Lesson 11: Computer as teacher’s Tool

Lesson 11: Computer as teacher’s Tool

In the previous lesson, we saw how the computer can act as a tutor particularly along a behaviorist and cognitive approach to learning. But we also saw certain computer software programs have been developed to foster higher thinking skills and creativity.
In this lesson, we shall again look at the computer, but this time from another perspective the computer as the teacher’s handy tool. I can in fact support theconstructivist and social constructivist paradigms of constructivist learning.
                Constructivist was introduced by Piaget (1991) and Bruner (1990). They gave stress to knowledge discovery of new meaning/concepts/principles in the learning process. Various strategies have been suggested to foster knowledge discovery, among these, is making students engaged in gathering unorganized information from which they can induce ideas and principles. Students are also asked to apply discovered knowledge to new situations, a process for making their knowledge to real life situations. While knowledge is constructed by the individual learner in constructivism, knowledge can also be socially constructed. Social constructivism is an effort to show that the construction of knowledge is governed by social, historical and cultural contexts, in effect; this is to say that the learner who interprets knowledge has a predetermined point of view according to the social perspective of the community or society he lives in. The psychologist Vygotsky stressed that learning is affected by social influences. He therefore suggested the interaction process in learning. The more capable adult or classmate can aid or complement what the learner sees in a given class project. In addition Dewey sees language as a medium for social coordination and adaptation. For Dewey human learning is really human language that occurs when students socially share, build and agree upon meaning and knowledge.

Given its present-day speed, flexibility and sophistication, the computer can provide access to information, foster creative social knowledge- building, and enhance the communication of the achieved project package.

Without the computer, today’s learners nay still be assuming the tedious tasks of low-level information gathering, building and new knowledge packaging. But this is not so, since the modern computer can help teacher- and – students to focus on more high level cognitive tasks.   In this lesson, I proved out that the computer is a very effective tool for the students to learn. An example cited by the speaker was a nail, without any tool, it seems to be useless and nonsense. And if you would relate it to learning, without using of tools, learning will be senseless as well. In the field of education, printing press, libraries, and printed books have been a teacher’s tool in educating, but, we are now in the 21st century so the tools use have been upgraded and improved when it comes in reliability and the quick access to information – that tool is no other than the computer.

Nowadays, the effectiveness of a classroom can be depending on how you use computer in your class. If you don’t incorporate the computers, the class will be a bit boring. The computers are in our hands so all of we need is to treasure the good things it bring to our daily teaching.