Good Practice Case Study

Building Enquiry into an Undergraduate Subject - Faculty of Informatics

Contributed by:

Professor Fazel Naghdy
Faculty of Informatics

Abstract:

Embedded Internet Systems is a 2nd year subject covering rapidly changing technologies. Each year, students are given an overview current to the previous year. They then work in groups to research the latest technology, helping to update the content.

Aims:

Embedded Internet Systems ECTE281 has around 20-30 second-year undergraduates each year, mostly from Bachelor of Internet Science and Technology.

The subject deals with rapidly changing technologies across a whole range of fields. A great deal of descriptive material needs be covered. It’s hard for the coordinator to maintain, and it’s hard for the students to absorb. An effective approach was needed to:

get students engaged
assist and encourage students to articulate and absorb information
ensure the subject content is up-to-date.

I aimed to develop an interesting way for students to research information – if students could do this, a lot of learning would take place, and it would helpful to me in bringing the content up-to-date.

Content

“Embedded systems” are those where a computer or microprocessor is embedded inside a product. Examples are mobile phones and GPS. Many of these systems have to be able to communicate with other products or networks.

There is no textbook covering this material. The content is distributed across a range of rapidly evolving fields. Some technologies have a life of only around six months before they become obsolete. It is therefore not a suitable subject for students to learn core material and then study for an exam. Rather, they need to engage with rapidly changing fields and approaches to design and development.

Outcomes:

Students acquire an understanding of the concepts, methodologies and typical applications of embedded internet real-time systems.
The group project creates a great deal of excitement. Students are very engaged as active participants in the subject content, and deeply immersed in current research.
The research carried out by each group is generally of high quality.
The new R & D discovered by students in each area is often quite significant.
Groups demonstrate good critical thinking in evaluating their findings. The research carried out by students and the outcomes produced have proved to be important components of learning processes in the subject.
The websites developed by the groups are mostly creative and informative
The approach has provided a systematic way to ensure that the latest developments related to the subject are covered, leading to reduced workload on the subject coordinator.

What was done?

Teaching philosophy

I usually try to follow particular models in my delivery, and for this subject I used Anderson’s and Krathwohl’s (2001) extended Bloom taxonomy.
Starting at the bottom of this pyramid, the lectures provide the basic concepts. In quizzes and tutorials, I look at cultivating students’ deeper understanding of the topics. We created some laboratories for the students to apply their understanding to real applications. Finally, we introduce group projects that give students the opportunity to analyse and evaluate, and also use their creativity. We try to combine all the elements.

Through these processes, we have tried to embed Bloom’s taxonomy into the delivery of the subject.

Blooms Triangle

Diagram source: R C Overbaugh’s Bloom’s Taxonomy web page
http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm

Supporting student enquiry

I divide the syllabus into topics and divide the topics between the groups. Each group has a different topic, such as Smart Cards.
In the lectures, I present the core knowledge for each topic. For example, I tell students what a Smart Card is and how they developed, and I describe the technical and ethical issues. Then I explain that the field is rapidly changing, and will have changed even in the twelve months since I last gave my lecture series.
I send them out to find out the latest developments in Smart Card sensing. I tell them “I’ll take your material and use it for next year’s class”. I tell them they are helping me, that I change my lectures each year based on their research.
Each group is required to develop a website on the topic assigned, with full referencing.

Applied Taxonomy

The content of web site has to include:
- A comprehensive description of the topic area
- The latest developments in the area.
- Links to related web sites, articles, information, etc.
- Critical analysis of the information obtained and future development
For assessment, I give 6% for the technical quality and completeness of the website, 5% for its aesthetic quality and ease of use and 4% for the clarity, effectiveness and the quality of presentation.
Each group also does a presentation on their website to the rest of the class.
All this forms material from which the rest of the class can learn, and complements the materials that I cover.
As material discovered by the students creeps into core of the topic, I take this and incorporate it into my lectures.

Key dates:

Commenced 2002, ongoing.

Critical success factors:

There’s so much information now – I see myself as a facilitator as much as a teacher. It’s a waste of time for students if I just talk from the textbook.
Believing that undergraduate students can do research. Some people think they can’t, but they can if they are directed. I found that they uncovered significant new research and development findings, including ones I was unaware of.

Review and improvement:

Creating a cooperative environment for the groups to work together was a challenge to start with. I introduced the use of groups on WebCT and that helped in the operation of the groups and my task of managing the website.

Future plans:

Ongoing iterative improvements are made to the subject.

References

Anderson, L and Krathwohl, D (eds) (2001), A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom`s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Longman, New York.