Computer-assisted learning has evolved from standalone programs to include online learning and e-learning. Adaptive repetition and web-based software are used to enhance learning. Peer-based learning and collaborative education are also growing. Custom program design remains unchanged.
Computer-assisted learning is the process of using computers and computer programs to help students learn. Traditionally, the phrase referred to standalone computer programs that would help reinforce subjects taught in schools. With the increasingly widespread use of the Internet, the phrase has morphed to include learning that takes place via computers and the web. As technology-based learning has evolved, the notion of computer-assisted learning has become interchangeable with online learning or e-learning.
Independent computer programs are typical components of computer-assisted learning. These programs are designed to reinforce lessons learned in traditional classroom settings. Popular topics in computer-based learning are typing and languages. Students learning these subjects benefit from the kind of adaptive repetition that a computer program can provide. This adaptability means that the program can recognize patterns of weakness and adapt questions and activities to strengthen those areas in a way that a written workbook would be unable to replicate.
With the widespread use of the Internet in academic institutions, computer-assisted learning has come to mean more than just the use of a computer program on a single terminal, in one-way interaction with a machine. Educational institutions around the world are using the Internet to expand the interactivity of technology used for learning. A significant number of colleges and universities offer online learning programs that allow students to take classes remotely. Teachers use web-based software to encourage real-time participation in classes from students located anywhere in the world.
Not only has computer-assisted learning become almost analogous to interactive online learning through curricula offered by educational institutions, there has also been a growth in peer-based learning through computers and a shift in the way knowledge is collected. and stored for learning purposes. Rather than relying on a computer disk running a program to drill a student into a language, the student can log on to an Internet chat room and interact directly with a native speaker. Likewise, instead of inserting a CD-ROM containing a research collection, the student can use the Internet to access frequently updated research databases and live collections. There are also user-created encyclopedias, or wikis, that take computer-assisted learning into the field of collaborative education.
Perhaps the only area of computer learning that has not been redefined as a result of Internet use is in the area of custom program design. There are still companies that produce custom software to teach specialized subjects. For example, a flight simulator program is an example of a specialized learning program that would likely not migrate to an Internet-based format.
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