Lesson 10: The computer as Tutor

Computer is one of the wonders of human ingenuity, even it is invented long time ago to carry out the complicated mathematical and logical operation. With the invention of this technology (Computer or PC), the PC become a tool for many instructions. The great advances in microelectronics have helped achieved the moon landing, satellites, digital watches, computer games and even this electronics become a tutor in education. Still the computer continues to evolve. 

Educators saw much use of the PC. It has become affordable to small business, industries and homes. They saw its potential for individualization in learning, especially as individualized learning is a problem since teachers usually with a class of forty or more learners. They therefore devised strategies to use the computer to break the barriers to individualized instruction.

Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)

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

• Insure that the students have the needed knowledge and skills for any computer                       activity.
• Decide the appropriate learning objectives 
• Plan the sequential and structured activities to achieve objectives. 
• Evaluate the students’ achievement by ways of tests of the specific expected outcomes.

Now a day, educators accept the fact that the computer has indeed succeeded in providing an individualized learning environment so difficult for a teacher handling whole class. This is so, since the computer is able to allow individual students to learn at their own pace, motivate learning through a challenging virtual learning environment, and assist students through information needed during the learning process.

My Reflection in this lesson:


In this lesson, it allow us teachers to encourage the learners to give attention in using  computer. In fact, computer plays as a guide for the learners ability to create and editing such tasks in school. Computer only  play as a tutor but the truth is, it will never replace the teachers. As a sort of tutor comes from the computer but, did you think that you will operate the computer if the learners cannot follow instruction.?- Teachers is needed. This how computer helps "some" learner to add or integrate some knowledge to another one, and it result a moderate class of learning. 

Lesson 11: The Computer as the Teacher's Tool

Constructivism was introduced by Jean Piaget (1981) and Bruner (1990). They gave stress to knowledge discovery of new meaning/concepts/principles in the learning process. Various strategies have been suggested to foster knowledge discovery, among these, is making students engaged in gathering unorganized information from which they can induce ideas and principles. Students are also asked to apply discovered knowledge to new situations, a process for making their knowledge applicable to real life situations.

While knowledge is constructed by the individual learner in constructivism, knowledge can also be socially constructed. Social Constructivisms is the effort to show that the construction of knowledge is governed by social, historical and cultural contexts. In effect, this is to say that the learner who interprets knowledge has a predetermined point of view according to the social perspectives of the community or society he lives in.

The psychologist Vygotsky stressed that learning is affected by social influences. He suggested the interactive process in learning. A more capable adult (teacher or parent) can aid or complement what the learner sees in a given tasks or project. In addition, John Dewey sees language as medium for social coordination and adaptation. For Dewey, human learning is really human languaging that occurs when students socially share, build and agree upon meanings and knowledge.

The Computer’s Capabilities

Informative Tool

The computer can provide vast amounts of information in various forms, such as text, graphics, sound, and video. Even multimedia encyclopedias are today available on the internet.

Communication Tool

The computer has been used in communication as evident by social networking sites as to facebook, twitter and friendster. We can even chat/talk friends and families anywhere in the globe through yahoo messenger or the one in facebook or view them through the webcam. We can send messages and information through the internet in just seconds or minutes.

Constructive Tool

The computer itself can be used for manipulating information, visualizing one’s understanding, and building new knowledge. The Microsoft Word computer program itself is a desktop publishing software that allows users to organize and present their ideas in attractive formats.

Co-constructive Tool

Students can use constructive tools to work cooperatively and construct a shared understanding of new knowledge. One way of co-construction is the use of the electronic whiteboard where students may post notices to a shared document/whiteboard. Students may also co-edit the same document from their homes.


using electronic white board...

Situating Tool

By means of virtual reality (RS) extension systems, the computer can create 3-D images on display to give the user the feeling that are situated in a virtual environment. A flight simulation program is an example of a situating tool which places the user in simulated flying environment.

example: the solar system..

My Reflection in this lesson:

Computer as Teacher’s Tools, I will never get hard to find effective tools in my teaching which is time consuming. This Educational Technology helps me to become creative, innovative and of course become disciplined users of this system. This lesson almost given and dedicated to the teachers to engage the appropriate uses of every tools in teaching.Not a teacher who facilitates, plans, organizes, guides, and provides directions to the learner, who is accountable for his own learning. Now a day with the help of Computer in teaching we only supports the learners by means of instructions or suggestions. According to this theory, learning is a social advancement that involves language, real world situations, and interaction and collaboration among learners. So that when we integrate the computer in learning, we will see how does the learners participate in the activities.

PCs provide individual students with tools to experiment and build their own learning at their own pace. With the use of the web, the learner can now conduct research, interact with diverse populations, share ideas, and work on group projects. This is very important in the world of every teacher. 

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

The Traditional Classroom

It may be observed that classrooms are usually arranged with neat columns and rows of student chairs or desks, while the teacher stands in front of the classroom or sits behind his table. This situation is necessitated by the need to maintain classroom discipline, also allows the teacher to control classroom activities through lecture presentation and teacher-led discussion.

Noticeably, however, after spending so many minutes in lesson presentation and class management, students can get restless and fidgety. Often enough, the teacher has to also manage misbehavior in class as students start to talk among themselves or simply stare away in lack of attention.


The SCL Classroom

Image B

John Dewey has described traditional learning as a process in which the teacher pours information to student learners, much like pouring water from a jug into cups. This is based on the long accepted belief that the teacher must perform his role of teaching so that learning can occur. This learning approach is generally known as direct instruction, and it has worked well for obtaining many kinds of learning outcomes. The problem with it is that the approach in learning, however, is the fact that the world’s societies have began to change. It may not be felt strongly to countries in which on countries who depends mostly their economy to factory workers. Traditional and direct instruction is very useful in these countries.

(See image B....)

Student Centered classrooms focus on the needs and abilities of the students and on topics relevant to the students lives, needs and interests.

This increases student motivation and as a result they feel they have a stake in their own learning which (it has been proven) increases their learning and performance.

The role of the teacher still important is not so much a provider of knowledge as much as a facilitator. The teacher will not, for example, stand and lecture the class but rather set up situations where the students can find out for themselves the information they need.

My Reflection in this lesson:

The lesson I learned in this lesson is the use of IT or Information Technology in teaching. In here discussed the teacher’s duty. They work extending to their house. In a classroom environment, it is necessary to use IT for us to make the attention of the learners to be caught. Not only to catch their attention in a few minutes of time. That is, to make their routine will change and to become the modern way of learning by their own. SCL or Student Centered Learning gave emphasis to our student which is need a little importance by their finished task, and also to encourage them to study hard.

Lesson 13: Cooperative Learning with the Computer

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. common goal
2. interdependence
3. interaction
4. individual accountability
5. social skills







Cooperative Learning and the Computer 

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.
Now this mythical fear has been contradicted by the studies which show that when students work with computers in groups


Components of Cooperative Learning

Education are still wary about the computer's role in cooperative learning. Thus they pose the position that the use of computers do not automatically result in cooperative learning. There therefore assign the teachers several tasks in order to ensure collaborative learning. These are:


1. Assigning students to mixed-ability teams

2. Establishing positive interdependence

3. Teaching cooperative social skills

4. Insuring individual accountability, and

5. Helping groups process information

My Reflection in this lesson:


It is a good lesson to be discussed, because I know that cooperative learning makes learners learn more. Technology like computer makes studies easier. So that, if the learners collaborates with the computer the more the knowledge will be acquired by the learners. In summary, collaborates with computer makes the learning easier and meaningful. In here, the action of each student affects the others in a group. Cooperative learning is an affective strategy that can be use to integrate in the computer activities to promote the competencies of the learners.

Lesson 14: Software as an Educational Resources

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 direct computer operations. The computer machine or hardware is naturally an attention-gette.

There are two kinds of software:

1. The system software. This is the operating system that is found or bundled inside all computer machines.

2. The application software. This contains the system that commands the particular task or solves a particular problem.

Also referred to as program, Microsoft Windows or Windows for short is an operating environment between the user and the computer operating system. Also called a shell, it is a layer that creates the way the computer should work. Windows uses a colorful graphics interface (called GUI – pronounced “gooee”) that can be seen on the computer screen or monitor whenever the computer is turned on.

The user can work with on-screen pictures (icons) and suggestions (menus) to arrive at the desired software. Windows 95 (now improved with Windows 2003 and 2007) is software designed for Microsoft Windows. Actually, Windows is in itself a self-contained operating system which provides

Instructional 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 (CBI) materials for the school resource collection. But beware since CBIs need much improvement, while web-based educational resources are either extremely good or what is complete garbage. In evaluating computer-based educational materials, the following can serve as guidelines:

· Be extremely cautious in using CBIs and “free” Internet materials

· Don’t be caught up by attractive graphics, sound, animation, pictures, video clips and music forgetting their instructional worth

· Teachers must evaluate these resources using sound pedagogical principles.

· Among design and content elements to evaluate are: the text legibility, effective use of color schemes, attractive layout and design, and easy navigation from section-to-section (such as from game to tutorial to drill-and-practice section)

· Clarity in the explanations and illustrations of concepts and principles

· Accuracy, coherence, logic of information

· Their being current since data/statistics continually change

· Relevance/effectiveness in attaining learning objectives

· Absence of biased materials

My Reflection about this lesson:

In this lesson, I understand how and why the software plays a vital role in teaching.

It is important for both teachers and student. It helps students through making projects and searching for their lessons in a very easy way. They can use Microsoft word for composing text, graphics and many other paper works that is related to their studies. For the teachers advantage was they can easily compute grades, they can make a power point presentation for their lesson in a meaningful and attractive way. As a student I already use the lesson I learned in this topic. I can easily search for my report, making required outputs and presenting my content in different animation and effects.