Evaluation of Phonics Based Reading Software

The elementary grade students that attend my learning center come to me with various deficits. Chief among these deficiencies is word decoding and phonics skills. Lexia Phonics Based Reading is a program designed to help student master these early reading skills. It is a drill and practice software with branching capabilities. It allows students to work individually and at their own pace. Information on the purchase of this and other Lexia products can be found at www.lexialearning.com.

Educational Value

Phonics skills are best acquired in a one to one setting. Students need to hear the phonemes they are expected to master. In addition, the instructor needs to be able to hear words and sounds pronounced by the students and provide immediate feedback for both oral and written work. The goal for each student is to master all of the phonemes that they will encounter in their daily reading. Live instruction in these skills is often done in a drill and practice manner. This can be very time consuming for instructors.

Lexia Phonics Based Reading, or PBR, follows the appropriate developmental sequence for phonics acquisition. As it is branching software, students progress through various skills at three pre-programmed levels. The activities and games within each level gradually increase in complexity until the student has mastered all objectives for that level. It also allows the teacher to customize the learning to each individual student in the class. For example, if a student is proficient in short vowel sounds, the teacher can program the software to skip those modules for that individual student.

In addition to the highly customizable nature of the instruction, PBR gives the instructor both whole class and individual student reports that can be used to track performance. These reports can be itemized but date range and skill. This allows the teacher to track not only the mastery a student gains on particular skills, but also the time needed to reach those goals. The improvement the student makes from one session to the next is also evident in these reports. For a teacher trying to differentiate instruction for every student in the class, this type of data is invaluable.

Interest Level

The greatest deficiency of this version of Lexia Phonics Based Reading would have to be the level of interest that it garners from the students. The graphics are not of the sophisticated quality to which most students are accustomed. They are not unappealing, but they lack the depth and detail that children see every day on their Wiis, Playstations and PCs. The software allows the student to choose the game of their choice, within the teacher prescribed level. However, the games are rather simplistic. For example, one game asks students to place phonemes in proper order to spell a spoken word. Each correct response helps a sneaker reach the top of a set of steps. However, students will likely prefer using the software when compared to the alternative worksheets that they would need to be completing to master these skills in a classroom setting.

Ease of Use and Installation

This software was very simple to install on all of the PCs tried, except the one with Windows Vista. Even using the compatibility functions of the operating system the software would not function properly. However, a newer version is available that works with Vista. On the Windows XP machines, the software took less than three minutes from start to finish installing. PBR is very simple to use as well. Given that the majority of the students using it will be between the ages of five and eight, this is a great plus. The software models each of the actions needed before the individual activities. All of the activities performed by the student can be completed with a series of mouse clicks. There are no complex actions required. Teachers will also find PBR easy to use. Setting up classes and adding students is done in a simple user interface. Reports can be printed to file, a printer or the screen, and the interface used to create them is very user friendly. There are explanations of not only the reports themselves, but of the activities completed by the students included in the reports interface.

Absence of Bias

As this software is designed for phonics instruction that requires the user to both see what is on the screen and to hear the voiceover, PBR is inappropriate for students who are deaf or blind. As for other biases, none were found. The images were innocuous, ranging from, sneakers, and basketball hoops, flowers, balloons, etc. However, as this is a tool to teach the basics of the English language, it is possible to consider a bias against other languages.

Creating Electronic Tutorials for the Cyber World

Library patrons are online with an expectation for librarians to offer online instructional content that would connect them in the cyber world. Therefore it is critical that we educate library users so that we can meet them on their computers with electronic tutorials. Electronic tutorials could be useful in various instructional tasks such as teaching users the fundamental elements of a library catalog, illustrating the advanced features of a database, or demonstrating a precise procedure for a step-by-step task.

It is also critical to emphasize that, developing an electronic tutorial may be an unapproachable assignment to several librarians, particularly to individuals who are not technology savvy. As a result it is necessary to design simple initial issues pertaining to the tutorial creation process. These issues include identifying the areas, such as, staff availability, audience to be targeted, objectives and outcomes, desired level of interactivity, instruction style, informational and design content, storyboarding, target length, and evaluation (Plumb, 2010).

In concluding, it is imperative to propose tutorial creation essential tips that would identify the initial considerations, as well as, developing software assessment and reviewing tools that follow best practices. After the completion of my graduate program I will be looking forward to play a vital role towards developing successful electronic tutorials that would guide librarians and other library patrons efficiently in the cyber world.

Reference:

Plumb, T., K. (2010). Creating Electronic Tutorials: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, (22) 1/2, 16, 49-64. DOI:10.1080/1941126X. 2010.486729. Retrieved on June 28, 2010 from Education Research Complete data base.

Evolution of drill and practice

Back in the day drill and practice meant that you were taught a concept together as a class and then you practiced this individually using paper and pencil. With the movement of integrating technology into the curriculum there are numerous ways to practice this concept that you just learned.

In math, when working with multiplication facts, there are many instructional games and software programs for the students to use to gain their attention and motivate them to complete the practice. One program that I have used is FASTTMATH. Students create an account so that their games are specific to them. The students can work on adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. The software will give the students questions and record the facts that students have mastered and the ones they need more practice. Then when the students go to play the instructional games it was focus on the facts that the students need more practice with. This is a great program to practice because it is specific to each student and will use the facts that they need to practice most during the instructional games.

In an English classroom, students learn about the different elements of a story. Instead of reading a story and discussing these elements students work together in small groups and create a short movie that contains the different elements of a story. They are practicing the skills and concepts in non-traditional ways. These are just a few examples of ways that drill and practice have been improved over the years. Students are more engaged and motivated when it comes to practicing what they have just learned with the use of technology.

Tom Fetherman

Evaluation of PCR Educator as a School Administrative Tool

PCR Educator is software for school administration which primarily sells to the independent school market. It is database software that allows schools to effectively manage all of their data in one place. PCR Educator provides software modules that allow the various constituents to update and maintain school records and allows schools to share this information appropriately. The system is designed as various product modules so schools can choose which components they need much like a cafeteria plan. You may take what you like and may leave off what you do not need. The various components are for 1) admissions, 2)registration, 3) scheduler, 4)teacher for grade books and attendance, 5) health, 6) school development and 7) school finance and finally 8) campus which allows for linking the database to a school website.

This is a very well designed system of networked databases that can be linked together into one comprehensive database for the school. It is very useful for independent schools because it includes components that are important to independent schools such as a finance piece and a school development piece. The content is appropriate for the intended users and the system simplifies many tasks while effectively managing school resources. Also, there are many ways that the sytem can be customized so that it can fit the needs of a variety of users. Faculty and staff find the program generally easy to use and require minimal training. One improvement would be to allow teachers more ways to manage classes specifically whena teacher has more than one section of the same course. Because each class needs to be entered seperately teachers need to often repeat the same data when teaching multiple classes. It is always difficult to balance the need for unifomity in data management in a database with individual user control for entering the data. Student information is readily available to users and allows users to increase productivity. The main advantage to schools using a system like PCR Educator is improved communications among constituents. By improving communications all vested parties can work better towards the goal. In education, student outcomes are ultimately improved when information about the students progress or concerns are being effectively communicated to parents, student support services, other teachers and even the students themselves.

Through my own use of PCR Educator, I have found the system to be very useful in managing my students success because it allows me to track students with greater ease and accuracy than I was able to manage before using PCR Educator. I can analyze test results, see how often a student has missed class, get a student's grade sorted by assessment type, etc. I can also very easily give a student a snapshot of their grade in order for them to see what types of assessments they should focus on to improve. This type of information is very useful to both students and parents. Using PCR Educator has alleviated some of the administrative task burden that falls on teachers which should then ultimately allow for more time to do the real work of teaching. Our school has made leaps and bounds in the area of communication with the PCR Educator system.

USING INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR SETTING UP GROUP 1 BLOG

The instructional software tools are very user friendly towards setting up a blog account with http://www.blogger.com . This is the first blog which I have created and I did not encounter any problems in using the tools to create this group project. This Blog was designed for our Hardware and Software Instructional Development (EDTC 625) Group 1 Blogging Assignment. Group 1 consist of four members including my self (Julia Da Silva-Beharry). Members of this Group are: Julia Da Silva-Beharry, Kathleen Flood, Pamela Ensminger, Robert Brackett and Thomas Fetherman. Consequently, this Blog was named to succeed our group activity. Very skillfully, I approached the settings of this Blog to determine who would read and comment on our Group Activity. Postings and comments can be viewed by anyone. Therefore this site is not totally private, since we can have a maximum of one hundred authors. Subsequently, I invited all the group members of our group to be authors as well as our Professor, Michael Ruffini to read and evaluate our Blog. Nevertheless, your constructive feedback is appreciated for further improvement on Group 1 Blog.

GROUP 1: EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE

My educational service remains committed to excellence and I ensure this by remaining updated on the most current teaching methods. Updating technology and educational training, particularly in instructional software are an important part of my routine operation as a future curriculum specialist and policy maker. Therefore it is imperative that I participate in the evaluation of instructional software programs for K-12 classroom setting.

The application of hardware and software programs in K-12 classroom settings is critical towards sustaining student learning. Appropriate software programs should be integrated into classroom curriculum that would enhance pedagogical skills, stimulate and improve student learning. Students have different learning abilities which should taken into consideration, educators and other stakeholders should develop a variety of teaching strategies and management techniques for using computer in different school setting.