INTEGRATED LEARNING SYSTEM

ILS is generally begins with a computer-administered diagnostic-prescriptive

evaluation of the student's current achievement level. Then the software breaks down
the content to be taught into small units, teaches a unit, assesses progress, then moves
on to the next unit or provides remedial instruction as indicated.

ILS tends to focus on basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. It also used to
deliver any teaching materials. There are two main components of ILS which are
computer aided instruction modules (CAI) and management system. Management
system keep records of the students performance and allows teachers to set up all the
different course options in order to suit their teaching styles and the pupil’s needs while
CAI modules present the teaching materials to be used in the classroom in order to
apply educational software.

In ILS each pupil has their own learning program. If they perform well, they can
make rapid progress onto higher levels of difficulty. However, if they experience
problems, they will be given more practice and additional tutorials on the skills needed to
deal with the particular topic. In order to monitor pupils progress the teacher have to
access a lot of data in highlighting the pupils who are having difficulty or in need of
additional support. For instance, the collected data is gathered automatically and can be
printed out in a series of different reports. The Management System will be able to
predict future performance of the pupils. Therefore, the teacher can detect the problems
and will come up with solutions and actions to deal with it. Moreover, the Management
System will monitor the pupils’ performance constantly. One example of ILS is Success
Maker. However, Success Maker is only being introduced in UK and it is not available in
Malaysia yet. Meanwhile, there are methods to ensure the effectiveness of ILS. One of
the methods is the school should have clear curriculum objectives for the ILS in order to
improve the level of basic skills of all pupils.

Next, careful thought should be given to the staff who will be involved with the
ILS. Since proper use of the ILS is likely to have timetable implications, there should be
a member of the senior management team who has overall responsibility for the
successful implementation of the system. Without such a person, pupils are unlikely to
get the number of ILS sessions they need each week and the potential benefits are
much reduced. The subject specialist which is the teacher himself also has to be
considered as they are responsible to manage their own class. They have to be alert
and equip themselves with technical skills so that they are able to apply ILS in the
classroom effectively. Each teacher have to be trained and understand thoroughly how
to use the system features along with their own professional skills in order to achieve the
best result for their classes.

Furthermore, the pupils should also have regular access to the system. This is
due to give assistance to the teacher to monitor the pupils’ responses and achievement.
However, the teacher should arrange the timetable to suit with the pupils. The session
could be divided up so that 10 minutes is spent on mathematics, 10 minutes on reading
and 5 minutes on spelling, leaving 5 minutes for classroom management. This way the
time spent will be meaningful and effective. Based on ILS, the most suitable learning
theory that can be connected to is constructivism learning theory. This is when the pupils
develop their knowledge stage by stage as the teacher plays the role as a scaffolding
tool in assisting the pupils to construct their own knowledge. As the pupils are working
on their own actively and most of the time they learn by themselves (self discovery and
self experimental).

In integrating ILS in the classroom, an evaluative test will be given in each of the
lesson. By using a program design by the teacher, pupils are required to answer
questions after the lesson. The evaluative test will consists of questions of the particular
day lesson in different level of difficulty. This is to detect whether the students
understand the lesson or not. The result of the test will show about the weaknesses of a
particular pupil in a particular area so that a teacher could do a remedial class to make
sure the pupils master the lesson taught. The evaluative test is deemed to act as
measuring stick whether the ILS is working effectively. It also act as a form of feedback
and the result of this evaluative test should be given to parents so that they would have
equal chance to monitor their own children’s progress so as the teachers. To fully
integrate ILS in the classroom, the classroom itself should be well equipped with
computers and internet connection.

In conclusion, ILS presents a lot of positive usage to apply in the curriculum.

Teachers should prepare themselves to ensure that they are well equipped in order to
use ILS while the process of teaching and learning in the classroom. We strongly agree
this method should be used in current teaching and learning process. By doing this,
teachers could monitor their pupil’s achievement and detect their problems so that they
could understand what have been taught by the teacher.
REFERENCES

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/MBAKER/material/ils.html

http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/integr.htm

http://www.aare.edu.au/99pap/bat99731.htm

http://www.psychology.nottingham.ac.uk/research/credit/projects/ils_evaluation/
main.html