A novel learning and self-assessment platform: interactive, holistic and student-centred

The materials were developed for use in Apple iBooks, which is accessible to all Aeronautics students who will be taking the module as they have individual access to iPads. In this learning platform, the conventional expositional teaching and learning approach is reversed such that students will be able to actively make physical sense of solutions obtained, as opposed to the ‘conventional’ approach which promotes passive progress. Hence, it is expected that embracing a multifaceted approach that enables active learning will be more effective pedagogically.

Firstly, students will be able to interact with virtual equivalents of physical problems, thereby developing an intuition for the problem. This was achieved by embedding co-created bespoke animations made in HTML/CSS/Javascript into the iBook. Interactions include sliders, where students can vary system variables, and drag-able objects, where students can directly manipulate the dynamic system itself. These interactions all provide manipulatives where students are able to intuitively form their own links and conclusions based on what they observe from the interactions.

 Next, without leaving the platform, students are guided through detailed development of the theory, with the ability to take notes. This is similar to ‘conventional’ notetaking, where personal notes can be written so that students are able to initially reinforce their understanding, and subsequently revise when necessary.

At the end of each section, students will be able to consolidate knowledge by watching a summary video and completing meaningful and interactive self-assessment tests. These summary videos have handwritten visuals, providing a similar feel to what a student would write themselves. The videos are also succinct and concise, with an emphasis on brevity to prevent information overload whilst emphasising key concepts and theories within each section. Self-assessment tests, or quizzes, have questions that are crafted in order to tease understanding and ensure comprehension of the key concepts taught in each section.

The teaching materials will be trialled and deployed in Autumn 2019. This trial will be able to provide feedback relevant to the curriculum review in the Aeronautics department. The intention is to learn and eventually fully roll out similar materials across the department, as part of a department-wide initiative towards increasing pedagogical effectiveness.

The benefits to student learning and experience are expected to be multiple. Firstly, as the project is student centred, in the sense of being made by students for students, key aspects of the material are defined by the individuals who derive the most utility. Also, by interacting with various elements of the materials, such as the interactions, videos and quizzes, students are given the agency to form intuitions and reinforce learning in their own way depending on their individual learning styles. Furthermore, as students will have access to all material regardless of location, they will be able to absorb relevant information individually before interacting with other students over each section via a forum, and with the lecturer and teaching assistants in tutorials, further cementing content retention, similar to a flipped-classroom approach.

This project is also expected to contribute to a department-wide and college-wide transformation; if the efficacy of the technological aspects for this platform are confirmed during the next academic year, equivalent platforms can be translated to other modules within Aeronautics and even beyond, where dynamic interactions can be useful.