This term is more all-embracing than CAL because it makes clear that communication technology, e.g. e-mail, the Internet and on-line discussion groups, or mobile phones and other mobile devices, may be involved (the former may be called e-learning; the latter is sometimes called m-learning). Similar terms to CAL, also coined in the 1980s and earlier, are CBL (computer-based learning) and CALL (computer-assisted language learning). Newer initialisms, which reflect aspects of e-learning, are CMC (computer-mediated communication), CSCL (computer-supported co-operative learning) or CSCW (computer-supported co-operative work), ITOL (IT-based open learning) and even JITOL (just-in-time IT-based open learning!).
Some of the thinking in the early days of CAL was valuable for classifying the types of learning that could be assisted by using computers. Some of this thinking is still valuable today in considering where the ‘added value’ lies in the use of ICT; and also in deciding what counts as authentic labour in a learning situation. A useful classification of types of CAL was made in 1977 by Kemmis, Atkin and Wright. This identified four ‘paradigms’ by which students learn through the use of ICT (a paradigm is defined as a ‘pattern, example or model’ by the Oxford English Dictionary). They are:
1 the instructional paradigm;
2 the revelatory paradigm;
3 the conjectural paradigm;
4 the emancipatory paradigm.
The instructional paradigm
The overall aim in this paradigm is to teach a learner a given piece of subject matter, or to impart a specific skill. It involves breaking a learning task into a series of sub-tasks, each with its own stated pre-requisites and objectives. These separate tasks are then structured and sequenced to form a coherent whole.
Computer-assisted learning of this type is now given names like ‘skill and drill’, ‘drill and practice’, ‘instructional dialogue’, and so on. Perhaps its main problem is that in the early 1980s some teachers and others involved in education saw it as the dominant paradigm in CAL. This probably resulted in their poor perception of educational programs and the belief that microcomputers were a ‘passing fad in education’ like the programmed learning machines of the 1960s.
The revelatory paradigm
The second type of ICT use involves guiding a student through a process of learning by discovery. The subject matter and its underlying model or theory are gradually ‘revealed’ to the student as he or she uses the program.
In contrast to the instructional form, where the computer presents the subject matter and controls the student’s progress ‘through’ it, in revelatory CAL ‘the computer acts as a mediator between the student and a hidden model’ of some situation. This situation may be real, e.g. an industrial process, historical, e.g. Viking England, theoretical, e.g. the particle theory of matter, or even imaginary, e.g. a city of the future. The revelatory paradigm is still exemplified in educational programs by numerous simulations of various types.
The conjectural paradigm
This third category involves increasing control by the student over the computer by allowing students to manipulate and test their own ideas and hypotheses, e.g. by modelling. Modelling must be distinguished from simulation. Every simulation involves using a simplified representation, i.e. a model, of some situation, but in a simulation the model is ready-created by the programmer. The user can then alter and experiment with the external conditions and variables affecting the model, but cannot tamper with the model itself, i.e. internal conditions. In modelling, however, the user creates a model of the situation himself and then may go on to test it, for example by seeing how well it represents and predicts reality.
The potential of model building and model testing is still being increasingly explored in ICT use in learning and particularly in science and technology courses. A model can be formed of some physical phenomenon, e.g. the expansion of a liquid, the motion of a projectile. The patterns predicted by the model could then be compared, say, with the results of an experiment. Clearly, this involves far more control by the learner over the computer. A similar modelling exercise could be used in history, e.g. by studying data in a local census, searching for patterns and forming hypotheses. These hypotheses could then be tested by studying further data, and searching for new evidence in their support. Encouraging pupils to create, use and test their own models can have great educational value.
The emancipatory paradigm
The fourth and final paradigm involves using a computer as a labour-saving device, a tool that relieves mental drudgery. As such, it can be used for calculating, for tabulating data, for statistical analysis, or even for drawing graphs. In this type of CAL the learner uses the computer as and when he or she wants to as an unintelligent, tedium-relieving slave in aiding his or her learning task.
This paradigm relates to the distinction made in another entry between authentic and inauthentic labour. The authentic labour is the central, indispensable part of the learning task. The inauthentic labour is not an integral part, nor is it valued for its own sake, but is still necessary, e.g. doing endless calculations, searching through a filing cabinet, sorting information into alphabetical order, making a bibliographic search, etc.
The distinction is not always an easy one to make. Doing calculations may be seen as a worthwhile exercise in itself. But where the distinction can be made, the computer can be seen as a useful tool, e.g. in handling information in a history lesson. The fourth type of CAL is perhaps unique in two ways: first, it uses the computer purely as a tool for the learner’s convenience, to be used when and where it is needed; second, the computer is only partly involved in the learning process, i.e. to take over the ‘inauthentic’ part of the learning task. These paradigms have stood the test of time and are still valuable today in evaluating
and looking critically at the use of ICT in learning situations.
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