enhancing students' learning while developing their communication skills

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Enhancing students’ learning while developing their communication skills by Mirabelle Walker Communication skills for undergraduates The course and its context

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Page 1: Enhancing students' learning while developing their communication skills

Enhancing students’ learning while developing their communication skills by Mirabelle Walker

Communication skills for undergraduates

The course and its context

Page 2: Enhancing students' learning while developing their communication skills

appropriate nt diis point. ‘C:ominutiicnting Tccli- riology’ i s ari undergraduate cniirsc wliich w x first prcserited iri 2997. As i y thc case with 211 Clpe11 Uiiirrcrsity courscs, it is ;I distance-learning coursc atttdicd 1)y studcnts--m:rIiily riintiire adul~~-iir a plnce and, withiti ccrt:iin co i iw constraints, ;IC thc t i m e s o f their own choosing. Chiirse rrinterinls for ‘Cniiiiiii~nicating Technoloby’ art: sent to Stiidrrlt5’

linriics and cmsist of specially written texts supportccli by audio and video Iiiatcrials, software xicl selcciinris of rcprititcd dociimcrits. Stiiticrits :ire iwkcd to buy a gnnd dictiotiary arid 3 copy of the cotirsc’s sct h o k , ‘Martci:iiig comniunication’ by Stniitoii’. I r i ;tddition to t I ie distance aspccb of thc course, there i s ;I srnnll niiwiirit of Exe-to-hcc colitact. Stiidcria atteiid 3

three-clay residential school rulicru thc ~ ~ i i i i i i i i i i i ~ a t i o i i

skills of giviiig a preseiihtion and collaborating in :i grwp arc: atlclressed. ‘I’hey are aiso nffcrcd five two- hour scnions ofoptioiial tutorials conductcd by a tiitor in tlicir locality.

Studonrs arc cxpcccctl to tievote nlpurrd six or seven hours pcr week to the co~irst: over A 32 week pied. T h c cowsc is divideti into 3 short iiitrnductory hlock (nboiit 24 s t d y hoiirs) followed, by four lnngcr blocks (cach of about 48 study h o ~ i r s ) , Each block culnl inntcs i i i ari assipmeri t which stiidcii& ciibmit to their local tutor for gmdiiig :uid coniinerit. ‘llic iinark~ cor tlic assigtiiticiits couiit for 50% ofthe coiirse marks; the inark for a thwcc-hour filial exnrri coiiiits Tor the 1-emainirig 50%. The coursc c m k thirty CATS ((:redit Accuinuln~.iori nnd Ttxisfci Sclicmu) points, orie-twelfth of 11inse nccdcd fix a cicgi:uc. At the 01x11 University sti.idrtil-s h a w alniost frcc choicc in tlic coiirses they will combiiic for h c i r dcgrcc, md the order- in wliich they will study thcm. The majority of skidciit5 studying ‘Commu riicntiiig Tecliriology’ are. Iiowvevcr; scudyiiig principally in the areas of IT, cotiiniunicntions and coiiipiitirig.

The structure of ‘Communicating Technology’

As with all Opcii University coui:ses, ‘C:onuiiiiiiic3lir~~ Tcctinolo& was plaririetl and prepared by a 'course miin’ of scadcmic staff-supported by specialists iii siich arcas :is softwart: design, graphic design, audio arid vidco dusigii and prodtiction. At the oulwr, riieiiilicrs oftlic coiirsc tcniii were f i c d witli die questions: How c m we promote the dcvelnpmt.iit of coiiiiiiunication skills? How cnri we integrnte die work 011 conini~rni- catioii skills with the work 011 the tcclitioloLy of cuiii~iiunic;ition systeiiis? How cati we assuss tlic cuiiiiiniriicati(~ii skills wnrk? And, riot least, litiw can

iise the work ori corliiiiuriicatiori skills to cnhaiicc learning?

I lowri t rcc rciiiarks, ‘If wc wish to discover the truth dmuc an uducatiotial systuni, wc m i s t look to its ; ~ s s c s s ~ ~ ~ c ~ ~ t p ~ c ~ . d m s ~ ~ , aiid the ‘Coiinininicni~iig

riaitirc OF thc assigtiiticrit a t tlic ciid of each bluck tit- ’Itctltiologlr’ COlllSC tr:am Calllc to scc that It was thc

dit. cniirse that would dctcrtiiiiic ttic succcss or failurc of tlir coiiiiiiwicatioii skills dcvclopnicnt in thc course. These nssignnicnts Iiad to signal to studclits that thc work on coiiiiniaiicntioir skills w a s rn irrrpnrta~it part of thc coiirsc ;ind one to wliich they rieeded to dcvotc titiic and eKort (not :i triessage that tecliriolngy studcnts always wish to hear!). llut iiiote thaii this, h e assigniiicnh had to allow studclits to tieirioiistr~tlte that they wcrc iiidcetl developing rlieir coiiiii~unicarion skills. And bccause tlic co11rse h i i s to tench s1iidetit.q aboiit thc tcchiiology of coiiiriiutiicatioii system, rhc assignnicnts also I i :d to test their: developiiig undcr- standing of such systems.

hi fact, assignments wcrc sczn to phy siicli a crucial rnle iri liclping tlic COLILSC‘ to acliieve in aims t lnt the coiirsc tcatn dccidcd that t h y nnist writc thciii first, before prepwiiig other coiircc iiiatcrialr. Accordingly, when pairs ofcourse tcniii iiicnibcrs plan~icd tlic topics and 1e;irrring oiitcoiiies f i ~ each block h e y also prcpnrccl ;I tlrnft nsripliieiit which irilegrared the tcchiiolohy ;irtrl COiiiiiiiiiiic3tioii skills o f t h e block. Thc topics, lcarning oiitcmies :mrl driift migiriierit were then prcserited together to ocher nietubers of tlw coiii:se teaiii for clisctissioii. ‘I’liis enrly preparation of assipiirieiits pirrved CO be ati irivaluxllile innovaticin, eiiabliiig the coiwst: Lean to crystallisc their cxpccta- tioris io] the coriiiuuiiicntiori skills o f the coursc a i d confirm that thcy cuiild test studerits iri those skills.

.But writing thr migniiirnts early 011 did more than this. It also cnablcd tlic coii~-sc tciiii tu rcalisc tliat tliey could u s e the assigiiiiieiitr to ptnvidu cxactly thc sort of erilianced learning experioncc that they had beeri hopirig for. 1 % ~ wi-iliiq assiginicritq thar rccpiircd studerits to bring togcthcr idcas fiurii ditrcrucit parts o f the block, they could ciicouragc studcnts to riiakc Jiiiks Tor themsclvcs bcnvecii tlcsc idcns. Lly xkiiig studer its

to wrilc for a specificcl siidiciicc :and piirposc, tliey

tiiatvrial in their own WOKIS. 111 short, thc assignments cnuld bc u s c d to promote active 1e:irning.

Oticc tlic coiirse tea i i i ld :ipprec%terl this point, the qucstiori ‘I IOW can wc intcgrxc the work (in comiriu- nication skills with the work on comniiiIiicatio~i systciiis?’ bccairie irrelevaiit. The teaiii HO longer saw this as their task. Instcad, tlicy saw thc stwlcnrs’ 1c;imiiig 3s being strengtlieiied tliimigli i i u k i r g .;iich incegmtiori thc stutlciit*’ own task.

Thc striictiirc of c x h block uf the courst: followed iiatiirally from tliis irisight iiito the rnle of tlic assign- nwiits. E:di block would coiisist of n set of short texts--referred to i n the c o m e as ‘cli~~~rers’-~ocuscd u n ;i variety of looscly related topics in coriiiiiutiicatiori skills aiid iri the teclrnolopp o f cniiiiiiunica~ioii zystcrns. The cliaptcrs wodd incoi:por:it-e work with the other ctliirse r i iacurialmiidin arid vidco, rcprintcd ducu- tnerits, coinputcl-bxcd activitics and thc set book--as iiecewry. The clinpters relatirig to coiiiinunicatioii skills would givc ~ridclincs a n d includo cxaniplea : i i d stuclerit activities. ’[‘he chapters relrtiiig tn die technolngy OT cn~iiiriiiriica~ioti systeiiis wnulcl bc

cnuld cIlcoLlrAgc thc111 to express their grasp of the

Page 3: Enhancing students' learning while developing their communication skills

Table 1: The chapters in Block 3, 'Explaining and entertaining'

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

Media and models Designing text Writlng to explain The technology of desk-top publishing Editing conventions and practice The printing process Exploring multimedia Hypertext Multimedia and the CD-ROM Multimedia hardware Cornparinn the media

is madc in a n y of tlicsc clinptcrs to iriake liiiks to irle;is i i i rhc otlior chnptcrs. In 3 937, this block w x nssussctl with thc qucstioii shown in tlic Ixiiicl"'. Tu aiiswcr p x t (h) of this qucstioii, stidcrits I i ;d tu iriteginte the

The question assessing Block 3 in 1997 Imagitic that yoii nrc scieiice teacher iii a smnll indeperidciit day-school. For so iw years you linve wed a particular science tcxthook for your 10- to 22-year old ] y d s . 'Cliis tcxtlmnk ] ins thc coiit~tit you ~iccd , l iaf appropriiite cricl-of-chapter cxciriscs, has R good index, i s accurate, is at h c right Icvel arid is attractivcly presented with plenty of frill-colour diagratns and

T h e pulilislwrs of this tcxbook have just brought out their first i-wilhiedia C:II-lU~M whicli, tlicy claim, covers tlic sailit' niaterial ns CIIC textbook, hit 'in a lively, iiitcractive way'.

1'he suhoclli I'wcrit-Tcachcr Association is willing t u 1 - q suitable coiiipntcir ifrirwssaiy :md thc school5 textbook budget wo~ild pay For tlie CIj-ROMs.

])I In tographs .

( I ! ) You decide to buy onc of t h e CI)-lWMs i n order I'n cmltintc ir. What fcatwcs iniglit yclu fiiid tliac wotrld iiicliiie you to use it nidi y m r pupils i i istcnd of the textbook, arid what fentures might you find that wiulr l iriclinc you to cotitinue to LISC tlic tcxthorrk mthcr than buy the C1 )-[<OM? (+like 'fcnturcs' to nicati both die multirnedin coinpoiiwts tlieiiiselves and che ways in which tlicsc uoi~ip,oiiciits ore used on this CII-ILOM .) Sclcct Jvc iinportint Lnturcs to ineitioti, briefly dcscribe cacti featuiry atid cxplaiii why it wnuld incline you fodagainst using thc C1 I-IWM.

( b ) Imagiric that, aftcr cvnliiation, you ciecidc tn use che CD-ROM with your pupils. Some of h e parents expres< COI~CCI'II that tlicir childrcti wilt SOCIII be talking nhout computm nnrl iiiiiltiruedia but. rhe parciits won't understand the tei-iniiioloLy, Thc L'arcrit-l'eiicher Associntiori therefon. appinnclics you to write ;in nrticle for irs iiiqpziiie. Thiq article is to cicscribe and explaiir i i n p o r ~ a [ i ~ elemcnts o f coriipiiterr and iii~iltiiiicdia C:13-I1OMs (not to justify their use) to the parents. It c u i incltirlc rliagl-nriis bin must fit into two A4 pagcs (as a t\vo-pagc spread) with 3 c m riiargins all ~oiiiid. Exccpt for Iicacliiigs a n d other spccial typographical ~catiiin<, tlic typefacc is to t ie .12-on-15 point I h c s Ncw lhriiari (or Ernes).

Writc this ortide arid s u b i i i i t i r t o your tiitor, on pper, ;IT

a uwrlproocessed rlocuiiierit to tlic abow spccification.

Page 4: Enhancing students' learning while developing their communication skills

coirimunication skills rleveloped iii d ie block with an urider.itatiditig of thc tecliriolo,gy drawn finni s c r w d chapterr. They hnd to cxpress their: undencaiiding in their: owii words, using a style cliosrri LO addrcss tlic sp~cIfied xidiencc. Thcy wcrc told that the iirticle they w m to write in part (1)) would be riiarked against the set ofcriteiia sliown i i i Tnblc Z1", and they were nclively ciicouroged to ewluatc arid iuiprovc their owii answer bcfbre they sent it to rliuil- tutor. This m s rcinforcedby tlic filial question iii the assignmcnt, where stdents wcrc nskcd to xscss how wcli thcy thuught they liad comiiiuriicated their iirescagc, taking thc critcrki as the stai:ting poirit of their critical cvatuation. This sort of final qiicstiori occurred on each rif tlic assigtirricilts 3s a consuqiicnce of the course team's dcsirc to c:ncour;igc stuticrits to become x t i v e learners.

Tlic cuiii'se teaui's itireiitiou is that thc assigimient for cach block shoiild giiide and fncus tlic studcrlts' study of tlixt Ldlack. The study guidc for Ulock 3 rcmititlr studerits of this, stating tliat tlic mipiiieiit 'draws togcdicr many of the ideas you will inwt iii thc block niid hclps to givc a finiiiewnrk to your study'. Sttidcotq arc then iwired to look at the assig~inicnt bcfore they s i x t to study the lhckl ' .

Each orthc assignments of the c m i m Eiiiictioiis in a sjiiiihi- way to tlic cxainpk qiioted For Block 3. Tiitrirs pi-oviric kcdlwck as ~ 1 1 2s

iiiarks, n i i d students air cxplicitly asked to reflect mi this feedback, iising thc

learning (see Fig, 3)". I;roiii h e concrcte cxpcricncc of prqxiririg arid subiiiitting tlieii, assigniiiciit students rcccivc fcutlbnck wliicli they can use to reflect on how well t h y tlid before iiioviiig or1 CO aunlyrc what makcs n good aiiswcr :ind 'exper'ii~wiitiirg' by piittirig ic jnm pixct i~c it1 tlicir iiext assigriincrit. Indeed, the five nssigriiiicrzts of the cwirse offrr four opportiiriitics fhr inovitig t1irr)iigh tlie I(olb cycle, a i i d stideiits who do so are iii~pinvitig both tlicir ~ibility to icarii atid tlirii- ability to comtiiunicatc cffccctively. Tlie course teatii's liopc atid uxpcctatioii is that this coiiscioiis reflection will also hclp to iiiakc thc coiimiuiiic:itioIi skills devclnprnont iiioIc explicit to the stiidrrits so t h t the skills caii he rransfurrcd iiiorc rcaclily to othcr situatioris.

Student progress

How have shidcri t q rcsporidcd to thc challcngcs posed by this coursc? A samplc of aroiii id 50% of-those who

concrete

active reflective

analysis

Fig. 1 The Kolb cycle of learning

following qmi io i is : 'Do I uridcrstnnd the rcasoii foi- the gmrle my tutor gave mc? 110 l kriow what 1 need io i n p o v c on in my iicxt ;rssigiiinent? Am 1 going 10 p r q x w for tlic ncxt assigtiriierit differently? Ifso, what ctiangcs a l i i I goirig tu iiinke? Is there ariyhiiig 1 iiccd to discuss with rriy t.utoi: or othcr Ftudcnts?'"

Stiidciits wlio coiiscieiitiously undertake this rcflcc- tion arid iisc it to sliape he i r apprnach to thcir ncxt aaigniiicnt are, in fact, iiiovirig through a ICnIh cycle cif

Table 2 Criteria for evaluating answers to part (b) of the question

a Content: Does it cover the topic at an appropriate level of detail? Is anything lmporlant omitted? Would anything have been better left Out?

0 Separation and orderinn of concerns 0 Factual accuracy 0 Sultabllity for the audience and purpose, e.g. style and

Correct use of English Use of appropriate diagrams Appearance as a twopage spread, both in conforming to

vocabulary

the s taW requirements and in 'pleasingness' of the design How well thouaht-out the whole article is

rcgistcrcd to study ' C o n - ii~unicatiog 'Lkclitioloby' \vas I3udomly sclcctcd for an end-of-year SLITVO~ in 1997. 44% responded, atid 'IBMe 3 shnws how tlicsc students pcrccived thcir jiiiproveiiicrit in the COIII-

ii~uriicatin~i skills tcstcd in tlir ;~rsigtiiiicrm niid also in ptilliiig cogctlier idens fin111

various paru of a block in urder to nnswei- tlie assign- i~ierits. Lt is grntiryirig to note that v r I y few studericc felt tlicy had iiiatle little p1-ogrcss.

A siirvcv of thc tutors wot-kirrg oti the course corroborates tlic stiidcnts' own vicw nf t h i r iiiiprtmcmcnt in comrriuiiicatioi~ skills. Thcsc tiitois mil-ked nccignliwitc for :I particular grotip of stiidciits tlirougli tlic coiiisc a i i d wcre hereforc well positioned to mte the studem' progress. All of thcm were sent a survey farm A t the end of 1997, and 77'%1 rcsponderl. Their respolise 10 ~ h c qucs~tjoii orstudcnts' progress in coiiiiiiiiiiic3(iori skills, as sliowii iii 'Cnhlc 4, iritlicates that the ~LICOI'S fccl that rlic majority of stuclctits madt. visible piogress iri h i i ~ coriiriiutlicatioii slulls tll~oLigli the CDIIrSe.

A survey of all the students who coiiipleled die cuiiise a i d took t l ie exatninstioii-sotrie 400 studunts -was also condncted A t the erid oi'1997. 56% of tlicsc studeiiis Icspniidcd. Oiie of ttic qucstiotis explicitly asked whether students felt that thcy had iniprovcd dieir lenrnitig skills. 'Ikblc 5 shows thcir rcspoiisc arid iridicalcs that ttic majority felt that they hacl iiidceri improved their learning skills to sotiic cnrisidcrablc exteiit.

At thc Dpcti Univcrsity, nssipiincnts arc chaiigerl eacti year. Iri a COLIIW like 'Coriitnunicnti~ig Tech- riology' wlicrc tlic assigiiriicrits play a largc part iri

Page 5: Enhancing students' learning while developing their communication skills

defining thc studclits' learn- ing cxpcrioncc, writing ~rcw nssigiiri~erits can givc

tunity to rcfuciis thc thrust n P h e coiwsc, should tliis bc rieccssary. I n the event, thc course tuaiii wiis plexcd wi tli the progress iirnde by tlic majority o f sludcii ts in thc first ycat of the COllrPc

the c0111sc' tca111 tl1e oppor-

Table 3: From a survey of students. Responses to the question: 'How much do you feel you have improved the following skills a5 a result of studying the course?' Respondents circled the appropriate number on a 5-point scale ranging from 'very little' to 'very much'.

very Very No tittle much reply

1 2 3 4 5

Writing technological material-general 3.8% 15.3% 32.8% 40.5% 4.6% 3.0% Writing technological material-reports 76% 1 t .5% 28.0% 38.4% 8.4% 4.6%

Pulllng together ideas from several Sources lo make sense of a new topic 6.1% 15.3% 32.1% 35.1% 7.6% 3.8%

ReadlnQ technological material 5.3% 183% 26.0% 40.5% 6.1% 3.8%

m d did not fcul tliiit such a rufocus WAS necessary. Tlic opportiinity WHS, Iio\vc~~cr, takcri to iirakc small t ' i ih~~ii~ei i ic~~ts to the sorts of' questions asked in thc second yew, a i d to the critei-in urcd to judge tlieiii. Chic particiilai, pinblcm tliat was vcry firnily :icirli-cssed was tlic t u i d m c y oi'srmic studcnts Iiclc LO holicvc that thcy wcrc truly expcctcd to writc for tlie audicncc arid pirposc givcii i n the question, a i d iristexl to p trying to itiiprcss i-lirir [titors with dl t h y ktrcw abuiit the pai:ticolar topic. In gcnci;iI, clearer guiclaucc w r i s givrri to student3 about w h a t w a s cxpcctcd arid to {:Ire tiiturs both nhnut standnds for mar-king and about liow to m i k e lirlpfiil c~tiitiiciits o i l students' aii\wt:rs.

Sturlerit arid tutor ructions to this improvctl pidai icc havc bccn Eivoui~nble, hut the sccond yesr nfthc coiirbc has suggcstcrl t11:it there a i r furthcr siiinll e r i t i a t ~ ~ ~ ~ i i c i i t ~

thnt co~ild uscfiilly be niadc for the third ycar of thc coursc. The c w t s c tcaiii is lmni i ig dimugli expeticiicc, as wcll :IC die srtrdcnta!

Conclusions

' I'hc coiirsc 'Coilrr i i im icar i i ig Tccc111 ioloby' w n s ititro- duccd in orcler- to rcspond to tlir calls. for work 011

coiti~ii~.iriic~i~ioti skills to feature iti undcrgmtluatu tkgree COLII 'SC~ i n cngiiiecririg mid tcchnology. I<erults frorti stirvcys suggest t h r i m 1 students kikc d i e t i e d to iiiiprovc thcir coiiiiiiuiiicntion skills seriously and (lo iiidced impi:ovc them 1 s they study the coursc. The sirucLLitc d thc coursc and thc 1i:itiii-e of thc ;isiigiiiients m w c tlcsigiieil to iniptxivc t l i e stiidcrits'

skills i t i Icarning, ar id f t e t h c k suggests tliat this also has beell ~1 lCCCSSf i l l .

Table 4 From the survey of tutors. Responses to the question: 'Do you think that, on the whale, the students in your group improved their communication skills through studying the course?' Respondents circled the appropriate number on a 5-point scale ranging from 'not much' to 'a great deal'.

Not much A great deal 1 2 3 4 5

0 4.2% 29.2% 58.3% 8.3%

Table 5: From another survey of students. Responses to the question: 'How much have you improved your learning skills as a result of studying the course?'

No1 at all A liltle To quite a Very much No reply large extent

6.4% 35 6% 43.8% 11 9% 2 W h

'I."tic bct that 'Coinrriur~ruatiii~ Tcchndogy' is n distance-lcaming coiirsc does set i t so imwl ia t ;ip;irt froin the riiajnrity of cngirierriug and c-cclitiology com:scs, brit thc lessnns lcnrricd 1i:ivc ;qqdicnbility in facc-to-fiicc sitlintinns and inay wcll oft;31- I1cr~ic ;uid ericouragciticnt tu those pnndcring thc ticccsuity nf' irilladuciiig corii~riiiiiicntjn~t skills inti) thcir utidei-- grnduatc courses. DE particlilar notc is thu hct tliat, thinugh nppropriate iise of' aswsiiiciit, tlw iricorpui-a- tinn of communicution skills into a11 uudcrgr,idlia~e tcclitiology coiii-se hns cnnblud tlic coui-sr to eriliaiicc tlic lcarning skills or chc students. It 11as iiiarle d ~ c studcrib mort active md twlpcd thcrii to lcarii Iinw to learn, ; i d so has rqiiippcd tlicni for Icai-uirrg eflectivcly ttirougliout thcir graikinte life.

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