Lesson 10: The Computer as a Tutor

       

 The computer is one of the wonders of human ingenuity even in its original design in the 1950’s to carry out complicated mathematical and logical  operations. With, the invention of microcomputer, the PC has become the tool for programmed instruction.

Educators saw much use of the PC. They saw its potential for individualization in learning.

Computer-assisted Instruction (CAI)

The computer can be a tutor in effect relieving the teacher of many activities in his/her personal role as classroom tutor. It should be made clear, however, that the computer cannot totally replace the teacher since  the teacher shall continue to play the major roles of information deliverer and learning environment controller.

The teacher must:

·Insure that students have the needed knowledge and skills for any computer activity.

· Decide the appropriate learning objectives.

·Plan the sequential and structured activities to achieve objectives.

·Evaluate the students’ achievement by ways of tests the specific expected outcomes.

The students in CAI play their own roles as learners as they :

·Receive information

·Understand instructions for the computer activity

·Retain in mind the information and rules for the computer activity

·Apply the knowledge and rules during the process of computer learning.

The computer, too,  play its roles as it:

·         Acts as a sort of tutor

·         Provides a learning environment

·         Delivers learning instruction

·         Reinforces learning trough drill-and-practice.

·         Provides feedback.

CAI Integrated with Lessons

CAI works best in reinforcing learning through repetitive exercises such that students can practice basic skills or knowledge in various subject areas. Common types of drill and practice programs include vocabulary building, math facts, basic sentence, and history or geography facts. 

When and how can teachers integrate drill and practices programs with their lessons? The following suggestions can be made:

   • Use drill and practice programs for basic skills and knowledge that require rapid or automatic response by students.
 • Ensure that drill and practice activities conform to the lesson plan/curriculum.
 • Limit drill and practice to 20-30 minutes to avoid boredom.
  • Use drill and practice to assists students with particular weakness in basic skills.

In integrating computer programs in instruction, we use tutorial software associated with cognitive learning. While practice exercise or learning-by-doing is still the heart of each tutorial software should be able to:

• Teach new content/ new information to students (in as much as CAI provides practice on old or already learned content).
• Provide comprehensive information on concepts addition to practice exercises.
•  Can be effectively used for remediation, reviewing, or enrichment.
• Allow the teacher to introduce follow-up question to stimulate students learning.
• Permits group activity for cooperate learning.

Simulations Programs

Simulations software materials are another kind of software that is constructivist in nature. This simulations software: 

•      Teacher strategies and rules applied to real life problems/situations.
•      Asks students to make decisions o models or scenarios.
•    Allow students to manipulate elements of a model and get the exercise of the effect on their decisions.

Instructional Games

While relation to low-level learning objectives (e.g. basic spelling or basic math skills), instructional computer games add the elements of competition and challenge.

Problem Solving Software

These are more sophisticated than the drill and practice exercises and allow students to learn and improve on their problem solving ability. Since problem cannot be solved simply by memorizing facts, the students have to employ higher thinking skills such as logic, recognition, reflection, and strategy-making.

Multimedia Encyclopedia and Electronic Books

The Multimedia Encyclopedia can store a huge database with texts, images, animation, audio and video. Students can access and desired information, search it vast contents, and even download/print relevant portions of the data for their composition or presentation.

Electronic Books

Provides textual information of learning for reading, supplemented by other types of multimedia information (sounds, spoken words, pictures animation). These are useful for learning reading, spelling and words skills.

Lesson 9: Computers as Information and Communication Technology

        

In the educational Technology course 1 the role of the computer in education was well discussed. It was pointed out that advent of the computer is recognized as the third revolution in education.

   1.  Printing press

   2.  Libraries

   

   3.  Computers

Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)

        It was introduced using the principle of individualized learning through a positive climate that include realism and appeal with drill exercises that uses color, music, and animation.

USES OF THE COMPUTER AS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

 Communication Media                             

(Internet)                                                         

E-mail (text and video)                          

Chat rooms                                                

Blog sites                                                   

New services (print, video clip)                       

Music/movie/television room                          

                                                                

                                                    

 The PC

 Audio-visual media

(Multimedia)

Text, sound, graphics, charts photos

Power-point Presentation

CD, VCD, DVD player

CDVCD, DVD player

Educational software

Software, courseware

School registration/records accounting

The Personal Computers as ICT

·         Instructional Media – consists of audio-visual aids that served to enhance and enrich the teaching-learning process.

Example: Blackboard, Photo, film and video

·         Educational Communication Media – Comprise the media of communication to audiences including learners using the print film, radio, television, or satellite means of communication.

Programs normally installed in an ordinary modern in an ordinary modern PC:

·    Microsoft Office – Program for composing text, graphics, photos into letters, articles, reports, etc.

·         PowerPoint – for preparing lecture presentations

·         Excel – for spreadsheets and similar graphics sheets

·         Internet Explorer – access to the internet

·  Yahoo or Google – websites; e-mail, chat rooms, blog sites, new service, educational software and etc.

·         Adobe Reader – Graphs/photo composition and editing

·         MSN – mail/chat messaging

·         Windows Media Player – CD. VCD player; Editing film/video

·         Cyberlink power – DVD player

·         Game House – video games

Lesson 8: Thinking Skills through IT-Based Projects

    I.            I.      Resource-based Projects

In these projects, the teacher steps out the traditional role of being an context expert and information provider, and instead lets the students find their own facts and information. Only when necessary for the active learning process does the teacher the step in to supply data or information. The general flow of events in resource-based projects are:

1. The teacher determines the topic for the examination of the class.

2. The teacher represents the problem to the class.

3.The students find information on the problem/questions.

4.Students organized their information in response to the problem/questions.

Traditional learning model	Resource-based learning model
Teacher is expert and information provider	Teacher is guide and facilitator
Focus on facts Information is packaged In neat parcels	Focus on learning inquiry/quest/discovery
The product is the be all and end all of all learning	Emphasis on process
Assessment is quantative	Assessment is quantitative and qualitative

A WebQuest - is am inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by the learners are drawn from the web. WebQuest is designed to use learners’ time well, to focus on information rather than looking for it. It also supports the learners’ thinking at the level of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

                         II.   Simple Creations

                       Students can also be assigned to create their software materials to supplement the need for the relevant and effective materials.

      In developing software, creativity as an outcome should not be equated with ingenuity of high intelligence. Creating is more constant with planning, making, assembling, designing, or building. Creativity is said to be combine in three kind of skill/abilities:

Analyzing- distinguishing similarities and differences/ seeing the project as a problem to be solved

Synthesizing- making spontaneous connections among ideas, thus generating interesting or new ideas.

Promoting - selling of new ideas to allow the public to tet ideas themselves

The Five Key Tasks

1.  Define the task- clarify the goal of the completed project to the students.
2.  Brainstorm- The students themselves will be allowed to generate their own ideas on the project.
3.  Judge the idea- The students themselves make an appraisal for or against any idea.
4.  Act- The students do their own work with the teacher a facilitator.
5.  Adopt flexibility- the students should allow to shift gears and not follow an action path rigidly.

                                   III. Guided Hypermedia Projects

The production of self-made multimedia projects can be approached in two different ways:

1.  As an instructive tool, such as in the production by students of power-point presentation of a selected topic.

2.  As a communication tool, such as when students do a multimedia presentation (with text, graphs, photos, audio narration, interviews, video clips, etc. to simulated a television news show.

                        IV.    WEB-based Projects

Students can be made to create and post webpages on a given topic. But creating webpages, even single page webpage, may be too sophisticated and time consuming for the average students.

Lesson 7: Evaluation of Technology Learning

        The standard student evaluation of learning must change. This is justified by the fact that not only has the new generation changed into digital learners, but the traditional world has metamorphosed  into a digital world.

        Assessment needs to conform, not with literacy of the past century but the new literacy in 21^st century. This literacy uses digital tools in preparing students to face  high-tech world.

        The comparison is made with the Swiss watch-makers which failed to adapt digital watch-making. The Swiss watch lost its prime position in less than 2 years of neglect to the need to go digital. 

        Evaluation must be geared to assessment of essential knowledge and skills so that learners can function effectively, productively and creativity in a new world.

        It must us evaluative tools that measure the new basic skills of the 21^st century digital culture namely:

•       solution fluency

•       information fluency

•       collaboration fluency

•         creative fluency

•       media fluency and

•       digital citizenship

        For example: In reading, single text becomes less important compared with empowerment  process of being imbibed by varied informative, educational and recreational literature-textual, audiovisual, digital. Apart from form reading, learners are asked to engage in the process of writing reports, essays, articles, stories, power-point presentations, video scripts, drama skills, etc. The standard paper tests will prove inadequate in assessing new learning.

        As students engage in the problem solving process, assessment will also need to focus on 4 Ds (define, design, do, debrief) that empower students to solve problems using higher-level theoretical and practical thinking.

        As product-outcome learning changes from verbal-textual to textual to digital expressions (research-based outputs in various forms such as audio, video, power-point, multimedia, etc.) evaluation must also changed.

Mass Amateurization

        A term which implies a mass reach of student outputs. The personal and group creative activities in school should aim in bridging the gap between amateur creators of outputs to professional creators of future outcomes and products in the real world.