A paper in session T138 The Use of Multimedia in Geoscience Instruction: Yet Another Example of the No Significant Difference Phenomenon? at Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Reno, NV, November 2000. Links to speakers.
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
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 started to evaluate the student perception of computer-based learning in geology.
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 they then evaluate and contribute to our web pages. We have just used student questionnaires to evaluate the IT aspects of this course, including the use of computers in lectures and assignments. We 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 modules. This has run successfully for four years, and several of the web sites have received considerable external interest.
How do we measure 'significant difference'? We can use questionnaires and focus groups to gauge 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.