Integrating new learning technologies into the curriculum. A case study From Art & design.

Ashley Pinn

University of Hertfordshire

 

Development and Evaluation of a On-line learning and teaching package in Workshop Techniques for students at the University Of Hertfordshire. The Package case studied "Workshop techniques" is available online for viewing  At : - Http://www.herts.ac.uk/lis/ltdu/projects/mm2

This session is a look at the way that students today are totally familiar. With and use computers not only for their work at University but also as a Hobby /relaxation tool. They surf the Net and use computer games like Veterans. With this modernculture of hi-tech imagery, can we as teaching Professionals tap into this computer culture to teach and reinforce 3D Workshop techniques ? What could be called a "traditional" subject taught.  In a new and innovative way which reinforces learning that has taken place In Lecture/demonstrations.  It will explain Development and Evaluation of an On-line learning and Teaching package in Workshop Techniques for students at the University Of Hertfordshire, funded by the Learning & teaching Development Unit. 

Over the recent years there has been an increase in demand for the use of the internet as a means of course delivery. An integral part of any Web-based course material is some form of assessment usually of the diagnostic question and answer variety. However any form of embedded Testing has to be seamlessly incorporated into the application to allow the flow of learning to remain uninterrupted as the user progresses from instruction to assessment. Many commercial and public sector solutions fail to produce acceptable solutions. We will look at how "Workshop Techniques" goes some way to addressing some of these concerns.

As well as why and how the package was developed the session will expand on student feedback on their perception of it as a teaching tool. Also with over 3,000 completed tests as well as online evaluation forms. A large amount of evaluation can be gained by examining those statistics. Using these you can evaluate how students are using the package and how this is affecting their learning style.

Inititial findings have discovered a range of learning styles employed by the students in how they navigated around the information provided.   Different learning styles have become apparent.  These differences in approach have in turn fed back into the development of the package in terms of navigational references and other link based paths.

These differences in learning style have included students who started the project and followed it through methodically from start to finish.   Others used a much more pick and mix approach, repeating some sections, and ignoring others.

The online assessment was also accessed directly by other students who only used the tutorial sections after they had completed the tests.

The most significant was some students learning style involved accessing the package on a 24 hour learning basis.  Evaluation of student responses discovered that a significant proportion of students accessed the package between midnight and 1am and Sunday afternoons between 2 and 4.

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