CAI At CSDF: Organizational Strategies

The California School for the Deaf, Berkeley/Fremont, has had Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) for 12 years, now using 40 Apple II computers. In addition to individual Apples in classrooms, we maintain CAI Labs where staff members may bring entire classes to work on teacher-written lesson material. Scheduling, activities, and inservice training for teachers will be explained.

In a Computer Lab or in the classroom which has one or two Apples, it is essential that the teacher be able to influence the choice of lessons done by each student without needing to interact with the pupil every few minutes. This is accomplished by our computerized Lesson Planner which provides the teacher-selected lessons, recording scores, and times at the end of each lesson. Each of the management strategies developed at the California School for the Deaf, Berkeley/Fremont, is the result of strongly felt needs. All procedures and programs so developed are therefore extremely useful in providing CAI for hearing-impaired students.