Blended learning status in greece

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BLENDED LEARNING STATUS IN GREECE TODAY Michail Filioglou & Nikolaos Tzimopoulos BLAduEd Málaga Conference

Transcript of Blended learning status in greece

Page 1: Blended learning status in greece

BLENDED LEARNING STATUS IN GREECE TODAY

Michail Filioglou & Nikolaos Tzimopoulos

BLAduEd Málaga Conference

Page 2: Blended learning status in greece

First phase: End of the 19th century, Based on printed material. Teaching was made with the help of texts, distributed by mail.

The History of Distance Learning

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Factors promoting distance learning:The low printing cost, the development of the posts the development of the train network. Basic need to be met :Educational material should help students to learn, providing the least possible assistance . Interaction between trainer and trainee was limited in the simple exercise delivery.

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The second phase : Audiovisual Media.Is characterized by the use of technology, such as radio and TV. The radio was used in distance learning programmes in UK in 1930 and in France for the Immigrant school in 1939. This was later evolved in the “National Centre for Distance

learning”. Television started to be used in Distance learning in the mid

50s. Later on, the Educational

Television was created, emitting

both live or video taped educational material.

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The third phase of Distance Learning Based on the tremendous development of the Information and Communication Technology. A series of technological implementations such us computers, the Internet and satellite communication radically changed: the data volume available,the way the educational material could be accessed, the way that trainers and trainees communicate and interact. (Bernard, et al, 2000, Belanger and Jordan, 2000).

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In 1992, implementing European directives, Greece makes a law (2.083/1992) for the promotion of distance learning , which remains inactive till 1997. Based on that law, the Hellenic Open University is established, functioning under the same framework until today. The first students enrolled in 1999 , in 5 different cognitive fields.

It is interesting that this first distance learning attempt in Greece was a kind of blended learning, since it combined F2F meetings along with distance learning, although the educational material was not prepared specifically for e-learning and printed books were distributed. Most of the students communication was made via e-mail or telephone calls.

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Following that example, many Greek Universities started providing e-learning training courses, most of them in the Blended Learning form. The network supporting all the academic activities in the field of distance learning with the use of ICT is the Academic Network GUNet (http://www.gunet.gr) An educational platform has been developed called e-Class.

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The Greek Ministry of Education, in order to support the wide spread of distance learning,especially blended learning, established in 2007 the Centre for Adult distance Education and Training.

This centre greatly assisted many organizations related to adult education to organize blended learning

courses. It worked till 2013 and then it was incorporated in other organizations.

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ALSO, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS STARTED PROVIDING BLENDED LEARNING COURSES, WHICH

NOW HAVE THE FOLLOWING

CHARACTERISTICS:

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All programs give certificates.

13%13%

7%

47%

20%

Certificate

Certification from the Ministry of Educa-tion

Certification from the institute

University degree

Certification from the University

Certification from the local authority

Only one institute provides undergraduate or post graduate university titles (HOU). All the others, provide training certificates*.

* Some private institutes give the opportunity to their students, after the end of the 2/3 courses to enter the 2nd year of some UK universities

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cost for the traineeThe cost for trainees is either for free

or it ranges from 150 € to 700 €, depending on the duration of the program

Most of the BL courses are self-financed with tuition fees to be paid. Some courses, which are part of national or EU projects, are for free.

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The free of charge programs are those in which all people involved (eg the trainers) participate voluntarily.

31%

50%

19%

financing

European Unionself-financingfree

Some public institutes that deal with teacher training, provide free BL courses

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Universities are the main promoters of these programs

53%

18%

29%

Promoter

University

Secondary educa-tion

training institution

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Mainly, there are 2 kinds of synchronous communication:

Universities prefer F2F communication in sessions in their facilities.Most of the private or public institutes prefer teleconferencing, because of its low cost.

Recently, some institutions use the Virtual Worlds (OpenSim) as a training

method.

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Nowadays, in most of the courses, the educational material used, is specifically designed for the blended learning way of training.The educational material writers work in groups.

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Especially, the presence of volunteer ICT teachers is noted

12%

53%

18%

18%Trainer

ICT teacher

Academic personel

volunteer ICT teachers

Specialists

In the courses provided by Universities the trainers mainly belong to the academic staff, also teaching in the traditional way .Trainers from other institutions, both private and public, are specialists in distance learning.

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Some of the most common subjects taught in the Blended Learning training courses are :Economics business administration, Marketing and sales, Logistics, Pedagogy, Environmental Studies, Use of ICT in Education, Safety in the Internet, Design.

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The trainings concern people from all over Greece, while the percentage of islanders must be noted. The islands face significant commuting problems and these trainings offer a solution for them.

6%

25%

69%

Come from…

islands of Southern Aegean

Cyclades island group

Greece

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Some programs target both graduates of secondary and tertiary education

Some programs target both teachers of primary and secondary education

28%

16%24%

4%

12%

16%

Trainees

graduates of secondary educa-tion

ICT teachers

graduates of tertiary education

people that work with educa-tional tools design

secondary education teachers

primary education teachers

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EvaluationAll programs include an assessment

but only one includes a self-assessment

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To our knowledge, only one program does not contain any f2f meetings or by teleconference and few programs include both types of meetings.

56%

44%

Meetings f2f

YesNo

75%

25%

Meetings by teleconference

YesNo

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e-mail and telephone are the main forms of communication

44%

26%

11%

15%4%

communication

email

telephone

forum

moodle platform

Blackboard Collaboration plat-form

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Many programs combine weekly short assignments and a final dissertation or an on-line final test.

The work on the teaching platform is divided into weeks therefore assignments are also weekly.

61%11%

22%6%

assignments

weekly small assignments

assignments per module

final dissertation

several activities

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Examinationsevery 2 monthsat the end of the programat the end of the modulefinal projectall activities1 mid-term & 1 final examfinal on-line test

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Educational Techniques individual activitiesgroup work

discussions presentations role play brainstorming watching video

In most of the cases, collaborative work is preferable but, in some cases, each student has to work individually.

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DurationThe duration varies from a few hours up to four

years

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The main platform which dominates is that of moodle and a small percentage (12%) using no platform is noted.

12%

71%

6%6% 6%

Platform

No

moodle

blackboard collabora-tion

opensim

elluminate

Almost all of the courses depend on an educational platform.The most favorite platform is “Moodle” and secondly “Blackboard”

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ConclusionsBlended Learning is the dominant type of distance Learning in GreeceNew trends are adopted quickly, both in technology and in content.The synchronous part of learning is realized either F2F or using teleconferencing media.

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REFERENCES

Robert M. Bernard, Beatriz Rojo de Rubakava and Denise St-Pierre(2000). Collaborative online distance learning: Issues for future, practice and research. Distance Education,2000 Vol 21,no 2, pp 260-267.Belanger, F., & Jordan, D.H. (2000). Evaluation and implementation of distance learning: Technologies, tools and techniques. Hershey, PA: Idea Publishing Group

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Thank you for your attention