Case Studies in U. S. Distance Education Implications for Ghana’s Under-Served High Schools英文文献资料.docVIP

Creative Education 2011. Vol.2, No.4, 346-353 Copyright ? 2011 SciRes. DOI:10.4236/ce.2011.24049 Case Studies in U. S. Distance Education: Implications for Ghana’s Under-Served High Schools Gabriel Kofi Boahen Nsiah Department of Education, School of Development Studies, Education and Health Sciences, Valley View University, Accra, Ghana. Email: {gabrielnsiah, nsiahgabriel}@ Received June 15 , 2011; revised July 18 , 2011; accepted July 31 , 2011. th th st Ghana, like many other nations in recent years, has made education a top priority for national development. De- spite newly developed policies, however, there remains a significant quality gap among high schools; due largely to an inequitable ratio of government’s educational spending by geographic area. While most urban schools flourish with better funding and more resources, many rural schools are substandard due to funding in- equity, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of logistical support, material input, and qualified teachers. These problems call for attention and resolution and distance education is considered a panacea to these problems. To achieve this objective, three distance education sites/cases—two parochial schools and one large state-supported public school were studied. Using a variety of data collection interview methods—video conferencing, Skype, face-to-face conversations, and e-mail—interviews were conducted with individuals representing various roles at the three case study sites in the United States: teachers, principals, local and district administrators, and tech- nical and program directors. Effective and ineffective practices at these focus sites provided contextual refer- encing for future program development/replication in Ghana. Interviews revealed many common issues and themes for success in facilities