Research Proposal on the Impact of Applying Computer-Aided Instruction (CIA) in Adult Education Classroom
Impact of Applying Computer-Aided Instruction (CIA) in Adult Education Classroom
Abstract
Computer has a significant impact on education or learning process. This paper explores the said event, and its contribution in the adult education classroom. It will focus on the aspects of initial reaction and feelings of adult students regarding the application of CAI in their learning process, therefore investigate the appropriateness of the said system in adult education, together with its different impacts on the learning process of adult student. The study will use data that will be gathered from 5 males and 5 females from an adult education classroom by the use of surveys, interview and focus group. The researcher hypothesize that the initial reaction of adult students are fear and panic, however, as time goes by, their will be more comfortable and familiar with the said process.
Introduction
There is no doubt that computers are significant and vital technical tools in the current society. It had changed the entire process of business and other important fields in the world. In education, computers help assist the student in the entire learning process, at the same time, support the teachers in their teaching abilities (O’Lander, 1990). Computer-Aided Instruction or CAI has existed for over four decades; however, it was not widely used until the advent of the personal computer (Mills, 2001). CAI refers to the instruction that is presented and showed on a computer. Currently, there are many educational computer programs that are already available in the Internet, from different computer stores and textbook companies that help to enhance the instruction of the teacher in many ways. Aside from that, different computer programs are interactive, therefore it can help to illustrate and show a concept through different attractive animation, sound as well as demonstration. IN addition, CAI allows the student to progress on their own and work in individual manner, or they can solve different problems in a group. This is because of the fact that computers offers immediate feedback, thus enabling the students to know if their answers were right or not. In that case, computers provide varieties of activities and a change of pace from teacher-led or group instruction (The Access Center, n.d.).
In addition, computer-assisted instruction improves the instruction for the students with disabilities due to the fact that it gives immediate feedback, which enables the students not to continue to practice the wrong skills. There are also some computer programs which can help to move through instruction at the student’s pace and keep track of the errors and progress of the students. Aside from that, one of the major advantages of the CAI compare to the traditional way of teaching is that it is interactive thus; help the students to be engage with high spirit and interests (The Access Center, n.d.).
Problem Statement
Continued advancements in the technology have basically altered the way people work and live. Nowadays, educators have their unlimited opportunities to a vast variety of powerful technological tools and change the ways students of all ages are learning. However, there continues to remain an agreement among the different business leaders, parents as well as educators that the current educational practices do not prepare the students to succeed to the changing technological society (Wilson, Notar & Yunker, 2003).
Application and introduction of computer, particularly in CAI in an adult education classroom can be a very difficult task. This is because it can cause different emotions and feelings from the adult students, specially fear and panic, particularly from those people who are not that familiar with computer at all. This can be applied on those areas, where in computer is not being used often, or do not use computer at all.
Research Questions
The following questions will be explored in the study:
- What are the initial reactions of adult students in application of CAI?
- Is CAI applicable in adult education?
- How CAI does affected the learning process of adult student?
Aims and Objectives
- Conduct surveys and interviews from the adult students;
- To explain the initial reaction and feelings of the adult students in the implementation of CAI?
- To focus on the different impact of CAI in the entire learning process of adult student.
Significance
This study will be focusing on the impact of CAI in the learning process inside adult education classroom. The study will benefit both the teachers and students in adult education because it will show the advantages and disadvantage of using CAI inside the classroom. Furthermore, the result of the study can be used in order to focus on creation of different policies and plans regarding the adult education. It will also help the business sector, primarily those companies that are implementing different training and learning interaction inside their organizations.
Learning Environment
This study will mainly focus and benefit different future researchers in the field of public administration, business administration, classroom education as well as social sciences.
Hypothesis
This study would like to test the following hypothesis:
- Adult students might panic and show fear during the initial implementation of CAI inside the organization;
- At the end of the study, majority of the adult students will be comfortable and used to with the application of CAI.
Scope and Limitation
The study intends to investigate the impact of CAI to the learning process of adult students. For this study, primary research and secondary research will be used. Primary research will be conducted using anonymous questionnaires that will be sent to randomly select adult student. The researcher will also be conducting focus group interview with the subjects after 6 months of learning process. The questionnaires will be used to collect quantitative data and the interviews will be used to provide qualitative insights into the data collected.
The data will be analyzed and compiled for the correlation of the hypothesis. The data will then be presented by means of graphical representations and illustration and the difference would be highlighted.
Literature Review
The study will review different documents and past and present related literatures. It will include literatures regarding application of CAI in different institution, particularly in education. It will also focus on the literatures that tackle the different aspects of adult education, particularly the different characteristics, which is very important in analyzing the reaction of the respondents, together with the data that will be gathered from them.
Literatures regarding the application of CAI and other computer-based technology in adult education can help to depict or reject the importance and vitality of CAI in the said field.
Ethical Consideration
There are different ethical issues that would be given consideration in the context of the research, which result in the following formal procedures:
- the subjects or participants of the study will be contacted regarding the different information that are related to the research, and ask them if they will be willing to contribute or partake;
- All of the subjects to be interviewed will be supplied with a form that provide information regarding the research;
- All of the subjects will be assured of confidentiality and anonymity during the presentation of data;
- Oral and written consent will be obtained both for the interview and tape-recording of the each individual interviews;
- Data will be stored for a period of five years;
- All of the data gathered from the subjects will be destroyed after the research has been completed.
The importance of the said ethical considered is to make sure that the researcher is following the ethical principles. In connection to that, researcher must respect the schedule of the subjects before their own convenience. It will also be important for the researcher to build a comfortable ambiance in order to ensure that the subjects will offer accurate and complete data. Above all, it will be important for the researcher to respect the subjects, by avoiding any offensive response towards them.
The researcher will make sure that all of the approaches in the study that will be conducted will be approved by the concerned authorities and will respect the decisions, if ever the request for the interview might be rejected.
Research Design
Research Strategy
Descriptive research will be used in the study. The main purpose of a descriptive research is to show details regarding the nature and condition of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study (Creswell, 1994). It is also concerned with different connections and performances that exist, beliefs and process that are on-going, effects that are being felt or trends that are developing. Additionally, the said approach tries to explain and depict current conditions, events or systems based on the impressions or reactions of the respondents of the research (Creswell, 1994).
Fundamentally, a descriptive research makes the most of observations and surveys. It is for this exact basis that this approach was selected by the researcher, whose purpose is to gather first hand data from adult students. In addition, this will permits for a flexible approach that when significant new problems and questions occur at the extent of the study, a more examination can be carried out. Moreover, with this type of approach, the researcher will be permitted to drop uncreative areas of research from the original plan of the study. Another benefit is that with this approach, the research will be fast and somehow cost-effective.
Primary and Secondary Data
Primary data will be gathered from the questionnaire and interview that will be conducted with the sample population of the study. It will be done inside the adult education classroom which will focus n their reaction and learning achievement by application of CAI. On the other hand, secondary data will be based on different literatures.
Sampling
10 samples or individuals will be surveyed, interviewed from an adult education classroom. 5 of which are male, and the remaining 5 will be female. Age limitation will be from 49 – 70.
Data Collection
Quantitative method will be used in this study because it allows the research problem to be conducted in a very detailed and set terms. Furthermore, a quantitative research evidently and typically identifies both the independent and the dependent variables under investigation (Matveev, 2002). It also follows definitely the original set of research goals, arriving at more objective conclusions, testing hypothesis, determining the issues of causality and eliminates or minimizes subjectivity of judgment (Kealey & Protheroe, 1996). This method allows for longitudinal measures of subsequent performance of research subjects (Matveev, 2002).
Survey is the chosen means to collect data because it is valuable in understanding the audience, and in the definition of the existence and magnitude of the problems, and the survey data are also helpful in determining cause and effect relationships between variables (Commonwealth of Learning, 2000). Further, the preliminary descriptive survey results can prove to be useful for planning more complicated survey studies with a view to recognize areas where problems take place or where changes are necessary, to understand why people behave in a given manner and what can be done in order to offer other solutions to the problems, where an effort is made to realize and be aware of the associations between different variables, and the purpose of survey to analyze or examine the circumstances rather than just explain the circumstances (Commonwealth of Learning, 2000).
In addition, focus group will also be applied, after 6 months of implementing CAI in the learning process. A focus group can be defined as a small group of a carefully selected individuals who have been invited to share their thoughts, feelings as well as opinions regarding a given topic or subject that they are familiar (Elliot, 2008). The main advantage of the said method is that it will help to uncover feelings and perceptions regarding the topic. Thus, it can also help to show the reasons behind a given answer, unlike in the questionnaire. It will also enable the subjects to probe the topic in more depth manner. Above all, it can allow opportunities to ask additional and unplanned questions that can help in the gathering of data. However, the main disadvantages of the said method are that it is in great needs of skilled facilitator and the process of recruitment can be very difficult tasks. Above all the process of analyzing the reaction of the people is time-consuming (Elliot, 2008).
Data Analysis
In the first phase of the study, a qualitative data analysis will be used. It will gather related subjects from the interview answers and classify them consequently. From those subjects, the study will extend one or more hypothesis. It will then checks and analyze the hypotheses in the second phase of the study.
In the second phase, or the survey stage of the study, data will be tested statistically. The study will statistically test the percentage of each result.
The researcher will use the following statistical formulae:
1. Percentage – to determine the magnitude of the responses to the questionnaire.
n
% = -------- x 100 ; n – number of responses
N N – total number of respondents
2. Weighted Mean
f1x1 + f2x2 + f3x3 + f4x4 + f5x5
x = --------------------------------------------- ;
xt
where: f – weight given to each response
x – number of responses
xt – total number of responses
References
Commonwealth of Learning. (2000). Manual for Educational Media Researchers: Knowing your Audience. Vancouver, Canada: Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA).
Creswell, J.W. (1994) Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
Elliot, S. (2008). Focus Group. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from Group Wisdom website: http://www.group-wisdom.com/index.php?page=Focus%20Groups
Kealey, D.J., & Protheroe, D.R. (1996). The effectiveness of cross-cultural training for expatriates: An assessment of the literature on the issue. In International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20(2), 141-165.
Matveev, A.V. (2002). The Advantages Of Employing Quantitative And Qualitative Methods In Intercultural Research: Practical Implications From The Study Of The Perceptions Of Intercultural Communication Competence By American And Russian Managers. New York: Russian Communication Association.
Mill, R. (2001). A Comparison Study of Learning Effectiveness of Computer Aided Instruction vs. Classroom Lecture. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from Concentric website: http://www.concentric.net/~wa1wpr/thesis/1_intro.html
O’Lander, R. (1990). CM Annual Computer Science Conference: Proceedings of the 1990 ACM Conference on Cooperation. New York, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from ACM Portal website: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=100348.100497
The Access Center. Computer-Assisted Instruction and Mathematics. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from The Access Center website: http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/computeraided_math.asp
Wilson, J.,Notar, C. & Yunker, B. (2003). ‘Elementary In-Service Teacher’s Use of Computer in the Elementary Classroom’. Journal of Instructional Psychology. 30.
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