Educational Technology's Effect on Models of Instruction

College of Basic Education

Fatima WaleeDDr.hanna al-MudhahKa

Technology of education is most simply and comfortably defined as an array of tools that might prove helpful in advancing student learning and may be measured in how and why individuals behave In order to succeed in schools must graduate students who are prepared to be lifelong learners. . This challenge necessitates a pedagogical shift from transmitting a body of expected knowledge that is largely memorized to one that is largely process oriented. . For example, instead of having students memorize the names of the battles of the Civil War, a teacher might have teams of students each focus on one battle and prepare a presentation on it using first-hand letters, testimonies, and photos. . The concept of multiple intelligence comes into play here as well.. Our traditional concept of intelligence include an overemphasis on verbally-loaded skills. . Expanded views of intelligence are especially important because people's beliefs about the nature of intelligence can affect their assessment of their own capabilities and their actual performance. Howard Gardner lists the following seven areas of intelligence: linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, artistic, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. . Giving students a chance to share a wide variety of kinds of intelligence adds to their confidence and belief in themselves as intelligent and competent learners, that no matter what the task they will be able to learn to do it. . Prior to 1970 Behavioral Psychology formed the basis of how many teachers behaved in the classroom.. Coupled with the traditional body of knowledge that made up a 'good' education this approach made sense.. Now a basis in Cognitive Psychology seems to be a better method for preparing students to become lifelong learners. . Advances in educational technology have contributed and supported this swing toward the Cognitive approach

Introduction

Three main theoretical schools or philosophical frameworks have been present in the educational

technology literature. . These are Behaviorism , Cognitivism and Constructivism

. Each of these schools of thought are still present in today's

literature but have evolved as the Psychology literature has evolved

BF Skinner is considered the "grandfather of

behaviorism."" . He generated much of the experimental data that is

the basis of behavioral learning theory. . He and other behavioral theorists were concerned mainly with

observable indications of learning and what those observations could imply for teaching.. They

concentrated on observable 'cause and effect' relationships. . Skinner and others viewed the teacher's job as modifying the behavior of students by setting up

situations to reinforce students when they exhibit desired responses. Behaviorists viewed learning as a

sequence of stimulus and response actions in the learner. . They reasoned that teachers could link

together responses involving lower-level skills and create a learning "chain" to teach higher-level skills..

The teacher would determine all of the skills needed to lead up to the desired behavior and make sure students

learned them all in a step-by-step manner

. Many educational psychologists found the behavioral approach unsatisfying. . In the areas of problem solving and learning strategies they became more concerned with what was unobservable - what was going on inside the . These theories are based on the work of educational philosopher John Dewey, and educational psychologists Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner among others.. They propose that children actively construct knowledge and this construction of knowledge happens in a social context.". Vygotsky proposed that all learning takes place in the 'zone of proximal development'. . This 'zone' is the difference between what a child can do alone and what he/she can do with assistance. . By building on the child's experiences and providing moderately challenging tasks teachers can provide the 'intellectual scaffolding' to help children learn and progress through the different stages of development

Behavioral Approach

Cognitive Approach

The methods of constructivism emphasize students' ability to solve real-life, practical

problems.. Students typically work in cooperative groups rather than individually; they tend to focus on projects that require

solutions to problems rather than on instructional sequences that require learning of certain content skills. ". The job of the teacher

in constructivist models is to arrange for required resources and act as a guide to

students while they set their own goals and 'teach themselves'

Constructivist Approach

Models of Instruction

.In the following sections I will detail some of the ways that educational technology is

supporting specific techniques of teaching and learning.. Because of this support,

educators are able to accomplish behavioral and cognitive goals in ways they never could

before

Direct Instruction/Explicit Teaching

. Direct Instruction, also known as Explicit Teaching "is a systematic method for presenting material in small steps, pausing to check for student understanding and eliciting active and successful participation from all students."(Rosenshine, 1986, p. 60) This model of instruction is well grounded in Behaviorist Theory. "). It has also been classified as a 'transmission' model (as opposed to an 'information-processing' model). details six teaching functions as an important sequence in the method of Explicit teaching. They are: daily review, presenting new material, guided practice, corrections and feedback, independent practice and weekly and monthly reviews. . " This method has been shown to be particularly effective in the "teaching of mathematical procedures and computations, reading decoding, explicit reading procedures such as distinguishing fact from opinion, science facts and concepts, social science facts and concepts, map skills, foreign language vocabulary. They are less relevant for teaching in areas that are less well-structured, for example, teaching composition, reading comprehension, analyzing literature or historical trends." (Rosenshine ،1986 ، P.60) . There are two in the form of points scored at the end of the game. . These practice programs can free the teacher to help other students.. If used in a group setting they can provide the opportunity for students to collaborate, a more constructivist approach.

Another type of software that supports this model is the tutorial type of program . In a tutorial program instruction is usually expected to stand alone; the

student should be able to learn the topic without any help or other materials from outside the courseware.

Tutorials should address all instructional events all six teaching functions that Rosenshine defines. . Tutorials can be categorized as linear or branching tutorials. . A linear tutorial gives the same instructional sequence

and feedback to all learners A branching tutorial directs learners along alternate paths depending on

how they respond to questions and whether or not they show mastery of certain parts of the material

Emulating a good teacher is difficult for a person

,let alone a computer, but there are some very good tutorials available. . A good example is the tutorials that come with new computers or software, ie the

Introduction to Microsoft Works , or the Tour of Windows 3.1 . Some other examples of tutorial

software are DaisyQuest and Daisy's Castle by Great Wave software. . They are "magical" auditory

programs created especially for young children and for older children who may experience difficulty

learning to read due to deficits in the ability to isolate and compare sounds in words. A good example of a

tutorial for older students is Broderbund's Welcome to Physics . It can be used as a stand-alone tutorial, or

by the teacher to introduce an idea, provide a demonstration, as a device to initiate discussion or as

a review

Cooperative (sometime known as Collaborative) Learning is a model of teaching with a set of common attributes and features.. It is cognitive in nature. . It also has several

variations. The following are its essential features: students work in teams to master academic materials, teams are made up of high, average, and low achievers, and are

racially and sexually mixed, reward systems are group-oriented rather than individually oriented. (Arends, 1994,

p. 344) Some of the variations are : .Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) where team

members use work sheets or other study devices to master the academic materials and then help each other learn the material Individually students take weekly quizzes and are given an "improvement score".. This score is based on the

degree to which the score exceeds a student's past average. . Teams strive to get a good team improvement

score . .Jigsaw where each student on the team would be

responsible to become 'an expert' in one aspect of the academic task and are responsible for teaching that aspect to the others.. Members from different teams who are to be

experts on the same topic meet to help each other learn their aspect of the task. They then return to their group to share what they learned and plan their presentation to the

class . .Group Investigation where students are involved in

planning both the topics for study and the ways to proceed with their investigation.. Students will choose a topic for

study, proceed with an in-depth investigation of that topic and prepare and present a report to the whole class .

Cooperative/Collaborative Learning

There are two types of technology that support Cooperative Learning. The first category includes those types of programs

that will provide the environment for collaboration.3D Hyperstudio ، Poduim). Included here are the types of software

that we usually think of as tools: word processors ( Word , WordPerfect ), spreadsheets( Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 ), data bases( Access, FoxPro ), drawing programs( Corel Draw, Paintbrush ), desk top publishing programs ( Microsoft

Publisher, Print Shop ) script writing tools ( Hollywood High, 3D Movie Maker ) Multimedia Presentations( Power Point, Hyperstudio, Poduim ) . Each of these tools provide the

environment for students to produce a product that they can share with the class or publish in a newsletter to parents or

publish on the World Wide Web to the world. . No matter which program students use they must make important decisions

together on what information to convey and how to convey it. . Learning content material, learning to work together, and

valuing each other for their multiple intelligence are all goals of cooperative learning that teachers can focus on in this

environment .. There are many programs that will provide the resources that students need to complete the research that is needed for class presentations. Grolier ENCARTA 97 ، ). There are several very

good multimedia encyclopedias ( World Book , Grolier's Interactive , Compton's Interactive , Encarta 97 , and Britannica CD 97 ). Mindscapes. There are many informative CD's on a wide

variety of subject areas, Medio's JFK Investigation , DK Multimedia's The Way Things Work , Mindscapes's How Your

Body Works , Research Publications' American Journey to name just a few. These programs can collect an enormous amount of

information that is easily searched and copied into word processors for use as notes to share with fellow teammates

The Internet is a resource of hundreds of thousands of documents on any subject imaginable. . By using the

search engines, Alta Vista or Yahoo, for example, a student can find much information on virtually any topic. . Some instruction and class discussion on

techniques for searching and evaluation of sources is needed to get the most of working in this environment. . When we view our task of

encouraging students to be lifelong learners, these become indispensable tools. . The WWW is also a great resource for the pictures and sounds that go into making a great classroom presentation. The

Lycos search engine has the capability to search the web for these resources

Psychologist إContribution Software Example

BF SkinnerStimulus/Response

Theory !Outnumbered !

R. Gagne Events of Instruction Welcome to Physics

Lev Vygotsky Zone of Proximal

Development StudyWorks StudyWorks

John Dewey Democratic Principles in

Education !Decisions!! Decisions !

Jerome Bruner Discovery Learning Operation Frog

Seymour Papert Microworlds Microworlds .Logo programming

lang .

Jean Piaget Constructivist Theory Science Toolkit:

Earthquake Module Vanderbuilt Cognition &

Technology Group at Vanderbuilt

Instructon Anchored

Instructon Jasper Woodbury

Problem Solving Series

E. Alan Collins, John Seely Brown, and Susan

E. Newman

Cognitive Apprenticeship

Electronic Emissary Project at the University

of Texas at Austin

Conclusion .

The Cognitive approach to teaching is gaining momentum. . Educators have realized that for students to

be successful they need to be lifelong learners. Helping them to

develop the skills necessary to become lifelong learners requires a different approach to teaching and

learning.. The direct instruction method that was used almost

exclusively in the earlier part of this century, though still effective for some skills, is giving way to a more cooperative approach. One that involves students working together toward common goals,

teachers serving as 'experts', and coaches, and facilitators, and

sometimes just plain getting out of the way and letting students

discover things for themselves. What is technology's role in this movement?. It is supporting the

choices that teachers make every step of the way by providing the environment, the content, the experiment, and the place for

students to 'put it all together' to share with other students, parents,

and the world

References

Educational Technology's Effect on Models of

Instructionby Judith Conway

Written, 1997