Transient Students

Transient students
Name
Institution
Background
As some of the phases of mobility of educators change, the United States of America continue to record the highest number of transient students. Students’ mobility in the USA is a widespread issue that has involved students moving from a school to another not on the next school promotion basis but for other reasons. Most students have at least made one school change that is non-promotional during their elementary and secondary careers. However, many professionals in the field of education have associated the adversity of mobility of students to various causes though these causes have been changing for the past decades. Earlier in the 1950s, such movements were associated with welfare reforms where parents moved to accept jobs or jobs promotion (MacArthur, & Higgins, 2007). The perception of these changes has since changed where mobility of students is associated with the changed family structure, corporate downsizes and sporadic opportunities for employment. In the student mobility, students are the most affected group as they are directly involved in the changing of schools.
During the mobility of students, students are the most affected because they have to undergo some adjustment especially to new teachers, classes and other students. Due to the massive student mobility, some questions were raised by the educators, parents, students and the policymakers whether it is helpful or harmful to the performance of the students. For sure, student mobility is in the position of affecting a student either way, by improving his or her school performance or harming the school performance of the child affected by mobility (Lesisko, & Wright, 2009).

Thus student mobility is such an important and relevant eLearning issue that had to catch the attention of the US Senate in 2010 prompting the study into the instance and the effects it has. The major focus of the study was given to the implications caused by student mobility to elementary and secondary educational programs and the reasons and effects of student mobility.
Audience
When it comes to student mobility, the main focus turns to the educators who in the past decades have observed the changes in the phases of student mobility. Based on the estimations of the student mobility in various US states, it emerged that at least 500, 000 children have transferred from three schools while in the first grade (Lesisko, & Wright, 2009). Educators, however, have had the different perception of the causes of the student mobility. As student mobility intensifies, the educators as well tend to diversify their experience in the education system. There is a general belief among the educators that have associated the student mobility to the poor performance of the affected students.
Therefore, the educators in the diverse field of education including international politics, sociology, economics, and anthropology all have held different perspectives about the increased student mobility. Some of the professionals in the education field see student mobility as a norm in the modern world of education. They base their argument on the fact that in the postmodern world, mobility and strangeness are the common traits and seem to be the order of the day. In other words, both time and distance are changing prompting new social relationships that come with work practices and geographic dislocations (MacArthur, & Higgins, 2007). In the international politics perspective, student mobility intends to internationalize the tertiary institutions. In the past decades, the political context on the student mobility has changed leading to the development of community programs with the intention of increasing the labor market. Student mobility has been found to affect the US states where students have had an opportunity to transfer from one school to another in different states. Again this raises the question as to the reasons for the transfer. Although education professions have associated this to different reasons, they believe in most cases students search for better education.
Social change
The mobility of students from one school to the other all linked to the personal and the social change. In some cases, these students come from different families, for example, some come from humble families others from rich families, and all these factors have contributed to their mobility. Students who happen to transfer from one school experience a lot of social change in the line of interaction with the students, the teachers, and the school environment. Therefore, there need to adopt the eLearning intervention that will accommodate the social changes that happen to such students.
Therefore, the intervention such as providing students volunteers who are trained will help to coach the new students to settle in the new school. The issue of settling especially for transient students is one of the biggest challenges these students face. In most cases, it is related to the new environment the students find in the new school. Also, procedures need to be established that would allow the smooth transition of the students from the old school to the new one. The procedure to be adopted can include induction or orientation just to familiarize the new students with the current environment. Familiarization is also important for the social change of these students.
Diversity
As already indicated, the educators who are the main audience my paper on the student mobility which is an issue of concern as it has widespread in the US. The educators in the different fields such as sociology, international politics, and economics hold multiple of perspectives on the issue of student mobility. However, using the following three themes of Ribble’s digital citizenship framework a strategy can be suggested to address these perspectives. Digital access is one of the themes Ribble presents that encourages the provision of the digital access to all the learners and the learning institution (Ribble, 2011). In the perspective of the educators, they see student mobility as the inevitable in the postmodern world where strangeness and mobility are the common traits. However, researchers have found massive student mobility to be associated with the inequality in the resource availability among the learning institutions. Some school districts and rural school either have very few computers or no access to the internet. Therefore, you find that the digital access in such schools is very low and the teachers do not encourage students to use technology. Thus, it is important to make sure all learners can access the digital system to minimize the issue of students’ mobility.
Digital commerce is the second element of digital citizenship which requires that teachers should teach learners how to engage in online business (Ribble, 2011). Young people are the highest online consumers though most of them do so regardless of the consequences that await them. Being an intelligent online consumer is an aspect good citizenship and important in the lives of students. However, in some schools, teachers have neglected digital commerce leading to students transfer from their schools to other where they are taught digital commerce. Lastly, is the using digital communication in the education system. Though educators find the use of cell phones by the students as inappropriate, digital communication such as texting, use of social media and email are important for good citizenship. Even if educators deny students access to digital communication and use of cell phones, they have them and use them at home.
Digital citizenship
Since the educators are drawn from the diverse field of education, effective digital citizenship is the only way they can consolidate their perspectives on the issue of student mobility and find a solution. It is possible to use three of the Ribble’s element of digital citizenship framework to achieve the effective digital citizenship. For instance, the element of digital literacy is very important to all the educators in the different fields of economics, politics, and sociology among other fields (Ribble, 2011). Today, every educational profession involves the use of technology. Therefore, the educators in the field of economics need to know how to use the computer program system to prepare the budget. Other educators also use learning and understand how to apply technology appropriately to promote effective digital citizenship.
All educators especially teachers using technology in their different fields should adopt digital etiquette. Digital etiquette is one of the nine elements of Ribble’s digital citizenship framework that requires educators such as the teachers to be responsible for good digital behaviors (Ribble, 2011). Even as the teachers use the technology to teach the students on various aspects, they should remember they are role models. Therefore, despite the various cultures in the diverse fields of education, educators in respective fields need to uphold digital etiquette.
The last theme that can be used to promote effective digital citizenship reflecting on the diversity of the educators is the digital law (Ribble, 2011). All educators are required to abide by what is lawful when it comes to using the technology. Since teachers and other educators deal with students, they should be keen on what is appropriate and legal before they share the same with the students. If they decide not to follow the digital law and share what is unlawful with the students, students will grow up not knowing what is legal or illegal in the digital world. However, for effective digital citizenship, educators should follow all digital laws.
Learning community
A digital learning community involves a group of people who are connected by the use of technology irrespective of their cultural diversity. So they interact over the internet using video conferencing and conferencing calls among other platforms where they can address a certain topic supporting it with online learning materials. A digital learning community can be built using collaborative learning models by incorporating the technology so that to make the collaborative environment easy to use since they come in all shapes and sizes. The use of technology will allow the community to spend much of its time learning about the topic rather than the use of technology. However, the technology used should be simple and transparent to the educators and the students. The use of technology approach factors in the responsiveness and respect for cultural differences of the educators.
ELearning solution
As the issue of student mobility gaining roots into the education, diverse educators seem to have multiple perspectives concerning the issue. It is therefore important to use training as an eLearning solution to equip the educators with the skills that will be able to handle the issue. During training, cognitive learning theory should be adopted which involves processing of the information given during the training. Once the information is processed, diverse educators will understand the given information and store the information in the memory. Training of educators will also help them to understand the extent to which the effects of student mobility have to the students, teachers and the education sector at large.
References
Lesisko, L. J., & Wright, R. J. (2009). An Analysis of a Rural Pennsylvania School District’s Transient Population and NCLB Scores. Online Submission.
MacArthur, J., & Higgins, N. (2007). Addressing the needs of transient students: a collaborative approach to enhance teaching and learning in an area school. Wellington, New Zealand: Teaching and Learning Research Initiative.
Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools. International Society for Technology in Education.