Online education is just the way you had yearned for to undertake a systematic learning process of your choice. You can simply surpass the hurdles of attending scheduled classes in a stereotype way and make up your personal setup as per your routine to pursue a course. You can rightly get college degrees through online education sitting back at home. Where lies the problem? Everything fits into the lifestyle you want to lead by giving you the privilege to go for higher education. Actually this is not all. It represents only one side of the coin. Though online education or E-learning process have made a benchmark in the field of education as well as professional world yet the acceptance of such degrees still have to undergo an acid test. There are many pitfalls in the system and a throughout recognition to the online degrees in the professional scenario is yet to be attained. Things you must make sure Most fall into the trap of fake degrees in the name of online education. This is a common mistake and those who claim that they are providing you a genuine degree can fool you very easily. Thus it is your foremost duty to find out the authenticity of the degree being provided in the online education system from the right sources. The process is not very tough and you can also check the credentials from your home through the different supporting links provided in the web medium. The panel that will conduct the interview always scrutinizes online degrees of any form. The whole issue is related to the affiliation or accreditation of the course to a university or distinctive school. Now you may find that the degrees on offer are accredited to some agencies of educational institutes. And here lies the trap. After seeing the accreditation you firmly rely on the genuineness of the course and get ready to enroll and invest on it. But you don’t have the slightest idea that the agency can be a fake one. Most of the times it actually happens to be so. Thus at the end of the day you land up to a fake degree that is a complete wastage of time, money and effort. You can never expect to get a proper placement with such a degree in your educational record. Unless you make yourself fully assured about the validity and legitimacy of the accreditation matter you must not opt for such an online course. You can anytime fall into a false position and then you won’t be given a second chance to retreat.
How to get best school grants for quality education
Educational costs are increasing day by day. And it is becoming hard for an average person to get quality education. But for students who are interested in getting quality education like technical, mechanics, electronics or some other higher education it is easy to get it through school grants.
School grants are bit different from loans. Best part of getting education this way is that it does not require you to pay back the money you have taken for getting the education. If you are looking for jump starting your professional career and find it hard to fund education, grants is a way by which you can get your dreams come true.
In general school grants enables you to get quality education without worrying about paying back the money. These schools allow needy but talented students to get education and make their dreams come true. There are number of federal as well as private colleges and institutions that allow grant education. But as federal grants only are not enough to fund the education for all the aspiring students, it is advisable that you should look for some private institutions as well.
Various associations, institutions and organizations are available that are willing to provide the necessary help for bright students. Most of the people think that it is difficult to find these institutions but with the help of internet and search engines you can easily look for them online. As there is tough competition between the aspiring students, getting a private school grant may be a tough job. But if you are well planned and try early you can get it all the way.
First of all you should find some of the best institutions and colleges that provide you grant education. Fill out all the necessary forms and submit the application as early as possible. You have to demonstrate your financial need at the time of application, so be ready for it and prepare all your papers and documentation well in advance. Not only your financial need, but you have to also demonstrate that you are a bright student for the college by providing your unique academic records.
It is also essential that you follow all the guidelines and instructions while applying. You should also look for the limitations of the courses or programs that some of these colleges or school grants may have. This all will surely help you get best education by the best institution to enlighten your career.
Forex Education Part 1 – Chart Patterns And Candlestick Variations
Forex education has evolved throughout the years with new strategies being taught on a frequent basis. However, there are still concepts that apply today in the same way they have applied years ago. One of those concepts is trading chart patterns and candlestick formation variations. That it, in order for a trade to be successful a chart pattern or a candlestick formations does not have to be exact.
In your Forex education programme you will be taught what chart patterns such as flags, pennants or double bottoms look like. You will also be taught how to identify various candlestick formations such as the engulfing pattern, dark cloud cover or the piercing pattern. More importantly, you will be taught how to interpret those patterns and formations and decide whether they qualify as an opportunity to trade. As you continue to learn Forex trading, you will come across numerous charts that include patterns and formations that look 100% identical to those that you have seen in books and other ducational documents. However, you will also find chart patterns and formations that are not 100% identical but certainly have the characteristics of those you have been taught.
Rather than throwing these types of charts in the bin as they are not 100% identical, try and spot trading opportunities within them they are there. To start with, place them in a group of charts you are simply watching, identify your target and see if the trade will go your way. By no means should you place real money on this trade but simply pretend to trade it as you would normally. The actual patterns and formations to not have to be exact but if you identify the correct variations, they can deliver great profits.
Simply put, choosing the trade variation that is right for you can be really subjective. For example, if your trade has a resistance level of $10, do you simply stop yourself out of the market when the price reaches $10? If not, do you wait for the market to close above $10 before you exit the market? If you do wait, how far up are you willing to see the price go until you decide you do not want to be in this trade? Similarly, if you are trading a channel on a daily basis, does it become exempt if the support or resistance have been penetrated intra day? Do you still view the channel as an opportunity when the candlestick opens below the support line and closes above it? The answers to these questions will come with experience, practice and the aggressiveness of your trading style. Nevertheless, bear in mind that variations in trading patterns and candlestick formations appear on a regular basis and it is up to you to find them and trade them appropriately.
However, do not make the mistake of ‘making exceptions’. Your Forex education should have taught you that a pattern or a formation can only be so much different in order to be considered as an approachable variant. If you identify a currency pair chart that is just that little bit ‘too different’; walk away from it. If you decide to give it the benefit of the doubt you are destined to fail. To confirm it is the wrong trade have a look at what the market has been doing prior to this point, what the indicators are doing or what news has been released on the Forex or your currency pair in particular. There is a very fine line between success and failure when trading chart or candlestick variations but if you get it right, the profit opportunities are fantastic.
Expanding education- Technology to review education
Dear readers, this is not my regular work of technology or tech news review. Consider it a highly imagined piece where realistic assumptions are made with collective goodwill to expand the education base. What and how are decided once we are willing to understand the power that digital world gives us in improving life in large scale and have that illusive peaceful sleep. Technology no doubt is going through too many disruptions where there is innovation and mainly more so in the internet world but there is more scope.
First the opportunities. With Skype being downloaded wholesale it is already time for this app to work to deliver online classes. Even in some parts there are classes where international professionals are taking voluntary classes for economically backward masses. The main communication system here is definitely vernacular so that you do not need to teach them anything added for language in priority. Language can move forward with other subjects simultaneously. Once this is implemented it is better as the students will learn more practical oriented education rather than the conventional knowledge and attention challenging theories from these professionals. A very significant role is played by games if they are designed properly in online education.
Why games? This is a sort of entertainment and children will be more attentive to them. So even complex ideas can be easily executed and delivered once you have their full attention. Similarly to test their level of education it is better to use games as there also they will welcome the challenges of the games more than the conventional tests. This way there can be smooth early education for children and then comes the part of monitoring and designing fitting course curriculum. There lie our toughest challenges.
To monitor very individual and find their suitable vocations will need keen evaluation of their progress and at no point we can abandon those students. It is better to remember that most of these students are first generation of learners and they will have difficulty to grasp the education process. So we will have to suite the education to their liking. It is not that tough. We need to keep analysing our every move and monitor their effects.
If the prospects are understood more companies will come up with newer apps for these purposes, they will definitely do once they understand the enormity of their work. What will it give? Reduce education costs and the subsidies used in it. This is where you can save lot of money for other developmental work. This free money can even be used for building infrastructure of education these students will need and spread the process of education worldwide.
There will be difficulties. As the complexity of subjects increase more students will try the escape route. They will desert midway. It is for us to make them understand the impact difference of education can have in their life. Once we can do that we can move to keep them for longer time. Still some will desert. This is natural even in schools and there will come another technology to disturb our status quo of education completely. Till then we can work on our existing ideas.
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SENIO
ABSTRACT The result of improvised instructional materials on students’ performance longitude and latitude at the senior technical colleges was assessed. Two hundred students of all senior technical colleges participated in the study. The students were grouped into two:- control group and experimental group (20 students formed each group “control and experimental”) preset was administered to both groups. Alter exposing the experimental group to treatment, post-test was administered. Mean and standard deviation was computed; ranked are used to answer the research question for the study. The t-test statistics was used in testing the null hypothesis formulated. The finding of this study shows that the group taught with improvised instructional materials performed better than the group taught without any instructional materials. Recommendations were offered on ways to promoting, encouraging and arousing the interest of teachers in the improvisation of mathematics equipment and materials.
INTRODUCTION For the purpose of definition, technical colleges are a post-secondary vocational training programme whose major purpose is the production of technicians and craftsmen. It is a special grade of vocational education which can be distinguished from other educational programmes because more mathematics and science are required in the training programme Okorie (2000) Today the population of Technical colleges has continue to decrease in the country, equally there had been an enormous decrease in the students population. This is due to the unimpressive state of the nation’s economy, the government has found it very difficulty to adequately finance technical colleges and also provide the scientific equipment required by these colleges. Therefore many technical colleges in the country operate without standard mathematics and science laboratories. Obviously the situation is not likely to improve in the nearest future judging from political and economic state of the nation, due to inadequate funding of the schools and colleges in the country. Consequently, the demand for mathematics and science equipment will continue to remain by these schools and colleges and the most feasible way to adjust with this demand is to resort to the improvisation of teaching equipment and materials. In Nigeria and other foreign countries, a lot of research work on improvisation of teaching of mathematics and science subjects had been carried out as part of the effort to promote, encourage and arouse the interest of mathematics and science teachers, educators and curriculum developers in improvisation of teaching equipment and materials. Alghomlan (1990) explain why mathematics teacher should improvise with available materials in other to achieve their aims in teaching. Therefore instructional materials help the teacher to meet individual differences of learners in class by using aid that appeal to different sense (Moronfola, 1983) Aina (2013), stressed that instructional materials are to supplement verbal explanation of concepts or any description so that the learning could be real to the student, therefore the national policy on Education (2004) emphasizes the teaching and learning of science principles, it also stated that the provision and use of science will lay a sound bases for scientific and reflective thinking among pupils. Ugoata (2006); Nwagbo (2008), asserted that teaching equipments and materials are often lacking in our schools. However, some of the equipments needed for teaching mathematics in technical colleges can be improvise to arose the interest of the students. Abimbola (1999), stressed that the primary purpose of instructional materials is to make learning more effective, and also facilitate it. Provision and use of instructional materials for mathematics teaching will lay a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking among technical students. Studies have shown that the students enjoyed or gain more when improvised materials were used for teaching physics (Aina 2013).this was also supported by Eyetsemitan (2000) and Achimigu (2006) that the use of instructional materials improve achievement in basic science. METHODOLOGY An experimental design was used for this study, in which quasi-experimental approach was used. There was an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was exposed to improvised materials. Their performances were later compared using the mean scores in pre-test and post test scores. Senior students of all the five Technical colleges in Kwara State were used for this study A total of 200 students comprising of 155 males and 45 females constitute the entire population which was considered appropriate and manageable by the researcher. These students were divided in to two groups. One group was experimental (20) and other group was for control (20) Two groups (A & B) of senior students from all the five technical colleges in the state were taught mathematics lesson on the determination of distance between two points on the earth surface along the lines of latitude. The duration was 45minites each. Each group comprised of twenty (20) students. Group A was taught with improvised instructional materials, while group B, was taught without using improvised materials. At the end of the lesson, group A and B were given a written test, their script were collected and marked, and the scores were later analyzed.
HYPOTHESIS There is no significant difference between the performances of students taught using improvised instructional materials and those taught without using instructional materials.
DATA ANALYSIS Student’s scripts were marked and the scores obtained by each of the two group of student were recorded independently. The mean score of each group was then calculated t – test was also computed to find out whether or not there was any statistical significant difference in the two mean score. RESULTS Table 1 shows the number of students that took part in the pre-test and post- test for each of the two group, i.e. experimental group and control group the table therefore shows that 200 student took part in the pre-test and the 200 students took part in protest. TABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS S/NOGroupsNumbers of students Pre- testPost- test AExperimental Group100100 BControl group100100 Total200200
Table II: – shows the mean scores of the two groups in the pre- test. The results indicate that the students had little or no prior knowledge of longitude and latitude due to their poor performance in the pre- test conducted. Table II: MEAN SCORES FOR THE PRE- TEST DescriptionExperimental groupControl group Total score75-IK No of students100100 Mean score23.824 Table III shows the test computation of students taught with improvised instructional material i.e. locally made “globe of the earth” and their counterpart without improvised material
VariablesNoMeanSDDfCalc.tCritical value tDecision Students taught with improvised material10082.59.85998.641.970Rejected Students taught without improvised material10041.56.75 HYPOTHESIS There is no significant difference between the performance of student exposed to improvised instructional material and those not exposed to it. The hypothesis was tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 alpha level of significant. Judging from table 111 above, it is indicated that die t-calculated value is 8.64, while the critical or t- table value in 1-970. Since the t-calculated value is greater than the t-table, therefore null hypothesis is hereby rejected. Hence there is significant difference in the performance of student taught using improvised instructional materials and their counterparts taught without improvised instructional materials. DISCUSSION OF FINDING Pretest mean scores for the two groups are higher than the scores of their post- test of die two groups, experimental group scores was also higher than that of control group scores. Differences in their scores indicate the effectiveness of treatment given to the experimental group. This was confirmed by the t-test statistics computation of the two groups. The treatment easily aroused their interest, aid their retention and stir-up the cognitive conflict in them, thereby engage them in active participation in the lesson presented. The control groups in order hand were just presented with facts and reasons. These act allowed students to a passive participation in the lesson thereby do courses mass failure in mathematics as a subject. CONCLUSION Mathematics teaching/learning at both junior and senior students of technical colleges required a lot of handling of teaching equipment and materials by the student’s before any meaningful learning could be achieved by the teacher. Therefore, in the absence of no unready made equipment, mathematics teachers should be encouraged and advised to always design and construct equipment and material by improvising from the available resources. RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the finding of this study the researcher makes the following recommendations: 1.That a comprehensive syllabus be prepared along with appropriate suggested teaching equipment and material by curriculum planners who are in charge of mathematics to guide mathematics teachers, so that the teaching and learning of mathematic in Nigeria may be thorough enough to achieve the technological development. 2.The national commission for college of education should introduce into the present NCCE curriculum for mathematics a detail comprehensive course on improvisation of mathematics equipment and materials.
REFERENCES Abimbola, A. (1999). Principles and practice of Education Technology, Ibadan, Nigeria: International Publisher. Aina, J. K. (2013). Instructional materials and Improvisation in Physics Class: Implication for Teaching and Learning. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education Aigbomlan, D.O. (1990) Improving the attitude of primary school science teachers toward improvisation, Journal of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria, 26 (2), 53-58 Achimugu, L. (2006). Resources Materials for Teaching Primary Science. In U. Nzewi (ed). Science Teachers Association of Nigeria Annual Conference Proceedings, 339-345. Heinemann Publishers Plc. Eyetsemitan, P.E. (2002). Curriculum Design and Development: The Teaching and Learning of STM with the Primary Science Curriculum. In M.A.G. Akale (eds) 43rd Science Teachers Association of Nigeria Annual Conference Proceedings, 420-425. Heinemann Publishers Plc. Federal Ministry of Education (2004) National policy on Education. Lagos, NERDC Morohunfola, P.I (1983). A study of relationship between instructional resources and students’ academic performance. (Unpublished master’s thesis) University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
Nwagbo, C. (2008). Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) curriculum development; Focus on problems and prospects of Biology Curriculum Delivery. N. Udofia (eds) 49th Science Teachers Association of Nigeria Annual Conference Proceedings. 13-15. Heinemann Publishers Plc. Okorie, JU (2001) Vocational industrial education, league of researchers in Nigeria (LRN) Bauchi Nigeria. Uyoata, U.E. (2006). Availability, selection and utilization of instructional resources for teaching Primary Science in Uyo Local Government Education Authority, Akwa.
