Education and Computing最新文献

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether teacher trainees in the third year of their university studies are more open to innovation and change in instructional methods, such as Computer Assisted Instruction (cai) and Computer Assisted Learning (cal), than their first year counterparts. The students all participated in courses on teaching innovation, with special emphasis on the use of information technology. First year students participated in an introductory course and third year students took two advanced courses.

Results of the study indicate that no significant improvement in students' attitudes to the use of computers—the vehicle for innovation and change—was achieved, despite the participation of third year students in courses designed to promote change. It may be concluded that teacher training institutions need to implement modifications in their coursework in order to promote positive attitudes toward innovation and significant change in the instructional process.

For some time I have nurtured a curiosity regarding the effects of technology on early art development. As my opportunities increased for observing and then influencing the learning process, I found myself addicted to the excitement of technology, specifically in the area of art education. I can now draw on information gathered from three professional experiences: elementary school teacher (K-8), project director of an Equity Project entitled “Encouraging Female Students in Math and Science through Art and Technology” and Artist in Residence with the San Bernardino Arts Foundation.

As in any project, the real measure of success is the accomplishment of the students. Students' growth in the areas of art curriculum, use of related art vocabulary, choice of methods selected for completing a task, utilization of thinking skills, application of art principles, and the increased productivity of personal expression, is evidenced in their impressive collection of art files: printed, on disk, and on video. It is my intent to share these files, along with related anecdotal records, and to detail some of the instructional processes that accompany the use of technology in the classroom.

Information Technology and computer science have not only reshaped computation, communication and commerce; they have expanded the basic models and paradigms of many disciplines. Informatics education has obligations to all the communities that rely on information technology, not just the computing professionals. Serving this extended audience well requires changes in the content and presentation of computing curricula. This paper sketches the coming needs for information processing and analyzes the populations that will require informatics education. It considers curriculum requirements through two examples, one outside the traditional boundary of computer science and one inside.

A report of the classroom activity which supports the research undertaken by Toni Downes, University of Western Sydney, on databases in the elementary school. The report targets the period 1989–90, covering such areas as selection of software; maintenance of student ownership in investigations; student familiarisation with new software and hardware; gathering real data; use of database and printing facility; classroom climate and teacher comments on the use of databases.

This paper outlines why artificial intelligence (ai) topics should assume a more prominent rôle in the discipline of computing science. Moreover, an argument is presented for considering ai as the cultural foundation for computing science. Key ai topics are discussed, as well as the importance of the laboratory component. Emphasis is placed on what could be done in the laboratory and in courses “outside” the ai course to reinforce the central concepts. A proposal is made that, given the importance of this material, the core topics should be required for students in mathematics, science and engineering, in addition to those in computing science.

Funding was obtained in 1989 to develop a pilot elective in 1990 within the Graduate Diploma of Computer Education at The University of Melbourne. Entitled “Designing Educational Software”, the elective takes advantage of new authoring tools and multimedia facilities to introduce teachers to the philosophies and practicalities of developing software for the classroom.

This in itself is not innovative. However, the elective will be not only offered to teachers enrolled in the Graduate Diploma but to trainers from industry as well, particularly those involved in Computer Based Training. cbt is a career path for teachers that has not yet been exploited and at the same time, the cbt industry reports skills shortages. The elective has been designed in co-operation with the cbt industry.

A second aim of the course is to expose industry trainers to the educational philosophies behind school level software. From the interaction of schoolteachers and industry trainers, we shall attempt to develop broader models of cbt than the ones currently embraced by the training industry. Likewise, the development of school software should benefit from exposure to the more sophisticated facilities available in industry.

The pilot is continuing in 1991 and the teachers will be joined by a smaller number of enrolments from the training industry. By 1992, the percentage of teachers to industry trainers will be 50/50.

The Joint Curriculum Task Force of the acm and the ieee Computer Society has proposed a new flexible collection of curricula which provides the basis for broad-based undergraduate computing programs. In order to have the curricula applicable to as many types of undergraduate institutions as possible, the curricula have been designed around a collection of “knowledge units” which can be put together in a variety of ways to form a coherent set of courses leading to a major in computing. In order to help provide connections between these knowledge units, the task force has also identified a number of “recurring concepts” which tie together seemingly disparate parts of the curriculum. The purpose of this article is to provide an informal discussion of the considerations that went into the creation of these curricular guidelines, and provide insight into the reasons behind many of the decisions that were made.

The use of computer simulations in education and training can have substantial advantages over other approaches. In comparison with alternatives such as textbooks, lectures, and tutorial courseware, a simulation-based approach offers the opportunity to learn in a relatively realistic problem-solving context, to practise task performance without stress, to systematically explore both realistic and hypothetical situations, to change the time-scale of events, and to interact with simplified versions of the process or system being simulated.

However, learners are often unable to cope with the freedom offered by, and the complexity of, a simulation. As a result many of them resort to an unsystematic, unproductive mode of exploration. There is evidence that simulation-based learning can be improved if the learner is supported while working with the simulation. Constructing such an instructional environment around simulations seems to run counter to the freedom the learner is allowed to in ‘stand alone’ simulations. The present article explores instructional measures that allow for an optimal freedom for the learner.

An extensive discussion of learning goals brings two main types of learning goals to the fore: conceptual knowledge and operational knowledge. A third type of learning goal refers to the knowledge acquisition (exploratory learning) process.

Cognitive theory has implications for the design of instructional environments around simulations. Most of these implications are quite general, but they can also be related to the three types of learning goals. For conceptual knowledge the sequence and choice of models and problems is important, as is providing the learner with explanations and minimization of error. For operational knowledge cognitive theory recommends learning to take place in a problem solving context, the explicit tracing of the behaviour of the learner, providing immediate feedback and minimization of working memory load. For knowledge acquisition goals, it is recommended that the tutor takes the role of a model and coach, and that learning takes place together with a companion.

A second source of inspiration for designing instructional environments can be found in Instructional Design Theories. Reviewing these shows that interacting with a simulation can be a part of a more comprehensive instructional strategy, in which for example also prerequisite knowledge is taught. Moreover, information present in a simulation can also be represented in a more structural or static way and these two forms of presentation provoked to perform specific learning processes and learner activities by tutor controlled variations in the simulation, and by tutor initiated prodding techniques. And finally, instructional design theories showed that complex models and procedures can be taught by starting with central and simple elements of these models and procedures and subsequently presenting more complex models and proced