An IT Based Framework for Effective Learning and Teaching

abstract

in this paper the 4p it based framework for effective learning and teaching is proposed. this framework combines the theories of cognition and multimedia to help deliver effective learning by selective rehearsal and effective teaching through multimedia and traversal history. a modular approach is adopted for the teaching language because text and speech can be changed and replaced to suit the learning community. the prototype has been tested with different subjects in the bac (hons) program in the polyu and the preliminary outcome indicates that the 4p framework is indeed an effective solution.

keyword: rehearsal, multimedia, user friendliness, contemporary, software platform

1. introduction

in this paper the 4p (p for principal elements) it based framework for effective learning and teaching is proposed. the preliminary test results with the prototype confirm that the framework is indeed an effective solution and further work in the same direction is definitely worthwhile. one of the many test cases is selected for demonstration later. in the context of this project, effective learning means making the learning process easy, interesting and stimulating. it is important objective to make the learning process location-independent and this involves exploitation of the internet and web technologies. in effective teaching and learning, it is normal to include progress measurement (e.g. tests) to evaluate student achievement. the measured result enables teachers to judge how to help individual learners better. the rationale is to identify the weakness of the even the brightest students so that measures can be tailored to help them excel. in the process, effective learning (el) and effective teaching (et) are bridged to form the two halves of an effective education cycle.

the 4p framework emphasizes on supporting the process of rehearsal. in the light of cognition [1] rehearsal is a process to encode information picked up by different human sensors (e.g. for image, sound and motion) into the short-term memory. it is a repetitive maintenance process to keep the information alive and away from slippage. since the short-term memory is very small, the information would eventually be transferred, organized, encoded and stored as permanent knowledge in the long-term memory. the learning process can be modelled as a network of operation paths in a stochastic process [2]. each path can reflect the learning capability of an individual because a learner may find that certain paths are easier to follow. in order to develop an it based framework for effective education, it is necessary to combine cognition, software development techniques, and multimedia [3,4]. the idea is to let the knowledge provider transcribe a mental idea accurately into it representation so that the learners can grasp the material effectively and efficiently [5,6]. for achieving this goal, the 4p framework is based on four principal (4p) elements, namely, user friendliness, rehearsal, multimedia, and contemporary. the final system should be able to run on a standalone computer or over a network. our experience with the 4p prototype is positive so far. we will later present and demonstrate the chosen 4p test case over the internet for the subject: distributed and parallel computing.

2. the 4p elements

in this section, we will first define the 4p elements, namely, user friendliness, rehearsal, multimedia, and contemporary. user friendliness depends on three quality factors: availability, navigation and indication. availability means that a user can invoke the system anywhere easily; navigation allows the user to selectively execute different parts of the system that pertain to specific learning requirements; indication automatically reminds the user of what is currently being done. an example is that when the cursor is over an icon, the system would enlarge the icon and explain concisely the function of that icon at the same time.

rehearsal in cognition, is a maintenance process that keeps information in the short-term memory alive. in practicality it means the learner would traverse different operation paths over and over again to prevent information slippage until the information is stored in the long-term memory as permanent knowledge [1]. we use the network in figure 1 to depict the rehearsal process. if node a is the source and node e be the destination, then the possible operation paths from a to e include ae, abce, ace, and adgfe. if every node represents a block of the target knowledge, then a learner can rehearse by going from a to e repetitively through preferred paths. for example, if a learner decides that b, d and g should be omitted in the current trial, then the learning path becomes ace. all the traversal links in the rehearsal process is bi-directional because a learner should be able to backtrack and then go for a different operation path; backtracking is normal in heuristics. in practice, it is ideal to record the path traversal history (e.g. click trails), which can contribute to effective teaching by helping teachers identify the potential weakness and preference of students.

for this project, the argument is that if a student in the same subject would like to traverse a particular group of operation paths then there are two possible conclusions. the first is that the student is already conversant with the skipped blocks of knowledge (nodes), and the second is that the student has preference for certain part of the knowledge. therefore, it is necessary for 4p any tool to support the rehearsal theory depicted in figure 1; that is, to record all the traversal paths of a learner. the objective is to allow teachers to make use of the traversal history (past click trails) to formulate effective teaching measures that are tailored to individuals.

multimedia application is important for enlivening the learning process with accuracy. although many people prefer to learn with diagrams and pictures because they represent knowledge vividly, it a known fact that unclear pictures and diagrams are worse than text. by combining media data, namely, image, text, sound and motion under the same framework, they can complement each other. that is, the learner can pick up the information and knowledge from the particular media data or any combinations of them that appeal to attention and the learning process.

being contemporary is important for the success of a system because the users, who feel that they are in touch with the current it trend, tend to help publicize the system among their peers. it also perpetuates the life expectancy of the system by making system maintenance easier because up-to-date parts for migratory improvement and changes are easier to come by.

3. implementation model and architecture

the implementation model that accommodates the possible stochastic operation paths in a learning network (figure 1) is depicted by the flow graph in figure 2. the symbols: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j and k are the operation paths and the feedback loops that represent backtracking in the learning process. the stages are the component blocks of the target knowledge. the acquisition of this knowledge is achieved by rehearsal, which means traversing different operation paths repetitively at different times.

the architecture to support the implementation (illustrated in figure 3) consists of three layers, namely, physical, software platform and 4p software. the top layer, namely, the 4p software consists of three main modules: user interface (ui), the editing and knowledge engineering tool kit (eketk), and the database of the target knowledge (dtk). the multimedia ui has two sections, one for the learners (learner path) and the other for managing (storing, updating, or retrieving) the dtk. the eketk consists of different tools for creating, updating, or modifying knowledge. for example, the editing tools cater to different languages, typically chinese and english for the hong kong scene. since the ui is intrinsically frame-based, the text and speech that describe a picture or animation can be changed and replaced with respect to the requirement of the particular audience; the ui is multilingual. the software platform in the middle layer not only masks out the heterogeneity in the physical layer but also maximizes the utilization of the hardware capability. the 4p software should be able to run anywhere and anytime; for example, it should run as well in the intranet environment in a school laboratory as on a standalone personal computer at home. the test case provided in this paper involves running the 4p software in the hong kong polyu intranet environment for teaching a final-year subject: distributed and parallel computing in the bachelor of art in computing bac (hons) program. now, the traversal history is also stored in the dtk.

4. the test case

the 4p framework is implemented for teaching the subject distributed and parallel computing (dpc) over the in-house intranet. the flash by macromedia is chosen as the software platform because it supports multimedia software development for internet applications. in fact, we have tried different software platforms in our previous education projects, such as visual basic. although different software platforms show various strength and weakness but the greatest advantage of flash is that it is more natural for internet based application, which is basic, from our point of view, for teaching and learning on-line. an intranet is a portion of the internet annexed and protected (e.g. by a firewall) for privacy and system integrity. in this test case students learn by downloading the dpc package anywhere within the hong kong polyu campus.

with a license a user can develop flash based software to be tested with the help of the “plug-in” that can be downloaded free of charge from the macromedia website. in particular, we find that the following flash capabilities are favorable to the 4p project:

a) sound software can be included and compressed (mp3) and it is up to the user to decide upon the resolution against data size.

b) characters and diagrams produced by flash are vector-based; zoom-in and zoom-out would not distort the shape and readability of the characters.

c) flash can import data objects from the internet and this makes the dtk update easier.

here, we walk the reader through the dpc tutorial by using figure 4 to figure 11. in the actual tutorial experiment, the presentation is multimedia (sound and animation included) and the eight figures provided would help present the essence of the tutorial contents. figure 4 shows the icon “tutorial.html”, which should be clicked to start the tutorial. figure 5 is the stage 1 of the eighteen stages, which are marked by squares at the bottom. one can choose to traverse the stages sequentially by clicking the forward arrow at the right upper corner (likewise backtracking by clicking the backward arrow), or to skip some stages by clicking the preferred stage directly. once the cursor is on a stage icon the corresponding explanation box will appear to introduce and explain the stage concisely. since the stages can be clicked and invoked at will, the user can rehearse in any preferred patterns freely. figure 6 depicts the stage that teaches how a network would support mobile object based computation (mobc), involving composite objects.

5. discussion and conclusion

in this paper, the 4p framework to aid effective leaning and teaching is proposed. the basis for supporting effective learning is by facilitating rehearsal and effective teaching is achieved through the multimedia approach and the traversal history. that is, multimedia based teaching material are created and stored in dtk and so is the traversal history. the 4p prototype has been tested in many different occasions, including the final-year subject of the bac (hons) program: distributed and parallel computing. the preliminary results from these tests are impressive because students can grasp new ideas immediately with the help of the 4p approach. the fringe benefit is that students can suggest from their own experience of how to improve the mobc tutorial. this form of immediate feedback by the user is important for speeding up the evolution of the system aid more effective learning and teaching. the next planned step in the 4p project is to provide a link through which the user can start real-life experiments directly through the 4p system. the idea is to enable the learner to verify and visualize, in a bi-directional cross-reference manner, how the learned theory and implementation actually reflect each other, but without the necessity of going out of the 4p unified framework.

6. acknowledgement

the authors thank the hong kong polyu for supporting the project (grant hzj92).

7. references

[1] g. cohen, m. w. eysenck and m.e. levoi, memory, a cognitive approach, open university press, 1989

[2] i. mitrani, probabilistic modelling, cambridge university press, 1998

[3] w. stacy, (ed.) cognition and software development, acm communications, 39(6), june 1995, 31-74

[4] j. soula, c. baron and c. nestor, a shift from chalk: multimedia and instruction, ieee journal of multimedia, april-june 1997, 5-9

[5] j. lengyel, the convergence of graphicsand vision, ieee computer, 31(7) july 1988, 46-53

[6] a. lee and n. pennington, the effects of paradigm on cognitive activities in design, journal of international human-computer studies, 40(4) april 1994, 577-610