The relationship between facilitation, computer software and the learner in teaching a computer-integrated lesson : an experimental design

Abstract

The aim of the research was to investigate the relationship between facilitation, computer software and the learner in teaching a computer-integrated lesson. South Africa has recently changed their education system from that of content-based to that of outcomes-based. With these changes came the introduction of e-Education. The Government e-Education goal is that every South African learner in the general and further education and training bands will be ICT (Information and Communication Technology) capable by 2013. Educators are expected to facilitate these classes without having being trained as facilitators in a computer environment. Most educators’ follow an instructivist mode of teaching and the researcher decided to do a case study at a school in the Western Cape to investigate the role of an educator in a computer environment. The researcher also wrote the computer-mediated software for the educator to use in his lesson. The software was written for a lesson on Physical Science which was not the field of study of the educator. The educator, however, is a computer technician. These issues raised questions as to what the methodology of teaching of this educator would be, how would the learners interact with the facilitator and the content and to what degree learning would take place with regards to transfer of skills and knowledge. From the literature survey the researcher compiled a checklist of what the role of an educator in a computer environment should be whereby the educator was assessed. A questionnaire was compiled whereby the learners evaluated the software that was used for this computer integrated lesson. The learners had to write a pre- and post-test to determine whether content was transferred in this lesson and they were asked to perform a practical experiment to determine their skills. This dissertation shows how good facilitation, coupled with pedagogically well-designed software and good learner participation leads to a successful learning community. Copyright