• What is educational software?
• Educational software features
• Importance of educational software
• Advantages of educational software
• Types of educational software
• Examples of educational software

We explain what educational software is, its functions, advantages and what types exist. Also, examples of various kinds.

Educational software allows active student participation.

What is educational software?

Educational software encompasses those programs and Applications of a didactic type, created with the explicit purpose of contributing to the teaching and the learning. In this definition, there is room for traditional Computer Aided Education (EAC) programs, to encyclopedias and programs that take advantage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to imitate the tutoring work of teachers in an educational institution.

This definition is always relative and problematic, since other programs typical of the business and professional world are usually excluded from it, such as databases and word processors, which nevertheless assist the teaching and student exercise. However, the latter are considered not to have been programmed for the explicit purpose of teaching and learning.

In general, to consider a piece of software as educational software, it must meet the following minimum considerations:

• Obviously, use the computer or other similar electronic devices for Interface between program and user.
• They were designed with a didactic purpose.
• They are interactive, that is, they allow student participation and promote the exchange of information between human and system.
• They individualize the teaching task, so that the pace of work and the dimensions of learning are adapted to each user.
• They are relatively easy to use, since they usually require only minimal computer utility skills.

Educational software features

Normally, educational software comprehensively fulfills different functions, which we can break down for study into:

• Inform (informative function), that is, provide the user information new and detailed information on a specific topic, using various formal resources to do so: text, audio, video, etc. Through this information, the user is transmitted a structured and organized view of the reality.
• Instruct (instructive function), that is, to guide learning explicitly or implicitly, according to a predetermined teaching script or program. This is done with the aim of complying with goals specific educational, how to master concepts, handle references, and so on.
• To motivate (motivating function), that is, to capture and / or hold the students' attention, in order to speed up and stimulate the learning process, making it more attractive and modern. This is perhaps one of the strengths of educational software.
• Evaluate (evaluation function), that is, giving the student the opportunity to test their knowledge acquired, through tests, exercises and other similar dynamics, then giving you the correct answers so that you can understand your mistakes.
• Innovate (innovative function), that is, to give opportunity to new trends and technologies to be integrated into the educational dynamics.

Importance of educational software

As virtual and computer dynamics take on more and more spaces in our lives, offering us new job, playful and communicative opportunities, the education You cannot be left behind in harnessing the capabilities of this technology.

Educational software is a key piece in the design of new forms of distance education, and it even has the potential to be incorporated into the classroom, in the not too distant future in which this space will be highly computerized.

Educational software may for the moment be a complement to the traditional process of training students, but it is also a bet for the future that cannot be underestimated, given the direction that the hypertechnological world of the 21st century is taking.

Advantages of educational software

Educational software is ideal for adults because it adapts to the student's schedules.

Some of the obvious advantages of educational software have to do with:

• They allow learning at great distances, both in groups and individually.
• They take advantage of innovative technologies and devices, which are integrated into the youth imaginary of today's world.
• They facilitate the control and evaluation of the students, as well as the feedback between student and teacher.
• They facilitate learning autonomous, that is, they adapt to the schedule and disposition of the student, something ideal for teaching Adults.
• They make learning more attractive, eye-catching and modern.

Types of educational software

Broadly speaking, educational software is classified into two categories, depending on the degree of feedback they offer the user regarding their own learning (that is, their evaluation):

• Management programs, also called tutorials, that monitor student activity at all times, and continually examine and evaluate it. The computer demands specific and concrete answers from the student, which can give a very narrow range of possible valid answers, according to a educational model more traditional.
• Non-directive programs, thought more like an instrument or workspace (like a laboratory) available to the student, in which they will find what is necessary to learn, with a certain margin of freedom of action allowed. The computer does not act as a judge, as in the previous case, but rather records the information entered by the user and shows him the consequences of his decisions, in such a way that the notion of the error is not handled so much as that of the different consequences. to the desired. They tend to provide a more autonomous learning model.
• Databases and simulators, which contain a large amount of information and allow the user to navigate it according to certain criteria, thus being able to complete derived activities, such as riddles, problems mathematicians, hypothesis scientific, etcetera. They can be hierarchical, relational or documentary databases, and simulation environments of a different nature, which offer a safe environment to solve certain problems.

Examples of educational software

Educational software applications take advantage of multimedia resources.

Some examples of educational software are:

• Coursera. A web portal designed to offer its visitors courses on different topics of knowledge, through text and material multimedia. Many of its courses come from prestigious universities around the world.
• Quizlet. An application that works based on flashcards, and that helps students prepare for their exams.
• Duolingo. A famous teaching app of Languages, which offers the student a dynamic step-by-step of language learning, making the most of the technology of their Smartphone to hear, write and repeat.