Computer-managed practice: Effects on instructional methods and on teacher adoption

This study was designed to learn about the effects of computer-managed practice on teaching methods, and to identify factors associated with teacher adoption of computers for instruction. A representative sample of 142 teachers whose students received computer-managed practice of arithmetic expressed their perceptions of issues related to this practice in a questionnaire, developed on the basis of observations. Findings indicate that teacher satisfaction with this application is extraordinarily high, implying high potential for its adoption. Reasons are the management of students' work by the computer, the computer class report (a weekly report of individual student and of class performance in CAI), and the benefit of this report to students' learning, particularly for the high achievers. However, a large proportion of these teachers believe that the computer-managed practice is less beneficial to low achievers than to high achievers. The computer class report appears to serve as a major tool for individualizing the treatment of students. This report causes teachers to switch from whole class instruction to individualized methods of instruction. These changes increase with the length of teacher experience.