A NEW MODE OF TEACHING FOR SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING E. Ambikairajah, J. Epps, M. Sheng, and B. Celler The School of Electrical Engineering The University of New South Wales, Australia School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Learning Obstacles in Large Classroom Full-time students often do not do sufficient study out of class. (due to work commitments, fatigue in class, fast-moving large classes, comprehension difficulties) Lack in fluency in spoken and/or written English. Communication of difficult mathematical concepts. Difficulty in maintaining students’ attention span. Different learning pace of individual students. Losing continuity due to missed classes. Only a small percentage of students are able to grasp the key concepts at the time of live lecture delivery; the remaining students are left to develop this critical understanding in their own time, with whatever assistance they can find. School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW

What Students Want Our student feedback has indicated that: The ability to independently review live lecture content at their own pace outside of class hours would be a major benefit to them. They need to revisit lectures to solve problems arising during large classes, to alleviate language difficulties, to learn difficult concepts, and to do ongoing revision throughout the course. This facilitates their increased study commitment out of class. School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

VCPlayer – A Tool For Self-Directed Learning VCPlayer allows students to play back a lecture as if they were in the real classroom (lecturer video and whiteboard contents with annotation – both synchronized – are played back simultaneously). The lecture view window can be overlaid on top of annotated slides in a number of pre-determined positions, or it can be dragged and positioned anywhere. School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications [ Click below image to see a demo of VCPlayer ] UNSW

Setup of VCPlayer Capture A PC, a camera, an electronic whiteboard, and a high quality microphone, (or a TabletPC with a webcam and a high quality microphone) Recorded contents can be duplicated to CD/DVDs immediately after recording thus requiring no post-editing. If high-bandwidth connection is available, video and dynamic whiteboard content with annotation can alternatively be streamed to students. School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Trial of VCPlayer-based Lectures [Session 2 2005] Class size Total no. of lectures VCPlayer-based lectures using pre-recorded CDs No. of students surveyed 3rd year undergraduate class 129 12 2 71 Postgraduate class 24 5† School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications † one lecture was given in the traditional format but recorded using the VCPlayer during class and distributed for revision purposes after the class UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Evaluation Questions ‘Acceptable alternative’ – Are the pre-recorded lectures on CD an acceptable alternative to a live lecture? ‘Achieve the level of understanding’ – I feel that I was able to achieve the level of understanding I wanted for topics that used only the pre-recorded CD (followed by some discussion in class). ‘Preferred choice’ – I would be more likely to watch 100% of the lectures if they were on a pre-recorded CD than attending 100% of the live lectures (with no CD available). ‘Efficient learning method’ – Learning using pre-recorded CDs (followed by class discussions) was a more efficient way to learn than going to live lectures. ‘Review & understand better’ – I liked the opportunity to review the CD-based lectures because understanding all the material in a live lecture environment is rather difficult. ‘Learning at my own pace’ – Pre-recorded CDs allowed me to learn at my own pace. ‘Recommend to other courses’ – I would recommend the use of pre-recorded CDs (followed by class discussions) for other courses within the school. ‘More convenient’ – It was more convenient for me to learn via a pre-recorded CD than attend a live lecture School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW

Summary of Evaluation Results School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Usage Analysis of Pre-recorded CDs School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Preferences Between CD-based Delivery Modes Preference between receiving a pre-recorded CD first with no live lecture but with a discussion class, and having a live lecture first but also receiving a recorded CD after class. School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Observation of Student Academic Performance A slightly improved pass rate was observed for the same level of paper over a 3-year period for an undergraduate cohort. Year No. of students Final pass rate 2003 traditional lectures only 121 81.0% 2004 traditional lectures plus some tutorial solutions on AVI files 118 86.4% 2005 Mixed traditional (80%) and VCPlayer-based (20%) 129 89.9% School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Example Student Feedback “Great idea. Liked your DVD. Need more examples.” “Excellent. Hope all other courses will use this too.” “The discussion class is of equal importance” “The DVD idea is very efficient as it allows for a greater depth and understanding of any part of the course” “Do live lecture for certain lectures, and the remainder on DVD” “DVDs very effective, but also need live discussion class” School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Example Student Feedback “I think a live lecture followed by a DVD handout would be very effective” “Use pre-recorded DVDs only for difficult topics that need more understanding, and give more examples” “Recorded lectures reduce social aspects of the course which are an important part of university” “I only learnt efficiently because the DVDs were available. 1000000x better than those live lectures” School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Staff Feedback “Easy to record lectures” “Great for archiving live teaching material for future use” “Miss having live feedback from students” “Majority of students are really enthusiastic about this mode” “Discussion classes are essential” School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Evaluation of Year 2006 Pre-recorded CD Trial (No live lecture, pre-recorded CDs throughout course) (these results are not in the paper) School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006

Discussion and Questions School of Electrical Engineering &Telecommunications UNSW Engineering Education Conference 2006