In the introductory psychology laboratory at Drexel University, we employ courseware modules that transform the computer into various pieces of psychological research equipment. Students enrolled in this course use the courseware modules in a series of experiments that investigate motor learning, perception, memory, and other psychological phenomena. In choosing this form of computerization, we have encountered challenges to our methods of instruction, both in the laboratory and in the lecture hall. Opportunities, in the form of financial and programming assistance, have also resulted from our computerization efforts. Castellan (1983), Collyer (1984, and Hewett (1986) offered guidelines for the construction of courseware to be used in the teaching of psychology. These guidelines address the types of programs that should be created to enhance student thinking, learning, and understanding. Adherence to these guidelines results in courseware applications that can transform the computer into a tool for working with information.Within these guidelines there is one rule that developers of courseware hold to bevery important: Design courseware so that through its use, the student becomes an active leamer, involved with and manipulating the information, as opposed to a passive learner who simply receives information. "Activity" means more than pushing keys on the computer's keyboard in response to stimuli or questions; it means being fully involved with a task in an intellectual sense, as in elaboration of incoming information or conscious reflection of experience (Piaget, 1965(Piaget, /1970. Piaget suggested that it is in this highest level of cognitive activity that learning and understanding are most likely to occur.In this paper we present a case study of the use of psychology courseware in the laboratory at Drexel University, with special attention given to the teacher's role in encouraging students to reflect on their experiences as subjects. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORYWe began to use computers in the laboratory component of introductory psychology classes in 1984. Groups of 15 students with individual Macintosh Plus Computers perform different psychological experiments, using 12 courseware modules created by Douglas L. Chute, who served as the courseware architect, and the Drexel Univer-The authors wish to thank Thomas T. Hewett, N. John Castellan, and Douglas L. Chute for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Requests for reprints may be directed
To use the microcomputer as a prosthetic tool in rehabilitation has a number of advantages over using it as a tutor for cognitive retraining. As a tool, the microcomputer program directly addresses ecologically relevant issues in activities of daily living. New classes of software like HyperCard™ and MacLaboratory Con-troller©, can be readily customized for each patient's needs. Unlike tutors used for cognitive retraining, rehabilitation tools provide prosthetic support that does not presuppose any required reorganization or restructuring of damaged neural tissue. As this new approach to using microcomputers in rehabilitation is implemented, new types and styles of neuropsychological assessment will need to evolve, especially to provide sequential monitoring for adjustments to various iterations of the computer programs. We used the Macintosh™ computer with ProsthesisWare tools written in HyperCard for its ease and speed of design. The standard user interface relieves a patient's memory overburden by providing external function and sequencing cues. We present the case of Cecelia R., a patient with an expressive aphasia secondary to a traumatic brain injury. The development of successive approximations of a speech prosthesis for her-SpeakEasy©, SpeakEasier©, and SpeakEasiest©-illustrates how new hardware and software capabilities permit the rapid iterative design and redesign of cognitive prosthesis tools. This case also illustrates some limitations of the approach and new requirements that would be placed on the rehabilitation environment. We conclude that the emergence of ProsthesisWare constitutes a new application of microcomputers in rehabilitation that offers utilitarian prosthetic aids for the everyday activities of daily living for a select group of people with cognitive impairments.
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