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The Use of Inquiry-Based Multi-Media Curriculum: It’s Impact on Students’ Perceptions of Learning

Dianna L. Newman, Suneresh Heragu, Sybilyn Jennings University at Albany SUNY/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/Russell Sage Colleg e

The use of technology is growing and simultaneously changing the learning process, the structure of knowledge, and the nature of instruction. 1 In a 1995 survey of college campuses, Green and Gilbert 2 noted that major gains have been made in the use of informational technology as an instructional resource and Duffy ad Jonassen 3 indicate that new forms of teaching and learning are changing the way knowledge is constructed. One of areas most frequently cited as benefiting from this use of technology is student-centered, inquiry-based learning. From this point of view, instruction, and hence learning, is a process in which the student is building an “internal representation of knowledge, a personal interpretation of an experience 4”. This involves the sharing of multiple perspectives and the simultaneous changing of representations. Kerr 5 notes that the use of technology as a support to inquiry-based learning should result in greater communication and connectivity, more opportunities to participate in “real world settings via access to better simulations or to actual data, and the opportunity to explore unusual representations of data, knowledge, and opinions.”

Purpose of the Paper

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a formative pilot study conducted to investigate the preliminary effectiveness of an interactive, multi-media supported, inquiry-based curriculum module developed for use with engineering students in the materials handling domain. The primary variables under study were student perceptions of the process of learning via this technique; more specifically, it addressed their perceptions of the relevance of the module to learning and applying course specific content, the relevance of module use to learning in general, and the impact of module use on their general learning affect.

The Module Under Study

The module developed for this pilot study had as its basic educational objective the integration of knowledge of materials handling with expected practices and outcomes. Its goal was the development or refinement of problem-solving skills via virtual interactions in increasingly complex materials handling settings. The content reflected basic principles of materials handling with interpretations and uses offered by managers, engineers, and students. Diverse settings were portrayed via media-supported clips of actual uses and oral as well as written overviews.

The module was targeted to meet the needs of two types of learners: · Engineering juniors or seniors who had strong modeling skills but limited knowledge of technology or practice, or

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition” Copyright 2002, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Newman, D. L., & Reinhard, D. (2002, June), The Use Of Inquiry Based, Multi Media Curriculum: Its Impact On Students' Perceptions Of Learning Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10743