Topic 6- ICT and Learing

• Online tutorials
• Online assessments
• Virtual learning environments

Online tutorials

• Use ICT for learning
• Contain content to instruct students
• Simulations allow students to see what happens in different situations
• Animations help students understand how things work
• Self-tests let students know how much they have learnt

Advantages of online tutorials

• Flexibility as to where and when students learn
• Materials make use of multimedia
• Materials can be accessed with lots of devices

• Can learn in the car, while out running, etc
• Keep students using them interested and motivated by the variety of activites
• Students can work at their own pace
• It does not matter if you get things wrong- the computer will not judge you

Disadvantages of online tutorials

• The software is often complex and uses lots of animation and graphics, which make it expensive
• Students often need the interaction of their classmates on order to learn
• Can present an opportunity for students to have a break rather than work on the online tutorials
• It is hard for teachers to gauge progress using some of the packages
• Lack of flexibility as human tachers can explain things in different ways to help you

Online assessments

• Exams adn tests perform on the computer
• The computer marks your work and gives you your result

Advantages of online assessments

• The results are obtained immediately
• You can analyse what you did well on and what you did less well on, so you can target your revision
• Frees up teacher time, as there are no assessments to mark

Disadvantages of online assessments

• Danger of hackers accessing the system and changing marks
• Reliance on equipment that may go wrong
• Only suitable for certain types of assessments as it would be hard to get a computer to mark an essay

Virtual learning environments (VLEs)

Main features are:

• Students assessments
• Allow teachers to add their own comment
• Allow teachers adn students to communicate with each other
• Students can submit work electronically
• Teachers can mark and return work electronically
• Teachers can set homework tailored for each students
• Upload videos
• Share music

Advantaged of VLEs

• Students can access VLE using any computer or portable devices that will connect to the internet

• Learning can take place at any time- the student is not restriceted to learning online in lessons
• Students can assess themselves at any time- this makes them feel more responsible for their own learning and progress

Disadvantages of VLEs

• The software is very expensive
• There is a danger of hackers altering reports, test marks, etc
• Staff need a lot of training to use them
• Entering content can be time consuming

Learning devices and software to support disabilites

• There is a huge range of specialist input devices that can be used by people when disabilities to help them learn
• Braille keyboards are used to enter text into a computer and are used by the blind

Microphones

• These can be used to issue instructions and enter a text into a computer system. They can be wired or wireless. Can be used in a range of ways by those with a disability.

Touch sensitive data entry devices

• These allow a person to make selections by simply tocuhing a screen. They are used in a range of ways in supermarkets, airports, train stations, as learning devices, etc. MAin advantage is that it is really simple to use for almost everyone

Voice recognition software

• The advantage of voice recognition software are:
• Faster than typing
• Most people can talk faster than they can type

• Accurate-provided time as been spent with the software teaching it how to recognize your voice
• It is cheap to dictate yourself than pay someone to type, and the software and microphone are inexpensive

Disadvantages voice recongnition software

The disadvantages of voice recognition software are that:

• It takes a while to get used to- and can be frustration to use at frist
• It is not accurate at first- the software needs to get used to your voice/accent by speaking and then correcting the mistakes the software makes
• There is confusion with similar sounding words, e.g. two and to
• Background noise can cause error

Customised Desktop Environments

• There are many ways in which the desktop environment of a computer can be changed to suit the need of the user. These are the ways it can be changed to help disable users:
• You can use an on screen and use a mouse or joystick to point or select letters from it
• You can use the narrator to read out text that appears on the screen
• You can choose the use to voice recognition to type in text or issue commands
• You can alter the combintion of colours used- this is useful for the colour blind