Problem-Based Learning for Laboratory & Professional Skills Teaching

Problem-Based Learning forProblem-Based Learning forLaboratory & Professional Skills Laboratory & Professional Skills TeachingTeaching

Kevin WellsKevin Wells SCEPTrE FellowSCEPTrE Fellow

Dept of Electronic Engineering, FEPSDept of Electronic Engineering, FEPS

University of SurreyUniversity of Surrey

…. how I binned the Lab Manual and got away with it.

OverviewOverview

BackgroundBackground MotivationMotivation PlanningPlanning ImplementationImplementation AnalysisAnalysis Follow onFollow on ConclusionsConclusions

OverviewOverview

BackgroundBackground MotivationMotivation PlanningPlanning ImplementationImplementation AnalysisAnalysis Follow onFollow on ConclusionsConclusions

Background Background


Lab lectures Lab lectures ~1hr ~1hr 6 hours per week 2 x 3 hrs6 hours per week 2 x 3 hrs Experiment Rotation working pairsExperiment Rotation working pairs WeeklyWeekly

Assessment:Assessment: PG DemonstratorsPG Demonstrators

Prep, Progress, LogPrep, Progress, Log

First year Laboratory ProgrammeFirst year Laboratory Programme


Lectures Lectures ~1 hr~1 hr WorkshopsWorkshops ~2 hrs~2 hrs Assessment:Assessment: Academic/PG Academic/PG

Demonstrators Demonstrators

Professional Skills ProgrammeProfessional Skills Programme

Mandatory component for IET accreditationMandatory component for IET accreditation




Skills of a Professional Skills of a Professional EngineerEngineer IET Competence Statements

Chartered Engineers must be competent, by virtue of their initial formation and throughout their working life, to:

B - Apply appropriate theoretical and practical methods to the analysis and solution of engineering problems:

- plan and implement solutions, taking a Holistic approach to cost, benefits, safety, reliability, appearance and environmental impact. - evaluate solutions and make improvements.

A - Use a combination of general and specialist engineering knowledge and

understanding to optimise the application of existing and emerging technology.

Skills of a Professional Skills of a Professional EngineerEngineer

C - Provide technical, commercial and managerial leadership. This includes:- plan for effective project implementation.- plan, budget, organise, direct and control tasks, people or resources.- develop the capabilities of staff to meet the demands of changing technical and managerial requirements. - bring about continuous improvement through quality management.

D - Use effective communication and Interpersonal skills. This includes: - work and communicate with others at all levels. - presentation and discussion of ideas and plans. - build teams and negotiate.


Engineers MUST be able to communicate to :

engineers & scientists clients

‘the public’ via

technical oral presentationstechnical written reports

to convey new ideas to a broad audience.

OverviewOverview

BackgroundBackground MotivationMotivation PlanningPlanning ImplementationImplementation AnalysisAnalysis Follow onFollow on

Motivation Motivation




…….. but it was a joke!.. but it was a joke!

Real effort required ….Real effort required ….

……. in order to fail.. in order to fail.


First year Laboratory Programme First year Laboratory Programme

[Over] assessment :[Over] assessment :

… ….. potentially disadvantaged our best students.. potentially disadvantaged our best students … ….. perennial complaints about ‘apparent PG bias’ .. perennial complaints about ‘apparent PG bias’


First year Laboratory Programme First year Laboratory Programme

LearningLearning

…….. allowed students to ‘sleep walk’ and still .. allowed students to ‘sleep walk’ and still get good gradesget good grades

…….. Teaching materials were very tired.. Teaching materials were very tired


Address some/all these issues by addressingAddress some/all these issues by addressing

them as a single problem:them as a single problem:

Enhance student engagement with learningEnhance student engagement with learning

Professional SkillsProfessional SkillsLaboratory SkillsLaboratory Skills


Address some/all these issues by addressingAddress some/all these issues by addressing

them as a single problem:them as a single problem:

Professional SkillsProfessional SkillsLaboratory SkillsLaboratory Skills

Enhance student engagement with learningEnhance student engagement with learning

OverviewOverview


Planning Planning

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation

Professional Skills/Design

sessionAssessment Lab Session Assessment

2 E1

3 E2 E1Peer-based assessment

4 Project E2Peer-based assessment

5Project &

Criteria DesignPeer-based assessment

E2 - Filter Design single mark

6 Project Feedback only



9 Project ShowcasePeer-based assessment

E1 - Transistor Amplifier

single mark

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation



2 E1



5Project &








single mark

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation



2 E1



5Project &








single mark

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation



2 E1



5Project &








single mark

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation



2 E1



5Project &







single mark


PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation



2 E1



5Project &


6

7

8

9


single mark


Project Feedback only



Project ShowcasePeer-based assessment

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation



2 E1



5Project &


6

7

8

9


single mark



Project ShowcasePeer-based assessment



OverviewOverview


ImplementationImplementation

Buy outBuy out Web pagesWeb pages Session PlansSession Plans Peer assessment Peer assessment

schemescheme Design examplesDesign examples


Web pages replace lab lectures + lab Web pages replace lab lectures + lab manualmanual


Design session & PADesign session & PA


Design session & PADesign session & PA Brain stormingBrain storming Mind mappingMind mapping Team ex.Team ex.


Judgements / criteriaJudgements / criteria Peer Designed PAPeer Designed PA


3 cycles of 3 week Design process + PA3 cycles of 3 week Design process + PA 2 weeks of ‘E’ Design briefing practicals2 weeks of ‘E’ Design briefing practicals DVD ‘Short’ + 30 min Teaching vidDVD ‘Short’ + 30 min Teaching vid 3 weeks of L1 Project3 weeks of L1 Project Final week – project showcase: paired PAFinal week – project showcase: paired PA

using peer-designed PA schemeusing peer-designed PA scheme


DVD ‘Short’ + 30 min Teaching vidDVD ‘Short’ + 30 min Teaching vid

OverviewOverview


AnalysisAnalysis Plot mean project showcase mark vs PA marksPlot mean project showcase mark vs PA marks

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Average student project mark

Outliers rejected Outliers rejected

by thresholdingby thresholding

AnalysisAnalysis Plot PA marks vs PG Demonstrator marksPlot PA marks vs PG Demonstrator marks

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Demonstrator mark

Stu

dent assessor'

s m

ark

FAIL

AnalysisAnalysis Student questionnaireStudent questionnaire

Table 1 Summary of mean responses to the three questions polled.

pre-PBL PBLInterest 2.96 3.12

Presentation and delivery 3.36 3.45Effectiveness of learning 3.07 3.42

Professional Skills

AnalysisAnalysis Student questionnaire: Prof SkillsStudent questionnaire: Prof Skills

Effectiveness of Learning

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

1 2 3 4 5

Pre-PBL (07) 3.07

PBL (08 ) 3.42

5 4 2 1

AnalysisAnalysis Student questionnaire: Prof SkillsStudent questionnaire: Prof Skills

Comments from Professional Skills course Questionairre

Pre-PBL PBLexamples being given now should aid learning the new exercises were funemphasis on trivial pointsobvious, done it beforesilly subject, don’t see the point EDPS/lab very unclear at times

Boring but an effective learning experience

some aspects seem pointlessexercises are a good way to get points acrossinsufficient feedback on practical tasksbit boring, some practicals are pointless Mostly dull, but group work is interestingsome workshops seem childish Complicatedfairly well structured, but trivial at timessome of this is a waste of timeinsufficient feedback on presentations work

The 'experiment' was successful IMOGreat idea connecting Labs to EDPSDidnt like new methods of working

good to mix with labs so feels like it has some use

Higher level of interaction now means its more engaging and effective

good very helpful to get understanding of work in the field

Much more complicated than before - the prep requires much time to find out about new things we havent seen before

Not a lot to comment on since there wasn’t much Prof Skills work happening

Doing lab prep within edps makes lab more interesting.Gained a better understanding of circuits with this mode of learning

AnalysisAnalysis Student questionnaireStudent questionnaire

Table 2 Summary of mean responses to the three questions polled.

pre-PBL PBLInterest 3.93 3.82

Presentation and delivery 3.45 3.43Effectiveness of learning 3.66 3.75

Laboratory

AnalysisAnalysis Student questionnaire: LabStudent questionnaire: Lab

Effective Learning Experience

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

1 2 3 4 5

Pre-PBL (07) 3.66

PBL (08) 3.75

5 4 2 1

AnalysisAnalysis Student questionnaire: LabStudent questionnaire: Lab

Laboratory Course Questionairre CommentsPre-PBL PBLmore feedback on how to improve wanted Getting more fun all the timea lot of prep needed Project work is difficult to understandlenghty but most enjoyable part of the courseInteresting projects, theory difficultneed more help when I don’t understandgood experiencemore background/theory needed Demonstators good but sometimes too pickymore background on project needed I preferred the old method of workingbetter than last semester A nessacery evil, but fun at timesbiased demonstrator assessmentsdon’t understand error handling

Fun and interesting

Linking Labs/EDPS works well - the school should continue with this

Demonstrators less helpful, and have higher expectations of prior knowledge

Good module, especially combining with lab

Generally OK and very interesting, but often not sure what is expected from us

After last 2 weeks of the new system I think the assessments were much fairer

Great idea, but drawing on a whiteboard hasnt helped me with lab

OverviewOverview


Follow OnFollow On

Autumn Semester Lab ProgrammeAutumn Semester Lab Programme

- 2 weeks assessment free- 2 weeks assessment free

- feedback forms + single grades - feedback forms + single grades

Follow OnFollow On

Autumn Semester Lab ProgrammeAutumn Semester Lab Programme

- new workshop training session- new workshop training session

- new competency test- new competency test

follow-up skills sessionfollow-up skills session

open-access for competent usersopen-access for competent users

Follow OnFollow On

Spring Semester Lab/Prof Skills Spring Semester Lab/Prof Skills ProgrammeProgramme

- Choose 3 from 5 scripted experiments- Choose 3 from 5 scripted experiments

- - 44 weeks of Design Briefings weeks of Design Briefings

- 3 week Lab Project- 3 week Lab Project

- 1 week Project Showcase + PA- 1 week Project Showcase + PA

Conclusions / Lessons LearntConclusions / Lessons Learnt

Many students Many students likedliked the new style of working the new style of working - and others did - and others did

notnot Students seemed very comfortable with directed web-based Students seemed very comfortable with directed web-based

learninglearning There is some evidence that student satisfaction has There is some evidence that student satisfaction has

improved – enhanced student engagement ?improved – enhanced student engagement ? ‘‘Demonstrator bias’ seems to have disappearedDemonstrator bias’ seems to have disappeared Students may not be aware of ‘Skills training’ aspectStudents may not be aware of ‘Skills training’ aspect L1 students cannot do PA - requires training and QA checksL1 students cannot do PA - requires training and QA checks

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

I would like to thank the following staff that helped make I would like to thank the following staff that helped make this SCEPTrE Fellowship project:this SCEPTrE Fellowship project:

SCEPTrE: SCEPTrE: Jo Tait, Norman Jackson and Fred BuiningJo Tait, Norman Jackson and Fred Buining

EE : EE : Janco Calic Janco Calic

Jeremy Allan, Phil Jackson, Graham ReedJeremy Allan, Phil Jackson, Graham Reed

Richard Clarke, Bill Backhouse, Dave FishlockRichard Clarke, Bill Backhouse, Dave Fishlock

Questions?Questions?

The endThe end

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

EDPS ThemesEDPS Themes

Aims/Objectives in Year 1:

Key Individual Communication Skills - WrittenWritten - technical reports, info. retrieval DiagramaticDiagramatic - technical drawings, interpretation VerbalVerbal - EFFECTIVE presentations, meetings

Intro to time/project management, team working

EDPS L1 Course SummaryEDPS L1 Course SummarySemester 1: Basic MS Office skillsBasic MS Office skills Information retrievalInformation retrieval Technical report writingTechnical report writing Technical drawingTechnical drawing

Semester 2:

Presentations SkillsPresentations Skills

Time ManagementTime Management

Data Presentation & AnalysisData Presentation & Analysis

Managing professional meetingsManaging professional meetings

Project DocumentationProject Documentation

EDPS L1 Course SummaryEDPS L1 Course SummarySemester 1: Basic MS Office skillsBasic MS Office skills Information retrievalInformation retrieval Technical report writingTechnical report writing Technical drawingTechnical drawing

Semester 2:

Presentations SkillsPresentations Skills

Time ManagementTime Management

Data Presentation & AnalysisData Presentation & Analysis

Managing professional meetingsManaging professional meetings

Project DocumentationProject Documentation

PlanningPlanning

WeekStudent

Preparation

Professional Skills/ Design


2 E1

3 E2 E1Peer- based assessment

4 Project E2Peer- based assessment


single mark

5Project &

Criteria DesignPeer- based assessment





9 Project ShowcasePeer- based assessment

Documents

Problem-Based Learning for Laboratory & Professional Skills Teaching