Learning Experience through Interactive Educational
Software: Towards Development of an NEU Based
Educational Application
Irysh Paulo R. Tipay, MSCS
New Era University, Faculty
09362010630
iprtipay@neu.edu.ph
INTRODUCTION
The growth and popularity of technology had a
tremendous impact with the society especially in
education. Traditional education which occurs
usually inside the four corners of the classroom
(with the teacher using the chalk and the
blackboard as the tool for teaching) has since
evolved with the help of technology. Education,
through the use of technology have given
students abundant opportunities to build or
modify their personal knowledge through the rich
experiences that technology affords. (OHara and
Pritchard 2014)
Technology has been applied to different fields of
education. One of these is the field of Computer
Science education. The goal of this field is to
deliver computer-based systems or software
which can be used in real teaching, learning and
training situations. (Sadakathulla 2014)
Technology based learning constitute learning
via electric technology, including internet,
Albert A. Vinluan, MSCS, MSIT
New Era University, CS Coordinator
0916xxxxxx
aavinluan@neu.edu.ph
intranet, audio and video conferencing and
educational software. This kind of learning and
teaching method has transformed the way people
learn. (Koller, Harvey, Magnota 2013)
Computer Science education primarily uses
Technology-based learning methodologies in
order to enhance the learning experience of the
students on that field. Mainly because most of the
activities of Computer Science students are
consist of Computer software applications.
Educational Software has been defined as the
software that can be used by teachers and student
to support teaching and learning. Educational
Software has two basic category; the Content-free
software and the content-rich software. Content-
Free software provides teachers and students to
create their own content (Word processing, score
arranging software, image editing, etc.) while the
Content-Rich software accounts for large
proportion og commercially-produced
educational software(Encarta, Millies Math
House, etc). (NCITE 2008).
An Educational software should undergo certain 1) What are the Educational Software
technical evaluation in order for it to be deemed currently used by New Era University
effective in leaning. The following are the criteria College of Computer Studies?
for Educational Software Evaluation; Quality of 2) How are these functionalities be
end-user interface design, engagement, evaluated in terms of:
interactivity and tailorability. (Barker and King a) content;
1993) b) pedagogy;
c) ease of use; and
New Era University is an Institution that was
d) cost?
established in 1975. It offers different programs
3) What enhancement should be
across different disciplines. One of the colleges
supplemented to the Educational
under the University is the College of Computer
Software currently used by New Era
Studies. This college offers one program,
University in order to design Educational
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
Software fitted to their Curriculum?
The courses under the BSCS program utilizes the
use of educational software in their curriculum. Significance of the Study
Some of the examples of these are JFLAP, This study will benefit the following
LOGISM, PACKET TRACER etc. While these people.
Educational software are useful and are NEU BSCS Professors. This study will
integrated to some courses of the BSCS provide the professors a basis for developing
programs, the students and the teacher are unable tools that can aid in their teaching.
to maximize their usage, primarily because its NEU BSCS Students. This study will
design does not suit the NEU BSCS curriculum. provide students new tools that can aid them in

The goal of this study is to evaluate the current studying their course.

Educational software that are being used by New Future Researchers. This will as a

Era University to serve as a basis in designing reference for future researchers.

their own educational software that will fit the

needs of their curriculum. EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE USED IN
NEW ERA UNIVERSITY
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
These are the Educational Software
In order to achieve the main goal of the currently being used by New Era University.
study. The Researchers came up with the
following questions.
 BLUE J. Blue J is a development within the world. As a result of this application or
environment that allows you to develop Java friend will learn a tutorial application known as
programs quickly and easily. friend will gain data in a way to take out, install
PACKET TRACER. Cisco Packet or assembly of elements within a laptop or laptop
Tracer is a powerful network simulation program computer.
that allows students to experiment with network THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
behavior and ask what if questions. As an The following is the framework that is
integral part of the Networking Academy used for this study. A theoretical framework
comprehensive learning experience, Packet consists of concepts and, together with their
Tracer provides simulation, visualization, definitions and reference to relevant scholarly
authoring, assessment, and collaboration literature, existing theory that is used for your
capabilities and facilitates the teaching and particular study. (Asher 2013)
learning of complex technology concepts. The framework has been designed based
LOGISM. LOGISM is an educational on the integration of a number of important issues
tool for designing and simulating digital logic emerged from research on instructional design
circuits, featuring a simple-to-learn interface, and system evaluation. It is concerned with both
hierarchical circuits, wire bundles, and a large social and practical acceptability of educational
component library. As a Java application, it can software. (Georgiadou et al. 2001)
run on many platforms.
JFLAP. JFLAP is software for Figure 1 presents all factors included in
experimenting with formal languages topics the framework in a diagram.
including nondeterministic finite automata,
nondeterministic pushdown automata, multi-tape
Turing machines, several types of grammars,
parsing, and L-systems. In addition to
constructing and testing examples for these,
JFLAP allows one to experiment with
construction proofs from one form to another,
such as converting an NFA to a DFA to a minimal
state DFA to a regular expression or regular
grammar. Figure 1
CISCO IT ESSENTIAL VIRTUAL
Evaluation Factors of Educational Software
DESKTOP. Cisco IT Essential Virtual Desktop
(Georgiadou & Economides, 2000)
PC is an academic application of computers
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Descriptive research attempts to describe, explain
Research is the systematic investigation into and and interpret conditions of the present i.e. what
study of materials, sources, etc, in order to is. The purpose of a descriptive research is to
establish facts and reach new conclusions. examine a phenomenon that is occurring at a
(Oxford 2014) specific place(s) and time.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
This section will discuss the results of the study. The Table below shows the evaluation of the
current Educational Software being used by New Era University BSCS Program.
BLUEJ JFLAP PACKET LOGISM CISCO IT ESSENTIAL
Criteria
VIRTUAL DESKTOP
TRACER
Content 1.9 1.84 3.1 1.54 1.76
The content meets the curriculum
requirement and provides appropriate and
up-to-date comprehensive data.

Pedagogy 1.92 1.89 3.0 1.83 1.94

The content facilitates learning and
motivation to students, provide modifiable
content suited for different activities and
encourages critical thinking among
students.

Ease of Use 1.81 1.72 3.21 1.5 2.12

The ease of which the user can use the
application. There is a website that supports
technical issues of the software including
manuals and tutorials.

Cost 3.96 3.97 3.83 3.96 3.96

Cost for software download and
installation, annual renewal costs and
upgrading to the next version.

4 Excellent 3 Very Good 2 Gsood 1 - Poor

Table 1
Evaluation of Educational Tools in used by the BSCS Program
 The criteria Content has mostly an be kept at the minimum at best in order for it to
evaluation of POOR. Mainly because most of be easily obtained by the students.
their contents are out of date and does not fit the
existing curriculum for the BSCS Program. The CONCLUSION
criteria Pedagogy likewise received mostly an Educational Software are tools that would
evaluation of POOR, because the contents their enhance the learning and teaching capabilities of
contents are unmodifiable. In addition to this, the students and teachers respectively. In New Era
way these software were designed does not University BSCS Program, Educational Software
encourage critical thinking among the students. are applied some courses, but still it lacks the
Most of the software receive a POOR evaluation features that would make it fit to the existing
for the Ease of Use criteria because of the lack curriculum of New Era University.
of online support, documentation and tutorial. Based on the gathered information, the
However, the criteria Cost received an Educational tools of New Era University lacks on
evaluation of EXCELLENT because all of these the following criteria: Content, Pedagogy and
software are open-source, meaning they can be Ease-of-use. These criteria should be enhanced as
downloaded and distributed for free. this will increase the learning altitude of students
As evidenced by the findings above, it in New Era University.
goes to show that there is a need to develop
Educational Software that would tailor fit the
needs of NEU BSCS Program. Such Software
should focus on the following criteria; Content,
Ease of use and pedagogy.
Enhancement to the existing
Educational software must be made; contents
should be modifiable in order to update the
materials in these Educational Software to keep
its contents up-to-date. The pedagogy should
also be improved in such a way that the user-
interface should be interactive. In that way,
students will be encouraged to immerse
themselves into the learning ecosystem of the
application. There should also be online support,
documentation and tutorial immediately available
to the students through websites. The cost should