Lesson 17

Tablets for Textbooks in Schools

                  

   Tablet for learning is still futuristic, but to day, books are still primary of medium of instruction in must schools. These will be replaced by digital technology reading tools, but there are now perceptions that virtual literary may very well ease out textual print literary, the disadvantages of using books for learning are being debated upon. the load of books and work books are backbreaking due to their weight and size. publishing and printing millions of books are just too expensive. The errors in public schools textbooks have also exposed, errors resulting from information, technical mistakes and editorial lapses.Technology is being viewed as a savior. Learning technology along with other audio-visual aids to teaching-and-learning.

      This lesson is trying to aid the inconvenience of having books as the primary medium of instruction wherein every day, students will bring a lot of heavy books. They are suggesting to have a digital-based medium of instruction specifically the use of computers or tablets for convenience. However, tablets-for-learning is still futuristic because of most common reason, finances.  Nevertheless, through both books and tablets help in students' learning, we cannot deny the fact that students nowadays would prefer those that are modern.

Lesson 16

  The Internet and Education

     

         The Internet also called the net, us the largest and far-flung network system of all systems. Everything in the internet is coordinated through standardized protocol called Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol.  The vast sea of information now in the internet, including news and trivia, is an overwhelming challenge to those who wish to navigate it. 

Today schools are gearing up to take advantage of Internet access, where they can plug into the library of congress, make virtual visits to famous museums in the worlds, write to celebrities, and even send questions to heads of states. 

        Educational software materials have also developed both in sophistication and appeal. There is now a wider choice from rote arithmetic or grammar lessons to discovery and innovation projects. But the real possibility today's is connecting with the worlds outside homes, classroom, and internet classes. 

Lesson 15

Understanding Hypermedia

        Hypermedia is nothing but multimedia, but this time packaged as an educational computer software where information is presented and student activities are integrated in a virtual learning environment. Most educational IT applications are hypermedia and these include:

1.Tutorial software packages

2. Knowledge webpages

3. Simulation instructional games

4. Learning project management, and others

     The presentation of information-learning activities in hypermedia is said to be sequenced in a non-linear manner, meaning that the learner may follow his path of activities thus providing an environment of learner autonomy and thinking skills.

The flight simulator used to train pilots is an example of a highly developed hypermedia program. Observe that it simulates an environment that allows student pilots to practice authentic (as is needed to be done in the real world) tasks while reducing the load of the cognitive mode of learning.

Characteristics of hypermedia applications

   There are two important features that are outstanding—among other features – that characterize the hypermedia software:

1. Learner control.

                 This means the learner makes his own decisions on the path, flow or events of instruction.

2. Learner wide range of navigation routes.

         The learner controls the sequence and pace of his path depending on his ability and motivation.

3. Variety of media.

    Includes more than one media (text, graphics, audio, animation and video clip) but does not necessarily use all types of media in one presentation.

      In the use of hypermedia the following instructional events will prove useful to the teacher:

1. Get the learner’s attention

2. Recall prior learning

3. Inform learners of lesson objectives

4. Introduce the software and its distinctive features

5. Guide learning, eliciting performance

6. Provide learning feedback

7. Assess performance

8. Enhance retention and learning transfer

Lesson 14

The Software as an Educational Resource

   

    This lesson is all about the software system that could be used in teaching and learning process. The computer is useless if the software is not installed in it. This lesson not just how to use computer or even know what are the parts that comprises a computer. We will begin our lesson by knowing what are the two kinds of software.

     

There are two kinds of software:

1. The system software. This is the operating system that is found or bundled inside all computer machines.

2. The application software. This contains the system that commands the particular task or solves a particular problem.

In turn the applications software may be:

(a) A custom software that is made for specific tasks often by large corporations,

(b) A commercial software packaged for personal computers that helps with a variety of tasks such as writing papers, calculating numbers, drawing graphs, playing games, and so much more.

Microsoft Windows

    - is a series of operating system produced by the Microsoft, it is an operating system between the user and the computer. 

Instructional software can be visited on the Internet or can be bought from software shops or dealers. The teacher through his school should decide on the best computer-based instructional (CBI) materials for the school resource collection. But beware since CBIs need much improvement, while web-based educational resources are either extremely good or what is complete garbage.

Lesson 13

        Cooperative Learning with the Computer

      The creativity of the teacher will have to respond to the situation, and so cooperative learning will likely be the answer to the implementation of IT supported learning in our schools. But the situation may not be that bad since there are motivational and social benefits to cooperative learning and these can compensate for lack of hardware that educators face.

Defining cooperative learning

    Cooperative or collaborative learning is learning by small groups of students who work together in a common learning task. It is often also called group learning but to be truly cooperative learning, 5 elements are needed:

1. A common goal

2. Interdependence

3. Interaction

4. Individual accountability

5. Social skills

  Therefore not every group work is cooperative learning since students working on their work sheets physically sat around a table may be working together without these features of cooperative learning.

From several studies made on cooperative learning, it is manifested that cooperative learning in its true sense is advantageous since it:

(a) Encourage active learning, while motivating students

(b) Increases academic performance

(c) Promotes literacy and language skills

(d) Improves teacher effectiveness

Cooperative learning and the computer.

     Researchers have made studies on the learning interaction between the student and the computer. The studies have great value since it has been a long standing fear that the computer may foster student learning in isolation that hinders the development of the student’s social skills.

Lesson 12

    Information Technology in Support of Student-Centered Learning Classroom.

  Traditional Classroom

              Traditional Classroom is where the teacher is the center of the classroom. They are ones who have the authority to fill their pupils knowledge.  The students are just listener and all they have to do is to pay attention to what their teacher have always saying. 

Student-Centered Learning (SCL)

              The SCL is the opposite of the traditional classroom,  in this learning process the students are working in the classroom they have the authority to do what they want, and the teacher serves only ad a facilitator . The teacher let her student to discover things through interdependence or even through themselves individually. 

   In our modern world and with this type of learning process the ICT have a big factor in developing  one's skill and creativity in the way of what they want. 

    Generally the new school classroom environment is characterized by student individually or in a group:

-Performing computer world processing for text or graph presentation. 

-Searching for information on the internet 

-Brainstorming on ideas, problems and project plans 

-As needed, the teacher facilitating instruction,  also giving individual instruction to serve individual needs. 

           But even through SCL is much indeed, most of the teachers used a collaboration of traditional way of learning and the SCL, and so by this the teaching and learning process have much greater success.

Lesson 11

The Computer as the Teacher's tool.

    

                Constructivist was introduced by Piaget (1991) and Bruner (1990). They gave stress to knowledge discovery of new meaning/concepts/principles in the learning process. Various strategies have been suggested to foster knowledge discovery, among these, is making students engaged in gathering unorganized information from which they can induce ideas and principles. Students are also asked to apply discovered knowledge to new situations, a process for making their knowledge to real life situations.

                While knowledge is constructed by the individual learner in constructivism, knowledge can also be socially constructed. Social constructivism. This is an effort to show that the construction of knowledge is governed by social, historical and cultural contexts, in effect; this is to say that the learner who interprets knowledge has a predetermined point of view according to the social perspective of the community or society he lives in.

                The psychologist Vygotsky stressed that learning is affected by social influences. He therefore suggested the interaction process in learning. The more capable adult (teacher or parent) or classmate can aid or complement what the learner sees in a given class project. In addition Dewey sees language as a medium for social coordination and adaptation. For Dewey human learning is really human language that occurs when students socially share, build and agree upon meaning and knowledge.

Learning framework	Constructivism	Social Constructivism
Assumption	Knowledge is constructed by the individual.	Knowledge is constructed within a social context.
Definition of Learning	Students build their own Learning.	Students build knowledge influenced by the social context.
Learning Strategies	Gather unorganized information to create new concept/principle.	Exchange and share form ideas, stimulates thinking.
General Orientation	Personal discovery of knowledge.	Students discuss and discover meanings.
Example	8*5-8+8+8+8+8	Two alternative job offers Option 1-8 hrs./day for 6 days/ week. Option 2- 9 hrs./day for 5 days/ week.

The Computer’s Capabilities

              

      Given its present-day speed, flexibility and sophistication, the computer can provide access to information, foster creative social knowledge- building, and enhance the communication of the achieved project package. Without the computer, today’s learners nay still be assuming the tedious tasks of low-level information gathering, building and new knowledge packaging. But this is not so, since the modern computer can help teacher- and – students to focus on more high level cognitive tasks.

                Based on the two learning theories, the teacher can employ the computer as an:

Informative Tool

 The computer can provide vast amounts of information in various forms, such as text, graphics, sound, and video. Even multimedia encyclopedias are today available on the Internet.

The Internet itself provides an enormous database from which user can access global information resources that includes the latest news, weather forecasts, airline schedule, sports development, entertainment news and features, as well as educational information directly useful to learners. The Internet on education can be sourced for kinds of educational resources on the Internet.

Along the constructivist point of view, it is not enough for learners to download relevant information using the computer as an information tool. Students can used gathered information for composition or presentation projects as may be assigned by the teacher. Given the  fact that the Internet can serve as a channel for global communication, the computer can very well be the key tool for  video telecon ferencing sessions.

Communication Tool

The computer has been used in communication as evident by social networking sites as to facebook, twitter and friendster. We can even chat/talk friends and families anywhere in the globe through yahoo messenger or the one in facebook or view them through the webcam. We can send messages and information through the internet in just seconds or minutes.

Constructive tool

    The computer itself can be used for manipulating  information,visualizing one's understanding, and building new knowledge. the Microsoft word computer program itself is a desktop publishing software that allows users to organize and present their dies in attractive formats.

Co-constructive tools. 

  Students can use constructive tools to wwork. cooperatively and construct a shared understanding of new knowledge. one way of co-construction is the use of the electronic whitebaord where students may post notices to a shared document/ whitebaord. students may also co-edit the same document from thier homes.The computer-supported intentional learning environments (CSILE) is an example of an integrated environment developed by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. within CSILE, students can enter their ideas in notes and respond to each others ideas. Manifest in the the student-generated database are higher level thinking processes-explaining, problem so living/finding, expertise and development, literacy improvement.

Situating tool 

          By means of virtual reality (RS) extension system, the computer can create 3-D images on display to give the user the feeling that are situated in a virtual environment. A flight simulation program is an example of a situating tool which places the user in a simulated flying environment. Mulch-User Domains or Dungeons (MUDs), MUD object-oriented (MOOs), and Multi-User Shared hallucinations (MUSHs) are example os situating systems. MUDs and MOOs are mainly text\based virtual reality environments on the internet. When users log on to a MOO environment, they may interact with the virtual reality(such as by writing on a notice board) through simple text-based commands. A school-to-school or clasroom-tocalsrrom environment is possible whereby the user can choose to walk around the campus talk with other users who are logged to the same site to caution users, the computer as a situating tool is news and still undergoing further research and development.