Instructional Software

·        Drill-and-practice: Fact Monster has some good, basic math flashcards where users collect stars for correct answers.

·        Tutorial: From what I can tell Roblyer & Doering were right that one of the problems with tutorials is a “lack of good products” (p. 88).  I spent quite some time trying to find an online tutorial of some kind and was instead directed to a lot of games and drill-and-practice exercises.  One reasonably good one is this Touch Typing Lesson.   As an aside, I definitely feel like typing is an important skill. “Some educators feel that students will never become really productive on the computer until they learn 10-finger keyboarding.  Others feel that the extensive time spent on more important skills, and that students will pick up typing skills on their own.” (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 120)  I personally know several people who use a computer every day and have just gotten faster at bird pecking the keys. If there’s not time in a regular curriculum maybe programs like this would be a good addition. 

·        Simulation: A fun simulation I found about the sun position effecting shadows is on The Children’s Universityof Manchester website.  Players get to change the time of day and see and measure the resulting shadow. 

·        Instructional game: PBS Kids has some good games for younger children such as the Puppy Letters game.  It has players drag and drop letters into simple words. 

·        Problem solving: Science Kids has some “Detective Science Games” in which users get to use science skills to thwart criminals. 

·        Integrated Learning System: IXL seems to be an online ILS.  It has an extensive selection of math drills at almost every level.  Unlike many other sites it’s possible to work without a membership to work problems and see if you like the program overall.  If you decide you do want a membership, a parent or teacher can get reports on progress.  Another feature you get with a membership is to be able to deactivate the timer.  As our textbook points out “If students’ responses are timed, or if their session time is limited, they may find it more motivating simply to move quickly to the next question, rather than receiving recognition for correctness” (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 83).

·        Software support tools

o   Materials generator: Vocabtest.com uses vocabulary terms and definitions to generate several exercises including tests, crosswords and word searches.

o   Test generator/Data collection and analysis: Exambuilder.com is a website where teachers can design exams and collect and analysis students’ results in a myriad of ways.  One of the features is randomizing question order and multiple choice answer order which “is especially helpful when a teacher wants to prevent ‘wandering eye syndrome’ as students take a test” (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 148).

 

References

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013).  Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.