Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Abstracts 2005

Proceedings of the Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Regional Conference held at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2005

Team-Based Learning in Chemistry Courses with Laboratory Sessions

[EN] The implementation of Team-Based Learning (TBL, http://www.teambasedlearning.org) in one-semester undergraduate courses of chemistry offered to first year students is reported. TBL is an active learning instructional strategy heavily relying on small group interaction. Teaching lab classes in a TBL context presented a specific challenge, as decisions were required about their role in the global framework and the possibility of incorporating lab activities as “teamwork”. The design of lab sessions as TBL team application activities is here also illustrated, both for a course of General Chemistry and a course of Organic Chemistry. TBL dramatically improved students class attendance and participation. Its implementation has provided a unique opportunity for the pedagogical development of teaching staff. A moderate number of students reported discomfort with TBL: the requirement of individual preparation before classes and the impact of team participation in the final grade is indeed a new ground for most students, often perceived as a troubling deviation from the common social paradigm of the learning process. The role of the instructor as a facilitator of individual and team work, and the clear explanation of the method are thus of utmost relevance.The authors thank Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) for financial supportAires-De-Sousa, J.; Cardoso, MM.; Ferreira, L.; Lima, J.; Noronha, J.; Nunes, A.; Ponte, M. (2017). Team-Based Learning in Chemistry Courses with Laboratory Sessions. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1213-1218. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.5559OCS1213121

Teaching teamwork to transnational students in engineering and technology

China is producing over 4 million STEM graduates each year. According to the literature, many of these graduates lack the professional skills that are required by the global job market. Consequently, a new course was designed to help Chinese students cultivate the necessary professional knowledge and practical skills in the field of electronic engineering. The aim of this innovative course was to build experience of working in a team to design and develop a rover that can perform specific tasks. The course’s team project covers areas such as electronic design, sensing, instrumentation, measurement, computing, communications, as well as project management, report writing and technical presentation. The learning outcomes and course details are described herein. Furthermore, feedback from 152 Chinese students y is discussed and. Statistical analysis from surveys completed by 152 students are discussed and compared with a similar learning activity that was implemented in the UK. Contrary to popular misconceptions, the survey’s results clearly show that this team based active learning activity was ideally suited to the culture and background of Chinese students.

Innovations in geomatics teaching during the COVID-19 emergency

The approach in the teaching process is changing, thanks to the increased awareness that a higher students\u2019 involvement leads to a better quality of their learning. The aim is to make the students more participative, avoiding a unidirectional lesson and encouraging their wish to keep updated on the course advancements. However, innovative teaching methodologies are not yet widespread, mainly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. At the University of Genoa, the experimentation of innovative teaching techniques has been significant and worthy especially because it was planned before the COVID-19 emergency and applied in the scenario of forced remote teaching. Thanks to the introduc- tion of novel technological instruments, several techniques have been exploited to realize interactive lessons and promoting students\u2019 involvement. The present work discloses the employed techniques and frames them within the state of the art of innovative teaching, highlighting their contribution in the teaching activities related to the Geomatics field of knowledge. The acquired experiences in Geomatics dissemination and a critical analysis, including teachers\u2019 and students\u2019 perception about the tested innovative teaching/learning tools, are also reported. In general, the innovations introduced in teaching and learning processes during the COVID-19 sanitary emergency were warmly received by the entire community, including teachers, students, and teaching assistants

Aprendizaje Basado en Equipos en cursos de gestión de empresas: La aplicación de estudios de casos y simulaciones

INTRODUCCIÓ. El domini en disciplines amb una gran orientació pràctica, com la gestió d’empreses, no està determinat directament pel grau de coneixement, sinó per la capacitat d’aplicar teories econòmiques i de gestió al món real. Aquesta naturalesa pràctica posa en relleu la insuficiència de les tècniques educatives tradicionals per a l’ensenyament, consistents en lectures i classes magistrals, i condueix a l’aparició de mètodes instructius alternatius, com els fonamentats en l’aprenentatge basat en equips (ABE). MÈTODE. Concretament, hi ha dos instruments l’ús dels quals s’ha anat incrementant en educació empresarial: els estudis de casos i les simulacions. RESULTATS. En aquesta investigació, els dos instruments són analitzats detalladament amb l’objectiu de determinar si el seu ús en la fase d’aplicació de l’ABE és una alternativa apropiada, atesa la naturalesa pràctica d’aquesta fase. DISCUSSIÓ. Basada en l’avaluació d’aquestes tècniques, la nostra investigació suggereix que la implementació conjunta d’ambdós instruments pot resultar especialment beneficiosa i desembocar en millors resultats d’aprenentatge i d’adquisició de capacitats, atès que cada un produeix efectes diferents i, al seu torn, valuosos.INTRODUCTION. A command of action-oriented disciplines such as business is not directly determined by knowledge level, but by the capacity to apply management and economic theories to the real world. This action-oriented nature has highlighted the insufficiency of traditional educational techniques for teaching purposes, based on readings and lectures, and has given rise to the appearance of alternative instructional methods such as those based on team-based learning (TBL). METHOD. The use of two key instruments is becoming increasingly widespread in business training: case studies and simulation games. RESULTS. As part of this study, both tools are subjected to an in-depth analysis in order to determine whether their use at the TBL application stage is an appropriate alternative, given the practical nature of this phase. DISCUSSION. Based on the evaluation of these techniques, our research suggests that their joint implementation can be particularly beneficial and may lead to better learning outcomes and skills acquisition, given that each produces different but equally valuable results.INTRODUCCIÓN. El dominio en disciplinas con una gran orientación práctica, como la gestión de empresas, no está determinado directamente por el nivel de conocimiento, sino por la capacidad de aplicar teorías económicas y de gestión al mundo real. Dicha naturaleza práctica puso de relieve la insuficiencia de las técnicas educativas tradicionales para la enseñanza, consistentes en lecturas y clases magistrales, y condujo a la aparición de métodos instructivos alternativos, como los fundamentados en el Aprendizaje Basado en Equipos (ABE). MÉTODO. Concretamente, existen dos instrumentos cuyo uso en educación empresarial se ha ido incrementando: los estudios de casos y las simulaciones. RESULTADOS. En esta investigación, ambos instrumentos son analizados en detalle con el objetivo de determinar si su uso en la fase de aplicación de ABE es una alternativa apropiada, dada la naturaleza práctica de esta etapa. DISCUSIÓN. Basada en la evaluación de estas técnicas, nuestra investigación sugiere que la implementación conjunta de ambos instrumentos puede resultar especialmente beneficiosa y desembocar en mejores resultados de aprendizaje y de adquisición de capacidades, dado que cada uno de ellos produce efectos diferentes y, a su vez, valiosos

Web Science: expanding the notion of Computer Science

Academic disciplines which practice in the context of rapid external change face particular problems when seeking to maintain timely, current and relevant teaching programs. In different institutions faculty will tune and update individual component courses while more radical revisions are typically departmental-wide strategic responses to perceived needs. Internationally, the ACM has sought to define curriculum recommendations since the 1960s and recognizes the diversity of the computing disciplines with its 2005 overview volume. The consequent rolling program of revisions is demanding in terms of time and effort, but an inevitable response to the change inherent is our family of specialisms. Preparation for the Computer Curricula 2013 is underway, so it seems appropriate to ask what place Web Science will have in the curriculum landscape. Web Science has been variously described; the most concise definition being the ‘science of decentralized information systems’. Web science is fundamentally interdisciplinary encompassing the study of the technologies and engineering which constitute the Web, alongside emerging associated human, social and organizational practices. Furthermore, to date little teaching of Web Science is at undergraduate level. Some questions emerge - is Web Science a transient artifact? Can Web Science claim a place in the ACM family, Is Web Science an exotic relative with a home elsewhere? This paper discusses the role and place of Web Science in the context of the computing disciplines. It provides an account of work which has been established towards defining an initial curriculum for Web Science with plans for future developments utilizing novel methods to support and elaborate curriculum definition and review. The findings of a desk survey of existing related curriculum recommendations are presented. The paper concludes with recommendations for future activities which may help us determine whether we should expand the notion of computer science

Taking iRAT Outside The Classroom: Using an Interactive Book to Modify Team-Based Learning in a First-Year Programming Course

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is an evidence-based collaborative learning teaching strategy designed around units of instruction, known as “modules” that are taught in a three-step cycle: preparation, inclass readiness assurance test (RAT), and application-focused exercise. The in-class RAT includes two sub-tests; individual RAT (iRAT) and team RAT (tRAT). In first-year programming classes, the instructors rely on the mini-lecture to deliver advanced concepts or present a programming exercise to the students. Meanwhile, most of the class time is consumed by the iRAT, tRAT, and application-focused exercise. This paper sheds light on an attempt to modify the conventional TBL approach by taking the iRAT outside the classroom and exploit its time to extend the mini-lecture time. This modification is achieved by the aid of an interactive online book, which ensures that the students finished their reading assignments before the class. Hence, the interactive book can allow us to take the iRAT outside the classroom, which will save at least 20% of the class time. The proposed approach was implemented to a class of 165 students in Fall 2019 and 47 students in Spring 2020, and the preliminary results show that the students finish each class reading assignment with an average percentage of 87%