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ADULT DISTANCE LEARNING FOR U.S> ARMY SOLDIERS.
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Examines its value to soldiers on active duty. Impact of media technology. 1 Exhibit.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines its value to soldiers on active duty. Impact of media technology. 1 Exhibit.

Paper Introduction:
ASSESSING THE VALUE OF ADULT DISTANCE EDUCATION FOR THE CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES ARMY SOLDIER Formal education is widely recognized as a valuable asset for citizens and for the organizations in society that offer productive employment opportunities for citizens. As society becomes more complex, the educational qualifications demanded of individuals by employing organizations continues to increase. Enhanced educational qualifications benefit both the individual and the employing organization (Dunderstadt, 1999). The value of a college-level education to the individual may be appreciated through a consideration of the information presented in Exhibit 1, which may be found on the following page. As the information presented in the exhibit indicate, average annual income rises dramatically as the level of indiv

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assessing the value of adult distance education for the contemporary united states army soldier Formal education is widely recognized as a valuable asset for citizensand for the organizations in society that offer productive employmentopportunities for citizens. Process gains refer to thesynergistic aspects of the learner interaction that improve groupperformance relative to the individual member performance. Process losses: a. d. Mayor (1996) stated that one consequence of the rise of the audiovisual communications media is the passivity of human behaviour in front of the screen. Army HeadquartersTraining and Doctrine Command. Higher education and new technologies.UNESCO Courier, 38-39. Army HeadquartersTraining and Doctrine Command. Task support refers to the informationand computational infrastructure (e.g., external databases andcomputational models) provided. This initiativefollows earlier moves by the Army to apply distance education to routinetraining activities, as an alternative to sending soldiers to militaryschools on temporary duty (Abell, 2 ). It soon became clear that among the many fields where the new technologies may be applied- especially the high-capacity networks known as information superhighways that can carry data, sound and images-higher education, research and the promotion and dissemination of knowledge are those with the richest potential (p. (1999, Fall). R., &George, J. The Army's advanced strategic artprogram. The cost, price, and value of a collegeeducation. F., Dennis, A. 38). R., Sankaran, D., & Bui, T. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan.Retrieved from the Internet 21 December 2 at:http://milproj.ummu.umich.edu/version2/papers/legacy/ value/ Mayor, F. Research on Social Work Practice, 1 (3), 362-376. Sankaran, Sankaran, and Bui (2 ) found that studentattitude toward the learning environment (traditional classroom versusdistance learning) was a major factor in determining the success of adistance education activity. b. Murray, W. The benefits accruing to the Armyfrom such programs focus on the retention for a temporary period ofqualified and competent personnel. Most enlisted soldiers in the contemporary United StatesArmy, however, have come of age as interactive as opposed to passivepersonalities in relation to electronic media. Millennium Papers. European Journal of Operational Research, 46(2), 143-161. Electronic meeting systems to support groupwork. X. tadlp.monroe.army.mil/abell%2 paper.htm Carr, S. Other educational-oriented initiatives,such as sending active duty personnel to college, either civilianuniversities or service institutions such as the United States Army WarCollege, to develop special qualifications, tend to be disruptive to themost efficient use of available personnel (Murray, 2 ). tadlp.monroe.army.mil/ ostendorfpaper.htm Petracchi, H. Media technology supports learning in distance education settingsthrough one or a combination of the following four mechanisms, as follows:(1) process support; (2) process structure; (3) task structure; and (4)task support (Nunamaker Dennis, Valacich, Vogel, & George, 1991). The followingare examples of process gains and process losses that occur in distanceeducation programs (Nunamaker Dennis, Valacich, Vogel, & George, 1991): 1. Anelectronic communication structure provides process support. One or a few individual members may dominate learnergroup discussions and monopolize the learner group's time. R., Valacich, J. Communications of the ACM, 34(7), 41-6 . Task structure refers to the analyticaltechniques and models for processing task-related information and taskaccomplishment. A group of learners as a whole generates moreinformation and alternatives compared to the average group member as anindividual learner. International Journal of InstructionalMedia, 26(4), 397-4 . Retrieved from the Internet 21 December 2 at: http://www. Fort Monroe, Virginia: U.S. Soldiers as distance learners: What armytrainers need to know. Requirements for undergraduate andgraduate degrees for commissioned officers and professional staffincreasingly are extended to warrant officer, noncommissioned officers,and, in the contemporary period, to an increasing proportion of enlistedpersonnel of all grades (Ostendorf, 1999). Abell (2 ) also points to this problem with distance education forsome individuals. The most recent educational initiative launched by the United StatesArmy, however, is a $6 million program announced in August 2 that willenable any soldier who so desires to take distance-education courses on theInternet at little or no cost to themselves (Carr, 2 ). c. (1999). (2 , August 18). Older initiatives, such asthe GI Bill and the Army College Fund, provide educational benefits tosoldiers after they leave the service. Processstructure refers to techniques or rules that direct the pattern, timing, orcontent of learner interactions. Learner groups are more effective and objective inevaluation and error detection tasks compared to the average group memberas an individual learner. Retrieved from theInternet 21 December 2 at: http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i5 /5 a 35 1.htm Dunderstadt, J. F. b. (1999, January). The emergence of these technologies has revolutionized our ways of thinking and living in recent years and opened up heady prospects for creating worldwide links between universities, institutes of higher education and research, libraries, laboratories and hospitals, disseminating knowledge, promoting personalized teaching, education tailored to the needs of individuals and groups, the exchange of ideas and data and the implementation of collective projects. c. This issue, thus, need notbe a problem for the contemporary soldier. One of the motivations for adoption of the distance learning modelwas a recognition that traditional classroom instructional models and on-campus attendance do not mesh well with the demands placed on active dutysoldiers (emergency deployment, routine transfer, temporary duty, and theeveryday demands of military duty). These four mechanisms are the primary means by which theapplication of media technology increases the effectiveness the learningprocess in distance education scenarios. Nunamaker, J. L. Exhibit 1 [pic] Several recent initiatives of the United States Army reinforce theimportance placed on education by the service. Effect ofstudent attitude to course format on learning performance: An empiricalstudy in web vs. Higher volumes of information generated during thelearner group process create a condition of information overload for someindividual learners. References Abell, M. P. Anonymity of electronic input can decrease or eliminate evaluationapprehension (a process loss) leading to an increase in learnerparticipation and the amount of information generated by the learner group(a process gain). Parameters, 3 , 31-39. Interactions among the learner group members lead tosynergies. Only students who have learned to master interactive machines and processes since childhood and know how to extract from the electronic media exactly what they need for their own growth can resist the powerful fascination of multimedia. Assessing student perceptions of internet-based online learning environments. d. Distance education holds out a promiseto ameliorate some of these difficulties (The, 1999). Nevertheless, bothadvantages and disadvantages characterize distance learning, and theseadvantages and disadvantages must be considered by contemporary soldierswhen considering this alternative approach to a college education(Petracchi, 2 ). The citizen of the twenty-first century is a televiewer rather than a 'teleactor,' and is usually regarded as a consumer-of images, information, entertainment and knowledge. 39). The Effects ofelectronic meeting on group process and outcomes: An assessment of theempirical research. Army bombshell rocks distance education.The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(15 ), 1-3. Distance education: What do our studentstell us? (2 , March). Enhanced educational qualifications, however, are equally valuable tomost employing organizations in contemporary society. The value of a college-level education to the individual may beappreciated through a consideration of the information presented in Exhibit1, which may be found on the following page. lecture instruction. S., Vogel, D. Another paradox of the new situation is that content is the poor relation in a revolution based on hardware, technology and processes (p. Journal of Instructional Psychology,27(1), 66-75. The distance education initiative for soldiers to pursue collegedegrees through civilian colleges and universities while on active duty andat Army expense, however, represents a paradigm shift in Army educationalpolicy. (199 , May). Enhanced educational qualificationsbenefit both the individual and the employing organization (Dunderstadt,1999). Increasing group gains andreducing process losses lead to this outcome. Teh, G. Fear of negative evaluation (evaluation apprehension)causes some learner group members to withdraw and avoid participating inthe group discussions. Mayor (1996) observed that: New information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, are offering researchers, educators, artists and administrators all over the world an opportunity to form the most cultivated, specialized, versatile and active intellectual community that the world has ever known-a kind of global university. As the information presentedin the exhibit indicate, average annual income rises dramatically as thelevel of individual formal educational attainment increases. (2 , May). Electronic communication channelsincrease the amount of information and alternatives generated by learnergroups (a process gain) by providing simultaneous input channels and thus,eliminating or reducing fragmentation of member participation (a processloss). As society becomes more complex, theeducational qualifications demanded of individuals by employingorganizations continues to increase. L. Process gains: a. Feedback on US Army HQ TRADOC norms fordistance learning design. For those who are less familiar with the technology, the discovery of the medium takes precedence over the message. Sankaran, S. e. Laboratory and field studies have shown that media technologycapabilities and features can facilitate learner group interactions andimprove group performance by increasing process gains and reducing processlosses (Pinsonneault & Kraemer, 199 ). (2 , December 7). (1991, July). Working in a learner group may motivate the individualmember to perform better than would be the case if they were performingindividually. Process lossesrefer to aspects of the learner interactions that impair group performancerelative to the efforts of individual members working alone. Ostendorf, V. 2. Fort Monroe, Virginia: U.S. Thearmed forces recognition of the importance of enhanced educationalqualifications is long standing. Learner participation in the group process is fragmented(i.e., learner group members should take turns in communicating). (2 -2 1, winter). Retrieved from the Internet 21 December 2 at: http://www. (1996, December). In no sector ofsociety is this fact more relevant than in the nation's armed forces. Pinsonneault, A., & Kraemer, K.

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