Chapter 4 - Computer Software in Today's Classrooms

The incredible amount of software options available for teachers can be overwhelming to consider, especially for those who are new to the technology world.  Fortunately there are ways to narrow down the list and choose those programs that will effectively supplement each specific lesson plan.  In their book, Integrating Computer Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century, Morrison and Lowther (2010) place software into five convenient categories according to their function.  These are "productivity, research, communication, problem-solving, and educational software" (p. 93).  By organizing software in this way, teachers can easily choose programs to integrate into a lesson plan according to the function they want students to perform in each activity.  For example, when planning a language arts lesson on writing an essay, a teacher may choose software from the productivity category to help students produce an original writing sample.  S/he might start the lesson by using a graphic organizer to help students prepare for what they will write about (Cunningham & Allington, 2010, p. 175-177).  The instructor can discuss possible programs with the school media specialist and even with the students themselves.  S/he may also decide to search the Web to research the reviews of specific software available on educational blogs, websites, or wikis.

Spreadsheet, database and video editing software all fall under the category of productivity software.  Although they share the common purpose of creating a product, they each perform separate functions that are used differently in the classroom.  For instance, word processing applications are normally used for composing textual documents while spreadsheet applications are used to create graphs and charts for analyzing data.  Video editing software is even more specialized in that it is used to produce and edit digital video files (p. 94-95). Students who use these various types of software gain different perspectives on the content they are studying.  They employ higher levels of thinking when they create, analyze, evaluate, and critique.  Instruction then becomes increasingly enriched with the addition of each type of software that is integrated into a lesson.

As students acquire critical thinking skills through the use of various software applications, they gain insight into the concepts they are studying.  This allows the content to become meaningful to students, which solidifies understanding of the material (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek, 2010, p.440).  As long as the instructor follows the state standard course of study, students will be learning the content they need to know to perform well on standardized tests.  Additionally, teachers can incorporate testing software into classroom activities so that students can practice test-taking skills (p. 119).

References

Cunningham, P. M., & Allington, R. L., (2010).  Classrooms that work: they

       can all read and write. (5th ed.).  Boston:  Pearson. 

Morrison, G. R., & Lowther, D. L. (2010).  Integrating computer technology
       into the classroom: skills for the 21st century. (4th ed.). Boston:
       Pearson.

Ornstein, A. C., Levine, D. U., & Gutek, G. L. (2010).  Foundations of
       education. (11th ed.).  Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.