Study And Analyze The Factors Related To Distance Education Using Data Mining

Study And Analyze The Factors Related To Distance Education Using Data Mining

Dr. Pardeep Mittal Professer, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab, India

Navdeep Kaur

M. Phil (Research Scholar)

Monu Bala

M. Phil (Research Scholar)

Abstract

Today Distance Education is adopted by most of the students for getting their basic as well as higher qualification. The Distance Education has many merits & demerits at graduation and higher level of education. At basic level it is less required but for higher degrees like post graduation it is more required. Distance education need to be adopted by students during their job to increase their degrees for their promotion or getting a better job. But in todays time distance education becomes the source of getting degrees instead of knowledge. This paper reviews the factor effecting the distance education for the students and professionals. It also includes a survey questionnaire which takes most of the factors into count and before starting actual survey, a pilot study for this questionnaire was done which conform its acceptance.

Keywords – Interaction, well equipped, Feed-back, Infrastructure, Learning center, Sessional exam

1. Introduction

   Education is the need of everyone to face the challenges of life. Getting the knowledge is more important than getting the degrees. Two ways of education are available, regular education and distance education. Distance education was started by the universities to meet the education need of the people, who cant come to college as a regular student due to their job or due to large distance of a college. But now a days distance education is more preferred by the students not due to above reasons only but due to easy

   way to get the degree or even get the degrees without meeting proper eligibility. In this way level of education goes on decreasing. This questionnaire helps to find the factors which are most responsible for preferring this education by the students also find the factors responsible for decreasing the level to study in distance education.

2. Factor Categories

   This questionnaire considers all the factors effecting distance education and most probably all these factors are taken according to their suitable priority. It includes major factors and all these factors are taken as questions which can be answered in five different ways (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree) according to which Distance Education level can be improved.

3. Classifiers

   According to the factors in the questionnaire the respondents can be classified in broad six classifiers, these are following.

   1. Regular Students

   2. Distance Education Students

   3. Regular Teaching Staff

   4. Distance Education Teaching Staff

   5. Employers

   6. University Authorities

4. Category Factor Variables

   Infrastructure V6 (Lack of well-equipped labs)

   V25 (Poor infrastructure) V43 (No Wi-Fi facility)

   Services V11 (Less opportunities to improve

   communication skills)

   V17 (Seminars are not conducted) V19 (Less use of advance technologies)

   V23 (Educational trips are not organized)

   V30 (Functions are not held)

   V35 (Video lectures are provided) V38 (Athletic meets are not held)

   Quality of V1 (In Distance Education, there is Education poor interaction between teacher

   and student)

   V2 (Less qualified faculty)

   V3 (Poor quality of study material) V5 (Less number of study hours) V9 (Guest lectures are not provided)

   V10 (volume of library books is not sufficient)

   V12 (Attendance of students is not must)

   V13 (No proper schedule of classes) V14 (No immediate feedback)

   V26 (Students miss class environment)

   V28 (Students are mostly dependent upon self-study)

   V32 (Students are not properly guided)

   V33 (Associated Universities are responsible to provide study material)

   V37 (Sessional examinations are optional)

   V39 (Poor management to conduct viva)

   V44 (Study Centers are shops instead of education hub)

   V47 (In many study centers, single teacher is giving lectures of all subjects)

   V50 (Study centers provide help during final exams in form of open books, notes etc)

   V51 (Many universities are not bounded to conduct the exams and declare the result on time)

   Admission V7 (Admission eligibility is not as Criteria/ per regular)

   Eligibility V8 (Need to conduct an entrance

   test)

   V45 (Students are registered in more than one course simultaneously) V46 (Students are enrolled without meeting the eligibility criteria)

   Difficulties V4 (Low status of education)

   V16 (Students suffer from lack of knowledge)

   V21 (No placements for distance education students)

   V24 (Hidden cost (in exceptional cases)

   V27 (Low confidence level of students)

   V31 (Improper management of students records)

   V34 (Students' personality cannot develop)

   V41 (Students under distance education are generally lazy)

   V42 (No promotions for faculty) V48 (Many employers do not consider candidates for employment having distance education degree)

   Objectives and V15 (Easy to get education while Goals doing job)

   V18 (Cheaper source of education) V20 (Lateral entry in courses)

   V22 (Convenient for person of any age group)

   V29 (Learning centers are easily accessible)

   V36 (Students can study anywhere) V40 (More and more people can get education easily)

   V49 (Better method to improve qualification during service for the purpose of promotion)

5. Conclusions

Improvement in distance education is the need of hour. So that level of knowledge in students getting degree through distance education can be maintained. This questionnaire helps to find the factors responsible for decreasing the quality of distance education as well as the reasons due to which student prefer it. These factors must be considered for improving the quality of distance education and before starting the distance

education a students can be aware about the problems and difficulties he/she have to face in future.

References

1. Adams, J. V. (1997). Student evaluations: The ratings game. Inquiry, 1(2), 10-16.

2. American Federation of Teachers. (2000, May). Distance education: Guidelines for good practice. Washington, CD: Higher Education Program and Policy Council.

3. Arenson, K. (1998, November 2). More colleges plunging into uncharted waters of online courses. New York Times, p. A16.

4. Boettcher, J. V. (2006, June 4). 21st century teaching and learning patterns: What will we see? Syllabus Press. Retrieved September 30, 2006, from http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/2 1century.htm

5. Budd, J. (2002, November 26). Higher Education: Marks for presentation: Can students be trusted to evaluate their lecturers? Joel Budd looks at the rise of consumer feedback in the UK and tells a cautionary tale from New York. The Guardian, p. 12.

6. Dwyer, F., & Li, N. (2000). Distance education complexities: Questions to be answered. International Journal of Instructional Media, 27(1), 25-28.

7. Easton, S. S. (2003). Clarifying the instructors role in online distance learning. Communication Education, 52(2), 87-105.

8. Green, S.B., Salkind, N.J., & Akey, T.M. (2000). Using SPSS for Windows (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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9. Hara, N., & Kling, R. (2000). Students distress with a web-based distance education course. Retrieved September 30, 2006, from http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/archive/CSI/WP/wp00- 01B.html

10. Howland, J. L., & Moore, J. L. (2002). Student perceptions as distance learners in Internet-based courses. Distance Education, 23(2), 183-195.

11. Martinson, D. L. (2000). Student evaluations of teaching and their short term validity. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 54(4), 77-82.

12. Reid, D. J., & Johnston, M. (1999). Improving teaching in higher education: student and teacher perspectives. Educational Studies 25(3), 269-281.

13. Stella, A., & Gnanam, A. (2004). Quality assurance in distance education: The challengesto be addressed. Higher Education, 47, 143-160.

14. http://www.irrodl.org/

Annexure

A questionnaire on survey of distance education Please take few minutes to fill out the survey. We

welcome your feedback and your answer will be kept confidential

PERSONAL INFORMATION

By Students

Regular Student

Distance Education Student

Regular Student

Distance Education Student

Gender.. Age.. City. Name of Study Centre/University.. Name (optional) Contact Number(optional).

Stream Course. UG/PG

Gender.. Age.. City. Name of Study Centre/University.. Name (optional) Contact Number(optional).

Stream Course. UG/PG

By Teaching Staff

Regular Teaching Staff

Distance Education Teaching Staff

Regular Teaching Staff

Distance Education Teaching Staff

Name of College/University

City. Gender Age

Name (optional).(Lecturer/Assistant professor/Associate Professor/Professor/Administrative Staff)

Conduct Number (Optional) Department

Name of College/University

City. Gender Age

Name (optional).(Lecturer/Assistant professor/Associate Professor/Professor/Administrative Staff)

Conduct Number (Optional) Department

By Employer

Name of Organization Employer Strength.Name of Employer.. Designation.Contact Number(Optional)

Name of Organization Employer Strength.Name of Employer.. Designation.Contact Number(Optional)

By University Authorities

Name of University

Name of authority(Optional) .Designation

Nam of University

Name of authority(Optional) .Designation

Provide Regular Degree

Provide Distance Education

Provide Regular Degree

Provide Distance Education