3. Computer Assisted Teaching and Learning in Classrooms

Computer Assisted Teaching and Learning in Classrooms

K. Jebakirubai,

Assistant Professor of English,

PSNA College of Engineering and Technology,

Dindigul

Abstract

“Teaching is undertaking certain ethical tasks or activities the intention of which is to induce learning”. While controlling the rising cost of education, higher education institutions must improve educational quality, find innovative ways to use technology in the curriculum, provide outcomes to satisfy clients and job market, and take effective leadership role in global educational and economy. Information technologies have provided excellent opportunities to challenge problems and satisfy the expectations of society. These days everybody is talking and writing about computer and communication technology and their magical contributions to better educational programs. The center stage of this attention is Internet and its tools such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Telnet (remote access), Gopher, and the most exciting of all World Wide Web (WWW). World Wide Web is a global interactive, dynamic, distributed, graphical hypertext information system which brought a new beginning and imagination for how to redesign the process of teaching and learning. The main purpose of technology is to provide students and teachers with more options to learn, to teach, to research, to communicate, and to share knowledge. Utilization of technology needs a major planning in training of faculty and students, a major planning in providing opportunity for communication, and a major commitment in the changing the culture of operations. In this paper I am going to explain about the computer technology that can be used to teach in classrooms for effective learning.

In the traditional way of teaching and learning, higher education institutions designed a program based on the text book and lecture which is framed with time and place for students. In this model, the main purpose is to satisfy requirement for mastery of a body of knowledge for a lifelong career. Explosion of technologies in the education and work places have changed the requirements in education for a successful career. In addition to mastery of a body of knowledge a college graduate must develop specific competencies and abilities. With the help of technology, learning these abilities can be included in the process of teaching and learning.

Critical thinking ability - computer resources and applications is form of case study, simulation, problem solving, and intelligent system can help to extend this ability. This ability is very important quality for the success in the information society.

Process design ability - finding the correct way to communicate and access needed resources is very important in the accomplishment of assignment. Learning to design and effective process for accessing and analyzing information is very essential for students in today’s multi-resource environment. Students need to design process with a clear strategies for accessing, manipulation, and utilization of information in order to accomplish the desired tasks.

Team work - in today’s work places accomplishment of all the assignments are based on the team work. Students should learn how to be a team member, how to contribute to the process, how to use computer for communication with team members, and understand what is the role of the other members in the team.

Outcome oriented process – in today’s multi-resources environment, it is important for students to design process based on the expected outcome (down-to-top design), from expected outcome to process.

Communication skills - knowledge of how to use computer and communication tools and how to utilize them for accomplishment of process are very important part of students’ competency. In addition to electronic communication, students should develop human communication skills as a team member.

Computer and communication technologies can solve two of the strongest barriers to the teaching and learning, where (place) and when (time). Computer-based education is gaining more and more popularity and role in the higher education institutions. Already most of higher education institutions are active in the offering computer-based classes for distance education students. My prediction is in a few years the traditional students (undergraduates) also will have the opportunity to choose some courses independent of place (campus) and time (class schedule). Technology not only brought new way of teaching and learning, but also provided opportunity for everybody from anywhere to teach and learn (virtual classroom).

In the future, the individual objective of students, their desired outcome, their styles of learning are going to have major roles in the design of curriculum. With internet and advent of information superhighway, a new definition of teaching and learning is easier to design and implement. Finally, technology provided the following changes for a more realistic and productive teaching and learning environment.

  • It allows students to have an active role in the teaching and learning process.

  • It provides teachers with more options to teach and more time to evaluate progress of activities.

  • It prevents barrier such as when, where, and limited resources.

  • It changes teacher-centered to teacher-student-centered or student-centered education.

  • It changes from process oriented to outcome oriented teaching and learning.

  • It helps students to be ready for the tough global economy.

  • It helps students to be a more effective member of the information society.

  • It provides opportunity for virtual university.

  • It provides opportunity for joint study of researchers from around the world.

Role of Technology in Education

Technology power can provide us with opportunity in designing process of teaching and learning which so far only dreamed about it.Among many educational goals, three cognitive outcomes are that students should be able to remember, understand, and use information. Apparently, one of these outcomes is very difficult to achieve. After more than a decade of schooling, many students leave school unable to use much of the content they have learned.

Computer can play an important role in enhancing the efficiency of the language teaching process, making students more creative and providing them with an individualized learning environment. Amongst all teaching strategies, Computer Assisted Teaching is perhaps the best because it offers

individualized instruction.

Effective interaction with the learners

Immediate feed back

Henry Becker (1991), of John Hopkins University, conducted several national surveys of the American primary and secondary schools in the 1980s and estimated that the number of microcomputers and computer terminals had increased from 50,000 units to more than 2,400,000 between 1980 and 1990. We should not be surprised if this number has doubled in the last six years. This finding is an indication of the heavy investment in computer technology by society. Advancement in the telecommunication and computer technology has brought a new expectation and hope for learners, organizations, universities, and society. Expectation of new generation of learners is much higher from higher education than the current generation of students. Satisfying their expectations need knowledge of what really our students objectives are. Two major issues in higher education institutions are what we are going to accomplish with all this investments in technology and how we should accomplish it in order to be acceptable by information society.

We have major responsibilities in the shaping of the future of our society. For doing that we must make technology an opportunity for everyone in the university, we must provide the best tools in the classroom, dorms and labs, we must arrange best support group for application development, we must provide high quality workshops and training for teachers and students, we must provide hassle free and comfortable environment for using technology in teaching and learning, we must change form administrative- centered to academic-centered university, we must provide desired outcomes for the good of our students and work places, we must change from stereotype leader and power holder to team leader and coach, we must accept in higher education everybody is leader and everybody is follower, we must appreciate and encourage innovative way of using technology, we must try to make reality our dream processes, we must evaluate critically our performances and contributions, we must change curriculum form process- oriented to outcome-oriented, we must get the best use from our technology, and we must accomplish our assignments and commitment to the parents, students, and society.

It is easy to understand how a teacher might become frustrated and disillusioned. Most teachers enter the profession expecting to spark the joy of learning in their students. Unfortunately, the other demands of the classroom are very distracting and consuming. We envision technology as a teacher’s liberator to help reestablish the role and value of the individual classroom teacher. To do so, two things must happen. First, the perspective of the classroom must change to become learner centered. Second, students and teachers must enter into collaboration or partnership with technology in order to create a “community” that nurtures, encourages, and supports the learning process.

Computer in Language Teaching:

Computer helps the learners to understand the language quickly. They can learn the language very easily with their own pace and independently without the help of their teachers. It provides the opportunity for self-learning. Computer can be used -

  • to test the ability to comprehend the subject taught clearly

  • to increase the students’ ability in recognizing written forms of language

  • to enable the students to know the spelling and pronunciation of each words

The students can read English with greater comprehension. Visual effects, sounds, etc can also be produced with the help of multi-media effect. In general, students can learn well with computer in considerably less time.

We use computers to conduct proficiency test for students, which help them to answer the questions and finally they will get their score and they can evaluate themselves. Also, they can get the answers immediately after getting the score. This helps the students to develop their knowledge as well as they can have self-correction. We train the students by giving sounds of different words. This helps them to understand pronunciation better. This helps the students understand the concept of the language easily. Also, it helps the students to develop the listening skill which is considered to be the first in LSRW.

Finally I conclude that machines mean relief from the mechanical aspects of the teacher’s work. So computer is not to exclude the teacher from the classroom. They cannot replace the teachers; instead the computer can assist the teacher for effective teaching and learning in classrooms.

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