Understanding how students use and appreciate online resources in the teaching laboratory

The internet is a great resource student\u27s use for learning. Reasons include the ease in searching with sites such as Google, or the vast collection of informative videos on YouTube. The teaching laboratory can also benefit from online resources, especially when students are deficient in prerequisite knowledge. The benefits are greatest when there are non-standard learning paths, and multiple entry points into a degree. This study undertakes a mixed methods research approach to try and understand how students use and appreciate an online resource, called the Training Laboratory, designed to support learning in the engineering teaching laboratory. The targeted resources are used to help support students as well as the laboratory teaching assistants (called laboratory demonstrators). The study finds that such resources are used by a substantial number of students to aid learning, increasing productivity, and improving teaching. The availability of such targeted resources leads to an improved student experience

Facilitating student and staff engagement across multiple offshore campuses for transnational education using an immersive video augmented learning platform

Opportunities in transnational education have been growing across the higher education sector. The incentive for institutions to explore opening offshore satellite campuses includes access to more students and building the institutions reputation across the globe. A number of risks are also associated with transnational education, especially in terms of quality. It is important that students across all campuses receive the same high standard of education. That is, students at offshore campuses should not be placed at a disadvantage compared to students studying at the institutions main campus. This paper explores the possibility of providing students from offshore campuses better access to teaching staff from the institutions main campus. An immersive video augmented platform called iSee is used to simultaneously connect students from Singapore and Malaysia with teaching staff in Wollongong. The students undertook an exam revision session using video avatars in a virtual lecture theatre. The pilot showcased the opportunities of implementing this technology to improve student engagement and reduce academic workload. It also reinforced the need for more research in the transnational education field to ensure the same graduate outcomes are being achieved across campuses

Designing and Using Self-Paced Tutorials: Lessons from the Pilot

CONTEXT The literature has shown the importance of students developing threshold concepts and undertaking formative assessment. There are also suggestions within the literature that many students will not undertake beneficial activities that display no direct reward in terms of grades. A new electrical engineering common first year subject with 450 students resulted in bottle necks for providing effective feedback. An online self-paced tutorial resource was created that advanced students through core threshold concepts, supplemented with non-assessed activities that guided students through the process of solving problems and understanding class materia

Training laboratory: Using online resources to enhance the laboratory learning experience

2014 IEEE. Technology has enabled students to search and utilize information from a diverse range of sources. One mechanism that students turn to for additional resources is the internet. This paper explores student interaction with an internet resource, called the Training Laboratory. This resource has multiple uses, including: 1) the training of laboratory teaching assistants; 2) providing students an opportunity to develop pre-requisite laboratory skills; 3) reduce the workload of developing resources when designing laboratory notes; 4) reduce the duplication of learning fundamental laboratory skills in multiple subjects; 5) provide a means to share resources to satellite campuses; and, 6) provide a teaching tool to assist laboratory demonstrators. Feedback from students and staff, three years after implementation, indicate that this is an effective resource that has enhanced learning in the laboratory

Understanding how students use and appreciate online resources in the teaching laboratory

The internet is a great resource student\u27s use for learning. Reasons include the ease in searching with sites such as Google, or the vast collection of informative videos on YouTube. The teaching laboratory can also benefit from online resources, especially when students are deficient in prerequisite knowledge. The benefits are greatest when there are non-standard learning paths, and multiple entry points into a degree. This study undertakes a mixed methods research approach to try and understand how students use and appreciate an online resource, called the Training Laboratory, designed to support learning in the engineering teaching laboratory. The targeted resources are used to help support students as well as the laboratory teaching assistants (called laboratory demonstrators). The study finds that such resources are used by a substantial number of students to aid learning, increasing productivity, and improving teaching. The availability of such targeted resources leads to an improved student experience

The Role of Student Evaluations in Improving the Engineering Teaching Laboratory

Higher education in Australia is being transformed to focus more on student experience, but within the academic community debate continues as to the suitability and reliability of allowing student opinion to dictate quality systems. Research to date has been inconclusive in providing evidence to justify either side of the debate. Similarly, the focus on understanding if and how student opinion can define and improve quality in the engineering teaching laboratory is limited. This is important within engineering, because as a practicing profession the teaching laboratory is generally regarded as playing an important role in preparing graduates for their future careers. The purpose of this study is to create a more complete understanding of what contributes to a quality learning experience in the engineering laboratory The research examined laboratory and student evaluation data between 2007 and 2015 for twenty-five courses in the School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Most laboratory studies typically focus on one or two courses at a time for one or two years, which means this is one of the first of these types of studies to be conducted over an extended period of time. A variety of research methods are used, underpinned by an iterative refinement process to understand the quality relationship between the laboratory demonstrators, training, laboratory experiments, facilities, resources and perceived learning. For the first time, various lines of investigation are used to develop a process map which indicates the interconnections between the laboratory variables. This mapping found that student evaluation scores associated with laboratory experiments are linked to students’ perceived learning achieved in the cognitive and psychomotor domains, but they are also matched to assessment performance in the cognitive domain when measured by a laboratory exam. While laboratory demonstrators and questions to evaluate the facilities are not directly linked to learning, the mapping shows a complex series of interconnections that tend to influence student opinion on the experiment questions. The key to a quality laboratory experience are demonstrators that are well trained and mentored; laboratory activities that are engaging, with clear instructions, and teach fundamental skills like troubleshooting; the inclusion of additional resources that support learning in the laboratory, especially for students who do not follow the standard learning pathway; ensuring there is quality hardware and software; and ensuring an effective management structure is in place to ensure quality practices and promote continuous improvement. The findings from this study advance knowledge by providing evidence that student evaluation data can be used to guide improvements in the quality of laboratory experiences. The mapping also provides engineering departments with a tool to design holistic laboratory experiences that provide positive student experiences and improved perceived learning in multiple domains. It also proves to Deans and Heads of School the importance of effective management structures to ensure quality and implement continuous improvement practices in the laboratory

Exploring Student Interest of Online Peer Assisted Learning Using Mixed-Reality Technology

Supplementary Instruction, also known as Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), is a popular program supporting the educational development of students in a collaborative setting. Flexibility of delivery has been explored for a number of reasons including: work and family commitments; distance from campus; and integrating regional and transnational satellite campuses. Previous studies have found attempts to undertake online delivery of PASS lacking in student interest and have been restrained by the technology. This study attempts to build upon this research by investigating student interest and the suitability of using a mixed reality technology called iSee, based on video avatars within a 3D virtual world. Consistent with previous studies student interest was low, converting a planned quasi-experimental study into a simulation. The simulation suggests that the technology was suitable for online collaboration, with effective communication of course content between participants and a good sense of presence. This suggests this trial may gain greater student interest if undertaken within institutions offering predominantly online, distance education