Monday, February 8, 2016

Lesson 10 The Computer as a Tutor


The computer is one of the wonders of human ingenuity. With the invention of the microcomputer (now also commonly referred to PCs or Personal Computer), the PC has become the tools for programmed instructions.

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 teacher.
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:



v  Insure that students have the needed knowledge and skills for any computer activity.
v  Decide the appropriate learning objectives .
v  Plan the sequential and structured activities to achieve objectives.
v  Evaluate the students’ achievement by ways of tests the specific expected outcomes.


The Students in CAI plays their own roles as learners ,as they:



v  Receive information.
v  Understand instructions for the computer activity.
v  Retain/keep in mind the information and rules for the computer activity.
v  Apply the knowledge and rules during the process of computer learning.


The  Computer  plays  its  roles as  it:

v  Acts as a sort of tutor (the role traditional played by the teacher)
v  Provides a learning environment.
v  Delivers learning instruction.
v  Reinforces learning trough drill-and-practice.
v  Provides feedback.

CAI Integrated with Lessons

v  CAI computer learning should not stop with the drill and practice activities of students
v  CAI works best in reinforcing learning through repetitive exercises such that students can practice basic skills or knowledge in various subject areas
v  In these programs, the computer presents a question /problem first and the student is asked to answer the question/problem. Immediate feedback us given to the student’s answer.



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

v  Use drill and practice programs for basic skills and knowledge that require rapid or automatic response by students (e.g. multiplication table,  letter and word recognition, identification of geometric shapes, etc. )
v  Ensure that drill and practice activities conform to the lesson plan/curriculum .
v  Limit drill and practice to 20-30 minutes to avoid boredom.
v  Use drill and practice to assist students with particular weakness in basic skills.


The tutorial software should be able:

v  Be able to teach new content/new information to students (in as much as CAI provides practice on old or already learned content)
v  Provide comprehensive information on concepts in addition to practice exercises.
v  Be able to teach new content/new information to students (in as much as CAI provides practice on old or already learned content)
v  Provide comprehensive information on concepts in addition to practice exercises.
v  Be effectively used for remediation, reviewing, or enrichment.
v  Allow the teacher to introduce follow-up questions to stimulate students’ learning.
v  Permit group activity for cooperative learning.



SIMULATION PROGRAMS

            Simulation software materials are another kind of software that are constructivist in nature.


Simulation software:

§  Teaches strategies and rules applied to real-life problems/ situation.
§  Asks students to make decision on models or scenarios.       
§  Allows students to manipulate elements of a model and get the experience of the effects of their decisions.





           


No comments:

Post a Comment