EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPUTER-AIDED-LEARNING AS A DIRECT REPLACEMENT FOR LECTURING IN DEGREE-LEVEL ELECTRONICS

The application of computer-aided learning as a direct replacement for , as opposed to an adjunct to lecturing, is still in its infancy in hi gher education, This paper examines some of the reasons for its slow u ptake and then describes a project to develop courseware for a large p roportion of the Electronic Engineering syllabus within several United Kingdom higher education institutions, The first modules to be comple ted cover the area of Computer Engineering. We describe the philosophy and design of this courseware, and then report a series of tests in w hich the examination performance of students using it was compared wit h that of control groups taught in traditional lectures. The results c learly suggest that carefully designed courseware can lead to a large reduction in teaching time, with no significant difference in learning . We then describe the development of this courseware into what is bel ieved to be the first degree-level Electrical Engineering course modul e to be replaced in its entirety by computer-based self-teaching. We d iscuss the impact of this development on the course structure, and sho w hom the time gained has been used for additional practical work and tutorial support. Animated excerpts from this material are available b y anonymous FTP.