Thursday, September 27, 2007

My Project Scope- a design brief

I had a meeting with Bronwyn on the 26 September to discuss my progress with the designing for flexible delivery course and here is a brief from that meeting.
The course is assessed in four parts. The first part is the webblog that I am currently writting in so that's up and running. The second assessment is a teaching resource which I am happy to say I have just finished a draft of and intend to get comments from staff after the holiday break. The third assessment is keeping a reference list which is my delicious account so thats fine. The last assessment involves writing up a flexible delivery plan which is where I am now.
Monday 1 October.
I emailed a draft copy of my flexible delivery plan to Bronwyn on Friday for review, so this is a summary of what I am proposing.
All subjects in the mechanical engineering diploma have a self directed learning component of 60 hours out of a total 150 hours. Using the hardest subject that the first year students grasp as my target base, I believe their learning would be a more meaningful and enjoyable experience by taking a proporsion of these self directed hours and incorporating them as a technology based learning guide. This will transpire into a possible learning platform where assignments, quizes etc could be performed and in so doing expose the students to the wider engineering emvironment.
There are two components that I want this project to achieve. Using the web as the source of information the first part would be to try and give the students an insite into various mechanical engineering projects that utilise the subject content that they are learning in class, but in the much broader sense. ie. it will try and answer the " what is the relevence of this subject that is being taught" in the classroom. The second component would be to bring part of the assessment material into the new technology and actively engage the students by incorporating work based programmes like word and excel that they would use by way of an assignment.
As I have explained in the project scope, the time to surf the web for the necessary content and compile the material into a cohesive whole is of concern but not impossible if the resources are made available. I know that this would be the starting platform to get our mechanical engineering diploma into a format which combines new technology with traditional teaching methods and create the possibility of being able to deliver part of it to distance learners as a viable option.
I will now wait and see the comments from the EDC team about my project.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I see the Light.

Starting to look at what I need to complete for this assessment.
Assessment one is my learning blog. Writing down a few comments on the form and I see that I need to report back about various discussions that I have had up till now.
In one of my previous blogs I mentioned that I would try and talk with Peter Brook regarding teaching to students via television conferencing. I did speak with Peter on a casual basis about it and he advised me that he can only televise to about four students max at a time with present technology. It also means that the students have to be able to reach the receiving telecast in a designated location (ie a school that can recieve the broadcast) but he assured me that it will increase in popularity with time and advance of the technology. For me, this technology would be worthwhile once it has been fully developed, so I will not pursue it until then.
I remember Terry giving us an "Elluminate" demonstration and from my notes I see that it was on the 19 April. That really was a worthwhile session and I apologise Terry for not writing about it till now. In that session Terry introduced us to a variety of programmes and web sites that are available to us for making flexible delivery a reality and not just an idea as well as showing us what "Elluminate" was.
We were introduced to such things as "Audacity" which is where we can have audio imput over slides, turn them into moving demos using moviemaker if wanted and then producing them onto a CD. This is because the files are too large to send via the web. If you wanted to send files down the line then "Flash-Animations" were the way to go (how can I ever forget that poor cat getting it's fur shaved off in a certain manner prior to an operation). These are time consumming to prepare for the technician, but an option non the less.
I have got things jotted down called "Video-in Director", "Action Mazes" and "Toolboxes" which incidentaly took my fancy as Terry mentioned that they were made in Australia for the trades and may have some engineering material in there and best of all they are free to use. Since then, I have viewed the toolbox site, but the actual subjects covered are not really of any help to me. Damn!
The programme that interested me the most though, was ""Course Genie" which turns word documents into web pages for sending down the line. Incorporated in them would be pictures (don't forget copyright rules etc.) and I see from my notes that a secure server like "Blackboard" has to be used. The reason why this programme appealled to me most was that my course is primarily made up of notes, calculations etc, and if I were having to send out a course to a distance learner, then this would be the easiest method to get the content delivered. Also, it would be an ideal starting point for flexible delivery in my course for the students that are here - NOW THERE'S A THOUGHT.
I am going to leave this blog here, and come back with a report about my meeting with Bronwyn from yesterday. See ya.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

What's the Problem?

(I will keep this post here without the dflp07 label as it really is me letting off a bit of steam but at least it shows that I am still here and am certainly thinking about the group of students I have to teach. It also means that I am going to finish off this course so stay tuned!)
I am at present supervising the end of term test from one of the final year papers in the National Diploma in Engineering. I knew from the beginning of this course that it was going to be a difficult paper for this group of students that are currently sitting it. I say difficult only in the context of the mathematical computations that are required to get the answers to the problems given.
There are only five students in this class, we are 20 minutes out from finishing, and already two of the students have left. The look on their faces as they threw me their answer sheets says it all and one even had a parting comment "that's your best one yet Dave" confirmed what I feard most - the test was too hard for them.
Was it too hard I hear you say. Well, it happened to be some questions from last year's exam paper from another polytechnic, so yes, it was reasonably hard, but it is of the same standard that this paper has to be delivered at. The final exam that they have to sit in seven weeks will be of the same level that this test was delivered at, so WHATS THE PROBLEM?
It is now the next day, and I have already marked the test. Lowest mark 10%, with highest mark 19%. I have this same group of students this morning for 3 hours with another subject.
Lets us call these five students Mr's A, B, C, D and E respectively and examine their learning needs and styles. Normally, on Friday, Mr E does not turn up as he has already indicated to me before that he can't really get out of bed before 11am anyway. Too much of a night owl he said. Obviously a classic case for "Blackboard" type learning. You know the way - have the notes available "on line" so that he can go to them when he wants etc.etc. Trouble is Mr E has told me that he dosn't have the self discipline to study by himself at home. Too many distractions he says. Well, sorry Mr E, if you only turn up to two thirds of the classes as my attendance record shows, it means you only have two thirds of the subject matter at hand so I cant see a problem, can you?
Next, we move onto Mr D who incidentily also did not turn up for today's class. This fellow sits in class without saying a word. I have to virtually twist his arm to get him to ask a question. I am in class, writing up notes and things on the board, talking about the subject matter and I ask "any questions anybody". I get questions. Great. Then I look at Mr D. "Do you understand what I have just done Mr D?", I say. And then comes that little shake of the head meaning I don't understand. I have to say that Mr D is an international student, so is understanding English the problem?
Now Mr C is a different kettle of fish. Always quick with the smart remarks which, at times can be, either ammussing or intelligent and I dont have an issue with. Not afraid to ask questions and also keeps me in check every so often. The problem with Mr C is he keeps everything to the last minute. If an assignment is due 5pm on a certain day, it will be in my postbox at or near 5pm on that day. To study for a test means he can keep drinking till the night before the test or if it is an afternoon test, then party the night before as he has got the morning to study for the test at the sacrifice of any morniong classes that he may have. Is lack of managing time the problem? Order of priorities an issue? Sorry, NOT MY PROBLEM.
Mr B is a senior student and has told me that he has an agenda after competing his diploma which is fine. Mr B's problem is that he has been out of the school environment for a while, particularly with mathematics and as such, is having to come to terms with that issue.
Last one up is Mr A. I have been told that he has a medical condition that may hinder his learning so it is understandable that this course will be difficult for him. He is, nevertheless,. copping quite well and has indicated that he may want to go to university after completing the diploma. It did sadden me that after giving up in one of the questions in the test he left a comment which implies sex and travel so Mr A is now getting a bit of an "attitude". You know the one. Sorry, too hard, put it in the "too hard basket" and not my problem.
Monday morning and here I am thinking about flexible delivery and how I can apply it to my lesson structure. The five cases that I have just described are not unique by any means but it does bring home the point that they all believe that they will pass the end of year exam by reading the notes that I give them in class, do the odd assignment sheet that I hand out and answer the class exercises that we do during the term. WRONG.
From day one, all our students get told that they get 90 "contact" hours with the lecturer and are "expected" to do 60 hours "self directed learning". So what is SELF DIRECTED LEARNING?
I remember when I was a student spending countless hours in the library researching material, doing problems etc etc. and asking the lecturer questions when needed. Our department has an"open door" policy which allows students to come to us for help when required, so nothing has changed. What I think I am trying to say here is that it does not matter what format the research material is in, it is up to the individual to be motivated enough to do that bit extra in order to guarentee success in their studies.
One thing I do know is that on a number of occasions through the running of the course, I have asked the students if they believe that they could study this material from home or at work etc, and ALWAYS, I get the response no way in hell could they do this on their own. With that in mind, I am going to sign off now and come back later with a plan to help these guys with their studies. Briefly, I believe they have great difficulty in comming to terms with the "mechanics" concept. That is, using the mathematics that they have learnt in class and appying it in engineering mechanics. Cheers.