Teaching Roles for Instructional

SoftwareNashae Lumpkin

Instructional Software Functions

• Drill-and-practice

• Tutorial

• Simulation

• Instructional game

• Problem-solving program

Drill-and-Practice Teaching Functions

• Directed teaching strategy

• Characteristics:• Presents items for students to

answer

• Gives feedback on correctness

• Gives explanation of why answers are incorrect

• Examples:• Flash card activity

• Chart fill-in activities

• Branching drill

• Extensive feedback activities

Exercises in which students work example items, usually one at a

time, feedback on their correctness.

Drill-and-Practice

Criteria to Meet• Control over presentation rate

• Answer judging

• Appropriate feedback for correct and incorrect answers

• Characteristics tailored to young learners

Benefits• Immediate and private feedback

• Increased motivation

• Saving teacher time correcting student work• Math facts

• Typing skills

• English & foreign language vocabulary

• Countries and capitals

• Preparation for SAT, ACT, TOEFL, etc.

• Musical keys and notations

Drill-and-Practice (cont.)

Limitations• Instructional overuse or

misuses

• Criticism by constructivists

Strategy• Supplement and/or replace

worksheets and homework exercises

• Prepare for tests

Drill-and-Practice (cont.)

• Guidelines• Set time limits

• Use only after teaching the concepts

• Assign individually

• Use learning stations

Tutorial Teaching Functions

• An entire instructional sequence on a topic, similar to a teacher’s classroom instruction.

• Directed teaching strategy

• Linear tutorial – gives the same instructional sequence of explanation, practice, and feedback to all learners regardless of differences in their performance.

• Branching tutorial – directs learners along alternate paths depending on how they respond to questions and whether they show mastery of certain parts of the material.

Tutorial

Characteristics:

Presents an entire

instructional

sequence

Is complete,

rather than supplemen

tal, instruction

Includes drill-and-practice functions

Can be either

linear or branching

Standards to meet:

Extensive interactivit

y

Thorough user

control

Appropriate pedagogy

Adequate answer-judging

and feedback

capabilities

Appropriate graphics

and/or video

Adequate recordkeep

ing

Benefits:

Immediate, private

feedback

Time savings

Offers instruction

that can stand on its own

Tutorial (cont.)

Limitations:• Criticism by constructivists• Lack of well-designed

products• Reflect only one

instructional approach

Strategies:• self-paced reviews of

instruction• Alternative learning

strategies• Instruction when teachers

are unavailable

Guidelines:• Assign individually• Use learning stations or

individual checkout

Simulation Teaching Functions

• A computerized model of a real or imagined system that is designed to teach how the system works.

• Directed or constructivists teaching strategy

Types of Simulations

Simulations that Teach About Something• Physical simulations – allow users

to manipulate things or processes represented on the screen.

• Iterative simulation – speed up or slow down processes that usually happen either so slowly or so quickly that students cannot see the events unfold.

Simulations that Teach How to Do Something

• Procedural simulations – teach the appropriate sequences of steps to perform certain procedures.

• Situational simulations – give students hypothetical problem situations and ask them to react.

Simulations

• Characteristics• Models a real or

imaginary system

• Can model physical phenomena, procedures, and hypothetical situations

• Users can see the impact of their actions

• Criteria• System fidelity

and accuracy

• Good documentation to explain system characteristics and uses

• Benefits• Compresses time or slows down

processes

• Gets students involved

• Makes experimentation safe

• Makes the impossible possible

• Saves money and other resources

• Allows repetition with variations

• Allows observation of complex processes

Simulations (cont.)

Limitations & Problems

• Criticism of virtual lab software

• Accuracy of models• Instructional misuses

Strategies

• In place of or as supplements to lab experiments

• In place of or as supplements to role-playing

• In place of or as supplements to field trips

• To introduce and/or clarify a topic

• To foster exploration and process learning

• To encourage cooperation and group work

Guidelines

• Provide usage instruction and guidelines

• Use either with groups or individuals

Instructional Game Teaching Functions

• Software products that add game-like rules and/or competition to learning activities.

• Directed or constructivist teaching strategy.

Instructional Game

Criteria for Effective Games• Appealing and appropriate

formats and activities.

• Instructional value.

• Physical dexterity is reasonable.

• Social, societal, and cultural considerations are addressed.

Limitations and Problems• Learning versus having

fun.

• Confusion of game rules and real-life rules.

• Inefficient learning.

• Classroom barriers.

Instructional Games (cont.)

• Benefits• Improve classroom teaching

strategies

• Makes learning more engaging and motivational

• Guidelines• Use sparingly

• Involve all students

• Emphasize the content-area skills first

• Strategies• In place of worksheets and

exercises

• As a reward

• To teach “noncognitive skills”

• To teach cooperative group working skills

Problem-Solving Teaching Functions

• Focus on fostering component skills in or approaches to general problem-solving ability, or provide opportunities to practice solving various kinds of content-area problems.

• Content-free problem-solving skills – general problem-solving ability can be taught directly by specific instruction and practice in its component strategies and subskills.

• Content-area problem-solving skills – focuses on teaching content-area skills, primarily in mathematics and science and motivates students to attack problems and to recognize problem solving as an integral part of everyday life.

Problem-Solving

• Benefits:• Promotes visualization in

mathematics problem solving.

• Improves interest and motivation.

• Prevents inert knowledge by illustrating situations in which skills apply.

• Criteria:• Challenging, interesting formats.

• Clear links to developing specific

problem-solving skills or abilities.

• Characteristics:• Tools to help students solve

problems.

• Environments that challenge students to create solutions to complex problems.

• Problems to help develop component problem-solving skills.

• Opportunities for practice in solving content-area problems.

Problem-Solving (cont.)

• Names versus skills• Software claims versus effectiveness• Lack of skill transfer

Limitations:

• Directed teaching• Constructivist teaching

Guidelines:

• To teach component skills in problem-solving strategies• To provide support in solving problems• To encourage group problem solving• To provide practice in solving problems

Strategies:

References

• Roblyer, M. D. (2013). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson.