Abstract:
Field-learning is seen as a useful learning approach, enabling students to grasp concepts learned from classrooms, improve their individual social skills and practise a range of research skills (Wong, 1994; Yang, 1987). Whilst these cognitive, psychomotor and affective objectives are listed, current field-learning does not include the measurement of students’ self-reflection and self-motivation, or their conceptions of learning. This proposal aims at understanding students’ conceptions of learning using a blended learning approach. Field learning tasks undertaken by students would be shared on the e-learning platform for peer comments and feedbacks. This way of using information technologies in field-learning seeks to engage students to reflect on and be self-motivated in their own learning.
Full-time students of General Education course of Hong Kong Marine Odyssey, and Health education related courses for teacher training in 2014/15 are invited to participate in the project. Students will form into learning groups and each group would upload their completed field work (see Appendix III for an example) onto the Google site or Moodle. Through constructive interchanges of ideas, each group would benefit by analyzing the work of their peers, and self-reflection of peers’ comments on their own work. Added to the pre-trip discussion for an understanding of the field site, the topic under investigation and the field investigatory process, students will also be introduced the notion and strategies of reflective thinking. Probing questions to guide students’ thinking and self-reflection are designed. Students’ evaluation about the concepts learnt through blended learning approach, and its usefulness are indicators of effectiveness of this pedagogical mode. Data is collected from annotated comments and feedbacks, questionnaires and group or individual interviews.
Code:
T0141
Principal Project Supervisors:
Keywords provided by authors:
Subjects:
Start Date:
02 Jul 2014
End Date:
30 Jun 2015
Status:
Completed
Result:
The exploratory design of blended learning and field-based learning approach was adopted in the General Education course of Hong Kong Marine Odyssey and Health education related courses for teacher training in 2014/15. It developed a course study questionnaire (CSQ) focusing on students’ conception of teaching and learning and their learning habits in the preparation stage and created, developed and managed a course Facebook page. In the implementation stage, lecturers introduced students the course Facebook page and invited them to add in to prepare for the subsequent learning activities. Students were also asked to form their learning communities to encourage peer learning and group discussion during class, at the field and on the intenet. Students were asked to complete CSQ (pre-test) to assess their conceptions of teaching and learning prior to the project design. After the field trip/ field event, group discussions were conducted within each learning group and students had to summarize their point of view and designed and posted their group E-learning resource onto their Facebook group. Based on the published E-learning resources and the rubrics, each group had to provide peers comments to all the other groups. At the end of the course, students were asked to complete the same set of CSQ (post—test) to see if this teaching approach had influenced their conceptions of teaching and learning, learning approach and generic skills learned.
Overall, the results of the pre- and post questionnaire study have indicated an improvement in all the three major areas studied, namely Conceptions of Teaching and Learning, Study Habits and General Skills for all three classes of students. There are, however, some minor variations in the score differences among the three classes. An overview of the mean score data highlights that full-time students displayed a better improvement than part-time students towards the integration of blended learning in field based learning. This was also reflected from the semi-structured interview that students from a course reflected their enjoyment of the course learning activity and had been facilitated to use more on-line learning in their field study. In addition, blended learning tended to contribute to enhance learning effectiveness for both within and between group discussions for all three classes of students.
Impact:
From the perspective of pedagogical change and innovation, this project has facilitated the development of a new mode of learning, integrating the social networking role of Facebook with academic purpose and hence, enhanced the understanding of fellow educators who seek to enhance teaching and learning through online platform and work. The project team has developed a course Facebook page as the course online learning platform to promote student self-leaming and interactive learning activities. Instructional guideline of using Facebook, teaching guide of making video/animation and assessment rubrics were designed. The two course Facebook communities of GED1012 for 2014-2015 (both CMI and EMI) were still under operation with E-learning resources uploaded and instructors’ dialogues provided. It is hoped that a more sustainable development ofthe participants‘ attention on marine environmental issues in various field sites in Hong Kong could be facilitated beyond the course delivery period.
Deliverables:
Teaching and Learning Resources/ Materials
Instructional materials on e-learning.https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/d7586715-0b75-423f-99b8-d1a5...
User manual on uploading and sharing comments/ feedback.https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/b5b827e7-3552-4fb8-a389-c16e...
Working guidelines on blended field-based learning.https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/9efe0cff-d9c7-460b-adea-414a...
Books / Book Chapters / Journal Articles / Conference Papers
Cheng, I. N. Y. (2014, November). On-line learning in field-based learning in higher education: A study on students’ self-motivation and self-reflection. Paper presented at the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) & the Hong Kong Educational Research Association (HKERA) International Conference, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, China.
Cheng, N. Y. I. (2015, March). On-line learning in field-based learning in higher education to enhance students’ self-motivation and self-reflection. Paper presented at the Departmental Forum on Learning and Teaching, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China.
Financial Year:
2013-14
Type:
TDG