Lesson 14: The Software as an Educational Resource

                Software is a program or system that tells what the computer machine should do. There are two kinds of software:

               1.)    The systems software, an operating system found or bundled inside the                            computer  machines.

               2.)    Application software which contains the system which commands the particular task or                       solves the particular problem. This type of software is further subdivided into two.

                                          I.      Custom software that is made for specific tasks often by large corporations.

                                       II.      Commercial software packaged for personal computers that helps with a variety of      tasks such as writing papers, calculating numbers, drawing graphs, playing games, etc.

                

               The most popular and commonly used program is the Microsoft Windows. It is an operating environment between the user and the computer operating system. It is sometimes referred as shell, a layer that creates the way a computer should work. Windows 95 was the first released software designed for Microsoft Windows; it is in itself a self contained operating system. From then on Windows continually upgrades their software, Windows 10 is the latest version of Windows.

                Windows was developed to provide:

  ü  User convenience

  ü  New look

  ü  Information center

  ü  Plug and play

                Instructional Software

                These can be visited on the internet or can be bought. Teachers through schools should decide on the best Computer-Based Instructional (CBI) materials for the school resource collection however, we must be cautious because CBIs needs to be improved further.

               Guidelines in evaluating computer-based educational materials:

  Ø  Be extremely cautious in using CBI's & free internet materials.

  Ø  Don’t be caught up by attractive graphics, sound animations, pictures, video clips & music                               forgetting their instructional worth.

  Ø  Evaluate with sound pedagogical principles.

  Ø  Observe clarity in the explanations and illustrations of concepts & principles

  Ø  Maintain accuracy, coherence & logic formation.

  Ø  Were they being current since data/statistics continually change?

  Ø  Were they relevant & effective in attaining learning objectives?

  Ø  Observe absence of biased materials.

  Ø  Design and content elements to evaluate are:

                             i.   Text legibility

                           ii.   Effective use of color schemes

                         iii.   Attractive layout design

                         iv.   Easy navigation from section-tot-section