COMPUTER AS A TOOL,

TUTOR AND TUTEE

By: Nur Fatihah binti Abdul Rahman,
Faculty of Education,
B. Ed TESL (2014/2018),
National University of Malaysia,
Bangi, Malaysia.










Computer as Tool, Tutor and Tutee
By: Nur Fatihah binti Abdul Rahman

I have read Dr. Fariza binti Khalids Masters thesis from 2007; Syarat yang
Mempermudahkan Penggunaan Komputer dalam Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran dalam Kalangan
Guru Sekolah Menengah, Malaysia and few articles I came across on internet and also other
resources from my course mates, I am going to write a report on the topic, Computer as a Tool,
Tutor and Tutee.
Computer as a Tutee or we can simply put in a more understandable form, Computer as a
Learner. Computer as a Tutee is where the computer is a learner and you can give it a set of
instruction to do commands and tasks. For example, in Microsoft Excel where teachers usually
use it to input students exam mark, it is really troublesome to sort it out manually. So, you can
just simply create a program or instruction to sort a set of numbers where you teach the computer
how to compare the value of the numbers and then sort them. Another example is the robots
where you actually give it a set of instructions or behaviours in order to interact with different
conditions. Few advantages that I understand from Dr. Farizas thesis and articles I have read
about Computer as a Tutee is that students who deals with the computer as tutee will rethink
what they learned and then analyzed it in order, and this indirectly will develop high critical
thinking among learners. Besides, I think computers are the agent of education changer for the
better. For instance, using computers as learners enables the teachers to emphasize on solving
important problem rather than boring rote learning; of course, through software and programs on
computer. Other than that, in teaching the computer, the child learns more deeply and learns
more about the process of learning than he or she does from being tutored by software written by
others. It gradually changes the learning experience. Apart from that, computers make a good
tutee because of its innocence, patience, rigidity and its capacity for being initialized and started
over from scratch.
Moving on to Computer as a Tutor, with the invention of microcomputer or personal
computers (PC), the PC itself has been used in various reasons and has become a tutor for
programmed instructions. Computer as a Tutor, does not simply means the computer replaces the
teacher as tutors since teachers play a major role in delivering information. Being computer as
the tutor, the teacher must at least has the knowledge and skills for any computer activities.
Unlike computer being a tutee, the subject which is computer, knows nothing and we have to
give them a set of instructions. Meanwhile, when the subject; computer being the tutor, the
subject assists students on how to provide learning environment. From Dr. Farizas thesis, it
stated that computers has various applications that help to ease learning process such as
computer-based instruction, computer-assisted instruction and computer-assisted learning. For
example, the e-learning system that I have experienced myself when I was in secondary school;
Score-A Programme System, it is very effective. Of course, we are not talking about the system
but the subject here now is the computer being the tutor. A good tutor software can tailor its
performance to fulfill for a wide range of different learner needs. The computer will only need to
monitor their students because the applications are there to help. Next, resources and information
are easy to access; they only have to type in search engines what they want and simply read it or
printed them out. As the saying goes, Everything is at their fingertips. Computers also work
similar to teachers, it give instructions and provide feedback. Thus, it is easier for students to
improve themselves.
Next, moving on to Computer as a Tool. Computer is a useful tool to be utilized for the
sake of human and to various organizations. Computer provides some functionality that makes
the learners task easier. Besides, it also helps in the teaching profession; as in it saves the learner
time and allows them to focus on her intellectual energy on higher order tasks. The teachers also
do not have to spend their money on tuition centers because computers includes the software to
help teachers to teach; for examples, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office and such. The advantages
that I came across during my research are that, computer being a tool provides practice in the
skills at inquiry and problem saving. It gradually gives the students practice in the skills as they
keep using the computer as the tools to solve things. Computer as a tool also gives rapid access
to extensive information storage and retrieval. This is quite similar to computer being a tutor, but
it differs because it does not assist the learners, it only gives access to information and the
learners have to figure everything all by themselves. Indirectly, this will instil high critical
thinking among learners. Other than that, students can use it to help them in a variety of subjects;
such as calculator, map making tool, text editor and others. It is easy because learners can access
these tools any time whenever they feel like using it. Moreover, computer being a tool improves
and enriches classroom learning, neither requires student or teacher to learn much about
computers and make the learning process more fun.
To conclude, for the foreseeable future, computing will play an increasing important role
in human learning. However, no one yet knows exactly how great that role will eventually be, or
precisely what form it will finally take. Thus, it is up to us to keep developing these systems and
also to make sure teachers will not be irreplaceable for computers.

The end.
Thank you.





REFERENCES
1. https://www.academia.edu/1556797/SYARAT_YANG_MEMPERMUDAHKAN_PENGGUNAAN_KOM
PUTER_DALAM_PENGAJARAN_DAN_PEMBELAJARAN_DALAM_KALANGAN_GURU_SEKOL
AH_MENENGAH_MALAYSIA_-_Bab_Dua
2. http://keanistako.blogspot.com/2013/01/computer-as-tutee-talyor-identifies.html
3. http://www.citejournal.org/vol3/iss2/seminal/article1.cfm
4. http://aldeeb85.blogspot.com/2011/10/using-computer-as-tutor-tool-tutee.html