COMPUTERS AS TEACHING AID

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Advantages:
the chief advantage of the computer is interactivity. the learner is involved as it is required to respond.

Research literature also states that students like working with computers because computer...
1. Are infinitely patient, never get tired, frustrated or angry.
2. Never forget to correct or praise and do not embarrass student who make mistakes.
3. Are self-paced, individualized learning, and allow students to work privately.
4. Make possible to experiment with different options.
5. Are excellent for drills and practice and give immediate feedback.
6. Are more objective than teachers.
7. Free teachers for more meaningful contact with students.
8. Are impartial to race or ethnicity.
9. Are great motivators, fun and entertaining.
10. Give a sense of control over learning.
11. Call for using sight, hearing and touch.
12. Teach in a small increments.
13. Help improve spelling and build proficiency in computer use.
14. Make laborious work easy.
15. Work rapidly, closer to the rate of human thought.

Limitations
1. Purchase and maintenance of computers could be costly.
2. Some CAI programs are simply electronic versions of pen-and-paper exercise.
3. Some software compatible to a computer may not be compatible to other computer units.
4. Limited range of objectives is attained by computers. Computers usually cannot teach affective            and interpersonal domain.
5. Effective classroom management cannot be assured in classes with limited computer units.

Utilization Guidelines:
1. Each student have fair access to equipment.
2. Employ tandem or pair techniques in computer use.
3. For students who have computers at home, they may be encouraged to extend developing their skills.
4. Preview and critique the software prior to actual use and encourage student evaluation.
5. If a television is connected to a computer or LCD Projector, make sure that the mentioned units is already setup.
6. Make instructions and explanation very brief.
7. Classroom discipline should be maintained inside the computer laboratory.
8. Websites and links in the internet which are used as reference should be reviewed before directing students to access them.

COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION

COMPUTER AS TEACHER
The computer is a powerful tool with a number of uses in the field of education. The computer engages in activities traditionally done by teachers. This application of the computer is usually called computer-aided instruction. However, along with this concepts are many related terms:

• Computer-based education
• Computer-based instruction
• Computer-assisted instruction and 
• Computer-managed instruction

There are number of common categories for computer-aided instruction, namely: 

Drill and Practice – the drill and practice materials designed to help learners master already taught skills or knowledge through repetitive work. A computer drill and practice program can provide motivation better than a similar pen and paper exercise.

Tutorial – in a tutorial material, the computer presents the theoretical portion, then the program leads the student through a series of questions or exercises to increase their fluency in a skill.

Educational Games – instructional games add fun to computer-aided instruction. In some cases, games are modified versions of drill and practice and simulation software.

Simulation – the learner confronts a real life situation, like that of symbolic simulation, without fear of risks involved. Most simulation are designed to promote application  of information, thinking and problem solving skills.

Problem Solving – CAI applications teach problem solving skills but do not necessarily fall into the previous categories. Problem solving applications are designed to promote students’ higher order thinking skills, such as logic, reasoning, pattern recognition and strategic thinking.

COMPUTER AS ASSISTANT

In this category, the computer helps the learner in performing routine work tasks. It can function as a typewriter, a calculator, a drawing canvas, a filing system and the like. Software programs include word processors, graphic design packages, presentation software, databases, spreadsheets and telecommunications or internet tools.

COMPUTER AS LEARNER

The role of the computer and the student that we see in traditional computer-aided instruction are reversed. The computer becomes the “learner” while the student becomes the “teacher”. The objective of the application is for the student to teach the computer to perform some tasks through creating programs.

MULTIMEDIA

Multimedia combines multiple forms of visual and audio information to create multi-sensory presentation. Multimedia is a combination of different media types into a single delivery system under computer control.

Examples of multimedia

• Video
• Graphics
• Audio
• Text
• Real Objects and Models

"A powerful multimedia can arouse attention and imagination while concepts are presented."

Multimedia presentations can be prepared using presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Follow these simple steps to create one:

1. Font size should be big enough and can been seen from the farthest part of the room.
2. There should be less transition
3. Use simple fonts or easy to read fonts for titles
4. Text should be at least six  to seven words per line and six to seven lines per slide
5. The presentation should be given a consistent look
6. Special effects such as transition and animations should be used moderately. Too many special effects can draw away the attention of the audience from the content.

A well designed multimedia project has the following characteristics:

1. Essential, not tangential – the task fits into the core of the curriculum. It represents a big idea.
2. Authentic, not contrived – the task uses processes appropriate to the discipline, students value the outcome of the task.
3. Rich, not superficial – the task leads to other problems, it raises other questions. It has many possibilities.
4. Engaging, not uninteresting – the task is thought-provoking. It fosters persistence.
5. Active, not passive – the student is the worker and decision maker. Students interact with other students. The students are constructing meaning and deepening understanding.
6. Feasible, not infeasible – the task can be done within school and homework time. It is developmentally appropriate for students. It safe.
7. Equitable, not inequitable – the task develops thinking in a variety of styles. It contributes to positive attitude.
8. Open, not closed – the task lead to divergent answers, not convergent. It caters to multiple learning styles, providing learning opportunities to every student.

Reference: Concepts in Educational Technology 1 by Ronato Ballado

DISPLAY MEDIA

CHALKBOARD
Once called blackboards, they now comes in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors. These media are the most familiar devices used by teachers and students to present data.

MULTIPURPOSE BOARD

Multi-purpose board can also be called whiteboard or markerboard. The smooth, white plastic surface requires a special erasable marker rather than chalk. As the name implies, multi-purpose boards can be used for many purposes.

White surface is also suitable for projection of films, slides and overhead transparencies.

Some multi-purpose board have steel backing so they can be used as magnetic board for display of visuals.

BULLETIN BOARD

Bulletin boards usually present brief news announcements of urgent interest posted for public notice. Just like chalkboard, they come in various sizes, shapes and colors.

However, bulletin board can also serve as instructional aids. They can provide decoration and motivation aside from instruction.

PEG BOARD

This is used to hold heavy objects, three-dimensional materials and visuals.

Special metal hooks and holders can be inserted into the pegboard to hold books, papers and other objects.

CLOTH BOARD

This board is constructed of cloth stretched over a sturdy backing materials such as plywood or heavy cardboard. Teachers of reading and other creative activities often use cloth boards to illustrate stories, poems and other reading materials.

MAGNETIC BOARD

This serves the same purpose with the cloth board. Visuals are backed with magnets and then placed on the metal surface of the board. Visuals with magnetic backing are available from educational stores.

FLIP BOARD

This is a pad of large paper fasten together at the top and mounted on an easel. Individual sheets of the flip board each hold a limited verbal/visual message and ban be arranged for sequential presentation to a small group.

Reference: Concepts in Educational Technology 1 by Ronato Ballado

Classifying Instructional Materials

Who is Edgar Dale?

Born April 17, 1900, Benson, Minnesota, USA

Cited as the Father of Modern Audiovisual Education

An American Educationalist who developed the Cone of Experience.

Professor of Education at Ohio State University

“The cone is a visual analogy, and like all analogies, it does not bear an exact and detailed relationship to the complex elements it represents.”

What is the Cone of Experience?

The cone of experience consists of bands which arrange media used in learning experience from the most concrete to the most abstract.

Some students focus mostly on concrete (sensory) experience.

Others prefer to think about abstract concepts and theories.

The pattern of arrangement of the bands of experience is not difficulty but degree of abstraction.

The individual bands of the Cone of Experience stand for experience that are fluid, extensive and continually interact.

In our teaching then, we do not always begin with direct experience at the base of the cone rather we begin with the kind of experience that is most appropriate to the needs and abilities of particular learner in a particular learning  situation. Then of course, we vary this experience with many other types of learning activities.

                                                                                     -Dale 1969

Who is Jerome Bruner?

American Psychologist 

Born October 1, 1915, New York, USA

Devised another classification of media parallel to Dale’s called Three-Fold Analysis of Experience or Three-Tiered Model of Learning.

The ENACTIVE part forms the bases of all learning experience and it refers to the direct or actual experiences.

The ICONIC part refers to abstract experiences in the form of pictures.

The SYMBOLIC part represents the forming of mental image in the absence of concrete object.

Charles Hoban, Charles Hoban Jr. and Samuel Zisman

A conceptual graph in which visual media are arranged along the y axis while the learner’s level of development-from the concrete level of thinking to the abstract level of thinking is array along the x axis.

Implications of the Cone of Experience in the teaching-learning process

• We do not use only one medium of communication in isolation. Rather we use many instructional materials to help the learner conceptualize his/her experience
• We avoid teaching directly at the symbolic level of thought without adequate foundation of the concrete. Leaner’s concepts will lack of deep roots in direct experience. Dale caution us when he said: “these rootless experiences will not have the generative power to produce additional concepts and will not be able learner to deal with the new situation that he faces.
• When teaching, we don’t get stuck in the concrete. Let us strive to bring our students to the symbolic or abstract level to develop their higher order thinking skills.

Reference: Educational Technology 1 by Lucido and Corpuz

Projected Media

Projected media refers to media formats in which visual and verbal images are projected or enlarged and displayed on a screen by passing strong light through a transparent material or through opaque materials

FILM STRIP PROJECTOR

An optical instrument in which a strip of film is wound past a lens at a fixed speed so that the frames can be viewed as a continuously moving sequence on a screen or wall.

FILMSTRIP
A length of film containing still photographs, often of illustrations, diagrams, charts, etc., arranged in sequence for projection separately and used as a teaching aid.

OVERHEAD PROJECTOR
A device like a box with large stage on the top surface. Light from a powerful lamp inside the box is condensed by special type of lens known as Fresnel lens and passes through a transparency placed on a stage.

SLIDE PROJECTOR
A slide projector is a device that is used to view photographic slides by using optical and mechanical methods. It contains an electric light bulb. focusing lenses. reflector and condensing lenses. a holder that holds the slide. 

OPAQUE PROJECTOR

A device that operates by directing onto a material a very strong incandescent light, which is reflected upward to strike a mirror which aims the light beam through a series of lenses onto the screen.

DLP PROJECTOR

Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a display device based on optical micro-electro-mechanical technology that uses a digital micro mirror device which is video projection technology, developed by Texas Instruments.

DLP tech can be used in a variety of video display platforms, but is most widely used in video projectors. It is also important to note that in the past, DLP technology was used in some rear-projection TVs (rear-projection TVs are no longer available).

LCD PROJECTOR

A projector which incorporates an LCD panel and a light source. Such a projector is usually portable, and has a much more powerful output than an LCD panel without the light source. An LCD projector may also incorporate other features, such as a cordless mouse for simplified operation.

LED PROJECTOR

A projector  like any other projector only with a difference that they use an array of Light Emitting Diodes as the light source, negating the need for lamp replacement.

PICO PROJECTOR

A handheld projector (also known as a pocket projector, mobile projector, pico projector or mini beamer) is technology that applies the use of an image projector in a handheld device. It is a response to the emergence/development of compact portable devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and digital cameras, which have sufficient storage capacity to handle presentation materials but little space to accommodate an attached display screen.

Reference: Concepts in Educational Technology 1 by Ronato S. Ballado

Benefits of Instructional Media

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1. Standardization of the delivery of instruction.
2. More attention-grabbing instruction.
3. More retention in learning.
4. Reduced length of time required for instruction.
5. More interactive learning.
6. Provision of instruction whenever and wherever necessary.
7. Enhancement of positive attitudes of students to learning.

8. Shift of role of teachers from instructors to facilitators.

9. Individualization of learning.

10. More multi-sensory learning.

Reference: Educational Technology 1 by Lucido and Corpuz

Attributes that Media posses toward Educational Technology by Greene et. al. 1997

• Media can create learning situations that cannot otherwise be accomplished like bring past, current and distant events in the classroom.
• Media can be used to present information in a variety of ways which best meet particular learning objectives.
• Media can learning be more effective by increasing the realism, the dynamics and the attitudinal impact, thus increasing the motivation to learn.
• Some media such as television, can make the best teachers and learning  situation available to more students than would otherwise be possible.
• By using media, some educational objectives can be realized more economically than the conventional means.
  

Reference: Educational Technology 1 by Lucido and Corpuz