ISHS Acta Horticulturae 350: I International Symposium on Education and Training in Horticulture
USING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LEARNING TO ENHANCE EDUCATION IN HORTICULTURE |
| Authors: | C. P.L. Young, Simon B. Heath |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.1993.350.10 |
| Abstract:
It is now widely recognised by lecturers of horticulture and other land use subjects that computer applications can be used to develop students' professional skills. There is also a growing interest in using computer assisted learning (CAL) techniques to enhance courses. These enable students to learn through self-assessment, accessing information, the structuring of information and ideas, the investigation of models and through interactive computer based tutorials. CAL may help to meet the increasing demands on teaching resources and the challenge now is to find ways of producing high quality CAL materials which can be justified on grounds of learning effectiveness and cost efficiency. A key objective is to maximise the adoption by as many staff as possible across institutions of any CAL packages developed. Flexibility has to be built into the courseware at the design stage. One way of achieving this is to produce software in a modular format. Modules could range widely in objective from simulation models which supplement teaching to tutorial packages where the intention is to replace the traditional lecture or practical. In addition, by using modern Windows-based development tools, the whole approach to courseware development can be more open, modular and additive with scope for more control by the individual lecturer over software content. The establishment of a multi-institutional consortium of academic staff would assist the uptake of CAL by identifying courseware needs, coordinating the specification of modules and facilitating the production of the software. | |
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