Use of Multimedia Case Studies for Teaching Acoustics

Abstract

Faculty members teaching acoustic courses feel that there is a strong need to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Engineering acoustic course assignments tend to focus on oversimplified representations of acoustic problems that provide a good understanding of the concepts involved, but do not expose the students to real-world issues. This paper demonstrates the use of a multimedia case study in teaching auditoria acoustic concepts via a global real-world problem. It also discusses the design and development of the case study and presents details of the classroom implementation and evaluation aspects. The classroom implementation of this case study helped improve students' higher-order cognitive, team-working, and problem-solving skills. In addition, students also reported the case study methodology to be a beneficial learning experience.