Education and Computing最新文献

In the same way as we have to look forward, we have to learn from the past. Between 1974 and 1986 great changes occurred in technology-based learning. Critical issues, options and requirements of these changes should be reviewed. Portugal has participated in both European and world-wide educational programmes and projects. These have affected formal and non-formal Portuguese education. Developmental approaches, implementation strategies, pedagogical requirements and technological needs have to be taken account of in such reforms. This paper will consider the consequential effects of various community programmes and projects at national, regional and local level. It will also address the major organizational problems arising from the introduction of technological systems into school and classroom.

The Remote Access Astronomy Project is a unique computerized telescope and data distribution system that has the potential to change the way astronomical, earth science and physics concepts are taught to high school and undergraduate students. The project uses high resolution astronomical and earth resource images and image processing techniques that appeal to the natural curiosity young people have about space and astronomy as well as taking advantage of the familiarity of video imagery. In addition, particularly at the secondary school level, it serves as a forum for low cost and rapid distribution of curriculum materials among teachers and as an educational network between high schools and between high schools and universities.

By using a combination of high performance, low cost microcomputers, high resolution interactive graphics, high speed modem technology and data compression techniques, the project can break down the traditional learning boundaries in a classroom and allow students and teachers access to a much richer environment that is, in a sense, a classroom without walls. The graphics resolution achieved is near photographic at 1024 × 768 pixels allowing us to have in the classroom a system that only five years ago would have cost roughly 25–50 K$ but can be utilized for less than $2500 today.

The system is currently undergoing testing at the undergraduate level at UCSB, at a number of California high schools and a junior high. The project is supported by the University of California, The National Science Foundation's Center for Particle Astrophysics and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

This paper examines the resource management requirements in developing national distance education programmes through a review of the organizational approaches adopted in different countries, primarily at tertiary level. The cost structure of distance education vis-a-vis conventional education is outlined and the resource implications of alternative organizational approaches are briefly examined. The co-operative approach adopted in Ireland for the implementation of a national distance education programme is described. The cost-effective use of computer-based management systems in administration and of computer-based text production is detailed.

Side by side with the increasing wealth and diversity of information and the rapid advances in technology in today's world, is an increasing complexity in both the information-handling tasks that learners encounter in the classroom and the information-handling tools that are available for teachers and learners to use. In this bewildering arena, teachers, often without appropriate training, face a range of complex decisions as they try to match learners, tasks and tools. This paper explores, with the aid of six case studies, some of the issues that need to be faced as teachers grapple with these decisions, with particular regard to the significant attributes of tasks commonly encountered by learners engaged in enquiry or problem solving.

The emphasis on tool applications of computers in school and business settings continues to grow, but the results of such use are often disappointing. An increasing number of studies are defining the shortcomings of this approach, but the solutions have not been found.

This paper begins with the assumptions underlying the emphasis on tool applications, reviews some of the studies that challenge these assumptions, then presents some suggestions for successful implementation of tool applications, based on more appropriate assumptions.

Computer simulations are used in many contexts, such as what-if analyses, experimentation and instruction. The topic of the present volume is the use of computer simulations in instruction. Instructional use of computer simulations has four characteristics:

• •

  Presence of a formalized, manipulable model;

• •

  Presence of learning goals (such as conceptual or operational knowledge);

• •

  Elicitation of specific learning processes (such as hypothesis generation and testing);

• •

  Presence of learner activity (learners may perform manipulations with the model). These four characteristics together confine our view on instruction and learning with computer simulations. The related topic of modelling shares the above mentioned characteristics with simulation, but has an additional one:

  • •

    Possibility of interfering with the properties of the underlying model. Applying simulations in instruction is important for a number of reasons, the most important of which is probably that learners will be engaged in active exploration and learning — an approach which is advocated in modern instructional/learning theories. Creating hypothetical realities or changing time scales in simulations might sustain this learning approach. Additional reasons for using simulations are a motivational aspect and the possibility of creating situations that are unacceptable in reality for reasons of danger, costs or time.

Learning through exploration puts high cognitive demands on learners. This may result in inefficient and ineffective learning behaviour, where students flounder and do not use the opportunities the simulation environment offers. Therefore, it seems that support is needed if learning from simulations is to be effective. This support can be given by a human teacher but also by a computer learning environment.

The present volume presents the results of an inventory of elements of such a computer learning environment. This inventory was conducted within a DELTA project called SIMULATE. In the project a learning environment that provides intelligent support to learners and that has a simulation as its nucleus is termed an Intelligent Simulation Learning Environment (ISLE).

The aim of this study was to examine the personality and attitudinal traits which are conducive to effective use of computers within the framework of cai. 164 teachers, who served as the research sample, were administered the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire which taps three major personality factors, namely extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. They were also administered a questionnaire on attitude to computers.

The results of this study indicate that teachers, more extraverted, more stable, and more toughminded in their attitudinal profiles, also have more positive computer oriented attitudes. In the light of these findings it is suggested that a personality and attitudinal examination of teachers using cai may lead to more efficient computer usage in the classroom.

Attitudes and expectations are important factors for the use of new information and communication technologies (nict) in education. This study comprises three sets of data on attitudes towards nict, collected in 1990 from teachers (N = 500), parents (N = 800) and students in primary and lower secondary schools (N = 2,100). The same basic set of questions is used in the different samples, with relevant modifications according to characteristics of the three different populations.

The aims of this paper are (a) to study if teachers, parents and pupils share the same expectations and attitudes towards computers, and (b) eventually find some important factors influencing active use of computers in education.

The study is part of a parallel survey of parents', students' and teachers' attitudes towards new facets and content of curriculum (home economics and computers) in primary and lower secondary education in Norway.

Computer simulations in an instructional context can be characterized according to four aspects (themes): simulation models, learning goals, learning processes and learner activity. The present paper provides an outline of these four themes.

The main classification criterion for simulation models is quantitative vs. qualitative models. For quantitative models a further subdivision can be made by classifying the independent and dependent variables as continuous or discrete. A second criterion is whether one of the independent variables is time, thus distinguishing dynamic and static models. Qualitative models on the other hand use propositions about non-quantitative properties of a system or they describe quantitative aspects in a qualitative way. Related to the underlying model is the interaction with it. When this interaction has a normative counterpart in the real world we call it a procedure.

The second theme of learning with computer simulation concerns learning goals. A learning goal is principally classified along three dimensions, which specify different aspects of the knowledge involved. The first dimension, knowledge category, indicates that a learning goal can address principles, concepts and/or facts (conceptual knowledge) or procedures (performance sequences). The second dimension, knowledge representation, captures the fact that knowledge can be represented in a more declarative (articulate, explicit), or in a more compiled (implicit) format, each one having its own advantages and drawbacks. The third dimension, knowledge scope, involves the learning goal's relation with the simulation domain; knowledge can be specific to a particular domain, or generalizable over classes of domains (generic). A more or less separate type of learning goal refers to knowledge acquisition skills that are pertinent to learning in an exploratory environment.

Learning processes constitute the third theme. Learning processes are defined as cognitive actions of the learner. Learning processes can be classified using a multilevel scheme. The first (highest) of these levels gives four main categories: orientation, hypothesis generation, testing and evaluation. Examples of more specific processes are model exploration and output interpretation.

The fourth theme of learning with computer simulations is learner activity. Learner activity is defined as the ‘physical’ interaction of the learner with the simulations (as opposed to the mental interaction that was described in the learning processes). Five main categories of learner activity are distinguished: defining experimental settings (variables, parameters etc.), interaction process choices (deciding a next step), collecting data, choice of data presentation and metacontrol over the simulation.