Publication: Human factors and the enhancement of teaching effectiveness
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Date
1995
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Abstract
Two main concerns were addressed in this project, namely behavioural and cognitive contributions to effective teaching. Specifically, the scope of the project included the motivation of students in relation to learning effectiveness, and the cognitive bases for effective teaching.<br><br>To structure these concerns appropriately, a human factors systems model of teaching was proposed to define the interactions between components of a teaching system. Using the model as a framework, human factors literature was searched for appropriate knowledge to support the formulation of principles for effective teaching and motivation enhancement. Thus, the model of the human as an information processor was found to be particularly useful. A similar search of teaching literature was conducted.<br><br>Principles derived from the two sources were then collated to support the specification and implementation of teaching changes in two case-studies. The effects of the changes were then assessed through a survey of student responses, an inspection of student reports, and informal observations of students pertaining to their attitude; the incidence, intensity, rate, extent and quality of their participation; and their enjoyment of the lecture. The results of both case-study assessments were overwhelmingly positive. Consequently, it may be concluded that the implemented changes in teaching succeeded in improving student perception and motivation, and in enhancing learning and teaching effectiveness.<br><br>The action research also investigated the use of examples to teach individual concepts and of case-studies to teach the relation and integration of multiple concepts. Examples and case studies were thus recruited to support different teaching concerns. The efficacy of applying a mix of mundane, technical and 'glamorous' examples, and student demonstrations to support teaching was also examined. The results were extremely positive. Mundane examples involving local events and news helped students to identify with and relate to the design problems addressed. Students also reported that mixed examples made the lectures more interesting. It was therefore concluded that the value and efficacy of small examples have indeed been under-rated.<br><br>Three avenues of follow-up research were instigated by the present work, namely:<br><br>cL a more extensive search of human factors literature to support the formulation of further principles for enhancing teaching effectiveness. Promising areas of search were identified.<br><br>cL an intensive study to determine correlations between teaching effectiveness and the overt indicators of student responses proposed in this project. The objective is to determine whether such indicators could be used to facilitate future studies of teaching effectiveness.<br><br>cL a study of the use of small examples and larger cases to ascertain their efficacy in enhancing teaching effectiveness. Appropriate roles, functions and applications may thus be defined for their use. Similarly, the efficacy of mixed examples should be investigated.