RESC Centres

Regional English Support Centers (RESCs)


RESCs have been established by the Ministry of Human Recourses, Development, Education and Cultural 

Affairs in co-operation with Provincial Education Departments and the National Institute of Education in 1989.

“RESC” stands for Regional English Support Center. These Centers were setup to   strengthen English 

language teaching (ELT) in Sri Lanka. The distribution of the 30 RESCs is indicated in the map. They 

provide excellent support for teachers of English by providing in-service training courses, run special 

programmes for teachers and students at primary and secondary levels.  RESCs also act as resources 

centers with its vast collection of ELT materials. Experienced, dedicated senior teachers of English are 

appointed as members of staff of RESC. They develop various strategies under the guidance of NIE to 

empower the regional base teachers especially in peripheral areas according to their regional needs.

 RESCs help teachers of English in a variety of ways. Their general purpose is to: Promote English language teaching – learning in the regions

To accomplish this, RESCs:

         * Provide in-service training courses for teachers of English

         * Act as information centers for teachers

         * House a Regional English Language Testing Unit (RELTU)

         * Organize ELT activities such as exhibitions and competitions

         * Provide a meeting place for English teachers and other officials to discuss ELT issues

         * Provide resources for English teachers to use and borrow

         * Conduct special programmes for students such as “Book Weeks”

* To help ideas for the classroom, all RESCs have:

                   * A large stock of primary English readers and textbooks

                   * A large stock of secondary English Language Teaching books and other material

1.Hanwella
2.Chilaw
3.Trincomalee
4. Tangalle

5. Bolawalana
6.Matara
7.Baticaloa

Highlights

of

The Conference -2008

Reflection Answer for Sunday

Reflection Answer for Sunday

(1) What did you find surprising or striking as you furthered your knowledge about how people learn?

As a person who is involved in teacher training and a curriculum designing attached to National Institute of Education (NIE), I found that the course on instructional design provided me with really a surprising or striking tools and information about how people learn.

It is true that at various stages of our career development we were able to learn about learning theories, how brain works, and how people learn yet the way the materials presented in this course worked as an eye opener because it catered to become an instructional designer to modern world which is in the midst of an extraordinary outpouring of research work on the mind and brain, on the processes of thinking and learning, on the neural processes that occur during thought and learning, and on the development of competence etc.. In my point of view I feel that at each week the assignments given were not only mere memory testing but were combined with reflection. In other words assignments were able to put us back to learners’ boat, to think back how we learnt certain things and to combine with technology.

For instance, in the first week when we were asked to read the three blogs I was able to learn about issues of e-learning and post what I learnt into my blog for the first time. If you analyze this now as a learner we were able to

get a sense of achievement after finishing an assignment on seemingly new area. Moreover, it was leading the learner to “learning to learn” which means the art of learning in modern world. Starting from that up to 8th week we got the opportunity to learn about various theories though print media, video program, from various materials taken from the web, peer learning through discussions & Supplemental Resources given in the Walden University library. For the first time we were able to visit a virtual library though some materials really created trouble in down loading.

(2) How has this course deepened your understanding of your personal learning process?

Even though children differ from adult learners in many ways, there are commonalities across learners of all ages. As I continue to learn more about Brain and Learning, Information Processing theory, Problem solving methods during learning process, I started giving more thought on relevance of brain research on improving teaching methods and learning styles. My thoughts around learning have been profoundly altered by reading the course materials. Reflection done time to time made me think about my personal learning process. I started to appreciate the role, value and importance of social learning, situated learning, learning in community and culture. I understood that more is learned from discourse with peers than from lessons from traditional modes.

Furthermore, the materials and assignments lead us to seek help from the cohort of students who are following the course especially when it came to point that we should depend on technological knowhow. It was crystal clear to me that we need cohorts and community to build a shared repertoire of key concepts, evolve tools, & sharing meaning. I understood that this is difficult to achieve in a placid conversation. Exposure to different types of tools and frames, deep dialog, strong engagement helped, to decrease stress levels that increased the learning opportunity. The fine balance maintained in every aspect help us to gain new skills

(3) What have you learned regarding the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation?

When you consider the connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation, I learnt that each learning theory explains facts such as how learning occurs, factors that influence learning, the role of memory in learning, How transfer occurs, types of learning that are best explained by each theory, and in what ways can technology be used in learning.

For instance, If you take Cognitive Theory learning can occur even without reinforcement & a change in behavior (unlike behaviorists’ belief)&”Learning” occurs in an organized body of information in other words learning occurs when information is stored in memory in an organized, meaningful way. When you think about the factors that influence learning according to cognitive theory, they believe that existing schema & previous experiences play a big role. Not only those but also by encouraging the learner to use appropriate learning strategies & helping the learner store information in memory in an organized, meaningful way to assimilate readily.

Learners, forty years ago would complete the required schooling and enter a career that would often last a lifetime. Information development was slow. However, over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes should be reflective of underlying social environments. Fundamental changes in learning paradigms are taking shape with constructivism on the rise, new links between learning, community and networking; exciting emergent alternatives are driving commercial education. connectivists’ believe that learning may reside in non-human appliances which mean “technological gadgets”. Therefore, currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities and one should have the skill to choose what to learn from vast store where Knowledge is growing exponentially.

Moreover, I feel that various technologies deliver different kinds of content and serve different purposes in the classroom. For example, word processing and e-mail promote communication skills; database and spreadsheet programs promote organizational skills; and modeling software promotes the understanding of science and math concepts. It is important to choose the collect technology to suit the lesson. When we consider the above mentioned facts we can identify some significant trends in learning: Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime. Learning and work related activities are no longer separate. In many situations, they are the same. Technology is rewiring our brains. “Know-how” and “know-what” is being supplemented with “know-where” (this means understanding of where to find knowledge needed).

Lets us now consider on what factors success or failure of any e-learning program depend on. As instructional designers we should know that any e-learning program can be closely correlated to learner motivation. Thus it is the duty of the designer to make sure that the program should cater those need such as “attracting” the attention of the online learner and learner should be able to reflect the fact that How and when he can link his instruction to the learning styles and personal interests of the learners leading him to finish it successfully and feel self confident and paving way to the satisfaction or reward from the learning experience.

To sum up we see that learner’s ability to learn what he needs for tomorrow is more important than what he knows today.

(4)How will your learning in this course help you as you further your career in the field of instructional design?

As curriculum designers at NIE we need to think of education reforms once in 8 years. Our Director General’s vision is to develop human resource attached to NIE to be able to cater the child who will enter the school system in 2030. He believes that teacher guides and teacher training in future should be in digital mode. As the initial step the institution offered scholarship positions to follow on-line course at Walden University for 12 officers. When I reflect on how my learning in this course will help me to further my career in the field of instructional design and meet the demands of the system. I feel that I might be able to design on line courses in my field confidently. Now I can understand what sort of materials we should provide, and how we should present it to suit the various types of individuals with various types of learning styles. Moreover, I know that I must create different types of assignments to retain the attention of the learners from the beginning to the end. Most importantly I know that if I go wrong, there is a person whom I can rely on attached to Walden University; He is our instructor.

Now that you have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories and learning styles, how has your view on how you learn changed? What have you learned about the various learning theories and learning styles over the past weeks that can further explain your own personal learning preferences?

The idea of how people learn in different ways has been explored over the last few weeks and it is understood that individuals learn with their preferred style. Learning styles are simply different approaches or ways of learning. Visual Learners: learn through seeing These learners want to see the teacher and facial expression to understand the content of a lesson & tend to prefer sitting at the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions. They may think in pictures and learn best from visual aids. During a lecture visual learners often prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information.

As eyes are for visual learners ears are for auditory learners & they learn through listening verbal lectures, Written information have little meaning until it is heard & benefit from reading text aloud and using a tape recorder. & they learn through listening verbal lectures,

Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners learn through, moving, doing and touching. In other words, they learn best through a hands-on approach. They may find it hard to sit still for long periods and may become distracted by their need for activity and exploration.

When I think of my learning style I felt my dominant style of learning was more towards visual learner. I really believed it. I still remember how I wanted to be seated in the first raw centre seat. I wrote everything the teacher told even the anecdotes relevant to the lesson. When my friends got absent they used to borrow my notes because they can get a clear idea of what really happened. One day one of my friends borrowed my notes and had drawn something looked like drops of water when I inquired she told me that I have forgotten to put saliva that sprays when the particular lecturer talked. Even though, they laughed at me I could remember when I write like that I could go back to the lesson and live in it when I revised my lessons. Yet before the exams me and friends in my clique used to get together and study. We used to read our notes loud and make notes, make acronyms to remember list of names etc.. I felt studying that way helped me to retain everything we discussed rather than in self studying.

This made me understand that the dominant style may not always be the same. It may vary or be combined with others, according to the nature of the activity.

I f I reflect upon what a learning theory is? According to Wikipedia a learning theory is an attempt to describe how people and animals learn. Learning theories are discussed under three categories behaviorism,cognitivism,& constructivism. When Behaviorism focused on observable aspects of learning, Cognitive theories explained brain-based learning and constructivism believed learning as a process where learner constructs or builds new ideas or concepts. Other than these theories there are andragogy how adults learn, Connectivism which focuses on learning as making connections.

At the beginning I believed that the first two intelligences (Spatial &Linguistic) of Howard Gardner’s only played a big role in my learning which I believe that has been the tradition concerned. Now when I analyze my leaning to find out which theory played a dominant role I feel little bit of each in its own way has played a vital role and all seven intelligences are needed to live life well.

To sum up, I feel that teachers, therefore, need to attend to all intelligences. This proves that there is no theory which is 100% good or 100% bad. Therefore, it is better to take the positive area from each theory to suit each situation or to adopt an “Eclectic Approach” to theory especially when it comes to Instructional Design

(2) What role does technology play in your learning (i.e.as a way to search for information, to record information, to create, etc.)?

When I was a student I could learn a small, but fixed body of knowledge predetermined by somebody. However, now the enormous amount of available information at the tip of the fingers increasingly doubling at an alarming rate.

I feel Education is being partially transformed by new technologies. I could remember a time that I was scared of technology. Even though we were able to own a desk top computer in the latter part of 90’s only my son and husband could work on it. But when I got the scholarship to UK communication was done via emails. I felt as if I was put to deep end. That struggle to survive made me learn it and treat technology as a mere tool or vehicle for delivering instruction. Technology, however, helped me to become efficient in many ways, such as becoming independent, interactive & confident. For an instance, now I am confident enough to deal any topic because I know that within few hours I can make use of search engines to find information and do a power point presentation for my lectures. I won’t depend on anybody to learn. My own reflections tell me that I have naturally taken charge of my own learning. My important documents are stored in documents in Gmail (virtual space) which is easy to retrieve from anywhere in the world.

In conclusion, I would like to say that modern technology is significantly impacting society and our daily lives and I feel that there is a strong link between effective use of modern technology and the theory of constructivism.

connectivism

2nd Week

How do people learn? How did life outside of the classroom impact students? What is the role of the brain and learning? How do the students acquire languages? Is there a role played by emotions in learning? Why many students did became dedicated to Literature and to me? I began to observe how most of my colleagues taught and tried to understand the connections between the above mentioned quarries. Gestalt psychology suggests that everything comes together in the moment of action, and if we want to know why and how students are learning then we have to know how they are making sense of a situation how they are relating to what is being learned. According to Ormrod.J.E, Shunk D. H.earning, Gredler M (2008) Mind Learning Principles are based on research done on animals, postmortem studies, case studies of people with brain injuries and other pathological conditions & Electrical recording and neuro-imaging but it is said that none of the principles 100% perfect. As many agree “Learning” involves both focused attention and peripheral perception and it involves conscious and unconscious processes. When you think about Learning languages and the mechanisms of Learning .It is amazing to learn that a language learner goes through the same steps when learning a language. D.A Wilkins (1976) distinguishes between synthetic and analytic approaches: a synthetic language teaching strategy is one in which the different parts of the language are taught separately and step-by-step so that acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of parts until the whole structure has been built up. Moreover, left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for language learning & mathematical calculation skill (Learning theory and instruction P 34). Lenneberg (1921–1975) who was both linguist & neurologist was the first to say that language acquisition and cognitive psychology specially concept of innateness. He was in the view when a child reaches 12 years ability of learning languages concentrates to the left side of the brain. Therefore, it is very clearly seen that if you can expose a child to many languages before 12 child finds it easy to learn as both sides of the brain works.

1st week application

Week 1 Application
This is my first blog for the Walden University So you will have to bear with me if I have done a mistake. I hope to be good blogger. I am sure I will definitely be a competent blogger one day.
For this assignment I looked at three separate blogs related to instructional design. In my current position I work as a teacher Educator attached to National Institute of Education dealing with adult learners and as the national coordinator coordinating Regional English Support Centers popularly known as RESC centers where the staff of this centers help teachers and children in peripheries of the country . So anything I can read and bring back to assist my work I felt worth reading and subscribing to.

The first blog I looked at Instructional Design for eLearning Approaches: the first cite of mine is it is about many issues of e-learning I liked Planning and Management in Distance Education and Training because it takes about benefits of e–learning such as:
1. “The most cost-effective way to deliver instruction (training) or information."
When you think from the point of view of the institution for staff development in-service teachers should come to the institution and the cascade model is being used to train the teachers in the country. I feel if we can use on line training it saves the problem of in-service instructors coming to the institution and in their work place they can get the training.

2) Universality. "Concern over differences in platforms and operating systems is rapidly fading".
Here in Sri Lanka we use moodle as the operating platform but as the blog (http://ideas.blogs.com) suggests we to can make use of open sources and the nature of universality makes it popular with everybody.
3) Scalability. "Programs can move from 10 participants to 100 or even 100,000 participants with little effort or incremental cost (as long as the infrastructure is in place)."
This feature too is very user friendly. We need not bother about numbers. If we try to organize a workshop we will have to find a suitable venue and limit the participants but online workshops do not have such limitations

The second blog I looked at is http://learntoelearn.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/adult-learning-whats-in-it-for-me/ it also talks about what adult learner needs and how they learn. It is true that we cannot use the same method to teach young learners to adults. I felt it is very relevant my job. It says “Every adult learner wants to know one thing: what’s in it for me?”This means that we cannot decide for them as for children we need to think about a needs survey when planning a workshop or a course. Furthermore, it talks about get the employees interested in learning. The following extract gives a clear idea about it.
“So how do we get these employees interested in learning? Here are a few suggestions:
• Immediately explain to the learners why the training class is important to their particular job
• Have clear and detailed goals for the training class
• Link the training class to the employee’s prior work experience
• Actively involve the employees in the class
• Treat the learners with respect and treat them like adults, not children
• Show the learners the benefits of the training, i.e. make more commission, prepare themselves for advancement, stay on top of the competition”
The tips given are very useful to any one handling adults

/http://nkilkenny.wordpress.com/ is the third blog I went through .This blog will be very helpful as it talks about “Future Think for Educators” and shares resources with those who read and post. This will be beneficial as an Educator who is involved in curriculum designing I will have to think about future and cater the needs of the child in 2030 .Moreover, it talks about Our Educational System has Failed Us – Parents to the Rescue .I felt the information given is very relevant to my career

Walden University

This posting is for Walden University