if we think creatively it will not be very difficult to find ways and means of achieving this end.
References
1.Robinson, B.(2003). Teacher Education Through Open and Distance Learning RoutledgeFalmer.
2. Insung Jung. (2001). Issues and Challenges of Providing Online Inservice Teacher Training: Korea's
Experience.International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
3. Latifah Abdol Latif , Ramli Bahroom & Zoraini Wati Abas Nik Azlina Nik Yaacob (2001)
A Case Study of Teachers Coping as Distance Learners at the Open University Malaysia,
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
4. UNESCO 2002, Open and Distance learning – Trends, Policy and Strategy considerations
6. Commonwealth of Open Learning(COL), Introduction to ODL
1