Chapter 1 Reflection

Chapter 1: Introduction

 

            The key to understanding chapter 1 is to understand that computers facilitate learning.  They can be used by a teacher to help in lessons, or they can be a teacher themselves and teach a lesson to a student.  Courses I have had in the past that utilized computers to teach have been the most fun and rewarding courses I have taken.  With computers, you get away from teacher-centered learning techniques to a more student-centered learning approach.  This does not mean that teachers should not instruct, in fact the best online courses I have had in the past were “hybrid,” or a mixture of an online and traditional classroom learning.  The teacher would instruct in the classroom with power points, lectures, videos and we took knowledge we learned and practiced and discussed what we learned on WebCT.   WebCT is a form of web learning, in which the web is a delivery medium that can be combined with tutorials, hypermedia, drills, games, and so on.

            Our group project is to create an online tutorial that will utilize the computer and internet as the “teacher.”  Tutorials are student-centered and allow that student to complete instruction at their own pace.  I can understand that constructivist believe computers should house a space for learning to take place, however what is wrong with a computer utilized to help teach a concept to a student?