EFFECTIVE DISTANCE EDUCATION IN EMPOWERING INDIAN WOMEN

Article by Swapna Gopinath, UGC-JRF, School of Pedagogical Sciences Mahatma Gandhi University

Introduction and Scope

Over the past few millennia, the status of Indian women has been subject to many great changes. From a largely unknown status in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. But looking at the education, it is immediately visible that the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out (1). According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy (1). A modern Indian woman has to take care of two social spaces viz. marriage and occupation, both of which call for education as the primary requirement. The most damaging denial of opportunity that women in India suffer is the ability to receive an education. A woman’s lack of education certainly has an adverse affect on her family, most importantly on her children. Under Non-Formal Education programme, about 40% of the centers in states and 10% of the centers in Union Territories are exclusively reserved for females. In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys. The International Institute for Population Sciences found that in India, infant mortality is inversely connected to the amount of education mothers received (3).

India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. The Indian government is committed to improving the education of girls and empowering Indian women through its constitution, amendments and even a National Policy for the Empowerment of Women [2]. Regarding education for all, the main concern seems to be keeping girls in school. The differentials between primary school enrollments of boys and girls differ 12 percentage points, but that number grows to 23 percentage points beyond primary school (4)

Additionally, many women also find it difficult to gain higher education and advanced degrees especially after marriage due to the commitments to the family. For working women, this also prevents them from getting promotions as the posts may call for higher degrees. In this paper, distance education is looked upon as a flexible and appropriate means to deliver education to the needy, especially women. This will expand women’s access to quality education, raise literacy, improve management and administration capabilities, broaden community participation in education to ensure accountability and sustain quality improvements in the community. The emerging new-age woman will have the ability to equip herself with education thereby seeking her own identity, confidence and self-respect.

Distance Education as an Option

Distance education is a planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching and as a result requires special techniques of course design, special instructional techniques, special methods of communication by electronic and other technology, as well as special organizational and administrative arrangements (5). Distance education is practiced in all parts of the world to provide study opportunities for those who cannot or do not want to take part in classroom teaching (6). In its earliest form, distance education meant study by correspondence. As new technologies developed, distance instruction was delivered through such media as audiotape, videotape, radio and television broadcasting, and satellite transmission. Microcomputers, the Internet and the World Wide Web are shaping the current generation of distance learning, and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and knowledge systems may be next. The advantage of distance education as an alternative option to women is that they can enroll for the course of their interest and need, based on the social or professional requirements.

Implementation of Distance Education

Distance learning students and tutors face unique challenges which must be overcome to ensure success. Some of them are discussed here.

Technological literacy: Technology shall be used meticulously to support distance learning. The advent of technology coupled with distance learning could go a long way in widening accessibility to education for the majority of women who could not complete or continue studies. They must be able to access materials from home, which is seen as the safest, least expensive environment. There are five fundamental requirements to an effective distance education programme (7):

1. contact between the student and the instructor

2. active learning through writing out answers

3. timely feedback to the instructor on students' comprehension

4. timely feedback to students on work done

5. opportunity for students to make revisions to work done and learn from their mistakes

Obviously, four of these require timely bidirectional communication. Hence distance learning methodology requires that some kind of support mechanism be available to students, so they can overcome their learning difficulties, get supplementary information, and evaluate their own progress and exchange ideas with teachers, tutors and fellow students. Even if course materials have been designed to be suitable for self-learning, communication must be fast enough, yet easily accessible to women in need. There should not be unacceptable delays between the generic availability of learning materials and their actual handling by the user; between posing a question and getting an answer; between sending an assignment and receiving the corresponding evaluation. This would require the need for learning to use internet, emails, web conferencing, and above all the facilities to use all these too. Local learning Centers: Distance education should have local provision that is available within a local area through drop-in Learning Centers, Community-based Learning Centers, workplace Learning Centers or at home. This kind of platform would allow distance learning to take place for excluded groups as the technical element of learning is localized thus, making attendance for tutorial or technical guidance during a programme less of a barrier.

Overcoming negative attitudes: A critical barrier to learning and development is the negative and harmful attitudes towards differences in our society. Discriminatory attitudes resulting from prejudice against people on the basis of race, class, gender, culture, disability, religion, ability, sexual preference and other characteristics manifest themselves as barriers to learning when such attitudes are directed towards learners in the education system, even in distance learning institutions. Distance learning institutions therefore should create a caring, supportive and enabling learning environment that promotes and facilitates mutual respect for differences. Non-alienating Instructors: Faculty should be involved in the whole process. Cost cutting should not be at the expense of faculty jobs. Distance education technologies are not alternatives to teaching. Failing to address these issues can lead to significant faculty rejection of the proposals, and may include Union confrontation. Native Language Instruction: Many of the tools available, whether on the Internet or not, have severe limitations in their ability to accommodate non-native language instruction. Hindi, our national language and the one commonly used by rural women, is sparingly used in any World Wide Web sites concerned with learning. This is slowly becoming less of an issue on the Internet as standards begin to coalesce. Flexible yet diverse curriculum: Admittedly, one of the most significant barriers to learning for any learner is an inflexible curriculum. Consequently, barriers within the curriculum must be identified and addressed, so that it is accessible to and relevant for all learners, irrespective of their learning needs. This means that the curriculum must be sensitive and responsive to the diverse cultures, beliefs and values of learners. To ensure that women are active participants in the learning and even teaching process, distance learning institutions must ensure that teaching and learning materials are evaluated to ensure that the full range of diverse learning needs of all learners is accommodated. Learners must also be provided with learning materials in formats that meet their individual needs.

Educators are being challenged to come up with new ways of instructing techniques and vision in distance education to involve more women for all strata of society, as there are important linkages between family and the acquisition of female literacy in developing .countries, particularly in rural areas. This will address many of the important familial, sociocultural, individual-level, and institutional factors that constrain female educational attainment. The way education is viewed continues to evolve, as do the tools available for shaping its growth and development. What must emerge is a more social view of education, focusing on education of women in need to empower them to be confident and self-reliant.

Conclusion

The concept of empowering women through education, like the concept of freedom, is intangible, sometimes elusive, and often subject to divergent interpretations. Distance learning can be used very effectively by women in need, both employed and not, to gain higher education and degrees. The outlook of distance learning institutions may adapt suitably considering the socioeconomic basis of Indian women. Unless considerable time and energy are used in striving to establish and maintain a flexible distance education especially for women, unless the majority of these disadvantaged learners have access to the resources of the institution and technological advances, and unless distance learning institutions conduct ongoing research to evaluate the impact of the new teaching and learning strategies, women education in the context of distance learning and the consequent empowerment will remain a mammoth challenge.

References

1. Kalyani Menon-Sen, A. K. Shiva Kumar (2001). "Women in India: How Free? How Equal?". United Nations.

2. "National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001)".

3. Velkoff, Victoria A (1998). “Women’s Education in India”, Report by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington: GPO.

4. Mahbub ul Haq (2000). “Human Development in South Asia-The Gender Question”. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

5. M. Moore and G. Kearsley (2005). “Distance Education - A system view”. 2nd edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

6. Holmberg, B (1995). “Theory and practice of distance education”. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.

7. Fulton, J. R. (1992) Microcomputers in distance education: applications for extension, Journal of Extension, 30 2,

A WORD OF APPRECIATION - EDITORIAL

Dr A. Sudharma, Professor and Head, School of Pedagogical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University

Digital publication is gaining inroads in the fast pacing world of science and technology with a view to nourish the capabilities of the educated audiences. Such Panoramic views ritualize the thought processes of the user as they wade through the digital world. As an instrument to unfold the textual as well as innovative materials the digital blog will undoubtedly facilitate faster upgradation of the bottomless horizon of knowledge. I appreciate this venture undertaken by the student community of SPS and hope it witnesses to enlighten the mind of many. I wish the programme all success

PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH CONDUCT DISORDERS: A MULTIMODE REMEDIATION PROGRAMME WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO STROKES

Article by Anilakumari M.C., Research Scholar; Supported by Dr. Celine Pereira, Reader, SPS

If you touch me soft and gentle

If you look at me and smile at me

If you listen to me talk sometime, before you

I will grow, really grow.

Children will not grow normally without the touch of others. This is normally met in the everyday intimate transactions of dressing, bathing, powdering, etc that nurturing parents give their babies. Children, who are neglected, ignored, or for any reason do not experience enough touch, suffer mental and physical deterioration even to the point of death. As the child grow older the early primary hunger for actual physical touch is modified and becomes recognition hunger. Some children need a great deal of recognition to feel secure. This hunger can be felt anywhere at home, in the classroom or on the job.
School and peer factors become important in the early to middle school years in the development of Conduct Disorders. 40% of peer rejected children are aggressive and at high risk to develop antisocial behaviour in adolescence.
Conduct Disorders are characterized by a repetitive and persistent pattern of dissocial, aggressive or defiant conduct. Such behaviours include major violations of age-appropriate social expectations.

The two types of CD linked to age are
· Childhood onset conduct disorder-
· Adolescent Onset Conduct Disorder
Symptoms
· Physical attacks of others (peers and adults)
· Verbally abuse
· Destroys property
· Sets fires
· Cruel to animals
· Revengeful
· Breaks established rules
· Does not follow commands
· Argues
· Does the opposite of what is requested.

They exhibit behavioural deficits in moral, social and academic aspects also. Appears to have no conscience, lacks concern for the feelings of others.
In social behaviours :-
Has few friends
Lacks affection or bonding with others
Acts aggressively and impulsively
Does not act cooperatively
Poor communication
Does not know how to accept other peers and adults socially.
Children who have shown at least three of the above behaviours over 6 months should be evaluated for possible conduct disorder.
Conduct Disorder is common during childhood and adolescence. It is more prevalent in urban than rural settings. 6-15% of boys and 2-9% of girls under the age of 18 years have the disorder. It is common among boys than among girls.
Causes
Factors account for children’s anti-social behaviour and conduct disorder can be categorized into intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic factors are genetic
Extrinsic factors are
a. Parental factors
- Parents faulty child rearing practices
- Parental psychopathology
- Child abuse
- Alcoholism

b. Socio-cultural factors
- Socio economic deprivation
- Violence in the environment
- Media influence
c. Psychological factors
Children brought up in Chaotic negligent conditions generally become angry, disruptive, demanding and less tolerance for frustration.
Essential component of effective programmes for students with CD includes Strokes and Multimode Remedial Programme (MRP) in both school and non-school environment.
Multimode Remedial Programmes that use family and community resources to control CD. The four dimensions of MRP are
- Parent Management Training (PMT)
- Social –cognitive and Problem Solving skills Training
- School based interventions
- Community based interventions
Three modes of community based interventions are
Weekly consultations between mental health centre teachers and school administrators.
Weekly classroom meeting with children, teachers and special educators, social workers
Monthly sessions with parents of special attention needy students.
STROKES are “ any act recognizing another persons presence” - Such as a word, a look, a gesture, or any act that says, “I know that you are there” A smile, a nod, a word, a frown, a gesture-gradually and eventually replace some touch strokes. These will stimulate the brain.
The classifications of strokes are
· Verbal or non-verbal
· Positive or negative
· Conditional or unconditional
· Counterfeit strokes

Objectives

1. To check the symptoms of conduct disorder in primary school students.
2. To find out the effectiveness of Multimode Remedial Programme especially strokes on students with conduct disorder
3. To find out the attitude of parents and teachers towards the new approach and need for getting awareness.

Methodology

Survey cum experimental method is used for the study. The sample of study comprised of 23 primary school students with symptoms of conduct disorder. Their age ranged between 5-12 years. In addition to this 21 parents of these children were also selected as sample.
Tools and approaches used to collect the data were checklist, behavioural observations, informal interviews, strokes, and multimode remedial programme.
The checklist was used to find out the symptoms of CD and it consists of 7 segments such as
· Socially inappropriate behaviour
· Destructive
· Disrespectful of adult authority
· Physically aggressive or cruel
· Dishonest
· Drug and alcohol abuse
· Difficult at home

Discussion of Results

After the implementation of the strokes and multimode remedial programme the following improvements were observed.
1. Multimode remediation programmes that were used by family and community resources bring about best results in efforts to control conduct disorder behaviour.
· In PMT by redirecting interactional processes between the parent and the child, the appropriate behaviours improved in children
· Problem solving skill training helped to deal anger provoking situation and their impulsive behaviour
· Community based three modes of interventions to strengthening the ability of community to promote social behaviour were supported by parents, teachers and they strongly recommended it.
2. Parents opined that the awareness training helped them to educate the child and family about the behavioural problem and to identify and manage stressors

Conclusion

The Strokes and Multimode Remedial Programme helped in developing a healthy acceptance of the disorder without loss of self-esteem and to face the peer rejection. It also helped to reduce the stress on children as well as family environment and reduced feeling of helplessness and frustration. Thus

Children aren’t careless
But they are cared less.

Reference:

1. Bootzin, Richard R. et al. (1993). Abnormal Psychology (6th Ed.). New York: Mc Graw Hill, Inc.
2. Schickedanz, Judith A. et al. (1992). Understanding Children. California: Mayfield Publishing Company.
3. Bullock, Lyndal M. (1992). Exceptionalities in Children and Youth. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

LOCUS OF CONTROL AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Article by Suneethi, A.S. , Research Scholar, SPS

Introduction

Locus of Control is considered as an important aspect of personality. The concept was developed originally by Julian Rotter in 1950s. It has been viewed as an individual's perception about the underlying causes of events in his/her life.
Locus of Control refers to an individual's generalized expectations concerning where control over subsequent events resides; in other words, who or what is responsible for what happens. Julian Rotter's original (1966) Locus of Control formulation classified generalized beliefs concerning who or what influences things along a bipolar dimension from internal to external control: "Internal Control" is the term used to describe the belief that control of future outcomes resides primarily in oneself while "External Control" refers to the expectancy that control is outside of oneself, either in the hands of powerful other people or due to fate/chance. Hannah Levenson (1973) offered an alternative model. Whereas Rotter's conceptualization viewed Locus of Control as bidimensional (internal to external), Levenson's model asserts that there are three independent dimensions such as Internality, Chance, and Powerful Others. According to Levenson's model, one can endorse each of these dimensions of Locus of Control independently and at the same time. For example, A person might simultaneously believe that both oneself and powerful others influence outcomes, but that chance does not.

Objectives

1. To find out the level of Locus of Control among student teachers at secondary level
2. To find out whether there is any significant difference in the Locus of Control of student teachers with respect to gender and locale of institutions

Hypothesis

1. There is no significant difference in the Locus of Control of student teachers with respect to gender and locality of institution

Methodology

Normative survey method is used for this study. The sample consists of 200 (100 males and 100 females) B.Ed. Students. The student teachers were selected from different teacher education colleges of rural and urban area under University of Kerala and Mahatma Gandhi University.
Levenson’s Locus of Control Scale by Sanjay Vohra was used to collect data regarding Locus of Control. Other details were collected using Personal data Sheet.

Data Collection

The data were collected using the above described tools from different teacher education colleges. The tools were administered individually and the subjects were instructed to fill their views appropriately in the response sheet.

Analysis and Discussion

The data collected were tabulated and statistically analysed. The entire group was classified into different Locus of Control groups. Critical ratio is used to compare the Locus of Control based on gender and locale of institutions.

Among the 200 student teachers 22% have great, 32% have average and 46% have low Individual Locus of Control. In the case of Chance Control 46.5% shows great, 36.55% shows average and 17% shows low scores. Meanwhile among the total sample 52.5% have great, 35% have average and 12.55 have low Powerful Others Locus of Control.

The three dimensions of Locus of Control such as Individual, Chance and Powerful Others Control of student teachers differ significantly at 0.05 level of significance, with respect to gender.

There is no significant difference in the Individual, Chance and Powerful Others Locus of Control among student teachers with respect to locale of institutions.

Conclusion

The study shows that among the three dimensions of Locus of Control most of the student teachers show great Powerful Others Control, that is most of them are controled by other peoples who have control over them. The sample shows signifcant difference in different Locus of Controls with respect to gender but not with locale of institution.
References
Harre R. & Lamb R. (Ed.). (1983). The encyclopedic dictionary of psychology. Oxford: Blackwell Reference.
Woolfolk A. (2004). Educational psychology (9th ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education.
Biehler, F. R. & Snowman J. (1986). Psychology applied to teaching (6th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Neill, J. (2006, December 06). What is locus of control?. Retrieved August 13, 2008, from http://wilderdom.com/psychology/loc/LocusOfControlWhatIs%20.html
North Central Regional educational Laboratory. (n.d.). Locus of control Retrieved August 13, 2008, from http://www.ncerl.org/sdrs/areas/issues/ students/learning/ lr2locus.htm

SCIENCE INTEREST AND SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE : CORRELATION

Article by Jisha Baby, Bhagyalakshmy R, (Research Scholars), Supported by Dr. P.J. Jacob, Professor, SPS.

Introduction

Holistic Education is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds identify, meaning and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace. Holistic Education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning. According to J. Krishnamurthi “The highest function of education is to being about an integrated individual who is capable of dealing with life as a whole”.
Spirituality is a science of values, the pivotal point on which depends the progress and survival of mankind. There is no totality of human experience in science as it includes only a part of human experience. Spirituality extends to supra- intellectual and other subtle planes of human consciousness as it denotes the pursuit of knowledge for the infinite and immutable, which is beyond the ephemeral world of duality.
Education is one of the important human activities, which help the developmental process of a country and the progress of a country today is decided to a great extent by the level of scientific knowledge it has acquired. Science has further enabled human beings to gain supremacy over nature. Science is considered as a symbol of culture and enlightment and as a synonym of progress.
Spiritual intelligence is the multiple ways of knowing and for the integration of the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer life of work in the world. There are 16 dimensions of spiritual intelligence namely virtious, vision and insight, commitment, Divinity, compassion, flexibility, Gratitude being holistic, intuition, self awareness, inquisitive, resilient, Mission and servant leader, value, field independent and inner peace and contentment. Both science and spirituality need to work together to understand total reality. Spirituality does not mean strict adherencee to religious principles. Once we begin to understand ourselves and others well through proper application of our intelligence and emotion we are living our lives according to spiritual principles. Thus we can easily say that spiritual Quotient (SQ) acts as a balance of IQ and EQ.
Science is the pursuit of truth and the acquisition of scientific knowledge is accompanied with the development of many scientific skills and capabilities. Science and many of its objectives are related to intelligence, emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence. Hence the investigators felt the need to conduct a correlation study of scientific interest and spiritual intelligence of higher secondary pupils, as they are the growing citizens of the country.
Hence the investigators conducted a study among higher secondary pupils to find out whether there is any relationship between scientific interest and spiritual intelligence.

Objectives of the Study

1. To compare the scientific interest of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities group.
2. To compare the level of spiritual intelligence of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities group.
3. To find out the relationship between scientific interest and spiritual intelligence of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities group.

Hypotheses

1. There will be significant difference in the level of scientific interest of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities group.
2. There will be significant difference in the level of spiritual intelligence of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities group.
3. There will be significant relationship between scientific interest and spiritual intelligence of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities group.

Methodology in brief

Normative survey method is adopted for the study. For the collection of data, stratified sampling techniques were used. Total sample consists of 120, 65 from science and 55 from humanities group of higher secondary pupils.
The tools used for data collection were The Kerala University science interest inventory by Nair and Jacob Thomas and spiritual intelligence scale by Singh and Kaur.
The tools were administered on the sample under standardized conditions and the data thus collected were analysed using appropriate statistical techniques, such as mean, standard deviation, computation of critical ratio and computation of Pearson’s product moment coefficient of correlation.

Analysis and Discussion

1. Comparison of scientific interest scores of higher secondary pupils
The scientific interest scores of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities groups were compared to find out whether the groups, differ significantly or not. The obtained critical ratio 2.61 is significant at 0.01 level. This shows that there is significant difference between the means of science interest scores of the pupils in science and humanities groups. Since the mean score of science group is greater than that of the humanities group, the former is superior to the latter in science interest.

2. Comparison of spiritual Intelligence Scores of higher secondary pupils

The spiritual intelligence scores of higher secondary pupils with respect to science and humanities groups were compared to find out whether the groups differ significantly or not. The details ratio 10.22 is significant at 0.01level. This shows that there is significant difference between the means of spiritual intelligence scores of the pupils in science and humanities group. Since the mean score of science group is greater than that of the humanities group, science group is superior in spiritual intelligence than the humanities group.

3. Relationship between science interest and spiritual intelligence for the total sample

The relationship between science interest and spiritual intelligence for the total sample was found out using the product moment method and co-efficient of co-relation was obtained. The co-efficient of correlation between science interest and spiritual intelligence for the total sample is 0.68, which is statistically significant at 0.01 level. The confidence interval at 0.01 level is from 0.631 to 0.729. The obtained r-value is positive indicating that both variables are positively correlated. So there exist a positive relationship between science interest and spiritual intelligence of higher secondary pupils.

Conclusion

The higher secondary pupils from the science group have greater scientific interest than those from humanities group. The spiritual intelligence is also in favour of pupils from science group compared to the humanities group. Also there is significant positive relationship between scientific interest and spiritual intelligence of Higher Secondary pupils

Educational implications

This study helps the educationists and curriculum planners to understand the necessary of spiritual intelligence and its application in the present curriculum.
As the perfect integration of spiritual intelligence in the curriculum will promote leadership behaviour, teachers should utilize the potentialities of students profitably by providing various opportunities in schools.
As spiritual intelligence is the ability to access higher meanings and values suggest measures to imbibe its application in the curriculum and also finds its importance in the science curriculum.
Spiritual intelligence is the intelligence with which we address and solve problems of meaning and value. So effective integration of SQ in the science curriculum will help student in developing their thinking skill and problem solving ability.

References

Berk, E.L. (2004). Child Development (6th ed.). Delhi: Pushpa Print Services India.
Sharma, R.C (1996). Modern Science Teaching. Delhi: Dhanpat Rai and Sons.
Singh & Kaur (2008). Development of Spiritual intelligence scale. Psycho- lingua, 38 (2), 143-146.
Vaughan, Frances (2002). What is spiritual Intelligence? Journal of Humanistic psychology, 42(2), 16-33.
Zohar. D & Marshall, I (2001). SQ –The Ultimate Intelligence. New York : Bloomsbury Publications.