schneiders's blog

Marie-Thérèse Schneiders is a researcher at RWTH Aachen University and a Blend-XL project team member. She also teaches on the course that is central to Aachen University's local Blend-XL project.

“Can you briefly describe the main context of the case study of Aachen University?”

“The case study for the BlendXL project at Aachen University dealt with the module Techniques of Programming, a mandatory course for students intending to sit the exam of Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering. About 800 students in the first year learn how to program in C++. In line with the transition from Diploma to Bachelor/Master degree, the module was embedded into the second relevant module Project Work. Whereas in the past the two modules took place in different semesters, they are now integrated to one entire module. The main focus of the module Project Work is to give the students an opportunity to experience team and project work at the beginning of their studies as well as to deepen their knowledge of the lecture contents.”

“What were the problem areas the project addressed?”

“The main goal of the project was to design an innovative learning environment for extra large student groups. The big challenge of the case study in Aachen was implementation of the module Techniques of Programming in form of an e-learning tool named eClara encouraging a huge class of students with different previous knowledge to learn the programming methods by selfstudy. By adding a new way of learning into a traditional way of teaching the project pointed at offering the students the possibility to mix channels and materials of learning and to find an individual way of learning.”

“Can you briefly describe how the two cycles of the local case were set up?”

“In the first cycle the former module Techniques of Programming was transformed into an e-learning course and tested with a small group of students. The users gave a constructive feedback to optimise the user-friendliness and the necessary content of the tool.  Within the 2nd cycle eClara were applicated for about 850 students attending the course Project Work. Beside the e-learning tool eClara, the students got the possibility to also use a Web Knowledge Map providing contents from the lecture feeded with additional material like small videos or linked web material. Furthermore a forum motivated the students to discuss not only with each other but also with the teachers and tutors of the course.”

“What has been noticeable in the feedback from students? How did they react?”

“The implementation of e-learning and online tools was very well accepted by most of the students. They are used to mix of paper-based and hypertext material. But the acceptance of Blended Learning by huge student groups seems to be directly linked to an efficient information management. The results of the different questionnaires and the feedback we got from the students also reflected that the students were not totally convinced by the Blended Learning methodology particularly because they were not enough informed about the objective of the blend and how the different tools interact with the face-to-face lessons. The results showed that the students are afraid of loosing contact to the teacher by substituting the classroom situation with online forums. We therefore need to better inform the students on how the Blended Learning Methodolgy can help to design an individual learning process without disposing of the necessary student-teacher relationship.”