Drill-and-Practice Software

In my reading of this chapter on Academic Software, I identified with the drill-and-practice portion. As an instructional strategy, drill & practice promotes the acquisition of knowledge or skill through repetitive practice. The purpose of a Drill and Practice activity is to help the learner master materials at their own pace. There has been a definite move away from paper-based drill and practice systems to computer-based systems. Drill and practice exercises with appropriate software can enhance the daily classroom experience.

At the start of my keyboarding class, when students are just beginning to learn keyboarding techniques, the students use this type of software a great deal. When students first enter the Keyboarding class they will have had some exposure to the computer system but lack the keyboarding skills needed to key proficiently. It is some times difficult to retrain them from using bad habits, because of this; I use a hand-keyboard cover along with Prentice Hall Keyboarding drill-and-practice software. Through the tutorials presented at the beginning of each lesson this software helps to reinforces objectives taught, and allows the students to practice each lesson at their own pace. It renders immediate feedback to the students and generates reports for student and teacher indicating performance level. At the end of each drill-and-practice lesson there are keyboarding games that are used for motivation. Since using this software the students enjoy learning to key.

Because of increased teacher accountability, more pressure has been put on them to meet curriculum outcomes and to ensure student performance. Tutorials and drill-and-practice software can be very helpful in this regard to help students master basic skills. Tutorials can provide instructions on how to complete a certain objective, for example a tutorial in a new software program. Drill-and-practice software can reinforce basic skills for example spelling words, development of reading vocabulary, or typing programs.

Desktop Publishing Software

The Desktop Publishing Software section was something that was identifiable for me, while reading chapter 6. With this software the computer user can combine text and graphics to produce professionally looking documents such as newsletters, brochures, etc.

In my computer lab we have Microsoft Office Publisher, which is a DTP program. After the initial concepts taught on how to use this software, Publisher is some what easy for the students to use. It gives them the opportunity to be creative and to produce their own distinctive publications. The hardest thing for my students to understand is that a good design helps the reader understand the text.

I use Microsoft Publisher in my instructional area for creating various documents such as, greeting cards for student’s birthdays. My students think this is so cool to get a birthday card from their teacher (this saves me time and more importantly MONEY). I also use it to create class newsletters, awards certificates, and making classroom banners. It is so easy to use the templates provided and to modify them when and where needed.

Desktop Publishing software could be an additional teaching aid in all teaching areas, not just a computer lab class; in that it can help teachers create custom handout, classroom website, transparencies, etc. Because the publication is created and can be stored on the computer it can also be quickly and easily shared.