There are a variety of terms used to describe the educational use of computer and each has a slighlty different meaning. Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) is an all encompassing term to describe any educational use of computers. Such uses can be divided into three main groups: (1) when the computer is used as a tool (word processor, data base, spread sheet, and graphics application); (2) when the student 'teaches' the computer, for example, by issuing a set of instructions to the computer through a programming language such as Logo, and (3) when the computer delivers some instructional material (Taylor 1980). This latter situation is termed Computer Based Instruction (CBI) or Computer Assisted Instruction (CAL) which is an older term than CBI. This paper will only deal with the third aspect of the use of computers in education, computer based instruction.
Computer Based Instruction has traditionally been composed of four main components, Drill and Practice, Tutorials, Games and Simulation and Modelling. Modern technologies have added to these Hypertext, Hypermedia and Multimedia. These new technologies will be deal with in detail later in the paper.
Drill and Practice was probably the most extensively used CBI application in the early days of the educational use of computers. It can be argued that there were two main reasons for this; (1) they were comparatively easy to program, which was important as there was little available commercial software and so teachers who wished to use computers had often to write much of the software themselves; (2) the programs could show off effectively the capabilities of the computer and this was important for the computer-enthusiast teacher as it could help to win over colleagues to the cause, and hopefully, result in more money being spent on computers in schools.
A drill and practice program typically deals with material that has already been taught. The student is presented with a task, often selected randomly, and feedback is offered immediately it is completed. A well constructed program of this type should be able to keep pace with the student by offering remedial or advanced level if and when they become necessary (Hannafin and Peck 1988, 4). There is a place for drill and practice mainly for the beginning learner or for students who are experiencing learning problems. Their use, however, should be kept to situations where the teacher is certain that they are the most appropriate form of instruction.
Tutorials attempt to teach new materials. Typically they present information and then question the user to ascertain the level of learning achieved. The program should be able to monitor the student's progress and to present remedial or advanced levels if and when required. The tutorial is based on the Socratean model but Merrill (Twitchell 1991, 35) cautions that "Socrates is highly over-rated. We give too much credit to tutoring as a model".
From a practical point of view, the computer tutorial is very limitted in its ability to assess the level of understanding of the student. In the classroom situation, when teachers ask questions, they can assess the level of understanding of the topic, the degree of comfort with the material, etc., by not only listening to the answer given, but also by observing the speed with which it is given, the degree of hesitation, the body language of the student, and so on. The computer, however, is only capable of responding to the answer given, usually by typing characters on a keyboard. A teacher can accept a slightly wrong answer and probe deeper to get the correct one. The computer can normally only respond to a small number of possible answers and often cannot cope with a slightly incorrect answer; for example, if the expected answer is apples and the student enters apple, the computer will frequently reject it which can result in a considerable degree of frustration on the part of the student. There is also a problem from the designer's point of view; after a screen of information has been presented, it is difficult to determine which question will demonstrate an understanding of all the information that has been given. Research is being conducted in the production of Intelligent Tutoring Systems which should overcome this problem, but these will depend upon artificial intelligence (AI), however, some people state that the true meaning of AI is always impossible.
Educational games are normally placed in a group of their own, but in practice it is often difficult to differentiate between games, drill and practice programs or simulations. It is possible to have a game and a drill and practice program that contain the same content, but which have a different end result For example, the game Maths Invaders has the same content as a drill and practice program in that users are asked to complete a number of sums, but the outcome is different as when a question is answered correctly, as in the game the student gets to shoot down an alien. A game can also have the format of a simulation but the major difference between the two is that a simulation normally models a real life situation whereas a game can model an imaginary one. Games also have a place to play in the classroom especially as a way of increasing the motivational levels of students. However, they should be used with care. Many students, especially boys, spend a lot of time playing computerised games and it is important that the classroom computer is not seen solely as another games machine.
Simulation programs normally model some real life situation and they enable students to manipulate and experiment with it. The normal justification for using them is in situations where the real thing is too expensive, too dangerous or too time consuming. For example, students would not normally be able to observe the evolution of a species as it would take too long but the whole process could be observed in a very short period of time on a computer simulation. While simulations have a potential to be useful in the classroom, they do have some draw backs. These will be considered in more detail later.
Computer Based Instruction has traditionally been composed of four main components, Drill and Practice, Tutorials, Games and Simulation and Modelling. Modern technologies have added to these Hypertext, Hypermedia and Multimedia. These new technologies will be deal with in detail later in the paper.
Drill and Practice was probably the most extensively used CBI application in the early days of the educational use of computers. It can be argued that there were two main reasons for this; (1) they were comparatively easy to program, which was important as there was little available commercial software and so teachers who wished to use computers had often to write much of the software themselves; (2) the programs could show off effectively the capabilities of the computer and this was important for the computer-enthusiast teacher as it could help to win over colleagues to the cause, and hopefully, result in more money being spent on computers in schools.
A drill and practice program typically deals with material that has already been taught. The student is presented with a task, often selected randomly, and feedback is offered immediately it is completed. A well constructed program of this type should be able to keep pace with the student by offering remedial or advanced level if and when they become necessary (Hannafin and Peck 1988, 4). There is a place for drill and practice mainly for the beginning learner or for students who are experiencing learning problems. Their use, however, should be kept to situations where the teacher is certain that they are the most appropriate form of instruction.
Tutorials attempt to teach new materials. Typically they present information and then question the user to ascertain the level of learning achieved. The program should be able to monitor the student's progress and to present remedial or advanced levels if and when required. The tutorial is based on the Socratean model but Merrill (Twitchell 1991, 35) cautions that "Socrates is highly over-rated. We give too much credit to tutoring as a model".
From a practical point of view, the computer tutorial is very limitted in its ability to assess the level of understanding of the student. In the classroom situation, when teachers ask questions, they can assess the level of understanding of the topic, the degree of comfort with the material, etc., by not only listening to the answer given, but also by observing the speed with which it is given, the degree of hesitation, the body language of the student, and so on. The computer, however, is only capable of responding to the answer given, usually by typing characters on a keyboard. A teacher can accept a slightly wrong answer and probe deeper to get the correct one. The computer can normally only respond to a small number of possible answers and often cannot cope with a slightly incorrect answer; for example, if the expected answer is apples and the student enters apple, the computer will frequently reject it which can result in a considerable degree of frustration on the part of the student. There is also a problem from the designer's point of view; after a screen of information has been presented, it is difficult to determine which question will demonstrate an understanding of all the information that has been given. Research is being conducted in the production of Intelligent Tutoring Systems which should overcome this problem, but these will depend upon artificial intelligence (AI), however, some people state that the true meaning of AI is always impossible.
Educational games are normally placed in a group of their own, but in practice it is often difficult to differentiate between games, drill and practice programs or simulations. It is possible to have a game and a drill and practice program that contain the same content, but which have a different end result For example, the game Maths Invaders has the same content as a drill and practice program in that users are asked to complete a number of sums, but the outcome is different as when a question is answered correctly, as in the game the student gets to shoot down an alien. A game can also have the format of a simulation but the major difference between the two is that a simulation normally models a real life situation whereas a game can model an imaginary one. Games also have a place to play in the classroom especially as a way of increasing the motivational levels of students. However, they should be used with care. Many students, especially boys, spend a lot of time playing computerised games and it is important that the classroom computer is not seen solely as another games machine.
Simulation programs normally model some real life situation and they enable students to manipulate and experiment with it. The normal justification for using them is in situations where the real thing is too expensive, too dangerous or too time consuming. For example, students would not normally be able to observe the evolution of a species as it would take too long but the whole process could be observed in a very short period of time on a computer simulation. While simulations have a potential to be useful in the classroom, they do have some draw backs. These will be considered in more detail later.
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