Mia Mitchell

Mrs. Bailey

Instructional Tech in Ed

March, 2, 2018

Software Function Summaries

Drill and Practice:

Drill and Practice teaching function uses activities that students work on one at a time

and receive feedback on their answers. The feedback can either be simple or extensive. Some

examples of drill and practice is flash card activities, balancing drills, and extensive feedback

activities. The flash card activity consists of a series of questions and the student chooses an

answer and the program gives feedback. Chart fill- in activities ask students to complete a set of

answers on a chart, it is usually timed and all feedback is displayed at once. Branching drill is

when the program automatically moves students to advanced questions after they get a certain

amount of questions correct. It may also push them back to lower levels if they answer a certain

number of questions wrong. Extensive feedback activities is when students get more feedback

than just incorrect/correct and receive detailed feedback. The benefits of drill and practice is,

with practice the information becomes long term memory. Another benefit is automaticity, being

able to automatically recall easy skills and use that to help master harder problems. Limitations

include misuses, such as teachers giving students drills and practices to cover new information.

Another limitation is the criticism from constructivists for being an outdated approach. Uses for

drill and practices can be worksheets, and to prepare for tests. Some guidelines/criterias for using

this type of program is to set time limits, assign individually, and use learning stations

Website: https://www.funbrain.com/
 -meets the criteria because it has quizzes and activities that can be done and gives

feedback.

Tutorial:

Tutorial teaching functions is a complete instruction on a topic, that shows every step and

direction, that is similar to a teachers instruction in the classroom. Students should be able to

understand and know what to do without any help other than the tutorial. Tutorials include one or

more practice activities to ensure understanding. Different types of tutorials are linear, and

branching. Linear tutorials gives the same instructional sequence of explanation, practice and

feedback. Branching tutorials direct learners along alternate paths based on how the student

responds to questions. A benefit of tutorial is immediate feedback, offering a self contained and a

self paced unit of instruction. A limitation is the criticism from constructivists, they believe

tutorials are hindering students from learning on their own, Additionally, the lack of good

products, and reflect only one instructional approach. Tutorials can be used as self paced reviews

of instruction, students can repeat the instruction if needed. They can also be used as alternative

learning strategies, and a form of instruction when the teacher is unavailable. The criteria for this

program is to assign individually, and use learning stations or individual checkout.

Website: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

Meets the criteria because a student can do all the work without any additional help and it gives

feedback.

Simulation:
 Simulation is a representation of a system that teaches you how the system works.

Learners using simulations choose which tasks they want to do and how to do them. The

different types of simulations are physical, and iterative. Physical simulations allow users to

manipulate things or processes on the screen. Iterative simulation speed up or slow down

processes that usually happen. The benefits of this program is the compress time, slowed down

processes, involvement from students, they make experimentation safe, and make the impossible,

possible. Limitations include the accuracy of these models, these programs can be inaccurate or

imprecise when in a controlled situation. Additionally the misuse of stimulations, sometimes the

concepts they teach could have easily been demonstrated on paper. Simulations can be used in

place of supplements to a lab experiment, role playing, and/or field trip. It can also be used to

introduce a new topic, to foster exploration and process learning. The guidelines/ criteria for this

program is it to use it with the whole class, small groups or individuals and use it as a way to

spark a discussion or collaborative work.

Website: http://illuminations.nctm.org

-meets requirements because the student gets to choose how they want to learn, also students can

be taught new information.

Instructional Games:

Technology games that combine gaming and education in a fun and interesting way.

These games are different from regular games because they have rules, elements of competition

and entertaining formatts. These games hold instructional value using education and motivational

tools. Benefits from this program are, it is more interesting then regular instruction, retention

occurs, and they provide teacher with opportunities for taking advantage of students focusing.

Limitations include the question of “is learning occurring”. The students might be having too
much fun and not enough learning. Also, there may be confusion of game rules and real life

rules. Lastly, these games may lead to inefficient learning. Instructional games can be used in

place of worksheets, to teach cooperative group working skills and as a reward. The criteria for

this program is it should be used appropriately, it should involve all students and emphasize

content area skills.

Website: http://pbskids.org/games.html http://pbskids.org/games.html

-meets requirement because it is an educational game, and has game rules, and also presents a

fun way of learning.

Problem Solving:

Problem solving functions focus on practicing the steps to solve problems. There are two types

of problem solving software, content area, and content free. Content area problem skills focus on

content areas such as math and science. Content free can be taught directly by specific

instruction and practice. This function can be used as a hand on experience, a way to identify and

follow a sequence, and to identify relevant information to solve a problem. Benefits from this

software is students will have an improved interest and motivation and ig prevents insert

knowledge. Some limitations include possible negative effects of the direct instruction, skills not

transferring, problems with effectiveness. Guidelines for problem solving is to decide the

problem and figure out how to solve it, they may vary whether it is a direct or constructivist

approach.. It can be used as a logical sequence, to identify relevant information, and

remembering relevant information.

Website: http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2numeracy-tools.html
-meets requirement because it is a content area program used for math, has both the direct and

constructivist approach.

Integrated Learning System (ILS):

Integrated learning systems are systems that use a computer to instruct, they use other

resources and student progress is reported throughout the instruction. ILS can be used as a

teacher replacement, but that is its less effective use. It can also be used for remediation and as a

mainstream delivery system. Benefits of ILS include district and state adopted academic

standards and the No Child Left Behind Act. Some limitations of this program is its cost, it is a

huge expense. Another one is the research discovered on ILS’ impact, some studies showed

students did well with the program and others found I other programs worked better. ILS can be

used in the classroom as a purchasing process.

Website: http://integratedlistening.com/

Meets requirements because it uses a computer, and can track students progress.