1 / 19

Shifting the Responsibility of Learning in First Year Electrical Engineering Students.

George Gibbon Associate Professor School of Electrical and Information Engineering University of the Witwatersrand South Africa http://www.dept.ee.wits.ac.za/~gibbon. Shifting the Responsibility of Learning in First Year Electrical Engineering Students. Overview.

sailor
Download Presentation

Shifting the Responsibility of Learning in First Year Electrical Engineering Students.

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. George Gibbon Associate Professor School of Electrical and Information Engineering University of the Witwatersrand South Africa http://www.dept.ee.wits.ac.za/~gibbon Shifting the Responsibility of Learning in First Year Electrical EngineeringStudents.

  2. Overview • The students we get (Raw material) • Support programmes • Society’s requirements • Problem solving and critical thinking • How (Electric Circuits) • Results

  3. The raw material Clever students (IQ)! (TV/Computer generation) • Possibly with no engineering aptitude or interest Result of “Internationalisation” of the South African secondary education system (1994) Success based on rote learning techniques • Dependence on teachers for • Material to be learnt • Learning techniques • Examination techniques • Spotting of examination questions Students are totally dependent on their teachers, in a comfort zone, with little imagination, low self-confidence and no intrinsic-motivation.

  4. The raw material Clever students (IQ)! (TV/Computer generation) • Possibly with no engineering aptitude or interest Result of “Internationalisation” of the South African secondary education system (1994) Success based on rote learning techniques • Dependence on teachers for • Material to be learnt • Learning techniques • Examination techniques • Spotting of examination questions Students are totally dependent on their teachers, in a comfort zone, with little imagination, low self-confidence and no intrinsic-motivation.

  5. Support (“Scaffolding”) Programmes Programmes: • Pre-University Bursary Scheme (1986) • College of Science • Engineering Foundation Programme (1994) • Compulsory Small-group Tutorials (1994) Side Effects: • Increased failure rate in third and fourth year • Increased failure of the design and research projects in fourth year (Honours year)

  6. Requirements Society (ECSA):Engineers must: Creatively and innovatively identify, assess, formulate and solve convergent and divergent problems using: • mathematical and numerical analysis • statistical methods • physical laws • techniques and principles of engineering science • knowledge of the world (financial, ethical, environmental) and communicate their results*. University (Government): Pass more students without changing standards. The School:Increase throughput and eliminate failure in the 3rd and4th years. *Outcome of all University degrees

  7. Problem solving requires “Self-motivated and Creative Critical Thinkers” • Identify and challenge all assumptions • Imagine and explore alternatives • Emotive as well as rational • Reject standard formats of problem solving • Have multiple perspectives on problems • Use trial-and-error and alternative approaches in experimentation • Embrace change optimistically • Self confident and trust in their own judgement

  8. Creative Critical Thinking (Brookfield 1987) • A process not an outcome • Internal, but usually connected with an externally imposed crisis. • A productive and positive activity. Discouraged by: • Governments, religious leaders, university and industry administrations, peers etc. • Cornerstone of democracy • If a problem already has a solution there is no problem!! • You cannot teach people “problem solving” by providing them with the solution (see 1). (Gibbon)

  9. What we decided to do? • Remove the comfort zone (externally imposed crisis) • Introduce the use of imagination, visualisation and the fun of exploration • “Force” self-responsibility (intrinsic-motivation) • Build self-confidence (Empower the students)

  10. Two formal tests and an exam.

  11. Electric Circuits Laboratory 1: • Using the supplied components build the “Amplifier with Gain=20” on page 5 of the attached LM386 data sheet. • Demonstrate the output of the amplifier with an appropriate input signal supplied to the microphone. Attached are laboratory assignments “Introduction to the Oscilloscope” and “Introduction to the Digital Multi-meter” which may help you to test the amplifier and demonstrate the output signal.

  12. Management of the imposed crisis The stages psychologists associate with a loss: • Shock • Denial • Strong emotion • Resistance and withdrawal • Struggle and exploration • Return of confidence • Integration and success. Foundation / Special Programmes

  13. Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) • Students were aware that the more actively they participated in the course the more likely they were to have made gains in critical and independent thinking. • The weakest group, even when pushed by the interviewer, would not blame the lecturers or the university for their failures and accepted responsibility - a very unusual phenomena.

  14. Feedback from the Tutors Tutors feel at least 80% of the class reallyknow how to use an oscilloscope.

  15. Results Electric Circuits Results: 2004

  16. Mathematics II What had we done to the students? For the first time they were: • well behaved • attentive • prepared for both the lectures and tutorials • reading ahead without instructions to do so.

  17. In conclusion Courses continuing the teaching philosophy • Engineering Skills and Design Course (1st year) • Electronics I, Software Engineering I (2nd year) • Electronics II (3rd year) • Measurement Systems (4th year) The future • Involve all the staff and service courses We are Developing the imagination, self-confidence, intrinsic-motivation, critical thinking and problem solving skills of our students.

More Related