#315 Poster

Monday 16 April 15:00 - 17:15 Bar/Conservatory

A Proposed Strategy to Solve the Learning Gap between University Course Materials and Software Vendor Support Materials

Mark Oliver, Coventry University and SCORE, The Open University, UK

Conference Theme: Impact

Summary: The development of an Open Educational Resource-based strategy that combats the learning gap between academic and commercial materials.

Abstract: The teaching and assessment of theoretical topics in electronic engineering is often supported by the use of software simulation packages. Some of these simulation packages have the ability to implement the theoretical idea in a practical piece of electronics hardware. A particular learning problem has presented itself in the teaching of signal processing problems using Matlab using an add-on called the Wavelet Toolbox. Wavelets are a new area of signal processing, useful for analysing and processing signals in what is called the scale domain.  For example signals can be compressed, to use less storage space on a computers hard disc. The well-known MP3 algorithm uses a kind of wavelet called a binlet. Under the initial funding of the Loughborough and Coventry University SIGMA CETL in mathematics and statistics support a Wavelet Toolbox Guided Learning Handbook (WTGLH) has been developed. This WTGLH was useful at Coventry University for teaching a particular group of postgraduate students. Under the further funding of Open University Shared Solutions an International Version of the WTGLH (IWTGLH) is being developed to address a wider market for the materials. There are potential uses in many other Universities and Industrial Continuing Professional Development Situations.
The learning problem is described thus. Software vendors produce products that are generic. They serve industrial, government and education clients. The comprehensive help systems produced by this vendors can be a shelf full of manuals or the electronic equivalent namely a gigabytes of help files and Adobe Acrobat and Word documents. Lectures produce learning materials that serve particular topics in particular modules that serve particular courses and then set assignments based on those topics. Students may be baffled by the copious materials provided by the software vendor. Educational institutions have devised a variety of solutions for this kind of problem. The IWTGLH is just one of them.
The particular issues the author has identified as part of an OU SCORE fellowship are:

1. The learning gap between academic materials about theory and manufacturer supplied materials.
2. The wide variety of staff who produce such materials on the academic side: academics, departmental development officers, staff support units.
3. Certain software products have wide support in the HE community.
4. The rate of development of software products, with versions coming out several times a year, is difficult to map into academic situations where syllabuses may be set two years in advance

Hence this paper clearly identifies the learning problem which exists relating to a wide variety of software environments. It also suggests a solution in a coordinated strategy that has two prongs. Firstly a range of OER materials need to be produced to serve the student need. Secondly, the strategy includes suggestions about how staff effort can be coordinated internationally in order to produce materials and keep them up to date.