Author: cdtlsd

Making Learning “Real” in Communication Courses: Authentic Assessments for Communities

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Suwichit (Sean) CHAIDAROON
Department of Communications and New Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)

sean.chaidaroon@nus.edu.sg

 

Chaidaroon, S. (2023). Making learning “real” in communication courses: Authentic assessments for communities [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/making-learning-real-in-communication-courses-authentic-assessments-for-communities/

SUB-THEME

Communities and Education

 

KEYWORDS

Authentic assessments, significant learning experience, co-creational pedagogy

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks 

 

ABSTRACT

One of the common challenges we are facing in university teaching is designing assessments that facilitate students’ learning. Traditional assessments may measure students’ cognitive knowledge well but they often fail to motivate students to engage in higher-order learning. Well-designed assessments not only motivate students to excel themselves in their studies, but also serve as a catalyst to foster significant learning experiences. This refers to is education that makes a difference in how students live their lives meaningfully by enhancing individual lives, social interactions with others, inculcating a civic mindset as well as a readiness for the world of work (Brackenbury, 2012; Fink, 2013).

 

In this Lightning Talk, the author shares his practices and reflection on authentic assessments he designed for the communication courses he has taught. Defined as learning tasks that allow students to apply competencies or combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes that they need in their professional lives, the assessments in three communication courses in particular will be discussed to illustrate the authentic assessment framework (Gulikers et al., 2004) as outlined below.

 

  • In NMC5323 “Crisis Communications and Leadership”, one assessment was a press conference simulation where professional journalists were invited to participate and ask questions to students who role-play as spokespersons in crisis situations.
  • In NMC5306 “Communications and Leadership”, students were asked to write thought leadership blog posts on their personal LinkedIn profiles. Please search #NMC5306 on LinkedIn for examples of students’ work.
  • In NM3215 “Advertising Strategies” (later converted to NM4257 “Multiplatform Advertising Strategies”), students developed actual video and printed advertisements for local clients.

 

The author’s reflection highlights two key factors for the successful implementation of authentic assessments in his clases. First, the co-creational pedagogy, or student-centred teaching as some scholars may call this approach, should be adopted where students’ inputs are consistently taken through the facilitation and coaching process that the instructors will conduct (Hou & Chaidaroon, 2022). This co-creational pedagogy highlights the importance of the learning process as much as the product, allowing students to excel themselves in their studies. Second, there must be authentic audiences for students’ work as most traditional assessment deliverables, such as tests or essays, were solely read and assessed by the instructors. This is an opportunity for the local communities to be invited to serve as authentic audiences who may also benefit from students’ work.

 

Ultimately, the authentic assessments implemented by the author were proven to be meaningful teaching and learning experiences for the instructor, students, and the communities involved in all projects. They have proven to be good indicators for significant learning experience that students gain from attending university, which reflects students’ achievement not only in their studies but also in their development of a citizenry mindset.

 

REFERENCES

Brackenbury, T. (2012). A qualitative examination of connections between learner-centered teaching and past significant learning experiences. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 12(4), 12-28. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/3139

Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences, revised and updated: An integrated approach to designing college courses. John Wiley & Sons.

Gulikers, J. T. M., Bastiaens, T. J. & Kirschner, P. A. (2004). A five-dimensional framework for authentic assessment. Educational Technology and Development, 52, 67–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504676

Hou, J. Z., & Chaidaroon, S. S. (2022). A co-creational turn to online strategic communication education: Prospects and challenges. Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 24. https://www.pria.com.au/pria-newsroom/asia-pacific-public-relations-journal/apprj-volumes/volume-24/?fbclid=IwAR1qjBSnYHm7vn1Qqlp8KN1uuif2ZbqErNeW5yKO1gzoXBMysLlV8JsyIBw

 

Methods in Madness–Exploring the Use of Toolkits in Project-based Learning

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Mark CHONG* and Bina RAI
Department of Biomedical Engineering

*markchong@nus.edu.sg

 

Chong, M., & Rai, B. (2023). Methods in madness–Exploring the use of toolkits in project-based learning [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/methods-in-madness-exploring-the-use-of-toolkits-in-project-based-learning/

 

SUB-THEME

Interdisciplinarity and Education

 

KEYWORDS

Project-based learning, interdisciplinary studies, design, instructional aids, training aids

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks

 

BACKGROUND

Project-based Learning (PBL) is commonly used to engage learners in meaningful projects and developing real-world products. Student-led inquiry is integral towards knowledge construction, with instructors engaged more heavily in coaching, rather than didactic delivery of content. Inherently, this results in an increased workload, both for staff and students (Brown, 2020), and PBL approaches are notorious for being time-consuming. The diverse nature of problem statements used, as well as instructors involved, often result in inconsistent expectations, further limiting efforts to scale-up delivery of instruction (Aldabbus, 2018; Shpeizer, 2019).

 

Peer instruction may provide part of the solution to these issues. As defined and popularised by Eric Mazur (Crouch & Mazur, 2001), peer instruction benefits from not having the “curse of knowledge”, with recent learners being better placed to explain concepts to each other, particularly in the learning of content knowledge. It follows that PBL can be integrated with peer instruction for improved outcomes, and has been proven effective for skills-based courses (Putri & Sumartini, 2021). As described above, however, design projects tend to be more open-ended and require some prior experience to steer the learning in the right direction; students within the project teams often lack the “big picture”, and require additional guidance in their discovery journey.

 

In this project, we proposed the use of students who have recently completed the course to return as teaching assistants (TAs) for future teams. To make up for the lack of general real-world experience, the TAs are trained and equipped with teaching aids in the form of toolkits that serve to standardise instruction and also provide a vehicle to report student progress for targeted feedback from the course instructor/faculty. Frameworks and toolkits, as used in innovation and design, serve to focus the users’ attention on immediate topics and to provide a platform for collaborative design (Clemente et al., 2016).

 

The following are the research questions explored in this project:

  • What are the major gaps in PBL that can be effectively addressed with teaching toolkits?
  • How effective are teaching toolkits in (a) facilitating teaching, and (b) nurturing confidence in instruction in student guides?

 

PROJECT AIMS & METHODOLOGY

We hypothesise that instructional toolkits improve teaching effectiveness and efficiency in design innovation courses for TAs. To test this hypothesis, the following aims have been developed:

 

Aim #1. We will develop toolkits to be used by learners in the course BN3101 “Biomedical Engineering Design”. Additionally, we will develop training guides for TAs to prepare them to transition into teaching roles. We expect these efforts to improve confidence of the teaching aids and enable them to provide focused guidance to the student groups throughout PBL. As a result, students will be steered in the right direction and converge on the course learning outcomes more quickly.

 

Aim #2. We will measure the effectiveness of the toolkits in facilitating peer instruction through a combination of direct and indirect measures at specified time points throughout the course. Two aspects of effectiveness of the training toolkits will be studied: (i) Ability to improve learning outcomes, and (ii) Ability to facilitate moderate facilitation by the TAs. Evaluation of (i) will be performed through self-reported surveys by learners, and qualitative assessments from instructors as direct measures of learning. Similarly, evaluation of (ii) will take place through surveys on learners and focus group discussions with student assistants at the end of the course.

 

Aim #3. We will analyse the data collected to reveal distinct material from the course that can be most effectively structured into a general set of toolkits to improve instruction and/or identify portions that can be digitised for online training of the student guides. This can also be useful for onboarding new course instructors, and may result in more consistent expectations of deliverables amongst course instructors.

 

CENTRAL MESSAGE

This presentation describes the process of developing toolkits for project-based learning courses for effective learning.

 

REFERENCES

Aldabbus, S. (2018). Project-based learning: Implementation & challenges. International Journal of Education, Learning and Development, 6(3), 71-79. https://eajournals.org/ijeld/vol-6-issue-3-march-2018/project-based-learning-implementation-challenges/

Brown, N. (2020). Practical solutions to manage staff and student workloads in project-based learning courses. Global Journal of Engineering Education, 22(1), 20-25. http://www.wiete.com.au/journals/GJEE/Publish/vol22no1/03-Brown-N.pdf

Clemente, V. Vieira, R. & Tschimmel, K. (2016). A learning toolkit to promote creative and critical thinking in product design and development through Design Thinking. In 2016 2nd International Conference of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (CISPEE), Vila Real, Portugal (pp. 1-6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CISPEE.2016.7777732

Crouch, C. H., & Mazur, E. (2001). Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69, 970-77. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1374249

Putri, S. T., & Sumartini, S. (2021). Integrating peer learning activities and problem-based learning in clinical nursing education. SAGE Open Nurs, 7, 23779608211000262. https://doi.org/10.1177/23779608211000262

Shpeizer, R. (2019). Towards a successful integration of project-based learning in higher education: challenges, technologies and methods of implementation. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 7, 1765-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2019.070815

 

Does AI-generated Writing Differ from Human Writing in Style? A Literature Survey

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Feng CAO
Centre for English Language and Communication (CELC)

elccf@nus.edu.sg

 

Cao, F. (2023). Does AI-generated writing differ from human writing in style? A literature survey [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/does-ai-generated-writing-differ-from-human-writing-in-style-a-literature-survey/

 

SUB-THEME

AI and Education

 

KEYWORDS

AI-generated writing, human writing, ChatGPT, style, linguistic features

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks

 

ABSTRACT

Artificial intelligence (AI) has witnessed significant advancements recently, leading to the emergence of AI-generated writing. This new form of writing has sparked interest and debate, raising questions about how it differs from traditional human writing. One popular AI tool which has been attracting much attention since 2022 is ChatGPT, which has been used to create texts in many domains. In this preliminary survey of literature, I aim to review studies which compare the writing generated by ChatGPT with human writing to explore the rhetorical and linguistic differences in style.

 

This literature survey focuses on the most widely used databases: Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. An initial search in these databases using key terms such as “AI-generated writing”, “human writing”, and “ChatGPT” returned over 400 items relevant to the topic. I skimmed through the titles and abstracts, and sometimes the full texts to assess their relevance to the research question. Irrelevant items and duplicates were excluded, and only the most pertinent sources were further analysed.

 

The preliminary analysis showed that the AI-generated writing differed from human writing in a number of genres and disciplines, for example, medical abstracts and case reports, business correspondence, restaurant reviews, and academic essays. Regarding content creation, for example, the literature review shows that AI is capable of generating highly readable medical abstracts and case reports which are almost indistinguishable from human writing. However, a few key limitations, such as inaccuracies in content and fictitious citations, were also reported by expert reviewers.

 

In terms of tone and voice, the analysis reveals that human writing differs from AI-generated writing by evoking emotions and resonates with readers on a personal level. Human writers bring their life experiences, cultural background, and empathy into their work, enabling them to convey complex emotions, capture nuances, and engage readers’ emotions. AI-generated writing, however, typically lacks the emotional depth and intuition present in human writing.

 

In terms of linguistic features, the literature indicates that AI-generated writing tends to employ longer sentences than human writing, but the latter is likely to employ more diverse vocabulary and expressions. In addition, AI-generated writing contains a more formal register whereas human writing is more likely to use informal register such as the frequent use of personal pronouns.

 

In short, this survey of the literature provides an initial overview of some key differences between AI-generated writing and human writing. While AI models like ChatGPT have made remarkable advances in mimicking human writing, they still lack the distinct characteristics that make human writing unique and emotionally resonant. Understanding these differences is vital for harnessing the potential of AI-generated writing while mitigating potential risks and challenges. In the field of language education, a better understanding of the differences between AI- and human writing may help teachers and novice writers to better utilise AI tools for developing academic writing skills and publishing. At the same time, by addressing ethical concerns and nurturing human creativity alongside AI capabilities, teachers and learners can navigate the evolving landscape of AI-generated writing, and leverage it to enhance human expression and communication in a responsible and inclusive manner.

 

Fostering Interdisciplinarity in PF2203: Quality and Productivity Management

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Alexander LIN*, Anqi SHI, and TAY En Rong Stephen
Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering (CDE)

*bdgal@nus.edu.sg

 

Lin, A., Shi, A., & Tay, E. R. S. (2023). Fostering interdisciplinarity in PF2203: Quality and productivity management [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/fostering-interdisciplinarity-in-pf2203-quality-and-productivity-management/

 

SUB-THEME

Interdisciplinarity and Education

 

KEYWORDS

Quality and productivity management, industry relevance, knowledge integration, constructivism learning

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks

 

INTRODUCTION

This discussion elucidates a pedagogical transformation of the course PF2203 “Quality and Productivity Management (QPM)”, which amalgamates an interdisciplinary management philosophy. Interdisciplinary learning integrates knowledge from multiple domains while considering their interrelationships (Ivanitskaya et al., 2002). This enables an interprofessional education with a deeper understanding of thinking processes practiced by different professionals (Cooper et al. 2001) and hence, is essential for coordinating and integrating the operations of different teams within the construction industry.

 

The approach to enhancing the interdisciplinary elements within the PF2203 curriculum revolved around a shift from a traditional, teacher-centred pedagogy to a more inclusive, student-centred approach. This paradigm shift was motivated by the need to ensure that students are not merely passive recipients of knowledge but active constructors of their learning experience (Anthony, 1996). It is through this shift that we sought to foster an interdisciplinary constructivism learning experience.

 

METHODOLOGY

This transformative journey involved enriching the traditional lecture format through the incorporation of (i) current industry insights, (ii) research findings, and (iii) multidisciplinary concepts, of which examples are presented in Table 1. This is to enable students to link theoretical principles to real-world applications for authentic learning, thereby enhancing their understanding and critical thinking abilities (Lombardi & Oblinger, 2007).

 

Table 1
Content added for lectures

Topic for the Lecture Content Added Purpose
Nature of the construction industry Robotic fabrication in construction and automobile industries. To understand how different disciplines in construction and manufacturing industries affect the consideration of applying robotic fabrication.
The debate on quality A case introduction about design, construction, and operation of a university building. To provide a practical example from the industry where the effectiveness of collaborations between different professionals, such as engineers, architects, and managers, affects the project outcomes.
Construction Productivity, Quality and Technologies A case introduction about design and fabrication of a 3D-printed concrete arch structure. To utilise a real case to elaborate how considerations and knowledge in fields of architecture, structure, construction/fabrication, and quality management are integrated in a design-to-fabrication process.
Just-in-time productivity A case introduction about a real-time quality monitoring system of fresh concrete during delivery. To utilise a real case to elaborate how technology can help one achieve just-in-time productivity.

 

In parallel, the tutorials were utilised as explorative platforms where students could delve into the intricate interplay between the sub-domains of engineering, management, policy, and human aspects to synthesise them into a cohesive understanding of QPM, thus enforcing interdisciplinary learning. This also allows the passive acceptance of knowledge from lectures to be transferred to active learning (Anthony, 1996), with knowledge construction based on constructivism learning theory (Piaget, 1954). During the tutorial sessions, students presented their findings and the lecturer provided guidance and feedback focusing on the interrelationship of different disciplines.

 

The framework illustrated in Figure 1 was deployed herein and fosters a constructivist learning process for interdisciplinary learning, which builds upon previous works on constructivism for interdisciplinary teaching and learning (Ledoux & McHenry, 2004; Scheer et al., 2012). Merging knowledge from both technical and non-technical subdomains, it builds upon students’ prior knowledge acquired from earlier lectures and courses, integrating it into tutorial activities. Within this approach, students explore the nuances of subdomain knowledge through an iterative balance between two main pillars: active learning and social interaction (Ledoux & McHenry, 2004). The former involves students actively constructing knowledge for their presentation, while the latter centres on obtaining feedback from peers and the lecturer. This cyclical engagement between the two processes across interdisciplinary sub-domains deepens comprehension and encourages a collaborative learning environment (Scheer et al., 2012).

framework employed to foster a constructivist learning process for interdisciplinary learning in the QPM course
Figure 1. The framework employed to foster a constructivist learning process for interdisciplinary learning in the QPM course.

 

RESULTS

The transformation of the pedagogical approach was met with positive student feedback in an end-of-course survey. Table 2 shows some representative student feedback, indicating that the revamped course allowed students to learn how QPM theory was applied to the construction industry [refer to feedback (a) and (b)], and the peer learning in tutorials allowed students to have a deeper understanding on comprehensive sub-domains relevant to QPM [refer to feedback (c) and (d)].

 

Table 2
Qualitative student feedback reproduced as they are

Feedback
(a) Further discusses applications and real world applications of the topics taught in the module. Content from slides and readings are closely related.
(b) Took a closer look into real-life examples of QPM and how it is implemented within a company
(c) The group projects are definitely useful as the various presentations done by the different groups covers a lot of different areas in QPM. This wide coverage of content is good in allowing us to learn as much from everyone.
(d) Understanding the different factors relating to quality and productivity, Listening and learning from other groups.

 

Table 3 shows the responses for the end-of-course survey utilising a five-point Likert scale. Survey responses for Questions (1) to (3) indicate a general agreement that the innovative learning activities contributed to a deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary relationships among the course’s subtopics and the integration of them. Most students appreciated the value derived from seeing the practical application of theoretical concepts (Question 4) and the lecturer’s approachability (Question 6). Additionally, students acknowledged that these activities fostered their ability to critically analyse and apply QPM concepts in the construction industry [Questions (5) and (6)]. Examples and images of students’ work will be shown in the presentation during the conference.

 

Table 3
Survey results indicating the average response based on a five-point Likert scale with 1 (Strongly Disagree) and 5 (Strongly Agree) (n = 27)

Questions Average Score 
(1) Quality and Productivity Management consists of many sub-topics. Through the learning activities for tutorials and group projects, I gained an understanding of the relationship between these sub-topics. 3.8
(2) Quality and Productivity Management consists of many sub-topics. Through the activities for tutorials and group projects, I learnt how to integrate these sub-topics. 3.6
(3) Quality and Productivity Management consists of many sub-topics. Through the activities for tutorials and group projects, I appreciate how these sub-topics connections to my prior knowledge/experiences about the built environment industry. 4.2
(4) Through the activities for tutorials and group projects, I learnt how quality and productivity management concepts/principles have been implemented in the construction industry and other industries/sectors. 4.1
(5) The activities for tutorials and group projects facilitate my critical thinking for deployment of Quality and Productivity Management. 4.0
(6) In the activities for tutorials and group projects, the guidance (if any) presented by the tutor(s) were instructive and inspired me and my group members to think critically and delivery our own ideas. 4.0

 

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

In conclusion, this study highlights how interdisciplinarity could be achieved through a course revamp incorporating i) current industry insights, ii) research findings, and iii) multidisciplinary concepts. Through this transformation, we have observed students actively participating in their learning journey while at the same time applying interdisciplinary knowledge from other domains of knowledge. This model potentially serves as a blueprint for other courses looking to foster an interdisciplinary and industry-relevant learning environment.

 

REFERENCES

Anthony, G. (1996). Active learning in a constructivist framework. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 31(4), 349-69. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00369153

Cooper, H, Carlisle, C., Gibbs, T., & Watkins, C. (2001). Developing an evidence base for interdisciplinary learning: a systematic review, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 35(2), 228-37. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2001.01840.x

Ivanitskaya, L., Clark, D, Montgomery, G., & Primeau, R. (2002). Interdisciplinary learning: Process and outcomes. Innovative Higher Education, 27(2), 95-111. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021105309984

Ledoux, M. & McHenry, N. (2004). A constructivist approach in the interdisciplinary instruction of science and language arts methods. Teaching Education, 15(4), 385-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047621042000304510

Lombardi, M. M., & Oblinger, D. G. (2007). Authentic learning for the 21st century: An overview. Educause Learning Initiative, 1(2007), 1-12. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2007/1/authentic-learning-for-the-21st-century-an-overview

Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child. (M. Cook, Trans.). Basic Books.

Scheer, A., Noweski, C., & Meinel, C. (2012). Transforming constructivist learning into action: Design thinking in education. Design and Technology Education, 17(3), 8-19. https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/DATE/article/view/1679

 

Collecting, Documenting and Researching About the Effects of Litter on Biodiversity with Team Mates

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Amy CHOONG Mei Fun
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science (FOS)

dbscmfa@nus.edu.sg

 

Choong, A. M. F. (2023). Collecting, documenting and researching about the effects of litter on biodiversity with team mates [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/collecting-documenting-and-researching-about-the-effects-of-litter-on-biodiversity-with-team-mates/

 

SUB-THEME

Interdisciplinarity and Education

 

KEYWORDS

Waste and our environment, group project, Natural Heritage of Singapore, biodiversity, protecting the environment

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks

 

ABSTRACT

GES1021/GESS1016 “Natural Heritage of Singapore” is a course that showcases biodiversity in Singapore and how development threatens local biodiversity. Undergraduates can take the course from any level. Owing to a lack of manpower, the LSM1307 “Waste and Our Environment” had to be put on hold and since I took over GES1021/GESS1016, I decided to incorporate LSM1307’s key topics, such as litter and pollution, into GES1021/GESS1016. The course LSM1307 focusses on environmental sustainability, particularly on waste and health concerns while GES1021/GESS1016 focusses on biodiversity, specifically on the natural heritage of Singapore. Students who enrolled into this course came from all faculties thus rendering this continual assessment (CA), titled as in this abstract, highly interdisciplinary.

 

This CA was a group project. In the CA instruction given, students were taught how to collect the trash, what to avoid, how to practice safety, how to document the waste and categorise it. The instruction also named the students as heroes to motivate them to do good as their litter removal helps local biodiversity. They were graded on aesthetics of the poster (2%), accuracy of information about the organisms (12%), detailed research on waste (5%), good referencing (1%), as well as the pictures and categories of waste collected (3%).

 

Out of the class of 125, the students formed their own groups of 3 to 5 members. Each group focussed on one natural habitat (may be at different locations in Singapore), documented three native plants and three native animals that lived there, and picked at least 50 pieces of litter from the habitat and documented them in their group poster. Based on what they had picked, students researched on the category of litter, their effects on the flora and fauna in general (need not be specific to their organism, as few such studies had been carried out locally). For instance, there were different types of plastics, and information on how they affected plants or animals could be obtained from studies done (need not be limited to Singapore). Finally, students submitted their work in the form of a three-page A3 poster in PDF. The first page described the team’s chosen habitat and organisms. The second page listed the types of litter collected and how these affected plants and animals, and the final page listed the references.

 

This CA was a form of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984). Students were taught in the course what a habitat is and what are considered native organisms. These background information form the intellectual origin (Kolb, 1984). As they carried out this assignment, students must be able to apply the concepts and correctly identify as well as photograph three native animals and plants. From the litter picking component, students could see for themselves how their six organisms were living amongst litter. From their desktop research, they would discover the harmful effects and might feel for their organisms’ plight. The research involved many disciplines, from biology and ecology of organisms, pollution chemistry affecting organisms’ growth and physiology (D’Costa, 2022; van Bijsterveldt et al., 2021; Zdunek & Kolenda, 2022), heavy metals (Buhari & Ismail, 2016), soil structure or aquatic quality, ultimately affecting human health (although students are to omit this in their poster). These experiences thus influence their overall learning.

 

When the students first started GES1021/GESS1016, most were clueless about local biodiversity and Singapore’s natural habitats. Subsequently as they attended lectures, worked on this assignment, encountered interesting plants and animals and recognised that these organisms were at risk from litter, students gained cognitive growth and their understanding changed. Their ideas about the environment and biodiversity were formed and reformed with each experience (Kolb, 1984).

 

The assignment was effective in bringing across the seriousness of litter’s harm to wildlife. The hard work required to pick up litter, the encounters with wildlife would be memorable. Students enjoyed the experience as they mentioned this in the module feedback (see comments in the next two paragraphs) and from conversations I had with them. During the “get to know you” online poll conducted on Mentimeter, my current student (2023-24) said they selected this course because of the litter-picking assignment.

 

Comments from two students:

  • “Very fun module with a very passionate Dr Choong! She instils values in us such as the importance of not wasting food, or not littering. Our project is very unique where we get to explore our natural habitat in Singapore and pick rubbish that pollutes these habitats.”
  • “It allows me to understand nature more and inspires me to make some changes in the future to protect our natural environment.”

 

REFERENCES

Buhari, T. R., & Ismail, A. (2016). Correlations between geo-chemical speciation of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Ni) in surface sediments and their concentrations in giant mudskipper (Periophthalmodon schlosseri) collected from the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 4(1), 28-36. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2016.41003

D’Costa, A. H. (2022). Microplastics in decapod crustaceans: Accumulation, toxicity and impacts, a review. Science of The Total Environment, 832, 154963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154963

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall.

van Bijsterveldt, C. E. J., van Wesenbeeck, B. K., Ramadhani, S., Raven, O. V., van Gool, F. E., Pribadi, R., & Bouma, T. J. (2021). Does plastic waste kill mangroves? A field experiment to assess the impact of macro plastics on mangrove growth, stress response and survival. Science of The Total Environment, 756, 143826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143826

Zdunek, P. & Kolenda, K. (2022). The threat of discarded food and drinks containers to monitor lizards. Herpetological Bulletin, 161, 28-30. https://doi.org/10.33256/hb161.2830

 

 

Public Reason and Civic Education: A Rawlsian Framework

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Jimmy LIM
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP)

*jimmylim@nus.edu.sg

 

Lim, J. (2023). Public reason and civic education: A Rawlsian framework [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/public-reason-and-civic-education-a-rawlsian-framework/

SUB-THEME

Communities and Education 

 

KEYWORDS

Public reason, civic education, moral reasoning, Rawls, active citizenship

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

ABSTRACT

John Rawls’s concept of public justification is part of a broader concept that goes under the label “public reason.” The secondary literature suggests that his account of public reason is vulnerable to two objections. The first objection turns on the assumption that Rawlsian public justification is something that involves the participation of many citizens. On this assumption, Rawls’s account of public reason is unrealistic because it ignores the fact that many citizens in a real society may lack the resources (e.g. time, money, knowledge) to participate in the public justification of law. The second objection turns on the assumption that the “duty of civility” (the duty to offer public reasons in the justification of law) is something that falls on both government officials and ordinary citizens. On this assumption, Rawls’s account of public reason is unrealistic because it ignores the consideration that officials and citizens alike may not observe the duty of civility. In my paper, I resist the first objection by arguing that Rawlsian public justification involves the empathetic power to place oneself in the shoes of those to whom one disagrees with, in the course of evaluating the normativity of law. Taking my cue from Stephen Darwall (2006), I call this power the power to take up the second-person standpoint in moral reasoning. For Rawls, what makes justification as a mode of reasoning “public” is not a situation where every member of society gathers in some outdoor space to debate with one another (which would make justification an actual, historical, event), but the presence of an implied addressee (which makes justification a normative, second-personal, concept). In Rawlsian thought, citizens may pursue public justification collectively (inter-personally), in a raucous townhall, or intra-personally, without ever participating in face-to-face debates. I also resist the second objection by arguing that, in the context of a real society, the duty of civility falls more heavily on the shoulders of civic leaders than on ordinary citizens. Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., Rawls himself sees civic leaders as playing an important role in honoring the duty of civility and mobilizing ordinary citizens to take up the second-person standpoint in public justification. My paper sheds light on the place of second-personal reasoning and second-personal reactive attitudes such as guilt and empathy in Rawlsian thought. It provides resources for civic educators to reflect upon the importance of cultivating citizens’ capacity for second-personal reasoning, not just in the public sphere but also in more localized settings such as the classroom. It tries to answer the question of how to bring the idea of public justification (as second-personal justification) and its related reactive attitudes into the classroom—and to do so in a morally justifiable way—to help students learn and appreciate the political values of toleration, respect, diversity, and trust.

 

I would like to present my work as a paper presentation, under the sub-theme of “Communities and Education.”

 

REFERENCES

Darwall, S. (2006). The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability. Harvard University Press.

Rawls, J. (2005). Political Liberalism, expanded edition. Columbia University Press.

 

Exploring Activity-based Instructional Approaches to Develop Students’ Understanding of the Ethical Implications of ICT

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Alex MITCHELL1*, Weiyu ZHANG1, Jingyi XIE1, Bimlesh WADHWA2, and Eric KERR3

1Department of Communications and New Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
2Department of Computer Science, School of Computing
3Tembusu College and Asia Research Institute (ARI)

*1alexm@nus.edu.sg

 

Mitchell, A., Zhang, W., Xie, J., Wadhwa, B., & Kerr, E. (2023). Exploring activity-based instructional approaches to develop students’ understanding of the ethical implications of technology [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/exploring-activity-based-instructional-approaches-to-develop-students-understanding-of-the-ethical-implications-of-ict/

SUB-THEME

AI and Education 

 

KEYWORDS

IT ethics education, technology design, educational strategies, activity-based instruction

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

ABSTRACT

Information and communications technology (ICT) such as artificial intelligence (AI) offers tremendous opportunities to benefit society, but raises concerns over potential harm to social good. While ICT education has focused on advancing technologies, there is less emphasis on embedding ethical considerations in the learning of ICT. There is increasing public concern over the unethical consequences of ICT development and usage, particularly given the recent widespread adoption of AI-based tools such as ChatGPT. This suggests a need for the educational community “to renew its emphasis on nurturing the ability to recognize and engage with ethical issues emerging in relation to AI” (Borenstein & Howard, 2021) and ICT more generally. This paper presentation describes our exploration of activity-based instructional approaches to help students gain a better understanding of the ethical implications of ICT.

 

Current approaches to ICT ethics education can be categorised into three groups: ethical guidelines, fairness toolkits, and activity-based approaches (Zhang, 2022). Using ethical guidelines as a starting point for ICT ethics education can be problematic, as current guidelines tend to take an action-restricting, checkbox-based approach, making them inherently limiting and hard to adapt to specific situations (Hagendorff, 2020). In addition, students often find ethics education dry and hard to apply when education emphasises philosophical principles without accounting for real-life complexities. Similarly, fairness toolkits have limitations in terms of adaptability, and, if poorly designed, “could engender false confidence in flawed algorithms” (Lee & Singh, 2021). Activity-based co-design approaches, such as design fiction and speculative design (Baumer et al., 2020; Pierce, 2021), offer an alternative to more traditional approaches, and address the call for AI ethics education to move beyond approaches grounded in instructionism (Holmes et al., 2022).

 

This paper explores the effectiveness of activity-based ethics education strategies across various ICT-related courses. Specifically, an exploratory study was carried out using the Value Cards game (Shen et al., 2021), and running co-design sessions based on the Timelines design activity (Wong & Nguyen, 2021). Acknowledging “the importance of having interdisciplinary teams who create AI ethics content and potentially teach it” (Borenstein & Howard, 2021), we included courses from the Department of Communications and New Media, the Department of Computer Science, and Tembusu College at NUS. More than 120 students from the courses NM2209 “Social Psychology of New Media”, NMC5322 “Interactive Media Marketing Strategies”, CS3240 “Interaction” Design, and UTC1102 “Fakes” participated in the study. All four courses include at least one session that grapples with ethical issues in developing or using technology such as AI. For NM2209 and UTC1102, value cards were deployed to explore the implications of AI-generated content (see Figure 1), for CS3240, adapted value cards were used to discuss the topic of dark patterns such as nudges (see Figure 2), whereas for NMC5322 we used the Timelines design activity (see Figure 3) to explore the impact of various ICTs, such as AI, gamification, and the metaverse, on interactive marketing.

value cards used in NM2209
Figure 1. Examples of value cards used in NM2209 (click on the image for a full-sized version).

 

value cards used in CS3240

Figure 2. Examples of value cards used in CS3240 (click on the image for a full-sized version).

 

Timelines activity in NMC532. Timelines activity in NMC5322

Figure 3. Students engaged in the Timelines activity in NMC5322.

 

Students answered a survey about their ethics perception and awareness before and after participating in the activities. In addition, a subset of the students took part in a focus group soon after the courses ended.

 

In our presentation, we will share our insights from the use of these two approaches, highlighting the challenges we faced and the strengths of each activity. We will also provide suggestions both for how these approaches can be improved, and what educators can do more broadly to overcome the limitations of current approaches to ICT ethics education.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project is supported by the NUS Centre of Development for Teaching and Learning Teaching Enhancement Grant (TEG) “Exploring Instructional Approaches to Develop Students’ Ethical Mindset for a Better Understanding of the Ethical and Social Implications of Technology.”

 

REFERENCES

Baumer, E. P. S., Blythe, M., & Tanenbaum, T. J. (2020). Evaluating design fiction: The right tool for the job. Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 1901–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395464

Borenstein, J., & Howard, A. (2021). Emerging challenges in AI and the need for AI ethics education. AI and Ethics, 1(1), 61–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-020-00002-7

Hagendorff, T. (2020). The ethics of AI ethics: An evaluation of guidelines. Minds and Machines, 30(1), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-020-09517-8

Holmes, W., Porayska-Pomsta, K., Holstein, K., Sutherland, E., Baker, T., Shum, S. B., Santos, C., Rodrigo, M. T., Cukurova, M., Bittencourt, I. I., & Koedinger, K. R. (2022). Ethics of AI in education: Towards a community-wide framework. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 32(3), 504–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021- 00239-1

Lee, M. S. A., & Singh, J. (2021). The landscape and gaps in open source fairness toolkits. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445261

Pierce, J. (2021). In tension with progression: Grasping the frictional tendencies of speculative, critical, and other alternative designs. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445406

Shen, H., Deng, W. H., Chattopadhyay, A., Wu, Z. S., Wang, X., & Zhu, H. (2021). Value cards: An educational toolkit for teaching social impacts of machine learning through deliberation. Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 850–61.

Wong, R. Y., & Nguyen, T. (2021). Timelines: A world-building activity for values advocacy. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445447

Zhang, W. (2022). Civic AI Education: Developing a deliberative framework. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on HCI Education (EduCHI’22), April 30-1 May 2022.

 

Creating Teaching Videos Using AI-generated Voices

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David CHEW
Department of Statistics and Data Science, Faculty of Science (FOS)

david.chew@nus.edu.sg

 

Chew, D. (2023). Creating teaching videos using AI-generated voices [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/creating-teaching-videos-using-ai-generated-voices/

SUB-THEME

AI and Education 

 

KEYWORDS

Technology-enhanced learning, AI voices, videos, blended learning,  transferability

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

ABSTRACT

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a remarkable opportunity for various industries, and education is no exception. Within the realm of educational technology, a promising opportunity has emerged with the use of AI voices to create teaching videos. This innovative approach harnesses the power of AI to enhance educational content and delivery methods, revolutionising the way knowledge is imparted to learners.

 

In this talk, I describe an effort to make use of AI-generated voices to create teaching videos for the course ST2334 “Probability and Statistics”. ST2334 has an enrolment of 800 students every semester and is offered in a blended learning manner. Each week, students view at their own time 30 to 40 minutes worth of pre-recorded videos, before attending a “live” lecture delivered by the course coordinator. As the course is taught by different faculty members in different semesters, it was decided that the pre-recorded videos will be made with a “neutral” voice. An AI voice software Descript was then used to create the pre-recorded videos.

 

There are several ways you can use Descript.

(A) Use it as a video recorder cum editor

  • Record your teaching videos using your own voice.
  • Import the videos into Descript. Voice narrations will be automatically transcribed into text and aligned automatically to the audio. It is then easy to edit your videos in a word processor-like environment (Figure 1). Instead of working with sound waves (as with many other video editing software), the user can work on the script/words directly. Deleting words will automatically remove the associated video footage.
  • If you like to replace (the audio of) a mispronounced or wrong choice of word, it is possible to select that word, correct it and have that word replaced using a trained AI voice that sounds exactly like you.
  • Annotations/animations can be timed to coincide with text easily.
The Descript interface. Annotations/animations can be timed to sync with words
Figure 1. The Descript interface. Annotations/animations can be timed to sync with words (See blue arrows).

 

(B) Use it to construct your videos from scratch using an AI voice

  • Import your slides/videos into Descript.
  • Overlay the slides/videos with AI voices by typing out a script.
  • You may use (i) a stock AI voice, or (ii) train and use an AI voice that sounds exactly like you.

 

Here are some advantages of using an AI voice software like Descript:

  • The videos can be edited easily in the future, much like how one can easily edit a Word document or a PowerPoint file. Slides can be replaced, the script can be edited and audio regenerated easily in Descript.
  • The videos are easily transferable. Colleagues taking over the course do not have to record new videos using their own voice, but can easily reuse these videos since they are made with a “neutral” stock voice. They can also choose to train and use their own AI voice.

 

The use of an AI voice to produce teaching videos holds tremendous potential. This technology is heavily utilised by podcast content creators. There are many aspects of harnessing AI that educators can learn from such content creators to produce teaching videos that are engaging and accessible to students.

 

REFERENCES

Descript (2020). Introducing Descript [Video]. https://youtu.be/Bl9wqNe5J8U

Descript (2022). Descript Storyboard: Preview & Demo [Video]. https://youtu.be/P7SfbmsEK24

 

 

Exploring Padlet as an Online Tool for Collaborative Peer Learning in Blended Learning Environments: A Case Study in Civil Engineering Education

cdtlsd Paper Presentations , , , , ,

Kevin S. C. KUANG
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Design and Engineering (CDE)

kevinkuang@nus.edu.sg 


Kuang, K. S. C. (2023). Exploring Padlet as an online tool for collaborative peer learning in blended learning environments: A case study in civil engineering education [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/exploring-padlet-as-an-online-tool-for-collaborative-peer-learning-in-blended-learning-environments-a-case-study-in-civil-engineering-education/

SUB-THEME

Others

 

KEYWORDS

Padlet, online tool, collaborative peer learning, blended learning, asynchronous learning

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

INTRODUCTION

Blended learning approaches have gained significant attention in recent years, as educators strive to create engaging and interactive learning experiences for students (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008, Owston et al., 2013). By combining traditional face-to-face instruction with online components, blended learning offers the potential to enhance student engagement and promote collaborative learning (Dziuban et al., 2018). In alignment with NUS BL2.0 initiatives, courses are being transformed or designed to incorporate blended learning, thereby enhancing the overall learning experience for students.

 

In the graduate engineering course CE5515 “Structural Health Monitoring”, a blended learning format was adopted to enhance the students’ learning experience, many of whom are working professionals. This module was introduced for the first time in the second semester of Academic Year 2022/23, with a cohort comprising 22 students. The course incorporates a range of student activities, including laboratory work, critical analysis of journal papers, and the completion of mini projects. These mini projects centres around tackling practical, real-world issues such as early landslide detection and the assessment of damage to coastal infrastructure caused by rising sea levels. Collaborative teamwork is emphasised, as students are expected to devise innovative solutions to these complex real-world challenges.

 

An essential element in promoting collaborative learning is the availability of a user-friendly and visually appealing platform that functions as a virtual gallery. This platform serves as a space for students to engage in critique, appreciation, and the exchange of ideas, fostering cross-fertilisation of knowledge and promoting active learning. A digital tool that offers both content curation capability and content distribution will be ideal in achieving the aims and learning outcomes of this course.

 

In the context of CE5515, the focus is on the utilisation of Padlet, an online tool, as a means of facilitating collaborative peer learning in an asynchronous learning environment. Padlet provides a digital platform for students to share their work, ideas, and insights, fostering interaction and collaboration among students (Frison & Tino, 2019). The asynchronous nature of the online tool further facilitated increased opportunities for peer-learning. Students could access and contribute to Padlet at their own pace, allowing for deeper reflection and thoughtful responses. This flexibility in time and space enabled students to engage in discussions and collaborations beyond the confines of traditional classroom settings.

 

Surprisingly, the interaction among students in the Padlet environment exceeded expectations. Students actively engaged with their peers’ work, offering thoughtful feedback, posing relevant queries, and providing constructive comments. This experiment revealed students’ willingness to actively participate and contribute to their classmates’ learning experience, indicating a strong sense of community and a desire for meaningful engagement. The benefits of peer learning is also well recognised in the literature (Slavin, 1983).

 

To incentivise participation and encourage further engagement, a leaderboard and point system were introduced. Students were awarded points based on the quality of their textual input, taking into consideration the depth of their thoughts, the relevance of their responses, and the originality of their ideas. Additionally, evidence of meaningful interaction, including back-and-forth discussions between questioners and respondents, was also rewarded with points. This gamification element motivated students to actively interact with their peers’ work and promoted a sense of healthy competition. Figure 1 shows a screenshot of the Padlet environment used in this study. In this presentation, the author will explore the benefits, challenges, and student experiences of using Padlet as an instructional tool in teaching a graduate course. The aim is to provide practical implications for educators who are interested in integrating collaborative technologies into their own courses.

 

Screenshot showing the Padlet layout used for this study.
Figure 1. Screenshot showing the Padlet layout used for this study.

 

In conclusion, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of blended learning strategies and in particular, the benefits of digital tools such as Padlet which they bring to student learning outcomes. By embracing blended learning and leveraging online tools like Padlet, educators can create engaging, collaborative, and student-centred learning experiences that prepare students for success in a rapidly evolving educational landscape.

 

REFERENCES

Dziuban, C., Graham, C. R., Moskal, P. D., Norberg, A., & Sicilia, N. (2018). Blended learning: The new normal and emerging technologies. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0087-5

Frison, D., & Tino, C. (2019). Fostering knowledge sharing via technology: A case study of collaborative learning using Padlet. Connecting Adult Learning and Knowledge Management: Strategies for Learning and Change in Higher Education and Organizations, 227-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29872-2_13

Garrison, D. R., & Vaughn, N. D. (2008). Blended learning in higher education. Framework, principles, and guidelines. Jossey-Bass Publishers. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118269558

Owston, R., York, D., & Murtha, S. (2013). Student perceptions and achievement in a university blended learning strategic initiative. The Internet and Higher Education, 18, 38-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2012.12.003

Slavin, R. E. (1983). When does cooperative learning increase student achievement? Psychological Bulletin, 94(3), 429-45. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.94.3.429 

 

Exploratory Implementation of Scenario-based Student-generated Questions for Students From the Humanities And Sciences in a Scientific Inquiry Course

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TAY En Rong Stephen1 and LIU Mei Hui2
1Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering (CDE)
2Department of Food Science & Technology, College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS)

1stephen.tay@nus.edu.sg, 2fstlmh@nus.edu.sg

 

Tay, E. R. S., & Liu, M. H. (2023). Exploratory implementation of scenario-based student-generated questions for students from the humanities and sciences in a scientific inquiry course [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/exploratory-implementation-of-scenario-based-student-generated-questions-for-students-from-the-humanities-and-sciences-in-a-scientific-inquiry-course/

 

SUB-THEME

Interdisciplinarity and Education 

 

KEYWORDS

Interdisciplinarity, peer learning, student-generated questions, assessment, feedback

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

INTRODUCTION

Students in the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) are required to undertake courses to fulfil the Scientific Inquiry II (SI2) requirement. With the success of scenario-based student generated-questions (sb-SGQ) reported previously across three courses within the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) (Du & Tay, 2022; Tay, 2022), the sb-SGQ approach was adopted in the course HSI2007 “Deconstructing Food”, which fulfils the SI2 requirement by CHS. The sb-SGQ builds upon student-generated questions (SGQ) (Rosenshine et al., 1996) through the incorporation of real-life examples from industry for authentic assessment (Wiggins, 1990). The aim was to encourage interdisciplinary learning, which involves integrating knowledge from various disciplines to specific problems (Ivanitskaya et al., 2002) among students from both the Humanities and Sciences taking HSI2007. Hence, this study aims to answer the following questions:

 

  1. Does the approach encourage interdisciplinary learning?
  2. What are the student perceptions towards the use of sb-SGQ?

 

METHODOLOGY

The sb-SGQ was implemented as an ungraded activity in Semester 2 of AY2022/23, with the timeline of the implementation shown in Table 1. Participation to the survey is voluntary and does not impact student’s grades. Data was subsequently analysed using JASP, an open-source statistical package (Love et al., 2019) with a significance level of 5%.

 

Table 1
Implementation schedule of sb-SGQ

Week 1 5 7 and 9 10 11
Activity Inform students of sb-SGQ Provide guidance
on sb-SGQ		 Students generate sb-SGQ and upload to Canvas. Selected cases were discussed in tutorials. Graduate tutors provide feedback for sb-SGQ on Canvas. Perception survey shared with students

 

RESULTS

Through the sb-SGQ, we observed that students were able to develop questions that demonstrate the use of content knowledge across different instructional weeks. In the example below, students asked how one could identify organic/eco-friendly labels to make choices on sustainable food products (Figure 1). This question demonstrates the application of concepts taught in Week 6 (on food labels) and Week 8 (on food sustainability).

 

Example of sb-SGQ by Humanities and Science students in HSI2007.
Figure 1. An example of sb-SGQ by Humanities and Science students in HSI2007.

 

Interestingly, the group’s corresponding answer to the sb-SGQ (refer to Figure 2) demonstrated further integration of topics taught in Weeks 2 (on the use of reputable sources of information) and 4 (on product shelf-life). Importantly, interdisciplinary thinking from areas such as environmental sciences, psychology, and marketing were also present in the answer.

[2a] Example of answers to the sb-SGQ in Figure 1 with interdisciplinary elements.
.
[2b] Example of answers to the sb-SGQ in Figure 1 with interdisciplinary elements.
Figure 2. An example of answers to the sb-SGQ in Figure 1 with interdisciplinary elements.
 

Students’ responses to the survey questions are shown in Table 2. Generally, students from the Humanities and Sciences expressed positive responses, defined by a score above 3 in a 5-point Likert scale, for all five questions. Students from the Sciences provided a higher average response for all five questions, of which Q4 was statistically significant (p = 0.003) when using a one-tailed test. This could be attributed to a higher affinity by students from the Sciences towards question generation, which involves scientific inquiry, a skill students from the Sciences may be more accustomed to.

 

Table 2
Average of student responses in Semester 2 based on a 5-point Likert scale. 

Group Q1: The collective sb-SGQ developed by the class has helped me to better understand the concepts taught. Q2: The skills acquired in the sb-SGQ exercise are transferrable skills (i.e. skills that can be used/applied in other roles or settings). Q3: The sb-SGQ assignment was sufficiently challenging. Q4: I enjoyed the sb-SQG process. Q5: I would recommend the use of sb-SGQ for future modules.
Humanities
(n = 59)		 3.763 3.797 3.847 3.390 3.576
Sciences
(n = 60)		 4.017 3.967 3.783 3.717 3.700

 

Subsequently, qualitative feedback was analysed (refer to Table 3). Generally, students from the Humanities and Sciences were able to appreciate how the sb-SGQ allowed them to relate the course learning objectives with real-world examples. Students also appreciated peer learning in the sb-SGQ exercise, both from within and beyond the groups, which raised different perspectives. A Humanities student shared how the sb-SGQ made the student comfortable with scientific research (Comment 1 in Table 3). Another student shared how he/she was able to apply knowledge gained from another course into HSI2007, which highlighted the possibility of interdisciplinary learning when students employ elements from other courses (Comment 7 in Table 3). What was interesting was the comment by a student expressing how the sb-SGQ approach helps with his/her plans to be an educator in the future (Comment 10 in Table 3), which implies an independent agreement from the student on the pedagogical effectiveness of the sb-SGQ approach.

 

The comments provided in Table 3 highlight that 1) students from the Humanities can be comfortable with scientific research, a domain commonly perceived to be a strength of students from the Sciences (Comment 1 in Table 3), and 2) how students are able to organically retrieve information from other courses and apply them when given the opportunity to do so (Comment 7 in Table 3).

 

Table 3
Student feedback from HSI2007 on the sb-SGQ. Feedback reproduced as they were received.

Group Feedback
Humanities 1. It got me comfortable with doing scientific research for food related topics.

2. It was an interesting experience as to craft out an answer, one needs to take the initiative to plan out steps one should take to generate the answer and also put in the work to get the answer.

3. It motivated me to be on track with my classroom learning and apply it to real world scenarios. Collaborating with group mates to finish it made the process very insightful as we all brought different points to the table.

4. In generating my sb-SGQ, it was interesting to see linkages between the content learnt and how it is related to real-world scenarios. It was also a fun process to recap on knowledge learnt.
Science 5. Coming up with the scenario required us to recollect concepts that we had learnt in the module and craft according to them. This helped in further strengthening our contextual understanding.

6. It was deeply insightful and helped to expand my horizons.

7. I wanted to apply what I have learned in HSI2007 and FST1101B. Previously during one of the FST1101B tutorials, I learned about labeling on food packaging. Hence, the task proposed by HSI2007 felt somewhat similar and I was able to recall what I have previously learned from another module and transfer this knowledge here.

8. I feel like the sb-SGQ helps me to discover my interest in certain food topics and the generation of the questions and its corresponding answers makes me more knowledgable in that area and pushes me to ask more question. This helps me build a passion for learning and my thirst for knowledge.

9. My group mates and I had quite a lot of fun searching up cases and generating questions for them.

10. I aspire to be a teacher in the future and I feel sb-SGQ is useful for my professional development as it constantly pushes me to ask questions and find answers for it. This helps to cultivate my love for learning and makes me more interested to learn about new things as well as to ask questions when I am in doubt.

 

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

The sb-SGQ approach was employed in HSI2007 with students from both the Humanities and Sciences in HSI2007 to encourage interdisciplinary learning. Though a comparison with a control cohort without the sb-SGQ approach was not possible, as the HSI2007 course started with the sb-SGQ approach, a critical analysis of the data collected revealed valuable insights. Generally, there was positive student feedback evidenced from qualitative and quantitative data. The significance of this study lies in the lack of hardware and software costs in the sb-SGQ, which aids with the implementation of the sb-SGQ not only for this course, but potentially for other courses as well. In addition, data from this study suggests the possibility of sb-SGQ to encourage interdisciplinary learning, which can be further investigated in future runs of the course.

 

 

REFERENCES

Du, H., & Tay, E. R. S. (2022). Using scenario-based student-generated questions to improve the learning of engineering mechanics: A case study in civil engineering. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2022, 7-8 December, National University of Singapore. https://nus.edu.sg/cdtl/docs/default-source/engagement-docs/conferences/hecc2022/ebooklet.pdf

Ivanitskaya, L., Clark, D., Montgomery, G., & Primeau, R. (2002). Interdisciplinary learning: Process and outcomes. Innovative Higher Education, 27(2), 95-111. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021105309984

Love, J., Selker, R., Marsman, M., Jamil, T., Dropmann, D., Verhagen, J., Ly, A., Gronau, Q. F., Šmíra, M., & Epskamp, S. (2019). JASP: Graphical statistical software for common statistical designs. Journal of Statistical Software, 88(2), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v088.i02

Rosenshine, B., Meister, C., & Chapman, S. (1996). Teaching students to generate questions: A review of the intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 66(2), 181-221. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543066002181

Tay, E. R. S. (2022). Efficacy of scenario‐based student-generated questions in an online environment during COVID-19 across two modules. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2022, 7-8 December, National University of Singapore. https://nus.edu.sg/cdtl/docs/default-source/engagement-docs/conferences/hecc2022/ebooklet.pdf

Wiggins, G. (1990). The case for authentic assessment. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 2(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.7275/ffb1-mm19

 

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