Transcript BASICS - Dublin Institute of Technology

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
Building A System to Ingrain Core-competencies
David Dorran
School of Electrical Engineering Systems
College of Engineering & Built Environment
[email protected]
Ext: 4873
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
1
Lecturer:
“Using the
potential divider rule
from first year theory
the output voltage of
the circuit is 4 volts”
2nd year student : “I
“Potential
remember
divider???
hearing
Voltage??
“Oh
yes – the
potentialabout
dividerthe
voltage
divider
rule
must
look
rule,
also
known
as –the
voltage
it up some
– didn’t
realise
divider
rule,time
it shows
how
it was important”.
voltage
is spread across
resistors in series”
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
2
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Exams structured to allow content be omitted
from exam studies.
Surface learning for sole purpose of passing
exam.
Student unaware of relative importance of
certain content.
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
3
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Develop a system which encourages students to
spend more time on fundamentals/basics.
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Implemented on webcourses:
 Easy/wide access
 Facility to provide quick feedback
 Easy reuse of quizzes (thanks Michael Carr!)
 Allows multiple attempts
 Automatic corrections
 Facility to track student progress (score and duration spent on quiz)
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Demo on webcourses
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
4
1.
Identify core competencies within a
programme – DT021 Electrical Engineering being used
as test case.
2.
3.
4.
Develop database of questions
Implementation – logistics and student
perspective
Evaluation
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
5
Review module descriptors
1.
◦
not very useful – too much information
Discussions with colleagues
2.
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Initially asked “What are the core competencies
developed in your module?”
Changed this to: “What are the prerequisite core
competencies for your module?”
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
6
1.
2.
Reused and adapted Michael Cores Maths
quizzes.
Started with core competencies identified in
stage 1 – applicable to all stages – Four categories of question:
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3.
Mathematics
Electronic Systems
Electrical Systems
Programming – ability to read code
Multiple choice questions avoided
– webcourses
calculated questions preferred
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
7
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students required to complete 6 core competency
quizzes.
Quizzes feed into assessment of 3 modules – 2 per
module.
Quizzes represent 5% of continuous assessment
mark.
Students must score 80%+ in quizzes in order to
receive any marks toward CA.
Quizzes available for one week – multiple attempts
allowed – quizzes unsupervised
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
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1.
Students participated in 3 focus groups - which
were facilitated separately by Muireann O’Keefe (LTTC), Gavin
Duffy
(SEES, former Teaching Fellow),
Brian Bowe
(Head of Learning
Development, EnBE)
2.
Two focus groups were recorded
3.
Approx 6 students per group.
(audio only)
Recorded groups were
chosen to have at least one international student and one mature student. Non-recorded
group coincidently only contained students who transferred in to the degree
programme.
4.
Each facilitator was provided with a set of
questions to guide the discussions (see
http://eleceng.dit.ie/dorran/basics)
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
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Full reports at http://eleceng.dit.ie/dorran/
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students felt the quizzes were beneficial as they help
motivate revision.
They felt that more quizzes related to material they were
currently studying would be useful.
Quizzes were time consuming – up to two hours in some
cases.
5% of CA mark was enough to motivate them; as did the 80%
pass mark
A certain amount of copying occurred (approx 10% of questions
completed without any real understanding – mainly multiple choice)
6.
Students felt they benefitted from having multiple attempts
and being able to work together.
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
10
Questions/Suggestions/Comments?
Teaching Fellowship 2010-11
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