Text 20. DISTANCE EDUCATION
1. Discuss the following questions in pairs:
1. How can you define ‘distance education’?
2. Does your university give an opportunity to study by means of distance learning? Would you like to try it? Why? Why not?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of distance education, in your opinion?
2. A) Match the following words and word combinations with their Russian equivalents:
| 1. rural 1. grading 2. to award smth 3. course requirements 4. to take advantage of 5. to replicate 6. dimensions 7. to establish 8. a matter of time 9. burgeoning | воспользоваться аттестация имитировать создавать вопрос времени распространяющийся, растущий требования курса аспекты присуждать что-либо сельский |
В) Translate the phrases from the text using the words and word combinations given above:
1. to educate rural working classes
2. to return the work for grading
3. to award a certificate upon completion of course requirements
4. to take advantage of video conferencing technology
5. to replicate the personal and social dimensions of face-to-face education
6. to establish the classroom within existing virtual world
7. to seem only a matter of time
8. to exist in burgeoning alternative worlds
3. Read the text and choose the most suitable heading from the list (1-5) for each paragraph:
1. Virtual world classroom
2. PLATO
3. Use of televisions and radios
4. Correspondence schools and classes
5. Face-to-face interaction via video conferencing
A) Distance education (also called distance learning or virtual learning) is the use of electronic information and communication technology to link teachers and students while they are not actually together in a physical classroom. Distance education in the form of correspondence schools or classes began as early as the mid-19th century with teaching of the Pitman Shorthand writing method. Later, correspondence classes became part of Chautauqua, a movement to educate the rural and urban working classes, using the growing reach of mail service through Rural Free Delivery. In correspondence schools, each lesson is typically mailed to the student, who completes the required work and returns it for grading. A certificate is awarded upon completion of course requirements. A few universities (such as the University of Wisconsin) also began to offer correspondence programs at that time.
B) By the middle of the 20th century, radio and then television was being used to bring lectures to students. This increased the immediacy and spontaneity of teaching. The invention of videotape in the 1970s allowed leading teachers to create customized courses aimed at different audiences. However, for a long time the ability of students to interact with teachers remained limited.
C) In the 1960s computers also began to be used for education. One of the earliest and most innovative programs was PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), which began at the University of Illinois but was later expanded to hundreds of networked terminals. PLATO in many ways pioneered the combining of text, graphics, and sound—what would later be called multimedia. PLATO also provided for early forms of both e-mail and computer bulletin boards. Meanwhile, with the development of ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network) and eventually the Internet, a new platform became available for delivering instruction. By the mid-1990s, courses were being delivered via the Internet.
D) Nowadays, as broadband Internet access becomes the norm, more Internet-based learning environments are taking advantage of video conferencing technology, allowing teachers and students to interact face to face. This helps answer a common objection by critics that distance education cannot replicate the personal and social dimensions of face-to-face education.Moreover, the universities using distance
education sometimes offer a period of physical residency (perhaps a few weeks) as part of the semester for their students.
E) New platforms for distance education continue to emerge. Class content including lectures has been formatted for delivery to mobile devices such as iPods. Another intriguing idea is to establish the classroom within an existing virtual world, such as the popular game Second Life. Second Life, launched by Linden Lab in 2003, is a complete virtual world in which participants, called “residents” can do just about anything—play and be entertained, have relationships, conduct businesses and meetings and even attend university courses. Here students and teachers can meet “face to face” through their virtual embodiments (avatars) and interact. It seems only a matter of time before entire universities will exist in such burgeoning alternative worlds.
4. Find English equivalents for the following phrases in the text:
1. связывать преподавателей и учеников
2. отправлять уроки по почте
3. спонтанность обучения
4. разрабатывать собственные курсы
5. доставлять/отправлять по почте
6. отвечать на распространенное возражение
7. период проживания
5. Answer the questions using the information in the text:
1. When and how did distance education begin?
2. How is education organized in correspondence schools and classes?
3. What was the advantage of using radio and TV in distance learning in the middle of the 20th century?
4. What is PLATO?
5. Is it possible for students learning distantly to have face-to-face interaction with teachers?
6. What is the new platform for distance education?
6. Prove that the following statements are true using the information in the text:
1. Distance education helped various social classes receive knowledge in the 19th century.
2. In correspondence schools a student could have his work checked without meeting a teacher.
3. In the second half of the 20th century distance learning began to be supported by innovative computer technologies.
4. Thanks to the latest achievements in computer industry, distance learning can replicate the personal and social dimensions of face-to-face education.
5. Nowadays virtual worlds are often used as platforms for distance education.
6. The idea to establish classes in the alternative worlds has gained much popularity.