Learning through Practice S.Sathiakumar School of Electrical and Information Engineering University of Sydney Problem solving should be a major part of education Educators must create an environment that promote problem solving, critical thinking and learning how to learn

Teach about Something Learn the Concepts Knowledge Flow How to do something Acquire skill to apply the concepts Practice Outcome of the Education System  Learn the concepts  Acquire ability to apply the concepts to practical situations

Traditional System  The teacher is the superior authority  Responsible for student education  Teacher is the only source of information  Possible to have one-to-one relationship in a small group of students

Present/Future System  Teacher no longer a superior authority  Teacher’s role is now becoming a facilitator for learning and students are responsible for their own learning  Rich, massive educational resources are available for students through various media such as internet and multimedia educational program  In a large class, gap between the students and the teacher has widened

The three main components of the system  Lecturing (Learning the concepts) Done in a large class room using white/black board and overhead projector  ineffective  Tutoring (acquiring skills to apply the concepts) Done with smaller group but with inadequate number of and inefficient tutors  ineffective  Assessing Assignments (small component) - needs marking  difficult Final Exam (major component)  more stress

Technology to overcome the difficulties  Lecturing Use computer projections – with software like PowerPoint Text, pictures, video clips, animations, simulations etc. (use multimedia)  more effective  Tutoring Use an on-line interactive learning system – prompt the students to think  more effective  Assessing Use on-line examination system – machine marking – can have more through semester assessment  easy and reliable Final examination  less stress

Learning System  “Drill and Practice” methods have been proved to be effective in variety of learning situations [Forcier 1997].  It develops an ‘automacity’ in the minds of young learners to master basic concepts which they can build up further to higher level concepts at later stage. A Well Developed Learning System  Offers extensive interactivity through user control  Provides self regulating learning environment  Follows appropriate and comprehensive teaching sequence  Develops problem solving capabilities  Teaches steps involved in seeing a problem  Provides formative and summative style of reporting for learners to check their understanding  Provides learners to acquire skills by providing the opportunity to solve problem

Problem solving  Sense the problem  Research the problem to obtain additional information  Formulate the task  Find solution methods, choose appropriate and best method  Solve the problem  Use bottom-up approach ie., practice to develop the basic (fundamental) skills first and then build on that to solve complicated problems  Make it more interactive

Problem Types  Computer is an ideal tool to make a learning system  Can provide feed back to the students as they work  Offers a self regulating learning environment in which students are in charge of their own learning  Can interact with number of students  Can keep record of every one Multiple choice type On-line System

Short answer typeNumerical answer type

Administration

Examination System  Instant marking and release of results or  Mark and release the result at a convenient date and time Conclusion An on-line Learning system and an Examination system have been developed and successfully employed for undergraduate teaching. The students’ attitude towards learning has been very positive giving higher learning outcome.