SPECTRUM LESSONS

A mixed bag for Mike Edmunds to criticise and commend as he sees fit.

Once upon a time if you wanted a game to play then you visited your local software shop. If you required something in the educational line you had to resort to mail-order or search out a specialist supplier. Nowadays, however, we find an increasing number of 'educational' programs rubbing shoulders with our favourite arcade game. Whereas the use of the computer as a valuable educational tool within the school is undeniable, does the rapidly expanding range of 'home learning' software successfully bridge the gap between home and school? This month some of the currently available programs are examined and assessed...

Also for the younger child is 'Spacewreck', from Premier Software. This has been written by Primary School Teachers, it's aim being to motivate creative writing. Expecting something of real educational value I approached this program eagerly, but I was sadly disappointed. This is a '...computer designed adventure with visual stimulus and words to help the child. Using these, the children are asked to write a story based upon their adventure.' Unfortunately this has been very poorly written and I can see little, if any value in it as an educational program. Compared with current Spectrum programs the graphics here are very poor and very slow!... graphic blocks move jerkily across the screen and there has been no attempt to use UDG's (captial letters being used to represent people and monsters). There was also a serious bug in the review copy, the 'adventure' forming a repeating loop after about 10 minutes. Premier Software offer a marking and assessment service for £1.50, but any teacher who needs rely on programs such as this in order to motivate children probably shouldn't be teaching at all! The whole program needs to be re-evaluated and redesigned.