Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Active Learning in Digital Electronics: Preview, Exercise, Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Through multimedia delivery of new materials, web-based warm-up exercises and interactive classroom teaching/learning, this paper presents a new teaching approach - PETL (Preview, Exercise, Teaching and Learning) in teaching and learning digital electronics. Different from the traditional recitation-based lecture formats, the proposed pedagogy is a teaching and learning strategy based on the active participation of learners at each stage of the learning process, namely, preview of new topics, web-based warm-up assignments, and interactive classroom teaching and learning. Students briefly preview the new materials delivered through web-based multimedia, and then respond electronically to carefully constructed warm-up exercises which are due before class. The instructor reviews students' responses and adjusts the classroom lesson based on students' concerns and questions. The preview materials, with the instructor's explanations added, are produced using Flash multimedia authoring tool. This provides an on-line learning tool to prepare the students for the warm-up exercises. Anonymous surveys, questionnaires before, in the middle and after the implementation of the project are conducted to assess the effectiveness and outcomes of this project. Samples of the warm-up questions, the implementation and assessment plan of the PETL are described in the paper. In the end, a summary concludes that the proposed method shows effective in the teaching and learning of digital electronics course at IPFW. Keywords: Active Learning, Multimedia Delivery, WebCT, JiTT.

1. Introduction

In a traditional classroom, students are passive listeners most of the time. They come to the classroom unprepared and just listen to the instructor and take notes. This classroom environment lacks interactions between faculty and students, and between students themselves. These interactions are very important to the academic success of the students. If students actively participate in the classroom learning activities, they will be more cognitively engaged and as a result be able to achieve a better understanding of new materials.

Through multimedia delivery of new materials, web-based warm-up exercises and interactive classroom teaching/learning, this paper presents an effective approach – PETL (Preview, Exercise, Teaching and Learning) in teaching and learning digital electronics. This pedagogy is based on the active participation of learners at each stage of the learning process, namely, preview of new topics, web-based warm-up assignments, and interactive classroom teaching and learning. Students briefly preview the new materials delivered through web-based multimedia, and then respond electronically to carefully constructed warm-up exercises which are due before class. The instructor reviews students' responses and adjusts the classroom lesson based on students' concerns and questions. The interactive classroom session, built around these responses, replaces the traditional lecture/recitation format. In general, PETL strategy pursues three major goals:

1. To maximize the effectiveness of the classroom session.

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Wang, G. (2010, June), Preview, Exercise, Teaching And Learning In Digital Electronics Education Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--15695