Instructional Principle: Frequent and systematic monitoring of students' progress helps students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers identify strengths and weaknesses in learning and instruction. This information often leads to improved student performance.
By focusing their attention on academic strengths and weaknesses, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers are able to channel their energies more effectively to accomplish educational goals (Rosenshine, 1983). It is difficult for people to make a contribution to the learning process if they don't know what is going on. Accurate monitoring of student progress is also an important component of mastery learning, direct instruction, and overlearning, which were discussed earlier in this chapter.
The computer can be an excellent device for helping teachers monitor and manage instruction in any area of the school curriculum. When the computer plays an important role in monitoring instruction, this is referred to as computer managed instruction (CMI). This usually encompasses such strategies as diagnosing student ability before lessons begin, making appropriate assignments, delivering feedback to students and others, and generally carrying out the management functions that keep students on task as they progress through as curriculum or unit of instruction. The term computer-based education (CBE) has almost the same meaning as CMI.
Even when the students are not working at computers at all during a lesson, the teacher can use a computerized database to monitor and coordinate student activities. A simple form aspect of CMI is to use the computer to keep track of a student's performance on non-computerized tasks. Teachers can use the time the computer saves them to work with other students while they monitor student performance by checking a printout or screen display.
In addition, many programs keep track of student performance. For example, edutainment programs such as the JumpStart and Stickybear series often supply performance charts that enable teachers, parents, or the students themselves to monitor their progress. At the simplest level, the program may note student performance during a lesson ("Right! Good answer!) and at the end of the program (You got 7 right out of 10 on the first try.); and the student or teacher can note and act upon this feedback. In addition, computer programs can automatically record on disk information about student performance. The teacher can access the disk at a more convenient time to review student progress, to alter assignments, and to provide more personalized follow-ups.
Indeed, some vendors supply online diagnostic testing that is designed to determine a learner's level of performance with regard to specified objectives and to suggest software from that vendor's repertoire that might help overcome deficiencies. For example, Figure 3.x shows a screen from JumpStart's Assessment for ten-year-olds. Even though the assessment has an obvious intention of selling the vendor's software, we found that the analysis supplies a fairly good screening test that gives an estimate of the degree to which the student has mastered various skills typically targeted for ten-year-olds. After the assessment the parent, teacher, aide, or student can look at the results and decide which of the JumpStart programs might be useful. The main shortcoming that we saw with this simple assessment was that if a student displayed mastery of all the objectives at any level, the computer's recommendation was invariably to use the company's programs for one year older - without considering the possibility that maybe the child should run a program for children two years older or possibly engage in completely unrelated enrichment activities.
Figure 3.x. A screen from JumpStart's Assessment for ten-year-olds.
FunBrain.com (which also provides numerous drill-like arcade games for children) enables teachers to integrate games and assessment quizzes into their daily lesson plans (Figure 3.x). Teachers select quizzes for students to access in the classroom, library, or at home. Teachers can even create their own quizzes with Quiz Lab's authoring tool. Quiz results are graded automatically, and scores are emailed to the teacher.
Figure 3.x. A screen from the Tour describing the Funbrain quiz system.
Figure 3.9 shows examples from programs specifically designed to manage assignments and to track the progress of students running a series of programs. All the students in several classes may run these programs - perhaps in a room in which the teacher is not even present; and the teacher is able to check at convenient times to determine whether individual students are making adequate progress. The teacher can confer with students individually to reinforce success, to stimulate further thought, or to provide additional instruction as needed. The role of the computer in monitoring student progress is further discussed in the Mastery Learning, Prerequisite Knowledge, and Classroom Management sections of this chapter.
Test generators (discussed in Chapter 8) often include features that are designed to monitor student progress. For example, Test Generator II enables teachers, parents, or even students themselves to construct tests. Test Generator simplifies the entire process: developing questions, designating answers, administering tests, and compiling grades. Tests can be stored for future use and reuse, and teachers can easily check to see how individuals or classes are doing.
Several companies have developed comprehensive packages that manage computerized instruction while helping students develop mastery of basic skills. Skill Builders, a series of programs.... (EV needs details to finish this paragraph!).
The most comprehensive examples of computer managed instruction can be found in integrated learning systems (ILS's). An ILS is a comprehensive package of computer-based instruction (usually in basic skills) that diagnoses student needs, prescribes lessons, tracks progress, and supplies a wealth of statistical information for the teacher. Integrated learning systems (described in greater detail in Chapter 8) rely on a networked configuration consisting of a host computer loaded with the software and management system, student stations, and printers. (The networked system of computers is referred to as a local area network, and these are described more fully in Chapter 5.) Employed in the best sense, ILS's have the potential to offer a sophisticated form of support to the teacher and a structured, controlled, and highly motivational presentation of skills. These programs should give teachers access to student performance information that can assist them in supplying the individual, person-to-person attention necessary to integrate new skills into the general curriculum.
On the negative side, CMI can be a huge waste of time and funding if teachers are not fully involved in integrating student needs, curriculum, and instruction. An objective analysis of ILS's (Hativa, 19xx) suggests that these programs often don't work as well as teachers would like them to. They make wrong decisions that real-life teachers would easily avoid. However, vendors have powerful incentives to overcome these deficiencies.
Monitoring Student Progress
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