My most memorable learning experience would have to be when I took the COBOL programming class with Dr. Mel Franz at Central Missouri State University (now known as the University of Central Missouri). At the beginning of the semester, he made sure that we took the time to get to know at least the name of our classmates. His rationale was that we should care enough about knowing colleagues whom we may need to turn to for help in the future. It was my introduction to the importance of networking with people.
Back in the 1990s, it was already a common practice of our professors to place copies of their old exams in the Reserve Section of the library. That meant that they would pretty much have to create new assessments every semester as they cannot simply recycle old assessments. Of course, I often took advantage of looking at previous exams, and I thought it was great that:
What set Dr. Franz apart was that his exams were "open books, open notes"...and we were even allowed to bring in pre-typed computer code that we can cut, paste, and modify as part of answers to his exam questions. Of course, if we did not understand a topic, it would not help being able to look at our book or notes as we would simply run out of time digesting material instead of answering questions.
I thought that taking Dr. Franz's exam was like tackling real-life situations in a business environment. For example, at work, people are not be expected to remember everything. That's why we have reference materials that we can consult. (This goes back to the "open books, open notes" part.) Also, when it comes to solving problems, it does not make sense to re-invent the wheel. We can take existing knowledge and resources and adapt it to our current situtions. (And this goes back to the part where we came to exams with pre-typed computer code that we used as needed.)
Moreover, Dr. Franz's programming assignments were similar to the real-life situation of having programmers needing to be in close contact with their clients, so as to be able to meet all of the software specifications. We are given a set of input that we are supposed to turn into some form of output based on the instructions given. In many cases, the information we had were either ambiguous or incomplete. We were expected to communicate with our professor for clarification such that there was a constant need for us to check our e-mail regularly for updates that may have impact on how we write our computer code.
As the process of coding programs was time-consuming, we had to learn how to manage our time wisely. (The computer labs were open from 8am to midnight, but we could dial in for mainframe access 24/7 if we had our own computer and modem.) We also needed to be sensitive to detail as a single misplaced period could change the programming logic completely. And in order to produce the desired results (output), we had to analyze our problem/assignment at hand from different angles, so that we will not miss any important detail.
Even if I did not get an A in the class, I was nevertheless satisfied with what I experienced and with what I learned.
Back in the 1990s, it was already a common practice of our professors to place copies of their old exams in the Reserve Section of the library. That meant that they would pretty much have to create new assessments every semester as they cannot simply recycle old assessments. Of course, I often took advantage of looking at previous exams, and I thought it was great that:
- we could see the assessment style of our teachers
- have an idea of what kind of questions to expect and what subject matter to concentrate on
What set Dr. Franz apart was that his exams were "open books, open notes"...and we were even allowed to bring in pre-typed computer code that we can cut, paste, and modify as part of answers to his exam questions. Of course, if we did not understand a topic, it would not help being able to look at our book or notes as we would simply run out of time digesting material instead of answering questions.
I thought that taking Dr. Franz's exam was like tackling real-life situations in a business environment. For example, at work, people are not be expected to remember everything. That's why we have reference materials that we can consult. (This goes back to the "open books, open notes" part.) Also, when it comes to solving problems, it does not make sense to re-invent the wheel. We can take existing knowledge and resources and adapt it to our current situtions. (And this goes back to the part where we came to exams with pre-typed computer code that we used as needed.)
Moreover, Dr. Franz's programming assignments were similar to the real-life situation of having programmers needing to be in close contact with their clients, so as to be able to meet all of the software specifications. We are given a set of input that we are supposed to turn into some form of output based on the instructions given. In many cases, the information we had were either ambiguous or incomplete. We were expected to communicate with our professor for clarification such that there was a constant need for us to check our e-mail regularly for updates that may have impact on how we write our computer code.
As the process of coding programs was time-consuming, we had to learn how to manage our time wisely. (The computer labs were open from 8am to midnight, but we could dial in for mainframe access 24/7 if we had our own computer and modem.) We also needed to be sensitive to detail as a single misplaced period could change the programming logic completely. And in order to produce the desired results (output), we had to analyze our problem/assignment at hand from different angles, so that we will not miss any important detail.
Even if I did not get an A in the class, I was nevertheless satisfied with what I experienced and with what I learned.
Hi Oscar,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about this learning experience and totally agree with you - i.e. a learning experience should be as similar as possible to real-life (I'm obviously referring to the context in your posting). When I taught at business school I also tried as much as possible to challenge my students with simulations and learning tasks which were relevant and similar to what they would encounter once they graduated.
As a learner myself, I think sometimes we only appreciate these experiences afterwards, with hindsight. Which brings me to another issue - we are not always aware of that magical moment of learning, of knowing. It comes with hindsight.
Thank you for sharing such a great experience! :-)
Your blog reminded me of good old days when I used to learn and do programming in the university. I still believe that there was more learning in DOS console then today’s modern visual tools. Moreover this, every teacher has his own style of teaching, but I believe best teacher is the one who clears all the concepts and remembered throughout the life time for his ultimate and unique teaching style like Dr. Mel Franz.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post Oscar. I agree that it is the fact that the assessment was 'authentic' that added value to experience and encouraged deeper level learning. That is the pedagogy behind this program from TAMK - it is designed to use authentic learning and assessment as described by Herrington and Reeves.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this - thanks.
I really enjoyed reading this post. You touched upon one of my favorite topics with your discussion of Dr. Franz' assessment strategies: Distributed Cognition. I never really thought about it, but an 'open book open notes' test is a form of distributed cognition. That leads me to wonder how understanding that can improve my own assessments. Cheers.
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