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.