This report is also available as an Acrobat file.
Multimedia Presentations Workshop
ASSESSING ATTITUDES TO ELECTRONIC LECTURES
4. STUDENT OPINION
In order to gauge students' opinions on our electronic lecture material (and this
approach to teaching), two basic evaluative studies were undertaken. These studies
were intended to assess student's attitudes and reactions to the use of the resources
within two different contextual settings: (1) lecture mode and (2) self-study mode.
Each of these studies is briefly described below.
Study 1: Lecture Presentation Mode
This investigation involved asking the lecturer responsible for the HCI course to
deliver some of his lectures using the electronic course materials. After the lectures the
group of students involved were given a questionnaire to complete (N=3 1; 52%
return). This contained 10 questions which were intended to solicit their opinions and
views on: the quality of the presentations; the quality of the resources employed; and
the potential of this approach to teaching.
Study 2: Private Self-Study Mode
For this investigation the augmented electronic lectures were mounted on a server
within a local area network. Students were then invited to access this material using
PC-based computer terminals that were located at various points within the campus
and remote to it. At the end of their evaluation of the material the students were asked
to complete a questionnaire containing 38 questions (N=63; 100% return). The
questions were organised into five basic sections that dealt with: the quality of the on-
line lectures; their ease of use; the quality of the augmentation material; the potential of
the electronic lectures as a learning resource; and details of the respondent.
Main Findings
When the questionnaires from the above studies were returned the data they contained
was transferred to a spreadsheet package and analysed. A detailed discussion of the
results is presented elsewhere (Barker, 1996b). Essentially, in both studies, students
were very supportive of this approach to teaching - provided that copies of the
materials would be made available to them. 61% of the lecture group (Study 1) stated
that they would prefer this approach to the use of overhead transparencies. A similar
percentage thought that electronic lectures were a much more effective way of
presenting course material. Interestingly, given the choice between having paper-based
and electronic copies of the materials, the majority of the students (77%) showed a preference
for paper-based copies compared to the 26% who would have preferred
disk copies.
5. CONCLUSION
Despite their pedagogic shortcomings, lectures offer a cost-effective way to teach large
groups of campus-based students. By using computer-based methods to support
lecturing processes, the quality of lectures can be improved. Furthermore, through the
use of appropriately designed augmentation processes many of their limitations and
shortcomings can be overcome. Undoubtedly, electronic lectures that are made
accessible through the Internet and the World-Wide Web will form an important
building block for the development of courses that are to be delivered through any
future virtual university facility.
6. REFERENCES
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Barker, P.G., (1990). Designing Interactive Learning Systems, Educational and
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Barker, P.G., (1993). Exploring Hypermedia, Kogan Page, London, UK.
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