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History of Distance Learning

Historical Overview by Dr. Andree Swanson Early History of Distance Education Contrary to the myth that distance learning is the result of the Internet, non-traditional distance education has its beginnings in Biblical times. Distance education first appeared in the early Christian church. “Paul wrote letters to newly formed churches in the hope that they might learn about the way” (Coe, 1999, p. 354). Later, Mongolian educators "taught that Genghis Khan established a national ‘mobile learning’ system” using speedy equestrians as the delivery method (Baggaley, 2008, p. 42). The correspondence style teaching approach grew through the years until a formal approach to education was developed. In the 19 th century, organizations and colleges began providing lessons and instruction using correspondence. As early as 1837, Sir Isaac James Pitman taught correspondence courses in stenographic shorthand and later created the Phonographic Correspondence Society (Casey, 2008; Tr

Evaluation of Teacher Efficacy

by Dr. Michael S. Miller Bandura (1997) presented self-efficacy as a mechanism of behavioral change and self-regulation in his social cognitive theory. Defined as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3), Bandura (1997) proposed that efficacy beliefs were powerful predictors of behavior because they were ultimately self-referent in nature and directed toward specific tasks. The predictive power of efficacy has generally been borne out in research, especially when efficacy beliefs are measured concerning specific tasks.   It is necessary, therefore, to find the optimal level of specificity of the measure, which is in correspondence with the task and the area under evaluation.   In the same vein, Burgoyne (2010) summarizes some properties implied in measuring self-efficacy, which refers to certain tasks or activities.   They are linked to certain areas of operation and are dependent on the context