Thursday, July 7, 2011

LB#17: Educational Technology 2 Practicum:

It's time for the students to put into action what has been taught by the teacher. By means of this practicum the students will be able to show and have a hands on experience with handling a computer, learning the ways and means with the software that is intended for a project, manage the web by getting additional tutorials or information and getting empowered to meet the technology challenges of the digital age. So let's move forward with all the things that we have learned from this subject by being a well rounded teachers in the future!!!

LB#16: The Internet and Education.

The Internet, also simply called the Net, is 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 (TCP/IP). 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 world, 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 is connecting with the world outside homes, classrooms, and Internet cafes.

LB#15: Understanding Hypermedia.

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.
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 includes: Tutorial software packages, knowledge webpages, simulation instructional games, learning project management, and other.

LB#14: The Software as an Educational Resource.

Whenever people think about computers, they are most likely thinking about the computer machine such as the television-like monitor screen, the keyboard to type on, the printer which produces copies of text-and-graphics material, and the computer housing called "the box" which contains the electronic parts and circuits (the central processing unit) that receives/stores data and directs computer operations. It is more difficult to realize, however, that the computer hardware can hardly be useful without the program or system that tells what the computer machine should do. This is called the software.
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 materials for the school resource collection.

LB#13: Cooperative Learning with the Computer.

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.
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.
Researchers agree that the computer is a fairly natural learning vehicle for cooperative ( at times called promotive) learning.

LB#12: Information Technology in Support of Student-Centered Learning.

Desiring to gain effectiveness, efficiency and economy in administration and instruction, schools in these developed economies have also adopted the support of ICT's. Their students have now become active not passive learners, who can interact with other learners, demonstrating independence and self-awareness in the learning process.
Observably, there is a departure from traditional worksheet, read-and-answer, drill-and-practice activities. Students also no longer need to mark the tests of peers since the computer has programs for test evaluation and computerized scoring of results.
It must be pointed out, however, that traditional classroom activities - especially in less developed countries - will continue to have a strong place in the classroom. In spite of this setback experienced in some countries, the option has now been opened for the modern teacher to shift gears to student centered learning.

LB#11: The Computer as the Teacher's Tool.

Given it's 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 computer, today's learners may still be assuming the tedious tasks of low-level information gathering, building and new knowledge packaging.
Based on the two learning theories (constructivism and social constructivism), the teacher can employ the computer as a/an:
  • An information tool
  • A communication tool
  • A co-constructive tool
  • A situation tool
To caution users, the computer as a situating tool is new and still undergoing further research and development.

LB#10: The Computer as a Tutor.

The computer can be a tutor in effect relieving the teacher of many activities in his personal role as classroom tutor. It should be made clear, however, that the computer cannot totally replace the teacher since the teacher shall continue to play the major roles of information deliverer and learning environment controller.

Today, educators accept the fact that the computer has indeed succeeded in providing an individualized learning environment so difficult for a teacher handling whole classes. This is so, since the computer is able to allow individual students to learn at their own pace, motivate learning through  challenging virtual learning environment, assist students through information needed during the learning process, evaluate student responses through immediate feedback during the learning process, and also give the total score to evaluate the student's total performance.

LB#9: Computers as Information and Communication Technology.

Through computer technology, educators saw the amplification of learning along computer literacy. Until the nineties, it was still possible to distinguish between instructional media and the educational communication media. Instructional media consist of audio-visual aids that served to enhance and enrich the teaching-learning process. Examples are the blackboard, photo, film and video. On the other hand, educational communication media comprise the media of communication to audiences including learners using the print, film, radio, distance learning were implemented using correspondence, radio, television or the computer satellite system.

Close to the turn of the 21st century, however, such a distinction merged owing to the advent of the microprocessor, also known as the personal computer. This is due to the fact that the PC user at home, office and school has before him a tool for both audio-visual creations and media communication.

LB#8: Higher Thinking Skills Through IT-Based Projects.

It is the students themselves who demonstrate higher thinking skills and creativity through such activities searching for information, organizing and synthesizing ideas, creating presentations and the like.

Four IT-based projects conducive to develop higher thinking skills and creativity among learners.
  1. Resource-based Projects
  2. Simple Creations
  3. Guided Hypermedia Projects
  4. Web-based Projects
However, that postings of webpages in the Internet allows the students a wider audience. They can also be linked with other related sites in the Internet. But as of now, this creativity project may be to ambitious as as tool in the teaching-learning process.

LB#7: IT for Higher Thinking Skills and Creativity.

To define higher level thinking skills and creativity, we may adopt a framework that is a helpful synthesis of many models and definitions on the subject matter. The framework is not exhaustive but a helpful guide for the teacher's effort to understand the learner's higher learning process.

Complex                                                           
Thinking Skills                                                              Sub-Skills 
Focusing                                                             defining the problem, goal/objective-setting, brainstorming
Information                                                         selection, recording of data of information
Remembering                                                     associating, relating new data with old
Analyzing                                                            identifying idea constructs, patterns
Generating                                                          deducting, inducting, elaborating
Organizing                                                          classifying, relating
Imagining                                                            visualizing, predicting
Designing                                                            planning, formulating
Integration                                                          summarizing, abstracting
Evaluating                                                           setting criteria, testing idea, verifying outcomes, revising

Use your creative skills in designing a paradigm. Device a graph to illustrate the higher-level thinking skill.

LB#6: IT Enters a New Learning Environment.

Effective teachers best interact with students in innovative learning activities, while integrating technology to the teaching-learning process.

In Meaningful learning

  • Students already have some knowledge that is relevant to new learning
  • Students are willing to perform class work to find connections between what they already know and what they can learn.
In Discovery learning
     Ideas are presented directly to students in a well-organized way, such as through a detailed set of instructions to complete an experiment or task. In applying technology, the computer can preset a tutorial process by which the learner is presented key concepts and the rules of learning in a direct manner for receptive learning.

In Generative Learning
     Active learners who attend to learning events and generate meaning from this experience and draw inferences thereby creating a personal model or explanation to the new experience in the context of existing knowledge.Motivation and responsibility are seen to be crucial to this domain of learning.

In Constructivism
     The learner builders a personal understanding through appropriate learning activities and a good learning environment.
Learners: are active, purposeful learners. Set personal goals and strategies to achieve these goals. Make their learning experience meaningful and relevant to their lives. Seek to build an understanding of their personal worlds so they can work/live productively. Build on what they already know in order to interpret and respond to new experiences.