Conventional Education

Who is Afra Paul Mpabanyanka? CONTACTS 0764525520- [email protected]/ [email protected] DISTANCE EDUCATION VERSUS CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM Introduction Education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university (oxford dictionaries) while Distance education is any form of learning in which the teacher is not present at the same time or place as the students. Pedagogically, this learning includes instructional videos, CD-ROOM Programmes or interactive real time lecture s and office hours online via webcam. It can be emphasized that, the purpose of distance education is deliver education to students who are not physically in the classroom via an aid of technology. Hassenburg (2010) adds by stating that distance education is the kind of education where students do not attend the classes in person but in a place and time of their own choosing. Teachers and students communicate properly on their own schedule. For instance in our ODL learning at TABORA CENTRE, the schedule for attending classes to meet with instructors is done basing on the timetable for primary school holiday and short breaks to allow teachers who are saving the government to attend the lessons at Institute of Adult education- Tabora Centre. Contrary to this, Beck (2009) argues that, conventional education system or customary education refers to long-established customs that society traditionally used in schools. Some forms of education reform promote the adoption of progressive education practices, a more holistic approach which focuses on individual students' needs and self-control. Mohammad, (2006) clarify that, The conventional education system is that type of traditional education, approved in the majority of academic programs at the university at which Student must personally attend lectures according to the timetable drafted by the college or the authority supervising the program and at the end of each​and every academic semester, exams would be launched to assess students as to the curricula that they have been taught during the semester. Therefore, distance education and conventional education system have both critical roles to play in influencing the development of education to people. Being the case, the introduced concepts can be differentiated basing on the following arguments; Differences between Distance education conventional Education systerm In distance learning the focus is on teaching rather than on learning, and that the claims of flexibility are not reflected in present distance learning courses. It can be argued that students are frustrated, not just by the feelings of isolation but by lack of feedback from their teachers and difficulty in understanding written instructions given to them (Peterson, 2001). This is contrary to conventional education which focuses on learning rather than teaching. Mode of delivering distance education is also differentiated from the way conventional education system is being done. Ng (2001) highlights a number of issues relating to delivery of distance education by stating that, distance education is mostly module print out and handout provision to students that they learn for their own time and have online discussion with friends, instructors and assistant tutors in need whereas the mode of delivering conventional education is mostly based on lecturers preparations to present units or modules prepared to the students where students takes notes and make their own summary for further reading. In some settings conventional education is done by the teacher interacting with students in a form of class session setting. Here a teacher introduces a lesson then students can share their understanding basing on the matter being raised. As a note to the differentiated challenges facing distance education and conventional education system , it can be argued that distance education encounter a less social cohesion which result into limited communication between students and their instructors. Gabriela, (2009) cemented that most of the communication is focusing mainly on personal rather than academic issues and sometimes students do feel anxiety about using electronic (email) communication as they are characterized with lower ability in the use of computer technology at the same time having no skills on how to operate the advanced technological devices. This is different from conventional educations system which actually encounter less technological challenges as the mode of delivery is based on physical interaction of participants (teachers and students). For instance, conventional education is characterized with little use of online live settings and hence less challenges of loosing network. This means conventional education system can only be faced by the attention challenges and the speed of students to take notes especially when slides presentation basing on the use of power point presentation is done (ibid). In distance education teachers are assigned a new role. This is contrast to conventional education system where the teacher is a main figure in the education as he or she presents the lectures and controls the degree of assimilation of the content. This implies that, in distance education participation is reduced to a Management adviser and coordinator to the learning process. The control over the whole Process of education which is shared between teachers and learners. Paul (2009) in his article elaborated that, Distance education is a form of education in which the participants in educational process teacher and learners are physically separated and communicate by different means and at different times. He further explained that in distance education Separation of teacher and learners trigger an effect on a teacher as a teacher adapt a passive participation role of engaging students in a learning process. This is contrary to what Wei Li (2016) stated to be Transforming Conventional Teaching Classroom to Learner-Centred Teaching Classroom Using Multimedia-Mediated Learning Module as in his description he dedicated that conversational education is a non separated education as members have chances to physically meet and share information stored in their memories. Conventional teaching or traditional teaching embraces method involving instructors and the students interacting in a face-to-face manner in the classroom. These instructors initiate discussions in the classroom, and focus exclusively on knowing content in textbooks and notes. Next to the above arguments, it can be discussed that, distance education upholds the feature that the learners are those who determine the speed of learning and preparation. This means that, Self-control and the self-evaluation are very important while in conventional education, the speed and preparation to learning are done by the teacher who prepares lesson development documents. John (1993) reflected that in conversational education system Lesson plans are developed to help teachers to organize content, materials and methods for their teaching and these items need to be tailored to accommodate diverse abilities, previous knowledge and motivations among students. As choosing an appropriate methodology is essential to structure, plan, and control the process of developing a web based Smart Lesson Planning System which is not happening in distance education. Conclusion To windup this assertion basing on what course the write takes, it is very important to keep in mind that, camps that discuss distance learning fall into two main camps. The first camp argues that distance learning is an opportunity for those that could not usually attend university to participate in tertiary education; that it promotes lifelong learning; and that 'the experience of an online course can be as rich and fulfilling as the experience of a traditional course' and that The second camp reveals that distance learning focus on teaching rather than on learning, and that the claims of flexibility are not reflected in present distance learning courses as students are frustrated, not just by the feelings of isolation but by lack of feedback from their teachers and difficulty in understanding written instructions given to them REFERENCES Beck, Robert H. (2009). The Three R's Plus: What Today's Schools are Trying to Do and Why. U of Minnesota Press. Enosi, S.(2013).History of Education. African Virtual University. Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda Gabriela, K. (2009). Review of distance education. Trakia University. Faculty of Economics, Trakia University – Stara Zagora, Bulgaria John P.D., 1993. Lesson Planning for Teachers. Casselle Educational Limited, London Mohammad, I. (2006). Conventional Education. Islamic university. Ng, K-C. (2001), 'Using e-mail to foster collaboration in distance learning', Open Learning,(2), 191200. Peterson, P. W. (2001). 'The debate about online learning: key issues for writing teachers', Computers and Composition, 18, 357-70 Wei Li, Y. (2016) .Transforming Conventional Teaching Classroom to Learner-Centred Teaching Classroom Using Multimedia-Mediated Learning Module. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 6, No. 2, February 201