Educational Software
Do we need teachers? Yes. But do our teachers need to be human beings or have we or are we about to replace our teachers with this concept called educational software?
Educational Software for Schoolchildren
Educational software has only been around for about seventy years but has still not managed to overthrow the teaching practitioners. This is good news for all of us who believe in education, for it seems the craft of teaching is not to be replaced by computer programs!
Where did educational software begin? The earliest forms of educational software were those in computer training specifically in the 1940’s when flight simulators were being developed.
Today educational software can take a variety of forms. From classroom teaching aid to software training this is a flexible learning tool that has grown in popularity over recent years.
Software that is educational comes in a variety of forms, which include formal training encompassing the school curriculum and fun learning in a more informal format. Learning doesn’t have to be dull in fact it actually helps if education is delivered in a format that is fun in order for children (and adults too) to relate to. Today, thanks to educational software, pre school children are able to learn basic words along with letters and numbers while watching a Disney cartoon. How clever is that? Without realising they are learning these important basic skills children are none the wiser that they are doing anything other than something recreational! Educational software has my vote.
On the subject of educational software there is ‘Courseware’. A teaching aid that works alongside formal educational or training courses, courseware is designed to act as a tutorial with the use of a computer. Classroom management software is a similar form of software to courseware but is generally a teaching aid used in the classroom scenario. Through a network of computers in a classroom or projected onto a whiteboard, this type of software saves on chalk and elbow grease!
An informal learning aid, there is also educational software that teaches through simulations. Targeted towards adults and older children, programs like the Sims immerse the player into a variety of scenarios including city building (see SimCity). ‘PlaceSpotting’ is similar in that it teaches you geographical locations on the globe with what appears to require no effort at all!
If only learning was always so easy!
