Interactive tutorials promote effective learning

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 2015

When students are dealing with online tutorial, there are challengers they must answer using any skill they have. The challenge and skill must be at the same ‘height’ in order for them to immerse with online tutorial activities. Several aspects will be considered as challenge and skill. One challenge under the scrutiny is the page length used to present course materials. The length of tutorial presented in an online tutorial portal varies depends on its topic. The comfort of reading long tutorial depends on how the materials are presented in an online tutorial website, whether it is presented as one long page or shorter multi pages. The comfort that the students obtain from reading an online tutorial may influence whether they decide to continue reading the material or abandon it. This paper reports the result of a study to investigate how tutorial length influences student engagement. The research method employed in this study was a laboratory experiment followed by a post experime...

2012

Elluminate is a web conferencing tool which is linked with BlackboardTM. It offers the opportunity to interact with the lecturer and other students on your module wherever you are in the world. Elluminate allows lecturers to schedule synchronous virtual classroom and webinar sessions. There are a number of tools for lecturers to use such as a virtual white board, screen sharing, web tours, breakout rooms and polling. Participants can communicate through text chat, as well as using a microphone or web cam when permitted. It can be very useful in distance learning as well as when using a blended approach. Aston has integrated Elluminate with BlackboardTM to allow for easy scheduling of sessions as well as convenient user management.

An alternative approach to lecturing is interactive lecture. In some literature, interactive teaching is forwarded as a means to increase the effectiveness of lectures. In traditional method of teaching by taking lectures only knowledge and information is delivered by lecturer but effectiveness of learning by student cannot be insured. One of the methods to insure effective learning by student is involving them in Interactive teaching and learning environment. Some study results suggest that students may learn as much in interactive lectures compared with traditional lectures, but a traditional lecture may also result in active student involvement. Interactive lecturing involves an increased interchange between teachers, students and the lecture content. The use of interactive lectures can promote active learning, heighten attention and motivation, give feedback to the teacher and the student, and increase satisfaction for both. This paper describes general strategies that can promote interactivity during lectures as well as some of interactive techniques that can be used in class of around 60 students. In some literature much has been written about effective lecturing and presentation skills in engineering education but little has been written about the benefits and strategies of interactive lecturing for engineering teachers. The aim of this paper is to discuss common fears and concerns about using this method of teaching, to describe the advantages and indications for interactive lectures, to outline some of interactive techniques that can be incorporated into engineering teaching at all levels.

Public Services Quarterly, 2010

Teaching of Psychology, 2002

Focused Interactive Learning (FIL) is a tool for teaching psychological concepts through student participation in a focused discussion with other class members. Students from 5 upper and lower level psychology courses participated in FIL exercises in which they answered several multiple-choice or opinion questions on their own and then systematically discussed each item for about 2 min with other students before giving a final answer. FIL increased student test performance, helped them get to know other students in the class, and had a small effect on students' self-reported participation and interest in psychology. Along with the call for more active learning in the classroom has come a request for more research on active learning techniques (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). In this article, we offer an evaluation of Focused Interactive Learning (FIL), an active learning technique based on principles of dynamic social impact theory (Harton, Green, Jackson, & Latané, 1998; Latané, 1996). Students answered multiple-choice or opinion questions, then discussed each item with others in the class for about 1 to 2 min each. After discussion, they answered the items again. The instructor then led a short discussion of the items. Active learning exercises are enjoyable (Lawson, 1995) and motivating to students (Watson, Kessler, Kalla, Kam, & Ueki, 1996). They help students learn (Lawson, 1995) and increase their confidence with class material (Townsend, Moore, Tuck, & Wilton, 1998). Despite these benefits, lecture is the dominant method used in most college classes, particularly in large ones (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). Although many instructors admit the advantages of active learning, obstacles such as limited class time, increased preparation needs, lack of materials or resources, large classes, and perceived risk limit the use of such approaches (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). FIL offers a way around each of these roadblocks.

From Kindergarten to Workplace Training, 2000

Recent developments in higher education have seen the demise of much didactic, teacher-directed instruction, which was aimed mainly towards lower-level educational objectives. This traditional educational approach has been largely replaced by methods that feature the teacher as an originator or facilitator of interactive and learner-centred learning-with higher-level aims in mind. The origins of, and need for, these changes are outlined, leading into an account of the emerging pedagogical approach to interactive learning, featuring facilitation, and reflection. Some of the main challenges yet to be confronted effectively in consolidating a sound and comprehensive pedagogical approach to interactive development of higher level educational aims are outlined.

Volume 5: Education and Globalization, 2014

An active class room teaching practice can become highly rewarding for students. An instructor practicing active learning approaches may get significantly higher success in inculcating course materials deeply as compared to a lecture based teaching. However, transitioning from prevailing lecture based instruction to an active learning approach can be hampered by the reservations and prejudices of an engineering educator; a tenure track faculty may find it even more challenging to leave the traditional lecture based teaching approach and adopt an active teaching approach. This paper will describe the active teaching techniques that I, a tenure track faculty, has been practicing to teach mechanical engineering courses; the main discussion will focus on the Fuel Cell Science and Technology course. I have devised my current deep learning and teaching strategies through a yearlong Myrtilla Miner Faculty Fellowship cohort under Dr. Ken Bain and a number of workshops on the group based active teaching and peer interaction based teaching. This paper describes the strategies for developing a teaching and assessment plan for the courses I teach by emphasizing on (i) designing significant learning outcomes before starting a class, (ii) the long term retention of key concepts of a course by fostering student centered deep learning course activities, and (iii) far transfer of the skills students gain from a course. The first topic of this paper is about various strategies to understand students' motivations and inhibitions that may govern their learning curve in a course. The second topic of this paper discusses the crucial aspect of designing a promising syllabus to give students a bigger purpose for learning the course material; a promising syllabus attempt to connect students' long held curiosities and career ambitions with the course to be offered. The third topic delves into the strategies to engage students in self-preparation to assimilate the key concepts to be discussed in a class. This paper will also highlight the approach to design conceptual quizzes to guide student preparation before they come to the class and then use the same conceptual quizzes to conduct peer discussion and define the flow of a class; this strategy is derived from Dr. Eric Mazur's work on peer interaction based teaching. The fourth topic is about the utility of one pager feedback form to be filled by the students after every class. This paper will discuss structure and effectiveness of the feedback form in improving student attention and participation in the class discussions. I have offered two workshops on effective teaching at the University of the District of Columbia to promote active student learning in a wide range of courses. I plan to conduct workshops for the middle and high school teachers to share the effective teaching skills.

Online Submission, 2007

The purpose of this paper was to examine the benefits of supplementing the classroom environment with available technology to engage students both within and outside the classroom.

2006

Previous research has shown that self-explanation can be supported effectively in an intelligent tutoring system by simple means such as menus. We now focus on the hypothesis that natural language dialogue is an even more effective way to support self-explanation. We have developed the Geometry Explanation Tutor, which helps students to state explanations of their problemsolving steps in their own words. In a classroom study involving 71 advanced students, we found that students who explained problem-solving steps in a dialogue with the tutor did not learn better overall than students who explained by means of a menu, but did learn better to state explanations. Second, examining a subset of 700 student explanations, students who received higherquality feedback from the system made greater progress in their dialogues and learned more, providing some measure of confidence that progress is a useful intermediate variable to guide further system development. Finally, students who tended to reference specific problem elements in their explanations, rather than state a general problem-solving principle, had lower learning gains than other students. Such explanations may be indicative of an earlier developmental level.

2005