Vivek Sundar Magesh
Department of Information Systems and Analytics,
School of Computing (SOC)

Vivek gives an overview of how he incorporates online materials in his courses, particularly in the preparation phase of the course, where students are required to peruse curated course material, prior to attending his lectures and tutorials.

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Magesh, V. S. (2024, May 31). Using online materials for class preparation. Teaching Connections. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/teachingconnections/2024/05/31/using-online-materials-for-class-preparation/

 

The classical pedagogical approach to teaching and learning usually involves a preparation phase, where students peruse textbook chapters or lecture notes prior to the lecture or tutorial, and a classroom phase where during the instructor builds on the preparation. The preparation phase of this process typically helps achieve lower order learning outcomes, while the lecture and activities therein may help achieve higher order learning outcomes; learning outcomes and quality can be studied through a framework called the SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1982).

 

In today’s day and age, the preparation phase of a lecture could be satisfactorily achieved through online materials, whether produced by the instructor or curating content available online. Students watch video lectures prior to the lecture where concepts are discussed and, in some cases, even attempt a few quizzes to reinforce their learnings. Meanwhile, in-class lecture time can be devoted to going deeper into the material, providing hands-on exercises, case discussions etc. This way, the online materials complement the lecture content effectively and learning outcomes are enhanced for our students.

 

These online materials can be used as a general tool within the standard pedagogical framework i.e. in the existing lecture or lecture-tutorial method, or they can be part of blended learning¹, where aspects of online modules and pre-recorded lectures are integrated seamlessly with the lecturer onsite leading in-class deep dive sessions.

 

Various online materials can be part of the preparation phase, ranging from YouTube videos to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The latter refers to online courses offered on various platforms, for e.g. Coursera, by many universities—including NUS—with large enrolments all over the world. MOOCs tend to be open, participatory, and distributed (Baturay, 2015). Many of these platforms also have discussion forums with large number of participants, which can expose students to various facets of a topic or its application in real life.

 

That said, it is critical to curate and assign such online material carefully in terms of their content and effort required; for instance, the selected online content should align with the intended learning outcomes of your course. In addition, there are also workload-related considerations; students usually take five or six courses in a semester and it is easy to overwhelm them with too much content and workload.

 

Personally, I have tried incorporating Coursera into my teaching. I have earmarked modules that students attending my class need to complete before a deadline. I build on the basic understanding that they gather and go deeper into the subject matter in subsequent lectures. For instance, in my course on digital platforms, students learn about practical examples of digital platforms, their history, and their characteristics on Coursera. This complements the class discussion where students are exposed to the nuts and bolts of platform business models (e.g. network effects, monetisation strategies etc.) at a more fundamental level. In essence, the Coursera material serves as an inspiration, while the lecture builds on it by attempting to uncover the secrets to success of those examples seen in the Coursera course. Additionally, the lecture time is devoted to covering other associated business fundamentals that are useful for my Computing students.

 

I was initially skeptical about applying these online materials within one’s course curriculum. However, on deeper introspection and experience, I can say that they are potentially a powerful arrow in the quiver of a modern-day educator that can dramatically improve learning. Of course, their usage depends a lot on individual departments and their general philosophical approach to teaching.

 

Endnote

1. See https://ctlt.nus.edu.sg/blended-learning-2-0-2/ for more details.

 

References

Baturay, M. H. (2015). An overview of the world of MOOCs. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 427-433.

Biggs, J. B., & Collis, K. F. (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning – the SOLO Taxonomy. Academic Press.

 

Vivek Sundar Magesh is a Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems and Analytics. He teaches data-driven marketing and digital platforms for business, and his research interests include data science and business analytics, developing economies, social media, and new product diffusion. Vivek can be reached at vsm@nus.edu.sg.