Multimedia Technology For Teaching Neuropsychology
Currently, multimedia technology allows us to combine two basic tools within the new educational models: the computer and audiovisual media, that is, the use of sound and images, whether fixed or moving. Through multimedia we can facilitate the student’s acquisition of new concepts by presenting both images and animated models of various processes and allowing them to carry out their own learning interactively with the computer.
In this PsicologíaOnline article, we will talk about the Multimedia Technology for Teaching Neurosciences
Now, these two tools would remain incomplete within the teaching process without a theoretical model of instruction that guides its application, hence the educational foundation used is in itself the first to apply technology to education, that is, programmed instruction developed by BF Skinner through the teaching machine.
The teaching machine was created by Skinner for his daughter Deborah, based on the well-known skinner box, in it there is a presenter of stimuli to the student, a receiver of student responses and a presenter of reinforcements. In this case, the computer takes care of both present the stimuli, as well as receive the responses reinforcements being communications to the student that their answers were correct.
In programmed teaching the student receives a graded stimulus series and is obliged to respond actively to such situations. If their answers have been correct (and it is the task of the program to give and arrange the stimuli so that the student ordinarily responds correctly) the student receives reinforcement according to the answers given.
Among the most important contributions of teaching machines, Skinner himself writes to us that we can count on:
the immediate corroboration of the correct answer
the probability that the mere handling of the device (in this case a computer) will be reinforcing enough to keep the average student on task for a long time each day
A single teacher can monitor a large number of students working at the same time.
Each of the students will progress at their own pace, according to their ability, trying to solve as many problems or answer as many questions as possible in the time the session lasts.
In the event of interruption of the task, the process may be resumed at the point at which it was interrupted.
The device enables calculated presentation of arranged materials in such a way that the approach and solution of a reagent depend on the answer given to the previous one; Errors made can also be recorded.
With the use of the computer, and following the educational model of programmed teaching, An explanatory text of the theoretical content can be presented synchronously, as well as images that help your understanding At the end of the presentation of the text, the student responds to a series of reagents of different modalities such as writing his answer or pointing in a diagram among other possibilities of user interaction with the computer.
This series of activities constitutes in itself a immediate evaluation and feedback about the newly acquired information, since each correct answer allows you to advance to the next item, having a pre-established time limit to answer in each one; If the student does not answer correctly within the pre-established period, he or she receives an error message and moves on to the next question.
In our case the programs have been organized into two basic modules: information modules and question modules or activities.
In the information modules A brief explanatory text of the material accompanied by an image is presented on each screen; According to what was explained above, the information is presented gradually between one screen and the next, always accompanied by an image relevant to the text, an image that has not only been digitized, but also edited to emphasize those points that are of interest to teach, and to attenuate or eliminate irrelevant information. Although in general drawings and diagrams are used for their didactic clarity, this does not prevent us from using, when advisable, digitized images of real shots through photography or video. In this case, the use of sound is discouraged due to the disk space it consumes without its properties as a reinforcer justifying it. Also in the question modules or activities The student is shown the same image that accompanied the explanatory text at the time he is asked to carry out any of the following activities: write his answer, point on a diagram, select an answer option, place it within a diagram or establish relationships. .
Putting the model into practice
The modules carried out so far include, among others topics:
Each of these modules were carried out with the program Authorware Professional ver. 3.0, which allows generating executable programs under a Windows environment. The minimum system requirements to work with them are the following: PC 386, 4 Mb RAM, VGA color monitor, 15 Mb free hard disk space and the Windows 3.1 program.
It is worth mentioning that these modules can be grouped and ordered according to the particular needs of any study plan to be followed, citing as an example unit 2 of the subject of Biological Bases of Behavior (according to the program of the Div. of the Open University of the Faculty of Psychology of the UNAM): Brain hemispheres. Cortical Areaswhich includes material from the modules: Cerebral lobes, cortical areas and cerebral sulci and fissures.
As an immediate application we can say that, within the curriculum of the Faculty of Psychology, the subjects of the Biological Bases of Behavior block (Biological Bases of Behavior, Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System, Neurophysiology and Psychophysiology), present certain difficulties in understanding processes and memorizing the terms involved
Considering the above, a series of educational programs based on the programmed teaching model, seeking to support in particular the students of the Open University System (SUA) in the subjects of the Biological Bases of Behavior block. The project as a whole aims to automate the teaching-evaluation process that covers the entire content of the aforementioned subjects, the generation of an individualized exam from a bank of reagents, its immediate evaluation and the storage of the acquired grade.
Considering that this material can be made available to the general public through a page on the Internet, it is not risky to speak of a “neuropsychology virtual classroom “.
This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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