Week 8

There are many insights that I have gained from this course. Mostly, I know more about research now.  Before I was not certain what my role in research could be, but now I am aware that I could very well play an active role in research.  I had the idea that there were only certain types of people who conducted research, but my ideas have changed about how I could actually do research with my ideas that I have.


I have learned that thinking of an idea for a research project is one easiest part and the designing and conducting it take a lot more consideration.  There are several parts to a study and it is a lot more complicated than it looks and you better take the time to ensure that a research project is valid and ethical. 


Writing the research simulaiton was a big challenge for me, mostly because I did not have an example to go off of.  I kept wanting to see what would happen if I actually conducted this research and not just write about it.  It was hard for me to visualize.  I overcame this by looking at examples in the book and keep thinking about how I would like to complete the research.  It was still difficult for me, but I was able to complete the assignment. 


My perception of early childhood educators has modified because of this class.  I can say that early childhood researchers have a tricky job.  Not only do they want the best for children but they have the navigate the world of research in order to give the best to children (or at least I hope they do). 

Week 5

I was very impressed with the ECDVU (Early Childhood Development Virtual University).  The Mission of the ECDVU Sub-Saharan Africa is "To further develop African ECD leadership capacity as a key strategy in support of child, family and community well-being and broader social and economic development."

 Some of the topics being studied by the students include involving fathers in the early years, school and parent collaboration and development of curriculum with community resources.  All of these topics are ones that are found internationally, though they might have a focus on the specific country they were written in, such as, Kenya or Eritrea.  We find that educators everywhere are trying to engage parents and develop curriculum based on what they have in their community. 

I found this program pretty exciting. This program is fully accredited and are part of the School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada. Participants are often recommended for the program. I looked through several of the students major projects and they were very big projects.

I also took a look at the World Bank External Report of the the ECDVU program.  It was very impressive that the ECDVU has a retention rate of 90% and when compared to the rest of Africa is very high when it comes to virtual schools.  It also was compared to the University of Phoenix which has a retention rate of 64%.  Obviously, they are doing something right! I highly recommend looking at the report.  
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php