Chapter 6

INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE FOR CLASSROOM USE

A CLOSER LOOK AT INSTRUCTIONL SOFTWARE

DRILL AND PRACTICE SOFTWARE

SELECTING

• Control over the drill practice- Answering the given question or problems are given time limit however, a good drill and practice software still gives users enough time to think and answer before proceeding to the next questions.

• Answer Judging- a good drill and practice program must be able to discriminate correct answers from incorrect ones, especially is the user is required to enter a short answer rather than simply choosing from selection

• Gives appropriate Feedback- two errors must avoided when programs give feedback.

BENEFITS

• Immediate Feedback- Paper and pencil drill and practice gives delayed feedback, thus, students would know immediately how much they performed in their drill-and-practice.

• Motivation- students are not simply motivated doing paper and pencil drill-and –practice for reasons that they do not like writing or they have poor writing skills.

• Saving teacher Time- Teachers can attend to other student needs while their students spend time doing drill-and –practice.

LIMITATIONS AND PROBLEMS

• Perceived Misuse- Some teachers make use of the drill-and-practice as part of lesson introduction and not really for practicing the student’s skills.

• Criticism by Constructiveness- people considers this drill-and-practice as an outmoded approach to teaching for this contradicts the aim of restricted curriculum.

TUTORIAL SOFTWARE

SELECTING

• Extensive Interactivity- Regular and thorough responses to questions must be regularly given along the tutorial to continuously guide students learning

• Appropriate Pedagogy- the instruction must provide complete and sufficient explanation, examples and demonstration when necessary to enable the students understand lesson well.

• Adequate Answer-Judging and feedback Capabilities- when students are asked to answer in short responses, all possible answers must be included in the program.

• Appropriate Graphics- Graphics should always support the topic being discussed.

• Adequate Record keeping- Summary of progress report of students must be present and can easily accessed by the teacher  to enable them to keep track of the students’  performance

BENEFITS

LIMITATIONS AND PROBLEMS

• Criticism by constructivism- tutorial contradicts the objective of constructivism learning since tutorial software delivers directed instruction rather that allowing students to construct and generate their own knowledge through hands-on projects.

• Lack of Good products- this is being encountered due to the difficulty and expense of designing and developing tutorial software.

• Reflect Only One Instructional Approach- What should be taught for given topic, how to teach the topic or lesson effectively, in what sequence the learning task will be presented are always the questions in producing effective tutorial software.

SIMULATION SOFTWARE

SELECTING

There is a realistic and accurate representation of system.

BENEFITS

• Compress Time- students do not have to wait for the living to grow and develop its cycle in real time for this can be presented in the simulation software in just a couple of minutes.

• Slow down Processes- Events or processes that happen that this is invisible to the human eye can actually be played in slow motion to enable the students to see how such event or process happens in reality.

• Get Students involved- the participation of the students is necessary for them to be able to learn what may happen in a particular situation.

• Make Experimentation Safe- simulation software is best in keeping the students safe in learning some things.

• Make the Impossible Possible- allowing students to experience the impossible and learn and learn possible.

• Save Money and Other Resources- Though learning by doing is the best learning experience; simulation software may still give rightful learning experience at a fraction of the cost.

• Allow Repetition with Variations- simulation allows students to repeat events many times as they like until they master the lesson they wish to learn.

• Allow Observation of complex Processes- simulation software makes learning and understanding of complex lessons and processes easier for students to see what is happening.

LIMITATIONS AND PROBLEMS

• Criticism of Virtual Lab Software- Students may not get actual and quality learning if real experiments will be taken in substitute virtual labs than doing it in the hands-on-on.

• Accuracy of Models-Simulation software may give inaccurate or imprecise perspectives of the subject matter.

• Misuse of Simulations- there is a possibility that students would unlikely to develop effective problem-solving skills due to plainly mastering the activities given simulation.

INSTRUCTIONAL GAMES

SELECTING

• Appealing Formats and Activities- Adventure and levels of complexity that match learners abilities make fun learning.

• Instructional Value- Instructional Game should serve as educational and motivational tools which give importance to the value learning.

• Physical Dexterity- The purpose of motivating the students should be evident in the instructional game and not the other way around.

• Social, Societal, and Cultural Considerations- Instructional Games should highlight positive messages rather than war and violence among peoples of different nations, beliefs and cultures.

BENEFITS

• Games are more interesting than traditional instruction
• Retention of information
• Assists teachers to get students focus on the topic
• Makes learning more engaging and motivational

LIMITATIONS AND PROBLEMS

• Learning versus Having Fun- Games draws away the attention of the students from the real purpose and that is learning the lesson.

• Confusion of Game Rules and Real-Life Rules- games rules may give students difficulty in transferring the skills learned through games to real-life situation.

• Inefficient Learning – balance between motivation and learning must be maintained in the classroom so not to lose the value of education when using instructional games.

• Classroom Barriers- instructional games sometimes cannot be implemented in the classroom due to some difficulties.

PROBLEM SOLVING SOFTWARE

SELECTING

The teacher should see to it that the software should be able to develop the skills of the students in solving various kinds of content-area problems.

BENEFITS

• Promotes visualization in mathematics problem solving.
• Fosters better understanding in visualization of abstract concepts
• Improves interest and motivation in doing problem solving activities

LIMITATIONS AND PROBLEMS

Effectiveness of problems-Solving-Software- Teachers have to use the problems-solving-Software first to confirm its effectiveness that it truly achieves the end-results of developing skills in problem-solving.

Suitability in Learning Strategy of Students- The instructional strategy of the problem-solving software may not suit the learning strategy of the students, thus will limit their learning and developing of problem solving.

SOFTWARE SUPPORT TOOLS

• Improved efficiency and productivity
• Enhanced product appearance
• More precise and aptness of information
• More support for collaboration

SOFTWARE SUPPORT TOOL CATEGORIES

• Materials generator

-Allow creation of documents, web pages, tests, and various lessons and activities.

• Data collection and analysis tools

-Collect data from students; support decision making; analyze data from experiments and research.

• Graphic Tools

-Allow teachers and students to enhance the illustrations to be placed in documents (flyers, brochures, newsletters, and the like) and web pages

• Planning and organizing tools

-Allow teachers and students to organize ideas and plan lessons and class schedules

• Research and reference tools

-Assist teachers and students in doing their research work.

• Content-area tool

-Assist teachers and students in enriching their knowledge in specialized content are, such as reading math, science, computer, art, music, language, social studies, drawing and technology education.