Education, Development, Leadership and Management

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3D visualization skills incorporation into an undergraduate biology course.
(1999) Osodo, Joseph.; Amory, Alan M.; Graham-Jolly, Michael.
Current trends indicate that the population explosion and invasion of information technology, particularly in developing nations, are likely to overwhelm education systems and policy makers, educators, researchers and therefore the community faces enormous challenges. Also, many graduates of various levels and disciplines appear unable to practically apply their knowledge in problem solving situations. In an attempt to achieve and maintain high educational standards, many nations are devoting substantial proportions of the gross domestic product toward educational endeavours. However, few systems are adopting modern education practices that intrinsically motivate and engage learners, and are at the same time flexible enough to consider students' aspirations and interests. It is argued that such systems would make learning more relevant, meaningful and enjoyable to the learners and are bound to improve exit performances. In such a system, the role of the teacher is that of a facilitator, and not instructor. Constructivism, a philosophy which holds that knowledge is actively constructed by learners through learning, is regarded as promising to provide a long-term solution to many educational problems since its underlying principles are argued to be holistic. It has become imperative that technology in general and the computer in particular should play a role as educational tools as these have capabilities that could be designed to make learning relevant and interesting to learners. It is argued that its use within constructivist approaches and curriculum considerations would increase learner abilities. An eclectic approach to curriculum design is advised for success in this endeavour. Since computers permeate most aspects of our lives (directly or indirectly) their inclusion in teaching and learning situations must become a reality. This project is focused on underscoring the fact that computer based education (CBE), under constructivist philosophy, can provide solutions to problems brought about by extreme interpretations of the deductive or traditional teaching approach. Particularly, it attempts to show that use of three-dimensional (3D) visualizations could significantly aid comprehension and perception of, among other units of discourse, cytoplasmic structure, geo-referenced graphical data, and the understanding of spatial relationships. This is a technique that has, in the recent past, received little attention and no extensive educational research has been carried out with the aim of perfecting it. Recent research carried out by members of the Biological Pedagogy (Bioped) research group identified conceptual problems in learners regarding biological processes such as photosynthesis and respiration. Having established that the misconceptions in learners were attributable to their lack of visualization ability, the first part of the project involved identifying some of the specific visual problems. A qualitative research approach was used to ascertain from university lecturers what convictions, beliefs and experiences they had had with their students that related to use of visualization skills. Skills most required included interpretation of 2D and 3D structures as well as their rotation in space. A survey was also carried out among Cell Biology first and second year students of the School of Life and Environmental Studies in order to precisely determine aspects of three-dimensionality and visual skills suspected to cause conceptual difficulties. Quantitative data analysis showed that the most deficient skills in the learners included pattern folding (projecting 2D material into 3D objects), orientation of form (identifying 3D objects that are oriented differently) and rotation (identifying 3D objects from top and front views). These findings corroborated qualitative analysis of lecturers opinions and convictions. An educational computer game was designed with the aim of ameliorating these problems. The game consisted of 3D scenes where puzzles related to the skills mentioned above needed to be solved. It was recommended that visualization skills should be incorporated into the biology curriculum for all undergraduate students within the first year of the course.
Research and development of Internet-based courseware in higher education.
(1999) Naicker, Sarvalogan.; Amory, Alan M.
Curriculum experts, instructional technologists and teachers are looking at computer technology to address many of the inadequacies that plague traditional teaching. These inadequacies include practical limitations and outdated educational philosophies that encourage rote learning and passive transfer of information from teacher to student via the typical lecture-based classroom. Often educational technology is used as an add-on to make content available to students. However, technological tools should rather be used to facilitate productivity and communication in the modern classroom. In addition, the introduction of technology into the classroom can be used to completely transform the traditional lecture into interactive computer-based learning environments. Provided that innovation can be sustained and supported over a period of time, the creative use of technology should enhance sound pedagogical principles rather than replace it. This project reports on the development and evaluation of two, second year, Biology Internet-based software packages used by students in a computer-based constructivist environment that replaced the traditional lecture based model. The first part of the project involved the evaluation of a number of Internet-courses to identify appropriate design and development criteria. This information was then used to create an Educational Software Evaluation Tool (ESET). The courses on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism were then developed in conjunction with subject experts. Evaluations of these learning environments were conducted via paper-based questionnaires, student interviews and student evaluations using ESET. Additional quantitative data was obtained by comparing examination results with the previous year to measure the impact of the technology on learning outcomes. The results of the software evaluation indicated that students found the user interface of the software products easy to use and navigate. Students also rated construction of information from a searchable database highly. This project showed that student learning was improved by self-paced, user-controlled, non-linear software usage. The results also showed that personal information construction by students improved understanding of concepts and led to deeper learning and acquisition of specific skills such as problem solving, information navigation and self-management. Giving students responsibility for their own learning was also shown to be beneficial to them as a life-long learning skill. Evaluation of the learning environment by students indicated that they valued the permanent availability of Internet-based information highly and felt that having assistants (demonstrators and the subject expert) helped them to direct and guide their learning. The results also revealed that students learnt better in groups and that members of the group participated in communicating and constructing shared knowledge. The role of the teacher in this project was transformed from information provider to information facilitator, as the teacher became an additional resource and had more time to spend answering specific questions and problems. Evaluation of student behaviour via interviews revealed that student attitudes were improved and that they enjoyed working with the software. Students found the environment comfortable to work in, were motivational and thought the system was a highly effective way of preparing for the examinations. Students also regarded this active form of learning as far more effective than traditional lectures, although they felt that introductory lectures could still play a role in providing them with direction and focus. Quantitative analysis indicated that students understood key concepts in both the courses, and examination performances revealed that students performed better in both the computer-based courses than in the lecture-based courses for this particular year. Further analysis showed that students performed better than the previous year with respect to the Carbohydrate Metabolism course, but not for the Lipid Metabolism Course (no significant difference). Quantitative and qualitative comparisons between the Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism course identified that the Carbohydrate Metabolism course offered students with dynamic content that fostered knowledge construction from a searchable database with easy navigation tools, whereas the Lipid Metabolism course consisted of pre-structured static content that students found difficult to search. This result indicates that interactive components foster constructivist based learning skills are an essential part on on-line learning environments. The results of this study include a model for designing, developing and evaluating education software and concluded that technology based on sound pedagogy can be successfully and effectively integrated into the classroom and form the basis for future prolonged development and learning.

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Browsing Education, Development, Leadership and Management by Author "Amory, Alan M."