COMPUTER AWARENESS

 

When computers first made their way into schools, the software and limited amount of hardware meant that the most that could be achieved would be teaching about computers. Students learnt about the various components of a computer system, took time to study the possible impact of computers on society and maybe had some small amounts of elementary keyboarding and computer programming. It was basically a 'hands-off' approach to learning about computers in general, developed before the availability of relatively inexpensive microcomputers.

 

The Western Australian 1981 publication, Computers in Primary Schools, describes computer awareness experiences as being those which provide students with an understanding of

·         Ways of communicating with a computer;

·         Ways of controlling a computer;

·         The capabilities and limitations of a computer;

·         The impact of computing technology on individuals and society.

The next focus in the evolution of educational computing was an extension of the 'computer awareness' focus, in that it involved more 'hands-on' activity for students. As well as studying and learning what computers are, including picking up on some of the jargon which frequents this field, students were also expected to have been exposed at least and preferably taught how to use to an elementary level, some of the common applications such as a wordprocessor, spreadsheet and database.

The Education Department of South Australia published in 1987 its Schools Computing Policy. It describes computer literacy as :

It is often difficult to separate the two foci, Computer Awareness and Computer Literacy. However, there is a fine line of distinction between the two definitions, which is delineated in the greater emphasis on 'hands-on' use by students themselves. Certainly Computer Literacy is still a desirable outcome in terms of its definition above. It is also a moving target as what was accepted as being computer literate in the mid eighties, would be incomplete under the same definition today. For example, think of the World Wide Web. It existed, but hardly anyone knew of its existence then. We would expect a basic working knowledge of the World Wide Web to form part of a definition of 'Computer Literacy' today.

The unfortunate common theme in both of the foci was that it tended to place the computer in the position of being an object worthy of study itself, rather than as a teaching or learning resource. This may be all right for Computer Science as a subject (usually taught at tertiary level), but not for across the board use in a primary or secondary school.

THE COMPUTER AS TOOL,
TUTOR AND TUTORED

Towards the mid-eighties, the educational use of computers really began to be espoused as a use which supported the curriculum. Commonly written about was the use of a computer by students as a tool, tutor or tutee. Note that there can be seen some overlap in these categories. The main departure from the preceding foci was the complete de-emphasis on the computer itself as an object of study in favour of using a computer for a particular purpose. In participating in the activities which follow, the level of computer literacy was to be raised at the same time.

The computer as a tutor described the use of a computer to present computer assisted instruction or tutorial material to students. These computer programs typically took the form of drill and practice programs which aimed to reinforce mathematical and language basics such as 'times tables' and spelling.

The computer as 'tutored' refers to the use of a computer to be 'taught' rather than 'teach'. This implies involving the student in a form of computer programming which in itself involves the student in thinking through 'how' to do what is being taught and translating the resulting algorithm into the computer language in use. Many referred to this type of activity as a 'thinking' or 'thinking about thinking' activity. 'Logo', a language created by Seymour Papert was widely in use by students involved in this type of activity.

Children using the computer as a tool were using software such as a wordprocessor, spreadsheet or drawing program, database management system or even communications package for participating in the computer pen-pals program. These were the more open ended tasks that students were expected to undertake as part of their studies.

Aspects of the above section are incorporated within the next main focus, that of ensuring that computer based activities were embedded within the everyday activities of the learning in a classroom. The use of a computer was to be as a resource, an aid to learning just as other teaching aids were utilised. When the computer is viewed in this way, students and teachers turn to appropriate learning resources of which a computer and particular software form but one of a number of possible means to an end. This remains the main focus of educational computing today.

In attempting to fully integrate educational computing into the curriculum, several schools across Australia have set out on programs of having all students with their own notebook (also known as a laptop computer) to work with rather than rely on a computer laboratory or on or two computers in the classroom. In the context of integrated computer usage, they deserve a special mention here.

Folley makes the following points which nicely summarise the potential benefits of using laptops in schools:

·         Use of a computer can take place anywhere and does not finish when the scheduled lesson ends;

·         Portability provides the potential for a great flexibility of learning environments;

·         Students can decide to sit in a circle on the floor for a group discussion and make notes using their computer;

·         (Laptops) are available for the whole of a learning exercise, for example, in the planning, collection, sorting, analysis and presentation of a research project;

·         Access to laptops increases the ease with which data can be manipulated and the opportunities to do so;

·         Laptop computers encourage students to become independent learners, responsible for their own learning;

·         Laptop computers also encourage cooperative learning. Students learn from each other. This can cause a spiralling effect, with one idea leading on to others, teachers included;

·         Laptops are fun.

 

 

 

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