Sample Research Proposal

DOES COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING INCREASE STUDENT LEARNING OR GRADES?

Introduction
Information and Communications Technologies present a large spectrum of tools that teachers integrate in their job to improve course management, curriculum design, lesson planning and learning materials. Also, technology enhanced learning is the integration of ICT to support of learning activity, enhance the learning e perience and improve the learning outcomes. !earning activities usually follo" pedagogical approaches based on a curriculum design. #ver the years, strides in technology have brought significant changes in the field of education at all levels. In the $%, the &overnment and other bodies such as 'ational &rid for !earning and 'e" #pportunities (und ICT Training for Servicing Teachers have invested heavily in the ICT resources in education. The aim "as to modernise school as "ell as to improve s)ills and performance of learners. 'umerous investigations have been carried out to determine the impact of computer assisted learning on students* performance. It has been found that the use of ICT does not directly increase the performance of learners although, but may improve the )no"ledge and understanding of learners. +o"ever, most of the studies are concentrated on %ey Stages and primary students. There are limited investigations carried out on the impact of ICT on learning at +igher ,ducation. It is a fact that +igher ,ducation institutions have seen the biggest fraction of investments in the technological modernisation of their """.mastersthesis"riting.com

Sample Research Proposal learning environment. (urthermore, students are e pected to be more independent and autonomous learners at this stage. +ence the lecturers* contributions to the understanding of the subject are minimal. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of the use of modern ICT tools on the students* learning and performance. .esides students "ho "ill attend teaching sessions the traditional "ay, there is a high proportion of learners "ho are more dynamically involves in their studies, i.e. it involves more hot/ des)ing. (or instance distance learning students are e pected to access learning materials online and remotely. +ence, the objective of this research is to compare the performance of students attending classes to distance learning students. (urthermore, a survey "ill be carried out on 01 lesson observations to validate the s)ills and ability of lecturers to use and integrate ICT into their course delivery. Action points "ill be generated from the observations report. (urthermore, -1 classes "ill be as)ed to attend t"o types teaching sessions2 one "ith limited computer based learning and the second one "ith full integration of ICT tools in the session delivery.

Literature Review
Recent studies reported by +iggins stated that there is evidence that ICT can assist students in their learning activities, as "ell as help instructors to improve their curriculum design, course
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management, design of learning materials and lesson planning.

+o"ever, +iggins also stated that there are no clear evidence that
- S +iggins, , +all, 3 .aumfield, 4 5 6oseley, A meta-analysis of the impact of the implementation of thinking skills approaches on pupils , Institute of ,ducation. $niversity of !ondon, !ondon, 7110.

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Sample Research Proposal the use of computer assisted learning improves learning . In fact,
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other forms of learning techni8ues including peer revie"s and group discussions improve learning at a higher rate. In fact, 6ar9ano indicated that thin)ing s)ills and metacognitive approaches had bigger impact of the learning rate of students.
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The .ritish

,ducational Technology Association reported that there is no relationship bet"een the level of resources for ICT used and results in ,nglish and 6athematics at %ey Stages 7, : and ;. +iggins found
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a very small lin) bet"een the use of computers and students* learning and hence confirmed .,CTA*s research outcome. A study
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by a Teacher Training Agency revealed that dramatic impact on students achievement "ere recorded "hen teachers
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used

innovative approaches for more effective teaching sessions. This "as due to the fact that teachers effectively implemented ICT in their curriculum delivery to support the learners* e perience. +o"ever, the gains are not evidence that ICT had a positive impact on achievement. #n the other hand, +iggins also reported that feedbac) provided by a computer improve students* performance. Computer =assessors* for %ey S)ills on/screen tests have proved to be a far greater success than the traditional paper/based tests.
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Te t/to/speech

feedbac), voice input and te t feedbac) have proven to improve

7 ibid. : RJ Marzano, Classroom assessment & grading that work, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006. ; .ecta, =6a)ing a difference "ith technology for learning2 evidence for school leaders*, Becta, 711<, vie"ed on :- ?anuary 71--, @http2AApublications.becta.org.u)Adisplay.cfmB resI5C70D<-4pageC-E:0F 0 ibid < Training of Teachers, (ourth Report of Session 711DG-1, +ouse of Commons, Children, Schools and (amilies Committee, vol. -, 71-1, vie"ed on :- ?anuary 71--, @http2AA""".publications.parliament.u)ApaAcm711D-1AcmselectAcmchilschA7>0A7>0i.pdfF >ibid

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Sample Research Proposal communication s)ills at early stages of students* development, especially for ,S#! learners. It "as found that it is imperative that
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the application of computers matched the students* attainment although computer feedbac) does not help students to improve their learning. ICT tools also assist learners to manipulate comple data/
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sets, visualise ideas as "ell as develop conceptual understanding. Investigations in the field also have also stated that s)ills must not be taught in isolation . (or instance, 6ultimedia presentation
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improve phonological a"areness but not "ord recognition. Some academicians even compared the integration of ICT tools in education as method to improve computer games s)ills. As group discussions in a small group or "hole class settings are proven learning techni8ue, +iggins argued that instructors must teach students to use ICT tools in order to interact "ith each other. implementation of ICT for group discussion.
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+o"ever, 6ar9ano reported that there is little evidence of the

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Conclusion
A revie" of the several investigations carried out on the use of computer assisted learning is presented in this report. It is observed that the implementation of ICT does not have a major impact on the learning e perience learners, although it is of enormous benefits to instructors. #n the other hand, it is envisaged that the use of ICT tools in +igher ,ducation "ill have different impact on the learning
E ?6A &rant, =,lectronic .oo)s ,ffective in Teaching Houng Children Reading and ComprehensionB*, International Journal of Instructional Media, vol. :-, no. :, 711;, pp. :1:/:1>. D ibid. -1 %, Ala/6ut)a, H Punie 4 C Redec)er, =ICT for Learning, Innovation and Creativity , Policy .rief, ,uropean Commission, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, 711E. -- ibid. -7 ibid.

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Sample Research Proposal outcomes due to the autonomous and independent nature of studying at that level. Although there are some mi ed feedbac) concerning computer assisted learners, ICT is here to stay, and can never be removed from e isting processes. In fact, the objectives should be more focused in negating the dra"bac)s of computer assisted learning. In this research, a set of action points "ill be generated from the lesson observations, feedbac) and performance tests. It is e pected that those action points may help to improve performance of learners in +igher ,ducation. (urthermore, they may also be considered to be applied at lo"er levels such as %ey Stages to measure the impacts.

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Sample Research Proposal

i!lio"ra#$%
Ala/6ut)a, %, H Punie 4 C Redec)er, =ICT for Learning, Innovation and Creativity , Policy .rief, ,uropean Commission, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, 711E. .ecta, =6a)ing a difference "ith technology for learning2 evidence for school leaders*, Becta, 711<, vie"ed on :- ?anuary 71--, @http2AApublications.becta.org.u)Adisplay.cfmB resI5C70D<-4pageC-E:0F &rant, ?6A, =,lectronic .oo)s ,ffective in Teaching Houng Children Reading and ComprehensionB*, International Journal of Instructional Media, vol. :-, no. :, 711;, pp. :1:/:1>. +iggins, S, , +all, 3 .aumfield, 4 5 6oseley, A meta/analysis of the impact of the implementation of thin)ing s)ills approaches on pupils, Institute of ,ducation. $niversity of !ondon, !ondon, 7110. 6ar9ano, R?, Classroom assessment 4 grading that "or). Ale andria, 3A2 Association for Supervision and Curriculum 5evelopment, 711<. Training of Teachers, (ourth Report of Session 711DG-1, !ouse of Commons Children, "chools and #amilies Committee, vol. -, 71-1, @http2AA""".publications.parliament.u)ApaAcm711D-1AcmselectAcmc hilschA7>0A7>0i.pdfF

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