Information Processing and Educational Microcomputer Technology

Abstract

Microcomputer technology has enormous potential for altering the educational experiences and outcomes of learning handicapped youngsters. This article explores Wo particular areas of the learning process that appear to be fertile ground for implementing effective microcomputer technology. The first area is that of extended practice and its role in the development of increased automaticity of basic information processing skills. Several examples are presented of empirical research employing extended, microcomputer-based, daily practice on basic mathematics and reading tasks with learning disabled students. The second area discussed involves problem solving and metacognitive activities. The teacher, microcomputer, and learner are envisaged as three integrally related aspects of the microeducational environment. Microcomputer technology stimulates and enables innovative role definition for each. Finally, several potentially problematic issues related to tool use and to information processing characteristics of learning handicapped populations are discussed.T echnological innovations have a way of capturing the imagination of even the most shopworn psychologists and educators. Over the past five years, those of us with interests in the educational implications of information processing accounts of learning have had high hopes that the microcomputer would expand instructional possibilities and school experiences, especially of the learning handicapped. There are two major aspects of the learning process where the microcomputer appears to have potential for optimizing the educational environments of learning handicapped youngsters. Both are related to two well-documented characteristics of these exceptional children:1. Disabled learners tend to exhibit exceptionally slow rates of learning, first in acquiring new information and then in developing further facility with newly acquired cognitive skills.2. Disabled learners appear to display little evidence of spontaneous metacognitive behavior or awareness of their own cognitive and learning activities.With respect to the first characteristic, current information processing accounts of cognitive skill acquisition suggest that facility with many types of newly acquired concepts and information comes about through explicit periods of extended practice. Such facility is important because it allows learners to apportion their fixed attentional resources wisely. State-of-theart microcomputer technology permits the realization of extended practice applications in at least some skill areas. In the first section of this paper, we review current information processing accounts of cognitive skill acquisition and specifically discuss the role of extended practice. We then review some general issues regarding learning disabled populations, microcomputers, and extended practice instructional applications. Findings are presented from a program of empirical research suggesting that positive outcomes are associated with extended practice on the microcomputer in two basic skills areas, wo...

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