Enabling Visible and Effective Learning in Engineering

Dr David Knight, Dr David Callaghan,A/Prof. Tom Baldock, A/Prof. Mehmet Kizil,

Prof. Erik Meyer, Dr Liza O’Moore

Teaching and Learning WeekFaculty of Science/EAIT Showcase

31 October 2012

Focus on Metalearning◦ Goal: Make learning behaviours visible for students so they can

take more ownership of their own learning success

Threshold Concepts◦ Goal: Identify the concepts within courses that students must

first understand so they can apply that knowledge to address more advanced, end-goal concepts of the course

Project Elements

Administered metalearning instrument in:◦ ENGG 1400 (n=169, class=423)◦MINE 2105 (twice) (n=97, class=143)◦ CIVL 3130 (n=138, class=277)◦ CIVL 3140 (twice) (n=204, class=276)

Collected written student reflections in:◦MINE 2105 (n=60)◦ CIVL 3140 (n=147)

Lesson: Tie the activity to some form of assessment

Metalearning Approach

Metalearning Activity

Course level◦ High variation in students’ approaches to learning◦ Saw consistencies across cohorts and across disciplines

Student level◦ 84% who wrote reflections found the activity useful

“It opened my eyes to how important it is to understand a topic rather than struggle with it and just memorise the topic to get by.”

“It has definitely shaped how I listen and take notes in class as well as how much repetition of course work I do in order to understand the content.”

Metalearning Findings

Lessons learned◦ Need a follow-up visit to class to explain interpretation◦ Students indicate the activity would serve them best if done in

Year 1 or early Year 2◦ Encourage academics to support learning strategies focused on

understanding rather than memorisation

Metalearning Next Steps

Threshold Concept ApproachAcademics

StudentsAssessments

Analysis of

Concepts in a

Course

Engage academic staff to identify threshold concepts◦ Two instructors of CIVL 3140◦ Develop concept maps

◦ Identified critical flow as a threshold concept

Threshold Concept Approach

Ask students to identify threshold concepts and report on how they learned◦ Student written reflections (n=147); Hour-long focus group ◦ Concept mapping activity

◦ Learned critical flow in many ways Variation between learning the concept versus preparing for assessment

◦ Students identified gradually varied flow, hydraulic jump, other/multiple flow types, math as being difficult to grasp More advanced forms of learning (e.g., linking back to previously

understood concepts) for gradually varied flow relative to other concepts

Threshold Concept Approach

Analysis of previous assessments◦ Completed for CIVL 3130 (n=253) and CIVL 3140 (n=225)

◦ Score distributions We expect a normal distribution of scores Bimodal or skewed distributions may suggest that a threshold

concept is embedded in a question (some students “get it” and others do not)

Threshold Concept Approach

Analysis of previous assessments

Threshold Concept Approach

Exam Total

Concepts:Critical FlowChannel ChokingRapidly Varied Flow

Concepts:Rapidly Varied FlowHydraulic jump

Analysis of previous assessments

◦Multiple choice responses Group these according to concepts Result from this: individual feedback on MC questions

Threshold Concept Approach

Analysis of previous assessments

Threshold Concept Approach

Momentum Energy

Physical Modelling

Channel Flow

Gradually Varied Flow

Inlet Control

Outlet Control Bridges

Total Exam Score

Analysis of previous assessments

Threshold Concept Approach

Gradually Varied Flow Bridges

Channel Flow

Channel Flow

Analysis of previous assessments

◦ Linked in-semester assessments to various concepts on the exam and adjusted accordingly

◦ Learning analytics: Performance on specific concepts could be used to predict performance on later assessments, and that information could be provided directly to students.

Threshold Concept Approach

Top-Down + Bottom-Up Approach

ACADEMICSThreshold Concepts

Curriculum–Assessment–Feedback

STUDENTSMetalearning

Metacognition

Improved Teaching and

Learning

Enabling Visible and Effective Learning in Engineering

Dr David Knight, Dr David Callaghan,A/Prof. Tom Baldock, A/Prof. Mehmet Kizil,

Dr Liza O’Moore, Prof. Erik Meyer

Teaching and Learning WeekFaculty of Science/EAIT Showcase

31 October 2012