As it is affiliated with Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), and EdNET, the Human Shareware Website led me to other valuable resources. AACE has recent journal publications posted online, while EdNET has made various research reports available. While non-members are allowed only limited access to its resources, the use of a helpful search engine is open to everyone. In turn, EdNET led me to the Website for California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse, which houses a database of all forms of Instructional Technology produced in the last six years.
1. It may be that unless sufficient time on the computer is provided for,
any innovation is more costly in teacher time and disruption of ongoing
activities than it is worth in terms of student learning, so that a low
saturation of computers has negative effects.
2. Perhaps the best deployment of technology in moderate saturation is
based on activity centers in the classroom, whereas the best deployment
in high saturation is to have students working for large amounts of time
on projects, with the teacher acting as a coach and students sharing
information.
3. Programs designed to teach specific subjects, such as physics or
geography, may be difficult to incorporate into classroom learning, no
matter how well they are designed, because of the cost of turning the
classroom over to the software's goals. Tool-based software may work
better in classrooms to the extent that it supports the more general
goals of students and teachers.
Source: Collins, Alan; "Toward a Design Science of Education"; CTE Technical Report Issue No. 1; January 1990
Beyond this list, use of computers in the classroom calls for enthusiasm from students, teachers and other decision makers, such as computer coordinators or curriculum specialists. It must be a coordinated effort.
Once we are able to look at actual design issues, we must look at what makes design for children different than design for adults. Here are lists of observations which I've compiled from an "interview" with Madelon Evers (see above) and various online journal articles concerning multimedia, education and children.
"In general children are much more critical."
While there is a need for both, direct experience is not put at risk by electronically mediated experience.
Finally, I provide an "introductory framework for reflecting more critically on the range of options and opportunities from which designers and educators might choose as they create and use a new generation of discovery-based multimedia software. At the core, each of the multimedia examples reviewed appears to be comprised of three basic, and several complimentary, design components:
"[Children] have no patience. For example, they click before they listen and often (especially boys, we've noticed) need to come back to something a number of times before they really get it, not because they are unintelligent but because they are trigger happy."
"[Children] don't read (not counting if they are too young to read)."
"[Children] want clear responses and intelligent systems."
"[Children] need a lot of feedback and like to have a lot of interesting instruction
and encouragement when there is a learning challenge."
"[Children] need reinforcement of their experience on the computer in the classroom
or outside / beyond the computer; we make this a central part of the
concepts we create since it also keeps the teachers happy!"
"Kids never ask why do I need this programme; adults are much more sceptical."
"The computer is a huge motivator for kids; our work with dyslexic kids
showed they solved alot of learning and concentration problems through the
computer simply because the dynamic is different and the computer is patient
with them, day in day out."
(source: "interview" with Madelon Evers)
Computers allow children to learn about something in more than one way. "It presents different modes of representation and has a multitude of options."
Use of video allows the teacher to "import other people to talk to the kids without actually having to go get that person."
The computer can be used to reinforce direct experiences, such as Hypercard "guides" to New York's Central Park Zoo, developed by the children who visited it on a series of trips.
(Source: Wilson, Kathleen and Tally, William; "Designing for Discovery: Interactive Multimedia Learning Environments at Bank Street College"; CTE Technical Report Issue No. 15; July 1991)
(Source: Wilson, Kathleen and Tally, William; "Design Issues in Several Discovery-Oriented Programs"; CTE Technical Report Issue No. 13; June 1991)
1. A database of information, with a particular content
and a particular database structure
a. Depth vs Breadth b. Media Formats c. Realism d. Point of View e. Connection to Curricula
a. Nature of the Raw Materials b. Browsing vs Direct Searching and Sorting c. Use of Contextual Metaphors and Organizers d. Structured Activities 2. A user interface for accessing the information, and
a. Contextualizing Overview b. Locational Information c. Visual/Spatial Access d. Multiple Options e. System Responsiveness and Consistency 3. Various interactive tools for manipulating the information.
a. Personalizing b. Searching, Sorting, and Browsing Tools c. Linking and Tracing d. Editing and Authoring e. Producing, Composing, and Programming
| Human Shareware | |
| Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education | |
| and, to a lesser extent, | |
| The Heller Reports: Desktop EdNET | |
| and | |
| California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse | |
| which has a vast database of available Instructional Technology products. | |
You can also find a listing of all resources for this issue on the resources page.
Other issues researched by ITEC 830 students can be found on the issues page.