2000 GSA Annual Meeting -- Reno, Nevada
2000 GSA Annual Meeting -- Reno, Nevada
Author(s): SUTHREN, Roger J., Geology (BMS), Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK, rjsuthren@brookes.ac.uk; JENKINS, Alan M., Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, amjenkins@brookes.ac.uk
Keywords: Web, WWW, teaching, learning
At Oxford Brookes University, we have used web resources in learning and teaching in the geosciences for several years. The main role of our web sites is to support and enhance more traditional teaching and learning methods including lectures, laboratories and fieldwork, rather than to replace them. This year we have evaluated the student perception of computer-based learning on two of our courses. In a first year Environmental Geology module (http://www.brookes.ac.uk/geology/8307/8307welc.html), web pages with selected links support each major topic. Several of the assignments are web-based, and students use search engines to find sites which they then evaluate and contribute to our web pages. We have used student questionnaires to evaluate the IT aspects of this course, including the use of computers in lectures and assignments, and will present the analysis of this evaluation. In a third year module (http://www.brookes.ac.uk/geology/8361/home.htm), 6- 8 students each year author web sites to be used in our courses. This project has run successfully for four years, and several of the web sites have received considerable external interest. This year we used a focus group led by AMJ, who is not involved in teaching the course, to elicit student opinion, and will be presenting the results of this open discussion. How do we measure 'significant difference'? We can use questionnaires and focus groups to assess student attitudes to the use of IT in learning. We can compare student grades before and after the introduction of IT into modules. We can determine whether contact between students and faculty has increased as a result of electronic communication. Certainly in our courses we have noticed increased enthusiasm of students using the new media. Is this enthusiasm here to stay, or will the novelty wear off once web authoring becomes as commonplace as word processing?
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