Relative Advantage

Instructional software is nothing new. However, the ways that teachers and students are utilizing many of its tools are. Roblyer & Doering claim that "it used to be easy to classify a software package by the type of teaching function it served--drill-and-practice, tutorial, simulation, instructional game, or problem-solving program. But many of today's software packages or systems fulfill several different functions (p. 78)." As teachers, we need to adopt an active role in responsibly analyzing available instructional software packages to "ensure it supports [our] specific teaching needs (p. 79)." In other words, we need to determine whether or not a given instructional software legitimately creates a relative advantage for teaching and learning.

Instructional software generally offers multiple advantages to the teaching and learning process. To list them all would be quite a task. However, some that are included are 1) providing work examples for students and receiving immediate feedback on correctness, 2) enabling students to learn a topic in a self-contained instructional unit, 3) gaining an understanding of how a real life system works through a computerized model of that system, 4) adding elements of gameplay to learning activities, and 5) providing opportunities for students to foster component approaches to problem-solving. To learn more about what instructional software can offer, along with a list of related resources, view my VoiceThread presentation here.

After gaining an awareness of the potential uses of instructional software in education, we must effectively turn inward to identify any existing needs in instruction that are currently going unmet. Only after we do this should we begin looking for appropriate instructional software packages to remediate such deficits in the classroom. However, once a need is identified that instructional software has the potential to meet, how are we supposed to go about locating and evaluating the effectiveness of a given instructional software design? To answer this, I've embedded a SlideShare presentation addressing that issue below. You can also find it to share at it's original URL.

Instructional software evaluation from fawzif2000

As with identifying the presence of an instructional need, determining the effectiveness of instructional software has multiple components. Important to consider in this evaluation process is the existence and quality of the following seven characteristics:

1. Content
2. Design
3. Use among different ability levels
4. Assessment
5. Ease of use
6. Technical quality
7. Documentation and support

It is a comprehensive approach to the integration of instructional software in the presence of a legitimate need that results in improved teaching and learning. When relative advantage is identified and the necessary prerequisite steps are taken in the technology integration process, effective instructional design can create "learning environments that provide learners opportunities to apply their knowledge to solve practical problems and invite exploration [that] can lead to faster learning, greater retention, and higher levels of motivation and interest (Van Dam, Becker, and Simpson, 2005)."

Resources:

Fawziff2000. Instructional software evaluation criteria [Slideshare]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/fawzif2000/instructional-software-evaluation

Roblyer, M.D., & Doering, A.H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Boston:
Pearson/Allyn and Bacon Publishers.

Van Dam, A., Becker, S., & Simpson R.M. (2005) Next-generation educational software: why we need it and a research agenda for getting it. Educause Review Online,  40 (2), 26-43. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/next-generation-educational-software-why-we-need-it-and-research-agenda-getting-it