Aspectos Sanitarios Del Agua

INTERACTIVE TUTORIALS designed to
encourage Deeper Learning practices


Published in: Making new connections -Proceedings of ASCILITE ‘96, Eds. A. Christie, P. James & B. Vaughan. Adelaide: University of South Australia, p. 501-515.

(ASCILITE = the Australian Society for Computers in Tertiary Education)


D.A. Weaver
Department of Physiology,
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne,Victoria, 3052
D.Weaver@physiology.unimelb.edu.au
T. Petrovic,
Department of Physiology,
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Victoria, 3052
T.Petrovic@physiology.unimelb.edu.au
A. Dodds
Multi-media Education Unit,
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Victoria, 3052
A.Dodds@meu.unimelb.edu.au

P.J. Harris,
Department of Physiology,
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Victoria,3052
P.Harris@physiology.unimelb.edu.au
L.M. Delbridge,
Department of Physiology,
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Victoria, 3052
L.Delbridge@physiology.unimelb.edu.au
R.E. Kemm
Department of Physiology,
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Victoria, 3052
R.Kemm@physiology.unimelb.edu.au


Abstract:
We have produced an interactive tutorial that allows students to developdifferent approaches to solving physiological problems - analysis, synthesis, trial and error, collaboration or accepting instructional presentations. The procedure allows students to develop “thought experiments” of a “what if?” nature, a process usual in traditional one-to-one interaction with tutors.
The essential characteristic of the design of this and subsequent tutorials is that it providesthe students an opportunity to construct and test their own personalised model of the underlying mechanisms of physiological processes that account for data gathered in practical classes. It is designed particularly to address students’ misconceptions, and allows tests of unrealistic situations, often not available in conventional mathematical simulations in physiology.
This paper demonstrates anapproach to the design of an interactive multi-media tutorial that encourages deeper learning practices and that has broad application in other disciplines.
1 Introduction:
Our objective in developing interactive multi-media tutorials is to encourage deeper learning of the subject so that students are able to make active use of such knowledge in future problem solving situations that they willencounter in their chosen profession. The constraints of current curricula in professional and scientific courses often make this difficult, since the presentation of information and its assessment tends to reward retention of knowledge by rote learning. However, there are trends towards science and medicine being taught in problem-solving contexts.
This tutorial development is the prototypefor a series planned to allow students to construct their own mental models of the operation of physiological mechanisms as a means of solving applied problems. How this is achieved with appropriate consideration of pedagogical design, within a conventional syllabus, has application in other professional and scientific tertiary courses.
1.1 Pedagogical Issues:
Computer-based learning is beingintroduced apace in traditional tertiary teaching programmes, Cochrane & Ellis [2], driven more by technological change and financial constraints than demand for improved learning practices. It is often simply assumed, without research evidence, that the move from didactic teacher-centred lecturing to self-paced student learning with multi-media tutorials will naturally lead to improved learningoutcomes. Many interactive multi-media tutorials are still based on didactic teaching practices, "show-and-tell style”, coupled to drill-and-practice question sessions that may not encourage deeper learning. Few are of simulation and “microworld” styles that might enable deeper learning practices.
An increasing world-wide drive for self-paced learning, focussing on problem solving in medical...