Introduction: Microcomputers: Macro-Learning for the Hearing Impaired

Introduction Microcomputers: Macro-Learning for the Hearing Impaired Robert E. Stepp, Jr. The microcomputer brings together in one device many of the features long envisioned as ideal for the instruction of the handicapped. As an educational tool for the hearing impaired, it is especially significant. Although the microcomputer can have an audio component, it is primarily a visual medium. The deaf are no longer handicapped when working with a computer that responds to manipulative touch and has no auditory restrictions. The microcomputer is an interactive, standalone , personal aid that reacts, remembers, reviews , and rewards its student operator—the learner. Although the machine has several unique languages of its own, its sophistication has reached a level where it responds to English language input and no longer requires a special code. This is a great learning advantage for the deaf even though it might inhibit early use of computers. In fact, the opportunity to use the computer may provide impetus and motivation to young deaf learners to acquire language competencies. We speak of the microcomputer as a visual medium, but it is basically a reading medium. One must be able to read or at least interpret symbols in order to interact with the device. This fact will result in a long-term bonus to the deaf. How can this be an advantage when the depressed level of reading achievement of deaf students is well documented (DiFrancesca, 1972; Trybus & Karchmer, 1977)? The computer program will be a reading vehicle in itself. Every use of the microcomputer will be a reading lesson with its message, drill, reinforcement, and reward. The programming (writing, designing, editing ) of a lesson will permit most subjects to be broken down in units. This is a very practical procedure for teaching the hearing impaired and one that has been traditionally foUowed. This organizes subject matter into logical clusters of knowledge and divides the content into comprehensible quantities. This "logic of sequence" provides a structure to learning which is pedagogically sound while it is an inherent characteristic of the microcomputer. Many of us in the media field remember from several years ago the movement to apply "programmed learning" techniques to instruction (McCarr, 1971; Tellern, 1971). There were two basic methods: linear and branching—and their combination. Computers renew the possibilities of application and expand on this concept (Bitzer, 1979). Programmed instruction is a systematic approach to teaching and learning. The presentation is broken into small increments of information in logical order and/or clusters. Feedback or confirmation is offered at each step of the way. The learners are informed as to whether they are right or wrong as they proceed, may be given the correct answer if that is advisable, or may simply be told to try again. This is known as reinforcement. The progressive feeding of the information, the immediate feedback to the response, the satisfactory feeling of reward are all strong factors of a successful learning experience . The microcomputer performs these functions and more. Probably its greatest attribute is the variety of approaches possible in the same lesson. Not only does it have the capability to progress in a straightforward manner through a program (linear method), it also can lead, according to the learner's response, into many different facets of a program (branching method). Programs with more than one outcome expand the learning opportunities and the knowledge obtained. Yet the computer is only a tool, a resource among the hundreds that are available in the array of instructional materials. It is unique in the kind of involvement of the learner that is not a part of the use of other devices. You might say that a person almost becomes part of the instrument through the process of interacting. One cannot be a passive learner and operate a computer. The required response, an input from the learner before the program will continue, assures participation. This interaction provides 472 A.A.O. I September 1982 Introduction structure to the lesson and gives the learner a chance to map his or her own directions for study. Interaction with the microcomputer is almost a form of creativity. The opportunity to direct their own program by their response leads learners logically to be...