Chapter 8Software for Active Learning

Application Software for Active Learning

Productivity Software has made businesses more efficient, but can also be used to serve instructional tasksWord Processing Software can be used to demonstrate real-time essay editing, teach grammatical structure, offer a collaborative platform for student writing, and teach outlining skillsSpreadsheets teach graphing, order of operations with equations, or illustrate the use of mathematic functionsDatabase features can help students organize & order data

APPLICATION SOFTWARE CATEGORIESPrensentation Software

- Used to support lectures through highly organized, engaging content

- Create flash cards and mini-tutorials, and lets students creatively practice using and applying 21st century skills

- Students can create organized and collaborative presentations using links to multimedia elements or websites

- Powerpoint, Prezzi, Glogster, etc.Desktop Publishing Software- Create professional page layouts for publications or

electronic circulation- Create a class newsletter for communication with parents

or classroom handouts for students- Create stories, field trip reports, posters, and signs to

display/share

APPLICATION SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

Graphics Software- Illustration and Draw programs, students can create their

own illustration of a concept as a learning strategy; create new art from scratch or customize existing art; teachers can create elements for presentations and student handouts, and allow for student creativity in completion of assignments; students can create or edit images for a report, add graphics to a greeting card, or illustrate an idea to share online; the programs provide all tools necessary to add visual elements to teaching and learning activities

- Animation and 3D programs are used to create computer-generated imagery (CGI); students are required to analyze content, systematically describe through storyboards, and represent it using animation; students can break down, work with, and become actively

APPLICATION SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

Involved with content; 3D graphics give teachers a way to give a virtual world/effect in instructionImaging Software- Scanners, Photo-editing software, i.e. Adobe Photoshop- Converts or alters digital images; correct red-eye, color

management, etc.- Hard copy versions of assignments can be digitized and

updated or edited for other instructional purposesReference Software- Provides digital versions of resources once only found in

books, i.e. encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, etc.- Students can easily jump to targeted information- It can be a valuable tool for effective software decision

making

ACADEMIC SOFTWARESpecifically designed to promote learning. With academic software all teachers can find programs that will engage students in active learning. It is written for every grade level and every content area.

ACADEMIC SOFTWARE CATEGORIES

Tutorials- Presents new material in a carefully orchestrated

instructional sequence with opportunities for practice and review

- Self-contained lessons aligned with core standards- All are interactive, the student must respond for the tutorial

to progress- A well-written tutorial that includes multimedia components

can be very effective in supporting instructionDrill and Practice Software- Reinforces previously presented content, used to question

learners on key points so students can practice knowledge- Provides instant feedback to responses and ranges from

simple quizzes to complex and interactive quizzes

ACADEMIC SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

- Allows students to control the pace of interaction and targets areas of weakness in content

- Provides excellent practice before formal test and can be used as a diagnostic for teachers who are fine-tuning their classroom instruction

Educational Games- Presents and reviews instructional content in a game format,

and children accustomed to video games have a comfortable environment when learning this way

- Target specific content and the game elements shouldn’t overshadow the content

- Teachers use educational games to add entertainment as an enhancement to the classroom

- The types of educational games are adventure games (provide

ACADEMIC SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

students with the opportunity to solve mysteries and participate in educational adventures), arcade games (educational adaptations of popular games), and classic puzzle gamesSimulations- Presents students a model or situation in a virtual format- Provides the most real interaction in educational software, it

responds to user movement- Offer students the opportunities to interact with content and

participate in discovery learningProblem-Solving Software- Helps students acquire and practice problem-solving skills, testing hypothesis, solving word problems, using critical thinking, etc. to come to conclusions

ACADEMIC SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

- Problem-Solving software gives learners an environment where they can learn by doing, explaining why something happened and running a series of tests to find out if they are correct

- Most beneficial in science and math and testing logical relationships to solve problems independently

- Problem-Solving software adds dimension and depth to content while students expand and refine problem-solving skills, and offers learning opportunities for students that would be difficult to present in any other way

Brainstorming/Concept-Mapping Tools- Provide a digital environment where the learner can develop ideas and concepts and experiment with connections between them through creation of visual concept maps

ACADEMIC SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

- Used to capture a cooperative learning group’s diverse ideas and turn them into a cohesive whole

- Used to help individual learners to grasp large, complex ideas by visualizing the ideas on a computer screen

- Used to help the class to develop a joint overview of a new instructional topic about to be explored

- Offers opportunities for students to clarify thinking, understand relationships, and identify their own misconceptions

Academic Databases- Organized and searchable collection of related information- A more direct approach to finding research information than

search engines, because they are dedicated to particular types of information

- Have a narrower content area focus

ACADEMIC SOFTWARE CATEGORIES cont.

Authoring Software- Technology-savvy educators can create their own software, it

offers the tools and features to create customized instructional content

- Can create hypermedia presentations, reviews, games, etc. with content of your choice

- Can create web-based flash cards, reviews, assessments, ebooks, etc.

Content-Specific Software- Software that is strictly specific to your content area- Examples: Illuminations (math), Chemical Education Digital

Library (science), National Geographic & Smithsonian Institution (social studies), Starfall (language arts), etc.

MOBILE APPLICATIONS FOR ACTIVE LEARNING

- The use of mobile devices that are supported by either Android or Apple operating systems are increasing in the classroom

- Teachers use digital education apps to engage students in the learning process

- Schools have integrated the use of mobile devices by establishing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs for students

INTERGRATING ACADEMIC SOFTWARE

Challenges- (for mobile devices) How to integrate them with other

existing school and district software, dealing with pop-up ads in the use of free apps, how to protect student privacy because apps collect data from users

- Funding for these technologies and devicesOpportunities- Offers students many options to understand information- Entertaining reinforcement of content- Creating opportunities to discover & interact with the outside

world- Can teach, review, remedy, encourage discovery, engage all

learning styles, & more while focusing on required content- Promotes/reinforces the 21st century skills needed in our

digital society, & teach critical digital age skills and behaviors