Enhancing Student Learning with Case-based Learning Objects in a Problem-based Learning Context

Hoy traemos para la lectura el siguiente artículo de Neil Ballantyne y Alan Knowles en Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, en su Vol. 3, No. 4, December 2007

Enhancing Student Learning with Case-based Learning Objects in a
Problem-based Learning Context: The Views of Social Work Students
in Scotland and Canada

Neil Ballantyne Manager The Learning Exchange Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education Glasgow, Scotland neil.ballantyne@strath.ac.uk Alan Knowles Social Work Program Grant MacEwan College Edmonton, AB CA knowlesa@macewan.ca Abstract This paper summarizes the results of an evaluation of students’ perspectives comparing learning from a multimedia case-based learning object with learning from text-based case studies. A secondary goal of the study was to test the reusability of the learning object in different instructional contexts. The learning object was deployed in the context of a problem-based learning approach to teaching social work students in three different courses in two different countries: Scotland (N=39) and Canada (N=57). Students completed a structured survey form including a series of statements using a five point Likert scale to quantify their views of the different case types (text-based and multimedia). Results indicate strong support for the use of multimedia case scenarios in social work education. Students felt their learning was enhanced using multimedia case studies compared to text-based case studies. A number of benefits, disadvantages and recommendations were identified that will help guide the future development, (re)use, and exchange of digitized learning resources in social work education. Keywords: Learning objects, problem-based learning, multimedia, e-learning, social work education.

Introduction

The use of e-learning environments is becoming common place for all disciplines in university education, including social work education. As universities world-wide adopt and promote their use, more and more educators are experimenting with online environments and using them to teach, organize and distribute digitized course materials. Having flexible access to interactive learning resources and a space from which to discover new - and recover old – course resources can help learners and faculty be more efficient. Over the past decade, the concepts of learning objects (LOs) and learning object repositories have evolved in response to the expanding need for digital resources. In a survey of online instructors’ views on the future of online learning in higher education, Kim and Bonk (2006) describe a vision where blended education would become the norm, instructors would make use of content in the form of learning objects, and collaborative and problem-based learning approaches would be used more widely.

One of the key challenges facing social work educators is that there are very few LOs available for use in social work courses (Knowles, 2007). In this paper the perspectives of social work students learning to use one type of LO, a multimedia case study, will be examined. The case study was developed by the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) and is stored in the Learning Exchange, the first Learning Object Repository for social work education in the world. The case study was developed based on problem-based and constructivist learning strategies. The development of the Learning Exchange and a learning object approach to social work education has been described elsewhere by Ballantyne (2007).

Learning for Practice & Problem-based Learning (leer más...)

Fuente: [ JOLT]