Educational functions of software, types, advantages, disadvantages

This software is designed solely to facilitate learning and learning. Educational functions of software, types, advantages, disadvantages.

Educational functions of software, types, advantages, disadvantages
Educational functions of software, types, advantages, disadvantages

The curriculum is a program designed specifically for use by teachers and students to support the learning-learning process. This software is designed solely to facilitate learning and learning. Educational functions of software, types, advantages, disadvantages.

For this reason, although other types of software can also be used for educational purposes, it will only be considered as educational software if it is its explicit purpose. The first educational programs PLATO and TICCIT system was the most important appeared in the 60's and 70's of the 20th century,

As computer technology advances in general, so does the technology used for educational software. For example, these programs usually have components with Internet access today.

This software should include activities that are important to the student and lead to the acquisition of knowledge, skills or competencies identified by the teacher.

For this reason, it is very important that the teacher carefully chooses the type of software that best suits their learning goals.

Index

1 The main characteristics of educational software

2 Types of training software

2.1 Type of exercises and practices

2.2 Type of textbook

2.3 Game type

2.4 Type of problem solving

3 Disadvantages

The main features of educational software

As mentioned above, training software is a program designed specifically to support different levels of education.

There are certain features that curricula should be used by students, although this will depend especially on the characteristics of the students (age, course, among others). The main characteristics are the following:

  • They can be used in any field of education.
  • They use interactive tools.
  • They are universal because they have to adapt to the characteristics of different types of users.
  • It should be easy to use. Most importantly, the student can use it easily (if used without the teacher's supervision). That is, quickly understand how to install it, how to save it and how to run it without additional help.
  • Depending on the type of software, the learning process can be more directive or constructivist. The student may take a more controlled process in which answers are given, or a process in which the program does not provide answers but seeks to be a student who analyzes himself and draws conclusions.

Types of educational software

It is divided into several types depending on the type of educational function that corresponds.

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Type of exercises and practices

It is also known as exercise software because it allows students to work on problems or answer questions and receive feedback on whether or not the answers are correct. Examples of this type of software are practice tests.

This type of software is designed for students who put into practice their study of facts, processes, or procedures they have previously studied as reinforcement.

Feedback is usually displayed using messages such as "Fine" or "No, try again".

Type of textbook

This type of software acts as a teacher, in the sense that it provides all the information and activities necessary for the student to master the subject; for example, introductory information, examples, explanations, practice and feedback.

These tutorials are designed to teach new content step by step throughout the learning sequence, similar to what the teacher will do in the classroom, and thus allow the student to work independently.

The goal is for the student to be able to study the whole subject without having to resort to other supporting or additional materials.

Type of modeling

It is also known as modeling and seeks to model real or imaginary systems to demonstrate student functioning. Thus, simulations are not used to introduce new content, but to practice and apply content that has already been seen in more real environments.

An example of this type of software is a program that serves to dissect a frog and thus studies the same information without the need for direct manipulation of animals.

Simulation can teach something or teach you to do something. This allows students to experience events that for various reasons can be dangerous, expensive or difficult to access.

Game type

This type of software is also known as educational games and aims to increase students' motivation by adding rules and rewards to exercises or simulations.

These games are characterized by rules, great importance of entertainment and competitiveness, in order to combine fun with learning.

For this reason, it is common for professors to use it as an activity among their explanations, to support the attention and motivation of students, strengthening the content.

Type of problem solving

This type of software is specifically designed to improve problem-solving skills. This can be achieved by improving general skills or by solving specific content problems.

This program should provide an opportunity to solve the problem (through the goal), suggest a sequence of actions or operations (through the process) and provide a way to perform cognitive operations to achieve a solution.

In this way, students have the opportunity to create hypotheses and put them to the test to try to solve problems.

Benefits

Exercise and practice software has something positive that gives an immediate response to the student and motivates students to do exercises that may be more tedious on paper, such as math, language, etc.

  • Textbooks improve students' motivation and give immediate feedback, in addition, the student can go at his own pace
  • Simulations are especially beneficial for scientific subjects because they allow you to quickly see the processes that usually cannot be observed, in addition to facilitating the implementation of experiments and tasks that may cause some danger.
  • Educational games are of great importance in motivating students.
  • Problem-solving software makes it possible to exercise this skill in a controlled manner.

Disadvantages

  • This is a type of software that can be misused by teachers and applied to topics that are not suitable for repetition in these types of exercises.
  • The disadvantage of textbooks is that they do not allow the student to build knowledge independently, but instead they are given a unit that is already programmed.
  • As for educational games, they can often take away intrinsic motivation from the task of learning itself and focus too much on winning the game than on learning.
  • With regard to problem-solving programs, it is not clear to what extent the acquisition of these skills through software will be passed on to students on a day-to-day basis.