Components of
Computer-Aided Instruction
Recent advances in computer technology provide educators with unique opportunities to fundamentally shape education of the future. If used intelligently, the new computer technology will usher in revolutionary changes in education—the way we teach and learn—at all levels: kindergarten to high school, and university to life-long learning. The emergent components of computer-aided education (CAE) including multimedia presentations, interactive digital books, and the internet, are often developed separately to be used as individual approaches in CAE without a cohesive and comprehensive strategy. The key to effective CAE in the future lies in an integration of these three technologies to form a unified approach to education. An integrated approach will give students of ecology and science a comprehensive learning environment that includes in-class, independent, and extended learning. I have developed extensive computer-aided, multimedia, instructional modules to teach my courses in introductory general ecology physiological plant ecology, and restoration ecology. The use of computer-aided education, including interactive multimedia lessons and modules for independent learning, provides students with a enhanced in-class lectures and the opportunity to extend learning beyond the classroom. Each course has an companion course on internet from which students can access course materials and information at their convenience. Further enhancements to the courses on internet will soon extend the student’s opportunities for learning beyond the classroom.
Integrated Computer-Aided Instruction |
In-class Learning: Computer-Aided Instruction Independent Learning: Interactive digital Books Extended Learning: Courses on Internet Internet Resources for Education |
This is the first screen of an interactive multimedia lecture module on solar radiation. This module covers the major areas of solar radiation, including the physics of the electromagnetic spectrum (wavelength and wavebands, energy, the solar spectrum), instrumentation and radiation measurement, and how plants and animals have adapted to the difference parts of the solar spectrum. This module contains text, scientific and conceptual graphs, animation, video, and sound. |
This is a comprehensive interactive course module
on the population dynamics of organisms. Population dynamics is a subject of ecology that covers birth,
death, and growth rates of populations of species. It also explores the way populations grow, how
population size and resources in the environment interrelate, and the diversity and extinction of species.
The module combines text, animation, photographs, scientific and conceptual graphs, and video.
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This interactive instructional module introduces the concept and scope
of biomes and branches to separate modules on each major biome type, e.g., tundra, forest, shrubland,
grassland, and desert. The module includes distribution maps of the various biomes, photographs, definitions,
and suggested readings.
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This interactive multimedia lecture module explores the
arctic/alpine
tundra biome. The instructor can introduce or review any of the topics shown on the buttons. This multimedia
module contains hypertext with many branching and linked sections. Scientific and conceptual graphs, text,
digitized photographs, and digitized video clips are used to characterize this circumpolar biome.
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This prototype of an interactive digital book on ecology.
This digital book contains multimedia, is fully hypertexted for instant access to definitions, graphs and
tables, biographies of noted ecologists, and a searchable index for terms, topics, and literature.
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Here is a section of a prototype digital book on botany. The reader
can access information on all aspects of plant biology, including anatomy, form and function, taxonomy, chemistry,
and ecology, by clicking on a combination of topic and plant part.
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This is a prototype of an digital advisor for students to use in
planning their university program. The student has instant access to course information, curricula, faculty, and facilities.
Also, the student can devise various "what if" scenarios to plan their university degree program.
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Extended Learning: Courses on Internet
Contents
Syllabus, reference materials, exams, communication
Classroom extension, distance learning
Word-wide access to information and people
There are three courses available on internet, which are currently used as companion modules to the class. All class materials, e.g. syllabus, handouts, articles, sample examinations, etc., are available to students. To view these courses on internet, select from the list below. The course, Plant Autecology, is the major course in plant physiological ecology.
Plant
Autecology / Ecophysiololgy - how individual plant species respond to the environment (R560, 3 semester credits, fall semesters).
Natural Resources Ecology - introductory general ecology
(R221, 3 semester credits, fall semesters).
Ecology
Interactive - guided independent learning in ecology (R221, Section 40,
3 credits, fall semesters).
World
Biomes - a survey of Earth (R570, 2 credits, fall semesters).
Internet Resources for Education
Contents
Center
for Technological Innovation, CTI, University of Idaho
Toolbook
II Instructor, by Click2Learn (formerly Asymetrix Corporation)
Director,
Authorware, Freehand, etc. by Macromedia
Publishers Toolbox, a catalog of software for digital artists and designers (telephone 1-800-390-0461)
The World-Wide Lecture Hall, a collection of internet courses
The hypertextbook for biology, an online textbook for biology produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
SyllabusWeb, the electronic version of Syllabus: Technology for Education, a magazine devoted to new
teaching technologies
Network-based interactive multimedia, a system to facilitate teaching and learning
Teaching and learning, on the world wide web
Cognitive models for hypermedia: Implications for electronic learning
Computer-aided process improvement instruction modules