Sharing Session on Breeze and PBL -16 Jan
We were most delighted to have two of our colleagues share with us their tips and thoughts in a Teaching and Learning Session (16 Jan) organised by the iTiT and AQ teams. Steven Lim showed us how to use "Breeze" (nope, not how to use "Breeze" to wash your whites whiter!) and Dennis Tay shared about how a problem-based learning approach has been used in a computing module for first year students.
Steven demonstrated how easy it was for us to turn our PowerPoint slides into a Breeze presentation. This could be especially useful if you are dealing with topics which are very factual, or if you are not able to deliver your lecture personally, as in the case of your lecture falling on a public holiday. Steven also shared with us how Breeze could allow for multiple-choice questions/fill-in-the blank questions/ short answers questions to be incorporated into the lecture presentation, which can make your lecture even more interactive and interesting for students.
One useful tip, he led on, was to break up the lecture materials into a few parts when they are uploaded on Mel. As a guide, he felt it was best not to have more than 10 -15 slides in each presentation, so that students would not get bored with both the slides and your voice! If you feel that your voice is not able to hold the students’ attention, then TLC would be able to create a voice file (you could even decide what accent you wanted!) to help you beat that!
Dennis, the module leader for Business Computing and Applications last semester shared with us how he felt the students had benefited from a “modified” problem-based learning approach adopted for this module. Students who take this module are given two problems to solve, as part of the assessment plan. With a small amount of guidance from their tutors, they are expected to put on their thinking caps to make use of what they have learnt (e.g. Excel) to solve business problems. In fact, the use of discussion forums where students post their questions and answers, has been a very popular platform for students to sound out their ideas or ask questions. Many have learnt much from their peers who post answers to their questions, or from their tutors who facilitate the discussion.
Students have given very positive feedback about this style of learning, and feel that it has made them more independent and more critical in their analysis. They understand business problems better and are more confident of their abilities, when they manage to resolve issues raised in their PBL assignments. However, tutors feel that the large class size (1 tutor to 40 students) may be less than ideal for such a learning pedagogy
Steven demonstrated how easy it was for us to turn our PowerPoint slides into a Breeze presentation. This could be especially useful if you are dealing with topics which are very factual, or if you are not able to deliver your lecture personally, as in the case of your lecture falling on a public holiday. Steven also shared with us how Breeze could allow for multiple-choice questions/fill-in-the blank questions/ short answers questions to be incorporated into the lecture presentation, which can make your lecture even more interactive and interesting for students.One useful tip, he led on, was to break up the lecture materials into a few parts when they are uploaded on Mel. As a guide, he felt it was best not to have more than 10 -15 slides in each presentation, so that students would not get bored with both the slides and your voice! If you feel that your voice is not able to hold the students’ attention, then TLC would be able to create a voice file (you could even decide what accent you wanted!) to help you beat that!
Dennis, the module leader for Business Computing and Applications last semester shared with us how he felt the students had benefited from a “modified” problem-based learning approach adopted for this module. Students who take this module are given two problems to solve, as part of the assessment plan. With a small amount of guidance from their tutors, they are expected to put on their thinking caps to make use of what they have learnt (e.g. Excel) to solve business problems. In fact, the use of discussion forums where students post their questions and answers, has been a very popular platform for students to sound out their ideas or ask questions. Many have learnt much from their peers who post answers to their questions, or from their tutors who facilitate the discussion.
Students have given very positive feedback about this style of learning, and feel that it has made them more independent and more critical in their analysis. They understand business problems better and are more confident of their abilities, when they manage to resolve issues raised in their PBL assignments. However, tutors feel that the large class size (1 tutor to 40 students) may be less than ideal for such a learning pedagogy
posted by bigmama at 1:09 AM
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