First published: Jan 2002.

On the first day of semester, senior lecturer Kannappa Iynkaran told his second-year Fluid Mechanics students,

“This is the first and the last time that you’ll be attending lectures this semester.”

He proceeded to give each of the startled students two CD-ROMs containing a set of Computer-Based Training materials that he had painstakingly developed over six months with a few temporary programmers.

Dr Iynkaran explained why he chose to do so.

“Research conducted over recent years have revealed that lecturing is the least effective mode of instruction, regardless of the content or instructor. Even with very good lectures, most students remember only 20% of the contents after the event.”

Instead, he believed that “learning can be improved if examples and practice are embedded in the lecture, say, 10 minutes of lecture followed by worked examples and practice problems which give detailed feedback on the work and solutions.”

Problems Faced by Staff and Students

In addition, Dr Iynkaran also found that staff and students face these problems:

• Many students need the opportunity to go back and go over the material several times. However, they can’t do so through traditional lectures.
• Students who learn fast are held back by having to learn with a group.
• Lecturers in NP often find that they don’t have enough time to cover thoroughly both foundation topics and higher order skills in the content domain, such as analysis, synthesis and problem-solving.
• Lecturers in NP could not reach out effectively to those who cannot come to campus (because they are on leave or from other countries), those who opt for a nearer polytechnic out of convenience, and workers who change jobs or need skills upgrading.

Flexible Learning — the Promised Solution

After some research and deliberation, Dr Iynkaran believed that the solution to all these problems is in facilitating flexible learning through an online delivery platform, and student assessments through computer-managed tests. Where necessary, hardcopy textbooks can be purchased.

So, in late 2000, Dr Iynkaran worked with Prof. Szabo of University of Alberta, Canada to produce a model Online Education program. He then visited 4 universities to discuss and study their methods of implementing distance education. Upon his return to NP, he developed a set of multimedia lessons for 8 topics in Fluid Mechanics.

By browsing the CD-ROMs, a student can easily access the Syllabus, Learning Objectives, Assessment details, Schedule, FAQs, Lecture Notes, Lab Sheets, Worked Examples, Practice Tutorials & Quizzes and Group Discussion for each topic. Also online were Lectures-on-Demand (video-taped presentations with multimedia animations) and interactive lessons in the Tutor-Me section.

Further Improvements in the Pipeline

After a semester of online learning, Dr Iynkaran conducted a survey among his students. Generally, the responses were positive. Some even suggested:

• Grouping problems and solutions by difficulty level.
• More written materials to practise on.
• More model answers to refer to.
• More FAQs, examples and video clips to reinforce understanding of the topics.
• More computers on campus for needy students.
• More info on CDs so that lecture notes on paper becomes unnecessary.

Dr Iynkaran acknowledged that no system can be perfect, especially right from the beginning. For example, although the Web-based version is now about 90 percent complete, students require broadband connection to access the Lectures-on-Demand successfully. Meanwhile, he has modified his teaching method a little — he spends the first two weeks conducting lectures and later gives students an option to attend face-to-face lectures. In addition, all students now sign a Learning Contract promising to go through all the CD materials in the scheduled time frame.

Student Perspectives

“I really like it. It’s much more fun than normal lectures, and we can view some interesting tests or experiments which cannot be conducted during lectures.”
- a student’s comment on the CD-ROM lessons in a survey conducted by Dr Iynkaran

“Self-discipline is needed and I don’t have it.”
- another student’s comment on why he doesn’t like self-paced learning with the CD-ROMs

Lecturer’s Perspectives

“Multimedia interactive teaching material can be built around short video lectures or information sessions, worked examples, followed by extensive individual practice in which the student gets specific feedback based on his or her performance.”

“Once the lessons are built and running, instructors can spend more time guiding individual students, upgrading the materials and other portions of the educational program.”

Dr Iynkaran

Author

Article by Tan Jhoo Kim, formerly of Teaching and Learning Centre, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.