Abstract
The quiz tool that is part of the WebCT package is used to provide an asynchronous simulation of a (synchronous) closed laboratory experience to beginner computer science students. The technique suggested in this paper and which may be applied to other disciplines, offers students a guided path through an exploratory, discovery based learning experience.
Highlights
In the 1991 Report of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers-Computer Science (ACM/IEEE-CS) Joint Curriculum Task Force (Tucker, 1991), closed laboratory experiences are recommended as an essential part of the undergraduate computer science program
This paper documents the use of the WebCT quiz tool to provide a programmed learning style of presentation that combines tutorial, hands-on practice, and assessment to simulate the closed laboratory experience
The use of the WebCT quiz tool as a programmed learning guide allows students to work through an assignment in a step-by-step fashion, at their own time and pace, without the frustration of being unable to complete a critical step that would prevent them from finishing the assignment
Summary
As more universities try to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and mobile student population, faculty have been encouraged to develop class offerings in distance learning formats or at least to provide online support for traditional classes These online components are offered in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. This paper documents the use of the WebCT quiz tool to provide a programmed learning style of presentation that combines tutorial, hands-on practice, and assessment to simulate the closed laboratory experience. This approach is a compromise between the closed laboratory setting and an open laboratory style (where students are provided little or no help in completing an assignment) that can be implemented in an asynchronous learning network. The use of the WebCT quiz tool as a programmed learning guide allows students to work through an assignment in a step-by-step fashion, at their own time and pace, without the frustration of being unable to complete a critical step that would prevent them from finishing the assignment
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