Chapter 2: Technologies for Learning

CHAPTER 2

Technologies for Learning

1. WHAT ARE TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING?

We define technologies for learning as specific teaching-learning patterns that serve reliably as templates for achieving demonstrably effectire learning.

Successful instruction, regardless of the psychological perspective-behavior ist, cognitivist, constructivist, or social-psychologist, includes a number of common features:

v  Active participation and interaction

v  Practice

v  Individualized instruction

v  Reinforcement or feedback

v  Realistic context

v  Cooperative groups

Technologies for learning combat boredom by providing a change of pace from Lecture and seatwork by adding motivational features that excite learner interest.  They also provide a means for individualizing instruction to a greater degree.

2. COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Cooperative Learning involves small hererogeneous groups of students working together to achieve a common academic goal or task while working together to learn collaborarion and social skills.

Cooperative learning has gained momentum in both formal and informal education from two converging forces: first, the practical realization that life outside the classroom requires more and more collaborative activity, from the use of teams in the workplace to everyday social life, and second, a growing awareing meaningful.

       Advantages

v  Active learning. Cooperative learning "requires" students learn to interact with others developing their interpersonal, communication, leadership, compromise, and collaboration skills Interdependence.

v  Social skills. Students interact with others developing their interpersonal, communications, leadership, compromise, and collaboration slolls.

v  Interdependence. Positive interdependence and accountability are developed as students interact to reach a common goal.

v  Individual accountability.

       Limitations

v  Student compatibility. It is sometimes difficult to form groups of students who will work together.

v  Student dependency. If you allow the best students to "carry" the others, you may create dependency and defeat the purpose of cooperative learning.

v  Time consuming. Cooperative learning requires more time to cover the same amount of content.

v  Individualistsm

v  Logistical obstacles.

       Integration

Students can learn cooperatively not only by being taught with materials but also by producing materials themselves. The notion of students working together in small groups is not new, but ensuring that their efforts are truly collaborative has recently become a point of emphasis. Today's notion of cooperative learning entails a deeper level of interaction, based on the principle that articulating and negotiating your ideas with others forces you to process information in a way that improves meaningfulness and retention. We can define this new concept of cooperative learning as the instructiobal use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning.

1. Learning Together Model
   

Johnson and Johnson's interdependent learning group, known as the Learaing Together model, requires four basic elements:

a.     Positive interdependence. Students must recognize that all the members of the group are dependent on cach other to reach success: "We are going to si or swim together." First, the teacher creates positive goal interdependence by requiring teammates to agree on objectives. Second, the teacher structures role interdependence by assigning each student a role.

b.     Face-to-face helping interaction. After silently working on the problem on scratch paper, the learners teach each other and discuss any confusion or misconceptions.

c.     Individual accountability. Students know that they will be tested individually, with the results given back to the individual and the group.

d.     Teaching interpersonal and small-group skills. Students cannot just be thrown together and told to cooperate.

2. Team-Assisted Individualization (TAI)

TAI was specifically intended to avoid some of the problems encountered with individualized programmer instruction. TAI follows this pattern:

a.     Teaching groups. The teacher gives short lessons to small homogeneous groups-learners who are at about the same point in the curriculum.

b.     Team formation. Every eight weeks, students are assigned to four-member teams that are as heterogeneous as possible in terms of achievement levels, gender, and ethnic background.

c.     Self-instructional materials. Students work independently using self-instructional materials, which include step-by-step procedures for solving problems, a set of problems, self-test items, and a summative test.

d.     Team study. Students work in pairs within their assigned team, working on problems and having their teams partner check their solutions.

e.     Team scores and team recognition. Team scores are computed at the end pf each week.

3. Computer-Based Cooperative Learning
   
   Computer assistance can alleviate some of the logistical obstacles to using cooperative learning methods, particularly the tasks of managing information, allocating different individual responsibilities, presenting and monitoring instructional material, analyzing learner responses, administering tests, and scoring and providing remediation for those tests. Other programs provide information or give tary feedback only in displays that are flashed for a limited period of time.

3. GAMES

A game is an activity in which participants follow prescribed rules that differ from those of real life as they strive to attain a challenging goal.

Communication games, fantasy games, and encounter games exemplify a whole array of activities in which participants agree to suspend the normal rules of interpersonal communication to pursue such goals as fa self-awareness, empathy, sensitivity, and leadership development. These activities are considered games but do not entail competition. There is a movement today toward developing cooperative games designed to foster creativity and collaborative decision making. These games combine the elements of coopcrative learning with the elements of game.

Games can incorporate the common features of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and social psychology. Students enjoy actively participating in games. Games provide the opportunity to practice content, e.g, math facts vocabulary, and problem-solving skills. Games base on realistic contexts are called simulation gama. Most games provide social interactivity.

       Advantages

v  Attractive. Games provide attractive frameworks for learning activities.

v  Novel. As a departure from normal classroom routine, games arouse interest because of their novelty.

v  Atmosphere. The pleasant, relaxed atmosphere fostered by games can be especially helpful for those who avoid other types of structures learning activities.

v  Time on task. Games can keep learners interested in repetitious tasks, such as memorizing multiplication tables.

       Limitations

v  Competition. Competitive activities can be counter-productive for students who are less interested in competing or who are weak in the content or skill being practiced.

v  Distraction. Without careful management and debriefing, students can get caught up in the excitement of play and fail to focus on the real objectives.

v  Poor dsign. To be instructionally meaningful the game activity must provide actual practice of the intended ecademic skill. A

       Integration

Instructional games are particularly well suited to the following:

v  Attainment of cognitive objectives, particularly those involving recognition, discrimination, or memoization.

v  Adding motivation to topics that ordinarily attract little student interest.

v  Small-group instruction

v  Basic skills such as scquence

v  Vocabulary building.

Adapting the Content of Instructional Games

The original game is referred to as a frame game because its framework lends itself to multiple adaptations. Here are some sample adaptations:

v  Safety tic-tac-toe. Use a three-by-three grid; each row represents a place where safety rules pertain to home, school, and street, each column represents the level of question difficulty.

v  Spelling rummy. Using alphabet cards instead of regular playing cards, players attempt to spell short words following the general rules of rummy.

v  Reading concentration. This game uses about a dozen matched picture-word pairs of flashcards. -Word bingo. Each player's card has a five-by-five grid with a vocabulary word (perhaps in a forcign language) in each square.

4. SIMULATIONS

A simulation is an abstraction or simplification of some real-life situation or process. In simulations, participants usually play a role that involves them in interactions with other people or with clements of the simulated environment.

Simulations can vary greatly in the extent to which they fully reflect the realities of the situation they are intended to model.

 Simulations are by design active. Simulations provide realistic practice with feedback in a realistic context.

1. Simulation and Problem-Based Learning

One particular value of simulation is that it implements the problem-based learning method as directly and a possible. In problem based learning, the learner is led toward understanding principles through grapplirig with a problem sinuation. Most simulations attempt to immerse participants in a problem. The great advantage of this sort of firsthand immersion in a topic is that students are more likely to be able to appły to real life what they have practiced in simulated circumstances.

2. Simulators

Competences in the motor skill domain require practice under conditions of high feedback, which gives learo the feel of the action. The device employed to represent a physical system in a scaled-down form is referred to as a simulator. Simple simulators are in widespread use in applications such as training workers in a range of manual skills from of CPR to welding.

       Advantages

v  Realistic. The prime advantage of simulations is Fl Ro that they allow practice of real-world skills under conditions similar to those in real life.

v  Safe. Learners can practice risky activitics for example, cardiopulmonary resuscitation without risking injury to themselves or to others.

v  Simplified. Simulations are intended to capture the essential features of a situation without dwelling on details that might be distracting or too complex for the leamer's current level of understanding.

       Limitations

v  Time consuming. Simulations are often used with problem-based learning methods, allowing learners to immerse themselves in a problematic situation and to expenment with different approach.

v  Opersimpification. Constructivists argue that learning should take place in fully realistic situations, with all the complexity of real life.

       Integration

v  Training in motor skills, including athletic and mechanical skill, and complex skill.

v  Instruction in social interaction and human relations.

v  Devclopment of decision-making skills.

3. Role Plays

Role play refers to a type of simulation in which the dominant feature is relatively open-ended interaction among people.

The purpose is to learn something about another kind of person or about the dynamics of an unfamiliar situation.

The role-play simulations has proven to be a motivating and effective method of developing social skills, especially empathy.

5. SIMULATION GAMES

A simulation game combines the attributes of a simulation (role playing, a model of reality) with the attributes of a game (striving toward a goal, specific rules).

       Integration

Instructional simulation games are found in curriculum applications that require both the repetitive skill practice associated with games and the reality context associated with simulations.

Cooperative Simulation Games

Traditionally, games both athletic contests and table-top board games-have emphasized competition among adversaries. Out of this new awareness has come the "new games" movement, generating hundreds of cooperative games that challabge the body and imagination but that depend on cooperation for success. Instructional simulation games have been developed that pursue a similar philosophy.

6. LEARNING CENTERS

Another technology for learning, the learning center, is a self container environment designer to promote individual or small-group learning around a specific task.

Learning centers should encourage active participation rather than just sitting and reading a book. It may be set up in any suitable and available classroom space. Its materials may include partically any or all of the media and multimedia formats mentiobed in this text.

       Advantages

v  Self-pacing. Centers encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and follow them to learn at their own pace.

v  Active Learning. Learning centers provide for student participation in the learning experience.

v  Teacher role. Learning cennters allow the teacher to play more of coaching role.

       Limitations

v  Cost. A great deal of time must be spent in planning and setting up centers and in collecting and arranging for center materials.

v  Management. It must be very good classroom organization and management.

v  Student responsibility

v  Student isolation.

       Integration

v  Skill Centers. These can provide students with an opportunity to do additional practice, typically to reinforce a lesson preciously taught through other media or methods.

v  Interest Centers. It can stimulate new interests and encourage creativity.

v  Remedial Centers. It can help students who need additional assistance with a particular concept or skill.

7. PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION

Programmed instruction was chronologically the first technology for learning and is an explicit application of principles of learning theory operant conditioning or reonforcement theory. The framework of programmes instruction began with the linear foeemat just describes. Programmes instruction thus led to the development of computer assisted instruction (CAI) and same principles are currently incorporated in Web-based instruction. It usually refers to learning done by an individual using printed materials or a computer.

       Advantages

v  Self pacing: allows individuals to learn ar their own pace at a time and place of their choice.

v  Practice and feedback: requires learners to participate actively.

v  Reliable: provides a reliable form of learning.

v  Effective

       Limitations

v  Program design: poorly designed and have little value.

v  Tedious: can give fhem a chance to go off on their own and progress as far and as fast as they like

v  Lack of social interaction: most programmes materials are meant to be used by one individual at a time.

       Integration

Programmed instruction is particularly useful as an enrichment activity. It can help provide highly motivated students with additional learning experiences. It also have proven to be effective i. Remedial instruction.

8. PROGRAMMED TUTORING

Programmed is a one-to-one method of instruction in which the tutor's responses are programmes in advance in the form of carefully structured pinted instructions. In a typic programmed the tutor and student go through the lesson material together.

       Advantages.

v  Self-Pacing. It shares with programmed instruction the characteristic of individualized pacing.

v  Practice and feedback. It requires constant learner participation.

v  Reliable. It provides reliable instruction in that the theaching-learning pattern is embodied in a set of written instructions for the tutor.

v  Effective. The effectiveness of programmed tutoring has been well established through the evaluation.

       Limitations

v  Labor intensive. It depends on the availability of volunteer tutors.

v  Development cost. The success of programmed tutoring depends on the design of the tutoring guides.

       Integration

In using programmed tutoring, keep in mind that research consistently indicates that tutors also learn from tutoring, sometimes more than their tutees.

9. PROGRAMMED TEACHING

Programmed teaching is an attempt to apply the principles of programmer instruction in a large-group setting. The critical features of these lessons include unison responding by learners to prompts given by instructor, rapid pacing, and procedures for reinforcement or correction.

Programmer reaching lessons are designer to generate high rates of responding by all students. It can be regarded as a technology dor learning in that it has a definite pattern: teacher cue, unison vocal response, and reinforcement or correction.

10. PERSONALIZED SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION (PSI)

PSI can be described as a template for managing instruction. It also differs from the whole class application of mastery learning in that it adheres to the notion of using individual self-study as the main from of learning activity.  The essential idea of PSI is that the learning materials are arranged in sequential order and the student must demonstrate mastery of each unit before being allowed to move on to the next.

       Advantages

v  Self pacing. It allows students to progress at their own rate and to take full responsibility for determining when, where, and how they study.

v  Mastery. Students are not allowed to go on to advanced units untill they show that they have mastered.

v  Effective. The effectiveness of PSI has been documented in a large number of studies comparing it and conventional versions of courses.

       Limitation

v  Development cost. It demands a great deal of time in planning and developing materials.

v  Behaviorist commitment. The instructor adopting PSI must also be willing go adopt its behaviorist structure.

v  Self-discipline. It can be a problem for students, especially younger learners.

       Integration

Fred S. Keller developed the first PSI course at the University of Brasilia in the mid 1960s. Since then, this technology for learning has been applied most frequently to postsecondary education, particularly at the community college level. At the level if has been most successful in mathematics, engineering, and psychology and slightly less successful in the life science and social science.