Work In Progress: Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Learning Object For Teaching Control Systems

Abstract

This paper reports on a work in progress in developing an interactive Control Systems learning object. The objective of the work is to enhance active learning and visualization, and to provide students with improved formative feedback and review of the learned concepts despite challenges of increased class sizes. The module is developed within a framework of the Cooperative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE), a collaborative project of several universities in Ontario, establishing an infrastructure for joint development of multimedia-rich, interactive learning resources. Since development of such resources is very time-consuming, one of the emerging trends in instructional technology is to focus on modular learning objects that can be shared among many users. Surveys of faculty confirm high interest in utilization of such objects. The module being developed by the authors consists of a series of interactive online tutorials. It is designed using Flash and streaming video technology and provides graphics, video, and animation to support the basic concepts. At any time the learner has access to several review quizzes, providing feedback on comprehension of the content. In-class testing of the beta version of the module is planned for Winter 2004, to be followed by a more systematic evaluation of the module's usability and observations of the interactions with the module by volunteers with different learning styles. I. Background Learning ObjectsBorrowing from the concept of object-oriented programming, learning objects can be simply defined as any computer-based instruction components that can be reused in multiple contexts 1 , and are generally understood to be deliverable over the Internet, allowing simultaneous access, collaboration and sharing of resources. Canadian Co-operative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE) 2 defines the learning object as "any digital entity designed to meet a specific learning outcome that can be reused to support learning". In most existing online learning objects repositories, such as MERLOT 3 , WLH 4 and CLOE, the learning objects include some form of