Title: Workshop jointly with the Engineering Subject Centre Improving the student experience of learning el
1Workshop jointly with the Engineering Subject
CentreImproving the student experience of
learning electronics
Noel Entwistle, Jennifer Nisbet, and Adrian
Bromage Edinburgh and Coventry
2Outline of the workshop
- Introduce the project as a whole
- Explain the concepts being used
- Describe EEE settings and data collection
- Explain the analyses and present findings
- Consider the relevance and implications
3TLRP programme objectivesESRC Teaching and
Learning Research Programme
- Enhancing learning outcomes engagement
- Developing research collaborating with users
- Achieving synergy across disciplines stages
- Transforming theoretical knowledge for users
- Producing findings valuable for practitioners
4Research objectives and processes
- Work with colleagues in five subject areas to
explore teaching and learning in their discipline - Explore how teaching-learning environments in
each subject area help or hinder student
understanding - Use the interplay between quantitative and
qualitative methods to build up evidence on the
effects of teaching on learning - Investigate ways of encouraging university
teachers to enhance their teaching through
carefully designed, detailed feedback from
students
5 Main phases of the project
-
- Phase 1
- Reviews of the literature, development of
questionnaires, analysis of national teaching
quality reports, telephone interviews with staff
in excellent departments -
- Phase 2
-
- First year group - identify departments and
course units, interview staff, collect
questionnaire data at start and end of course
units analyse these baseline data, report back
to course teams, suggest and negotiate
collaborative initiatives -
- Following year group - repeat data collection,
analyse data and compare with previous year
group, report back to course team, discuss the
effects of the collaborative initiative -
- Phase 3
- Prepare reports and communicate findings in
various ways designed for each of the main
audiences of users
6 Phase 1 analyses of
teaching-learning environments
- Teaching quality reports of 12 departments in
each subject area and telephone interviews with
staff in 6 of those departments were found to
differ systematically in the following aspects - Administrative
- Research
- Professional
- Teaching
- Student support
- And student characteristics suggesting aspects
of alignment - Entry qualifications, knowledge and skills at
entry, work experience, age, gender, ethnic and
home background, student sub-culture
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8Main concepts within Phase 2
- Teaching-learning environment
- Constructive alignment
- Ways of thinking practising in the subject
- Students approaches to studying
- Students experiences and perceptions of the
teaching-learning environment
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10Constructive alignment
-
- A good teaching system aligns teaching method
and assessment to the learning activities stated
in the objectives, so that all aspects of this
system act in accord to support appropriate
learning. This system is called constructive
alignment, based as it is on the twin principles
of constructivism in learning and alignment in
teaching. - John Biggs (2003, p. 11)
11Ways of thinking and practising in the subject
(WTP)
-
- The richness, depth and breadth of what students
might learn through engagement with a given
subject area in a specific context. This might
include, for example, coming to terms with
particular understandings, forms of discourse,
values or ways of acting which are regarded as
central to graduate-level mastery of a discipline
or subject area - McCune Hounsell (2005)
12Approaches to learning and studying
-
-
- Deep approach- understand for yourself
- Surface approach- complete required work
- Organised studying and time-management
- Effort and concentration
-
13Experiences and perceptions of the
teaching-learning environment
- Clear aims and well-organised course unit
- Teaching focusing on understanding WTP
- Set work and feedback supporting WTP
- Staff enthusiasm and support
- Support from other students
- Interest and enjoyment
-
14Main components of Phase 2 data
- Documents describing the course unit and
materials made available to students -
- Discussions and interviews with members of
course team transcribed or recorded in notes -
- Questionnaires completed by students at start
and end of each selected course unit Learning
and Studying Questionnaire -SLQ Experiences
of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire - ETLQ - Interviews with small groups of students about
their experiences of teaching
15Electronic engineering settings
- Ancient research-intensive university
- Analogue units in second and fourth year
- Technological research-intensive university
- Analogue in second, third and fourth years
- Post-1992 university
- Analogue taught in the final year
- Technology college
- Introduction to microprocessors
16Strategy for integrating findings
-
- Build up evidence from a variety of sources to
reach conclusions, in much the same way as a
barrister builds up a case in court - Establish the main type of ways of thinking and
practising being encouraged in the course
units from literature, Phase 1, and
interviews with staff students - Consider the extent to which different
teaching-learning environments were seen by
students as supporting their learning
effectively from questionnaires, and
interviews with students and staff - Evaluate the perceived effects of the
collaborative initiatives to explore effective
pedagogy within the subject area from
questionnaires, and interviews with students and
staff
17 Ways of thinking in analogue electronics
-
- Appreciating the overall function of a circuit
-
- Recognising the crucial groups of components
-
- Seeing how to set about analysing different
circuits -
- Having the necessary analytic tools for
solutions -
- Developing a memory bank of contrasting examples
-
- Thinking intuitively in designing new circuits
-
18 Strategy for looking at student learning
-
- Analyse relationships between questionnaire
scales - Compare the means of scales for course units
- Analyse the responses to individual items
- Analyse the interview transcripts for further
evidence - Report findings to teaching staff and discuss
- Devise a collaborative initiative where
appropriate
19Analyses of questionnaires Factor analysis of
the complete set of scales
-
- Factor I Good experiences of teaching
outcomes - linked to low surface approach in electronic
engineering -
- Factor II Deep approach with interest in the
subject -
- Factor III Organised effort put into studying
-
- Factor IV Surface approach with lack of
purpose - linked to choosing unit because thought to be
easy (EE) -
- Factor V Perceived easiness and achievement
- linked to prior achievement and low surface in
EE
20Mean scale scores for three unitsReasons for
taking the degree and the unit
-
- Course unit A (94) B
(68) C (54) - Reasons for taking the degree
- Career 4.14 4.22 4.39
- Interest 4.08 3.87 3.70
- Social 4.10 4.03 4.02
- Lack of purpose 1.78 2.00
2.85 - Reasons for taking the unit
- Needed for career 3.20 3.28 3.62
- Interest 4.05 3.82 3.50
- Importance 4.45 4.30 4.04
- Expected easiness 1.60 1.62 1.57
- All scales recalculated to be on a 1-5 (high)
scale with a median of 3
21Mean scale scores for three unitsApproaches to
studying and perceived easiness of unit
-
- Course unit A (94)
B (68) C (54) - Approaches to learning and studying
- Deep approach prior to unit 3.76 3.55
3.41 - Surface approach prior to unit 2.51
2.80 3.11 - Effort 3.57 3.64 3.61
- Difference in deep during unit -
0.45 - 0.14 0.11 - Difference in surface during unit 0.54
0.19 - 0.33 - Perceived easiness of demands made by unit
- Knowledge 3.41 3.73 3.35
- Pace 2.40 3.02 3.63
- Academic difficulty 2.62 2.89
2.99 - Workload 2.57 2.92 3.30
22Mean scale scores for three unitsExperiences of
teaching and knowledge acquired
-
- Course unit A (94)
B (68) C (54) -
- Clear aims and well-organised unit 3.86
3.71 4.47 -
- Teaching focusing on understanding 3.17
3.39 3.69 -
- Set work and feedback for WTP 3.52 3.05
3.87 -
- Staff enthusiasm and support 4.10
4.24 4.66 -
- Support from other students 3.95 3.89
3.96 -
- Interest and enjoyment 3.03 3.05
4.19 - Knowledge and skills acquired 3.63 3.62
4.13
23Changes in approaches to studying Percentage
agreement with items before and during units
-
- Course unit A (94)
B (68) C (54) - I usually set out to understand
Before 95.6 87.5 81.2 - During 72.1 82.5 75.0
-
- Trouble making sense of things Before 25.0
40.0 43.7 - During 61.8 55.0
34.4 - Generally put a lot of effort in
Before 60.3 77.5 53.1 -
During 51.5 60.0 40.6 -
- Systematic and organised study Before 65.9
62.5 46.9
During 44.1 47.5 50.0 -
24Experiences of teaching Percentage agreement
with items on the same three units
-
- Course unit A (94) B (68)
C (54) - Easy pace in lectures 25.3 46.9
72.5 - Amount of work required easy 33.3 34.7
52.5 - Teaching fitted in with learning 72.0 67.3
97.5 - Most of material was interesting 45.3 34.7
82.5 - Plenty of examples provided 66.7 51.0
95.0 - Staff were patient in explaining 81.3 81.6
92.5 - Feedback given made things clearer 63.7 30.6
47.5
25Attitudes and approaches to studying - 1
-
- Youre repeatedly reading it, hearing it,
talking about it, doing it, doing it, doing it
and that doesnt work for me. For first, second
and part of third year, it was a case of scraping
by. Ive tried to go through the motions its
the sameness. Each day is that pattern. -
- At the beginning I was all at sea, sort of too
much information at one time. I just think that
were given too many different concepts at one
time It seemed that once wed gone over one
specific network we werent given enough time to
absorb the information before we were given
another one, and the difficulty level increased
as you went onwards. -
26Attitudes and approaches to studying - 2
-
-
- You have to focus your energy where its
rewarded You work through the problems and for
the analogue ones, you dont get any answers out
of them. -
- You cant see how in the world you got from
point a to point b. I tended to work blindly.
I knew if I just followed these steps, then I
could get an answer, but have no idea what to do
and yet we scrape by. -
- We probably would have got great marks had we
actually understood what we were doing.
27Delayed understanding
-
- In second year I got a better understanding of
what I learnt - in first year. Now in third year Ive kind of
learnt what I was - supposed to know in second year. Its a shame
Ive never - felt that Ive learned it in the actual year it
was taught - When youre being taught something, youre just
desperately - trying to learn it, and theres not necessarily a
whole lot of - interest. Youre scrambling back to notes in
preparing for - the exams, trying to understand the course. Later
on, you - do get interested and then things start to fall
into place.
28 - What do these findings suggest to you?
- What were the problems facing the students?
- What do you see as the main causes of them?
- What might be done to overcome them?
29Difficulties in learning analogue
- Seeing the relevance when carrying out analyses
- Coping with the pace as new ideas are introduced
- Lack of variety in the teaching-learning
experiences - Not understanding which type of circuit is
involved - Reduced confidence through failing to solve
problems - Not enough feedback to understand mistakes
30 Collaborative initiatives in analogue
- Increase students focus on understanding by
reflecting on problem-solving processes - Problem-solving in electronics stressed and
modelled during lectures examples
classes - Students encouraged to use a log-book to
record and comment on solutions - Arrangements made to facilitate systematic
group discussion during tutorials
31Helpfulness of teaching-learning activities
in three units involved in the collaborative
initiative
- Mean ratings on 1 -7 scale Unit A
Unit B Unit C - (N 59) (73)
(27) - The way diagrams presented 5.0
5.3 5.9 - The way ideas explained in lectures 4.3
5.6 5.2 - Lecture explanations of problems 4.2
5.8 4.9 - Worked examples provided 5.0 3.6
5.7 - Working on problems on own 5.2 4.6
5.3 - Using the log-book 4.2 4.3 5.1
- Staff help in tutorials 5.0 4.0
5.9 - Discussions with other students 4.8
4.7 5.0
32The logic of teaching analogue
electronicsTeaching-learning activities
necessary in supporting learning
-
- Circuits linked to real-life illustrations from
industry - Main circuit components highlighted in diagrams
-
- Functions of circuits fully explained with
examples -
- Ways of thinking about circuits exemplified
-
- Students work through varied examples comment
-
- Worked examples provided and fully explained
-
- Sufficient tutors available to provide prompt
advice -
- Progress monitored in tutorial work and tests
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35References related to project
-
- See papers in International Journal of
Electrical Engineering Education 42/1, 2005, and
other papers on, or forthcoming, on project
web-site at www.ed.ac.uk/etl/publications.html - McCune, V., Hounsell, D. J. (2005). The
development of students ways of thinking and
practising in three final-year biology courses.
Higher Education, 49, 255289 -
36Indicative general references
- Biggs, J. B. (2003). Teaching for Quality
Learning at University. (2nd Ed). Buckingham
SRHE and Open University Press. - Entwistle, N. J. (1998). Improving teaching
through research in student learning. In J. J. F.
Forest (Ed.), University Teaching International
Perspectives (pp. 73-112). New York Garland
Publishing. - Entwistle, N. J. (2003). Concepts and conceptual
frameworks underpinning the ETL project. ETL
Occasional Reports, 3, see the project web site - Marton, F., Säljö, R. (1997). Approaches to
learning. - In Marton, F., Hounsell, D. J., Entwistle, N.
J. (Eds.), The Experience of Learning (2nd ed.)
(pp. 39-58). Edinburgh Scottish Academic Press
(now on project web site).