Lesson 13: Cooperative Learning with the Computer

Cooperative or collaborative learning  is learning by small groups of students who work together with a common learning task. It has these five (5) elements:

       1.)    Common goal

       2.)    Interdependence

       3.)    Interaction

       4.)    Individual accountability

       5.)    Social skills

                Several studies revealed that cooperative learning in its true sense is advantageous since it;

v  Encourages active learning, while it motivates students.

v  Increases academic performance.

v  Promotes literacy and language skills.

v  Improves teacher effectiveness.

                Studies have been conducted to know the interaction between students and computer. Before these studies were conducted, many believed that computers may foster students learning in isolation that hinders the development of students’ social skills. Results of the study revealed that the previous statement was inarguably false! Studies tell us that when students work with computers in groups, they cluster and interact with each other for advice and mutual help.

                To ensure collaborative learning, teachers should:

ü       Assign students to mixed ability teams.

ü       Establish positive interdependence.

ü       Teach cooperative social skills.

ü     Insure individual accountability.

ü       Help the group process the information.

ü       Limit the group number (6 is ideal)

ü       Assign a common work goal

Lesson 12: Information Technology in Support of Student-Centered Learning

Traditional classroom

Ø  Teacher pours information to students or direct instruction.

Ø  Passive learners

Ø  Mostly on lecture presentation

Student Centered Classroom

                                ØTeachers as facilitators, focuses on indirect instruction

Ø  Active learners

Ø  Independent learning

                We are now in the 21^st century, and the world’s societies have begun to change, from the traditional world to a digital world. The new generations of learners were now referred as digital learners, students today depend on the information that can be accessed through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Students today can now interact with other learners, demonstrate their independence and self-awareness in the learning process.

                Generally, the new school classroom environment is characterized by student individually or in groups;

  v  Performing computer word processing for text or graph presentation.

  v  Preparing Power-Point presentation.

  v  Searching for information on the internet.

  v  Brainstorming on ideas, problems & project plans as needed.

  v  Teachers facilitating instruction, also gives individualized instruction to serve individual needs.

Lesson 11: The Computer as a Teachers's Tool

               

            Another application of a computer software program in the field of education is that it can foster higher thinking skills and creativity; it can then be therefore become as a teacher’s handy-tool. Computers as a teacher’s tool can in fact support the constructivist and social constructivist paradigm of learning.

  Ø  Piaget (1981) and Bruner (1990) introduced constructivism. They gave stress to knowledge discovery of new meaning/concepts/principles in the learning process.

  Ø  Social constructivism is an effort to show that the construction of knowledge is governed by      social, historical and cultural contexts.

ü  Vygotsky stressed that learning is affected by social influences.

ü  According to Dewey, human learning is really human languaging that occurs when students socially share, build and agree upon meanings 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 & share formed ideas, stimulates thinking
General Orientation	Personal discovery of knowledge	Students discuss & discover meanings
Example	8*5 – 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 +8	Two alternative job offers: Option 1 – 8 hours/day for 6 days/week Option 2 – 9 hours/day for 5 days/week

The Computer’s Capabilities

                Today, computers can provide access to information, foster creative social knowledge-building and enhance the communication of the achieved service package.  Teachers can employ the computer in several ways as an:

          1.       Information tool

                    Internet can provide vast amounts of information in various forms even encyclopedias are available, in which it can serve as one of the educational resources. It is not enough for students to download the information but use these to compose or present projects as may be assigned by the teachers.

          2.       Communication tool

            Through the internet, Computers can serve as a channel for global communication, in which it can become a key tool for video teleconferencing sessions.

          3.       Constructive tool

                Computers can be used for manipulating information, visualizing one’s understanding, and building new knowledge, an example is the Microsoft Word.

          4.       Co-constructive tool

                        With the aid of computers, students can work cooperatively and construct shared understanding of new knowledge wherein students may co-edit the same documents from their homes. One good example is the Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) created by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

          5.       Situating tool

                      Computers can create 3-D images on display to give the user the feeling that are situated in the virtual environment. Some examples of this tool include the flight simulation program, Multi-User Domains or Dungeons (MUDs), Mud-Object Oriented (MOOs) and the Multi-User shared Hallucination. School-to-school or classroom-to-classroom environment is also possible, users can chose to walk around campus or talk to other users who are logged to the same site.

Lesson 10: The Computers as a Tutor

Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)

                It is difficult for the teachers to provide an individualized instruction for the students since in the Philippine setting; teachers handle a class with forty or more learners.  Computers as one of the wonders of human ingenuity had been found out to have many potential applications especially when applied to the education system. One of the said potentials is that it can provide an individualized learning environment by applying the computer assisted instruction with the use of tutorial software associated with cognitive learning. This instruction enables to:

     1)      Allow individual students to learn at their own pace.

     2)      Motivate learning through a challenging virtual learning environment.

     3)      Assist student through information needed during the learning process.

     4)      Evaluate students’ response through immediate feedback during the learning process.

     5)      Give the total score to evaluate the student’s total performance.

TIPS

        I.      Teachers’ must do when applying CAI

a.       Assure that students have the needed knowledge & skills for any computer activity.

b.      Decide appropriate learning objectives.

c.       Plan the sequential & structured activities to achieve objectives.

d.      Evaluate students’ achievement by way of testing the specific expected outcome.

      II.      Roles of the students in CAI

a.       Receive information

b.      Understand instruction sfor the computer activity.

c.       Retain/keep the information and rules for the computer activity

d.      Apply the knowledge and rules during the process of computer learning.

    III.      Roles of the computers in CAI

a.       Acts as a tutor.

b.      Provides a learning environment.

c.       Delivers learning instruction.

d.      Reinforces learning through drill & practice.

e.      Provides feedback.

    IV.      Characteristics of a tutorial software

a.       Able to teach new content/new information to students.

b.      Provide comprehensive information to concepts in addition to practice exercise.

c.       Effectively used for remediation, reviewing, or enrichment.

d.      Allow the teacher to introduce follow-up questions to stimulate student’s learning.

e.      Permit group activity for cooperative learning.

         A.      How can we integrate CAI in our lessons?

                Computer assisted instruction works best in reinforcing learning through                repetitive exercises by using drill and practice program. It can be used for teaching            basic skills and knowledge that requires rapid or automatic response by students and to      assist students with particular weakness in basic skills. When applying the drill and          practice exercise, we should see to it that it conforms to the lesson plan / curriculum       and to avoid boredom, limit the drill &practice to 20 – 30 minutes ONLY.

         B.      Different programs applied to CAI

a.       Simulation Software is constructivist in nature.

Example: SimCity

                                                         i.      Teaches strategies & rules applied to real-life problems/situations.

                                                       ii.      Asks students to make decision on models or scenarios.

                                                      iii.      Allows students to manipulate elements of a model & get the experience of the effects of their decision.

b.      Games add the elements of competition and challenge. Several characteristics can also be developed such as skills, cooperation & social interaction.

Example: GeoSafari

c.       Problem Solving Software allows students to learn & improve on their problem solving ability. Students have to employ higher thinking skills such as logic, recognition, reflection and strategy-making.

Example: The Thinking Things 1

d.      Multimedia Encyclopedia & Electronic Books

                                                         i.      The multimedia encyclopedia can store a huge database with texts, images, animation, audio and video which can be searched, accessed, downloaded and printed.

Example: Children’s Encyclopedia

                                                       ii.      Electronic books provide textual information for reading, supplemented by other types of multimedia information. Useful for learning reading, spelling & word skills.

Example: Grandma and Me