Dick Bacon (R.Bacon@surrey.ac.uk)
Fri, 24 Jul 1998 12:28:38 +0100 (BST)
>Received: from mail.gmd.de (postix) by zeus.gmd.de with SMTP id AA16048 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for <ifetsarc@zeus.gmd.de>); Thu, 1 Oct 1998 09:49:31 +0200
>Received: from mail.gmd.de (postix) by zeus.gmd.de with SMTP id AA01829 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for <rashev@zeus.gmd.de>); Fri, 24 Jul 1998 13:40:30 +0200
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 12:28:38 +0100 (BST) From: Dick Bacon <R.Bacon@surrey.ac.uk> Subject: [ifets] Introduction
Hello ifets members
My name is Dick Bacon, and I work in the Physics Department at the University of
Surrey, UK.
I am director of the Physics Centre of our national Computers in Teaching Initiative,
that provides support for the use ot C&IT throughout Uk Higher Education. Our activities
are largely aimed at the C&IT needs of academics teaching on conventional degree courses,
although there is a growing requirement for developing net skills.
I am also heavily involved in the development of computer based learning mateirals within
a project called SToMP (Software Teaching of Modular Physcis). This is based upon the concept
of an educational deatabase of multimedia items relevant to a module, and that is rich in
interactive models of the physical world. Academic authors define a route through these
materials, but such routes are not prescriptive. The system includes both formative and
summative assessments, as well as software tools for data analysis and display.
I am concerned that the current popularity of the web, with its use as a means of
presenting academic materials in learning situations, is having a strong influence
on the design of such materials and on the nature of their delivery. Too much effort
(it seems to me) is being put into beautifying the visual effect, and insufficient
thought is being put into the design of the student's interaction with the materials
to maximise learning. There also seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the role
of C&IT within teaching, with academic staff feeling threatened (and in some cases
actually *being* threatened). Within physics, at least, I believe the use of C&IT
involves a change in staff-student interaction rather than its replacement.
What I am looking for is an effective way of managing and delivering at a distance
the sort of support that we provide face to face to our 'in house' students on a
daily basis. The Open University uses regional tutors and Summer Schools to provide
their equivalent interaction, but we need a technical solution if we are to do
what we seem to be being encouraged to do: to be able to provide anyone anywhere
with the course of their choice at the time they want it.
Dick
=============================================================
Dr Richard Bacon,
SToMP Project Director, Phone (44) 1483 259414
Department of Physics, Fax (44) 1483 259501
University of Surrey, email r.bacon@surrey.ac.uk
Guildford. GU2 5XH or stomp@surrey.ac.uk
U.K.
SToMP web page: http://www.ph.surrey.ac.uk/stomp/
=============================================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu 01 Oct 1998 - 11:09:40 MET DST