Job Discussion Forums

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[The Fifth Column]

[veiledsentiments]

[cmp45]

[MuscatGary]

[The Fifth Column]

[johnslat]

Dear MuscatGary,

"My main point was that if the employer doesn't behave professionally then we part company. Unlike some I have too much self-respect to allow myself to be treated badly. Tefl jobs are easy to acquire so why put up with bs? Others are right; quit whining or just quit and change trajectory. No point being permanently unhappy just for cash."


Of course, what works for you may not do the same for everyone. For example, do you have "financial back-up" that allows you to "take it or leave it?" Do you have "hostages to fortune" - i.e. a spouse, children, others - depending upon you for financial support? Do you have the qualifications and experience that make finding another job quickly and easily very likely?

Not everyone will answer those questions the same way.

Regards,
John

[MuscatGary]

[nomad soul]

From the California Distance Learning Project:

History of Distance Learning

Distance education traces its origins to mid-19th century Europe and the United States. The pioneers of distance education used the best technology of their day, the postal system, to open educational opportunities to people who wanted to learn but were not able to attend conventional schools. People who most benefited from such correspondence education included those with physical disabilities, women who were not allowed to enroll in educational institutions open only to men, people who had jobs during normal school hours, and those who lived in remote regions where schools did not exist.

An Englishman, Isaac Pitman, is credited as an early pioneer. He began teaching shorthand by correspondence in Bath, England in 1840. Students were instructed to copy short passages of the Bible and return them for grading via the new penny post system.

American university level distance education began in 1874 at Illinois Wesleyan University where bachelor and graduate degrees could be obtained in absentia. The Chautauqua movement in about 1882 gave the popular push to correspondence education. The teaching of academic and vocational courses by correspondence became quite popular by 1900 and problems of quality and ethical practice came with the popularity. The National Home Study Council (NHSC) was formed in 1926 in part to address these issues. Accreditation of college and university distance programs fell to the National University Extension Association in 1915.

The invention of educational radio in the 1920s and the advent of television in the 1940s created important new forms of communication for use in distance education. Educators used these new technologies to broadcast educational programs to millions of learners, thus extending learning opportunities beyond the walls of conventional teaching institutions.

The development of reliable long-distance telephone systems in the early 1900s also increased the capacity of distance educators to reach new student populations. But telephone systems never played a prominent role in education until the introduction of new teleconferencing technologies in the 1980s and 1990s. Teleconferencing systems made it possible for teachers to talk with, hear, and see their students in real time - that is, with no delays in the transmissions - even if they were located across the country or around the world.

Distance education increasingly uses combinations of different communications technologies to enhance the abilities of teachers and students to communicate with each other. With the spread of computer-network communications in the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of people gained access to computers linked to telephone lines, allowing teachers and students to communicate in conferences via computers. Distance education also makes use of computer conferencing on the World Wide Web, where teachers and students present text, pictures, audio, and video. File sharing and communications tools like email, chats and and audio and video conferencing are integral to the Internet model.

Business and university level learners have used a conferencing method known as one-way video/two-way audio where television pictures that are transmitted to particular sites, where people can reply to the broadcasters with a telephone call-in system. Television pictures can also be transmitted in two directions simultaneously through telephone lines, so that teachers and students in one place can see and hear teachers and students in other places. This video-conferencing technology increasingly uses the Internet and Internet2.

Source: http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=whatis&pg=3

[custemqui]

[veiledsentiments]

[nomad soul]

[johnslat]

Ah, all the progressives

Regards,
John

[litterascriptor]

I always have wanted to do a by mail correspondence course for giggles. Only problem is finding one that isn't ruinously expensive and actually finding one.

I wonder how places like New Zealand and Australia view distance learning given their history with school via radio and distance learning?

Don't seem to be many by mail courses anymore.

[veiledsentiments]

"mail"? People use that any more?

VS