Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Interactive Multimedia (IMM) - Student groupwork assignments based on analysis of current (Geoscience) discipline journal article analyses
Contact details
Patrick R James,
Reader in Geology/Programme Leader, Education & Training CRC LEME (Cooperative
Research Centre for Landscape Environments & Mineral Exploration)
Department of Geology & Geophysics
University of Adelaide
SA 5005
AUSTRALIA
Tel: 61(0)883035254
Fax: 61(0)883034347
Email: Patrick.james@Adelaide.edu.au
Classification Category
- Developing student appreciation of research/consultancy in the discipline.
- Using teaching and learning processes which simulate research processes (e.g. project-based modules, dissertation modules, problem based learning etc).
- Using assignments which involve elements of research processes (e.g. literature reviews, bidding for grants, drafting bids or project outlines, analysing existing project data, presenting at a 'conference').
Context
- Course/unit/module title: Structural and Field Geology III
- Course title: Structural Geology and Deformation Processes
- Level: Three (undergraduate)
What does the teacher do?
This DIYIMM project is an exercise in knowledge engineering that has been used in a final year undergraduate structural geology course continually since 1996. In that year a simple student research assigment essay, comprising 25% of the marks for the course, was replaced by the DIYIMM exercise. The exercise was also changed to a group learning exercise, with groups of 2 or 3 students working jointly and collaboratively on development of the multimedia assignment and on the seminar. The following are the instructions provided to the student class at the beginning of the semester. There is usually an intervening 6-7 week period when the exercise is carried out and it is usually presented during the last contact period of the course. Students are given an introductory and explanatory contact lesson describing the aims, objectives, tools and methods, together with a short hands-on practical class on how to use the available multimedia authoring system (eg Hyperstudio) and how to access the array of digital resources which might be needed to carry out the assignment.
Working in pairs you will prepare a major interactive multimedia assignment on the specialist reading topic provided. I will provide each pair with a topic to read about from one journal article from a recent issue of the Journal of Structural Geology. You will then research this issue using other recent papers on this topic. I expect you to use the references from your selected article as well as textbooks, the library, Georef and the Worldwide Web to find a number of other references (at least 5) to read on the topic.
The assignment should be prepared and presented in an electronic format using either, the Hyperstudio sofware package, Powerpoint or a Web-page development package. There is no limit to the number of cards or linked stacks (Hyperstudio terminology) or slides or files (Powerpoint terminology) or Hyperlinked web pages (WWW terminology) in your assignment. However, you should be aware of the memory limitations of the computers and the limited assessment value of this project.
Your assignment should be carefully constructed including a title screen, introduction to the aims of the research, a range of text (subheadings/subdivisions are useful), annotated graphics/digital photographs, perhaps some sound?, a summary and a correctly referenced bibliographic screen. Do not feel restricted by these conditions, there is also room for flair and innovation. You should attempt to search for information on the worldwide web about your research topic. I would also like you to email (one?) author of one of the papers you read and ask a question about the topic, and report in your assignment about this correspondence.
You will also present a summary of this specialist research assignment as a seminar during one of the last practical sessions of the structure classes. Your group will have ten minutes to present your seminar. Obviously this is not sufficient time to completely cover the topic or to go into great detail. You should choose one aspect of interest or one view or theory to present your case. You will be presenting your seminar to the whole class and will be expected to present it in as professional a manner as possible. You will have access to computer projection facilities.
The exercise clearly provides a close link to the teaching of structural geology in this course and the most current research being carried out in the discipline. Students not only have to read and understand one international journal article (which is now available on line before even the hard copy journal arrives in the library), but they must also search through the bibliography of that article for a number of relevant papers. They must interrogate and summarise not only the text, but also become familiar with the figures, diagrams, plates, tables and these days often simulations and animations which may be available on the author's website.
One very important key to the research/teaching link is when the students have to devise a question to the author(s) and to email that question. Receiving a reply (which does not always happen), is most exciting to the students and is a critical point in the realisation that the author is a real person and is carrying out their research usually in a similar institution (University). Authors generally reply positively to the questions (it at least shows that someone is reading and interested? in their own research), and occasionally a general dialogue occurs.
The exercise has now been running continuously for eight years and has been carried out by about 400 students. This has left a legacy of about 150 IMM modules providing interesting summaries of much of the last eight years of cutting edge research in structural geology. I must publish them on the web sometime!
Hot tips and things to look out for
Beware of students taking excessively long to carry out the assignment, also those groups who include very large attached or embedded animation/video (.avi) files, and in particular unusual sound files (.wav's eg the Simpson's are popular).
Beware also poor, difficult or obviously conflicting IMM navigation instructions. One year a group of students included a series of linked hypercards, which kept repeating in the same sequence (plus a very tedious droning music loop) and with no navigation button to escape from the sequence. They enjoyed their efforts in confusion at least!
Does it work?
Early on in the exercise (which coincided almost with the proliferation of the www), there was a conflict between the learning issues based around discipline content, ie knowledge of current structural geology research terminology and processes, and the needs of the technology skilling. Hardware was slow, incompatible and often faulty, while software was unfamiliar (Windows 95 had just arrived, the web was not available, email was still a novelty and we were saved by the Macs). Over the years these problems have reduced considerably and the reverse case now holds that the students are generally far more ICT savvy than me!
At various times over the intervening period, student evaluations have been carried out, and this exercise still appears to be a novel highlight in the pedagogic adventure of their degree program.
What problems/issues have arisen?
Students generally take some time to start the exercise and then leave the bulk of the work until the last couple of weeks (sounds familiar?). However they generally put so much effort into this exercise (as it is enjoyable?) that they often work for long hours and even through the night. This may cause problems with colleagues who are expecting bright and attentive students to be attending their own concurrent courses.
There are of course the usual problems with assessment and assignments carried out by groups of 2 or 3 students. Often one student is the dominant worker and another may be less than actively involved this can be a real problem with two students in a group of widely varying abilities. Friendships have been lost over quality and quantity of work issues. In my opinion, the harnessing of the different qualities and abilities of the students eg hard work v flair, intelligence v graphic skills, in producing a product that can be owned by a group, far outweighs the detrimental attributes of the process. Students are invariable proud of their efforts and outcomes. This also teaches them many of the real world skills of teamwork and collaboration which they will soon encounter in the workforce.
Details of support material/course work/assessment methods
I provide comprehensive notes on IMM authoring, information about access to a range of digital resources, hands on support (myself and a demonstrator in a computer lab class), examples of previous years modules and the ability to ask questions synchronously or asynchronously. All of this is purveyed through the ubiquitous MyUni Blackboard MLE (Managed Learning Environment)
Relevant references
James PR, Peterson R & Clark I, 1996. Students question the world: learning with multiple media. In, Christie et al,(eds), Making New Connections. Proceedings of the 1996 Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, Adelaide, December 1996, 309-323.