Developing guided self study materials for higher education: The Curtin experience

In an age of accelerating technological change where today's knowledge and skills are obsolete tomorrow, it has become imperative to maintain a continuous process of inquiry and learning to update present expertise. It is thus not enough for our educational systems, from primary through to tertiary, to simply produce 'knowledgeable' people, we must produce people who are equipped with the skills and attitudes to continue the process of learning throughout their lives; we have to produce lifelong, autonomous learners.

Curtin University was one of the earliest Higher Educational institutions in Australia to express significant interest in independent learning. In the mid 1970s money and time were made available for staff training and the development of materials. Schools and Departments set up whole courses, or parts of courses, in the independent study mode for students on campus. Some of these courses are still running successfully now, others were discontinued, mainly because of the time it took to develop and update the materials. All of this took place before the technology was available which can now make the task of developing and updating independent learning materials less onerous.

The availability of relatively cheap, sophisticated technology, the reduction in financial resources for teaching, the current, and I hope lasting, trend towards the promotion of autonomous learning and the dissatisfaction with 'chalk and talk' as the sole method of instruction has led to a resurgence of interest in developing more independent learning materials for use by on campus students at Curtin University.

Guided self study is a form of independent study for which there are a whole host of names, each having a slightly different emphasis, but having much in common with guided self study. You may be familiar with the following names:

Directed Private Study
Individualised Learning
Supported Self Study
Programmed Instruction
Packaged Learning
Correspondence Education
Distance Education
Learning by Appointment
Open Learning
Learning by Contract
Keller Plan
Personalised Systems of Instruction (PSI)
Flexistudy
Home Study
Computer Based Training
Postlethwaite Audio Tutorial System

Aim

Organisation

1. The advantage of using guided self study to complement the more conventional chalk and talk method of teaching. In this section I shall cover areas such as:
   • the reasons for increased interest in the guided self study mode in Curtin and in Australian higher education institutions in general
   • some reasons for the reluctance to introduce this mode of instruction
   • ways of encouraging more teaching staff to develop and use guided self study materials

   This section is based on issues raised in a recent seminar in Curtin on developing guided self study materials.

2. Sections of courses which adapt well to guided self study mode. In this section I shall cover areas such as:
   • Introductory modules
   • Duplicated or often repeated lectures
   • Service teaching
   • Laboratory work

3. Technology being used at Curtin University for guided self study programs. In this section I shall look at:

   • Desk top publishing and computer graphics
   • Computer managed learning
   • Video
   • Interactive video

The advantages of using guided self study to complement the more conventional chalk and talk method of teaching

• The speed at which information is delivered does not necessarily match the speed at which students absorb the information.

• The lecture is a 'once only' experience. If a point is missed, or not fully understood, it is not possible to 'rewind' the lecture and listen again.

• Lectures do not allow for inter student discussion or for student exploration of the subjects being taught.

• Lectures do not demand a particularly active role of students, apart from their bodily presence; their minds may be elsewhere.

• It is sometimes quite difficult to control the behaviour of large groups of restless, poorly motivated students.

• The value of lectures depends on so many variables: the inherent interest of the subject being explored, the amount of lecturer, and student preparation, the mood of the lecturer, and that of each individual student, at the time of the lecture, and so on. If one or two of these variables are not quite right, the value of the 'once only' lecture can be lost.

• Students can control the rate at which they learn. Some students obviously require more time than others. They can stop, rewind and start the audio cassette or video again, they can re do computer tasks, they can re read printed information as often as they require to ensure complete understanding of each section of the materials before proceeding to the next unit of study.

• Students can decide when, how much and in some cases, where to study; audio and video cassettes, computer and print based material are all easily portable.

• In most cases students can choose to work through units on their own or with partners, or in groups should they need to or be required to explore various points through discussion and debate.

• Students following a guided self study program are required to do far more than sit back and listen. They are expected to follow instructions, use different media, complete worksheets, analyse data, evaluate material and more. Students are therefore required to take a very active role in their learning.

• Good quality guided self study materials are often packaged in modules complete with learning tasks, and self evaluation tests with answers. Students are thus free to attempt the tasks and tests and make mistakes in privacy so avoiding all the learning complications arising from making errors in public.

• Students' performance improved significantly, both in terms of course work and end of unit test results.

• Motivation increased. Students actually reported enjoying the greater flexibility the materials allowed them and the opportunity to take greater responsibility for their own learning.

• Students' working relationships with lecturers and with other students improved.

• Lecturers, freed from the tyranny of delivering lectures, can devote more quality time to counselling and tutoring individual students and to assessing student work - thus experiencing more professional satisfaction.

• Reduced lecturing time can enable lecturers to concentrate on their own research and development.

• Funded self study learning packages can be easily, quickly and cheaply adapted to or from the external studies mode.

• The materials can be sold to a DEC or to students on overseas courses.

• Quality learning materials enhance the reputation of the University and its staff.

The following reasons were expressed in the seminar:

• The perception of the time and costs of developing and updating guided self study materials.

• There is little or no incentive to invest time and effort in developing quality teaching and learning materials since there is minimal linkage between this and promotion. Universities in particular like to be seen to be involved in research and development so that being engaged in research and the publication of articles has more value than producing quality teaching and learning materials.

• There is a fear of losing jobs as a direct result of producing self study materials, particularly in the current climate of cost cutting and the redefinition of tenure combined with the administrative interpretation of 'reduced lecture time'.

• Not enough training is available to help higher education staff to redefine their roles from transmitters and controllers of instruction to that of facilitators, resource persons and counsellors for self directed students.

• Lack of appropriate training leads to:

  • feelings of inadequacy in terms of how to go about designing guided self study materials

  • feelings of inadequacy in terms of their abilities to act as facilitators, resource persons and counsellors

  • fear of losing control over their students

  • concern that their students won't be able to work on their own, thus leading to higher failure rates which in turn reflect on the lecturers

  • fear of peer criticism

  • fear of not meeting the traditional student expectations of lectures and hours of lecturer/student contact time

  • some lecturers expressed anxiety over using technology believing it to be expensive and unreliable. What happens to the student and to the course when the computers, tape recorders and/or video playbacks, etc. break down?

• I feel that it is imperative that staff currently involved in running successful guided self study and independent learning units should vigorously promote their work through research, publishing articles, running seminars and workshops and displaying their materials. Management and colleagues need constant exposure to the benefits of running such programs.

  At the Curtin seminar on developing guided self study materials several of the worries covered above were allayed by guest speakers who described their process through materials development, giving the following advice on time and costs:

  • Start small, don't be too ambitious. It is perfectly feasible to develop one module at a time rather than attempt to transfer a whole semester program at once into guided self study material.

  • One lecturer explained that he simply compiled all his lecture notes into workbooks complete with information, text references for further reading, learning tasks, answers and essay suggestions. This didn't take up too much time and it didn't cost a lot either, but it allowed his students greater freedom and gave him more time to deal with individuals.

  • Another lecturer said he was forced to develop self study materials when he had to attend a 2 week conference during a semester. He simply asked the Educational Media Centre to videorecord two of his lectures and made up a series of worksheets into a workbook to go with the videos. Copies of the videos and the workbooks were made available to his students and it worked perfectly. This small package is now the beginning of another guided self study program. This experience made the lecturer aware of how different media can be used to 'spice up' his lecture based course and it allowed him to be much more flexible in his approach to teaching and learning.

  • Other lecturers said that the initial development of the materials did consume a great deal of time, but once the courses were up and running they found that refining and updating the materials did not take long and they were free to devote more quality time to students and to research. In terms of cost the general feeling seemed to be that videos and print based materials can be produced relatively cheaply using in house university services.

• Management has to be prepared to support staff in the development of guided self study materials by providing finance and releasing staff from some of their duties, or otherwise giving staff incentives to attend training sessions and develop materials.

• Management has to be helped to recognise the value of developing quality teaching and learning materials so that promotion is more closely linked to it.

• Ongoing training programs should be made available through which staff are

  • exposed to a program of self directed learning themselves

  • exposed to materials which have been proven successful, taken from higher education institutions over a range of subjects

  • encouraged to see, understand and accept their role of helping students to become autonomous learners without constant teacher presence and intervention

  • helped in the transfer of lecture based units or modules into guided self study materials

  • given the opportunity to work together with colleagues as a team in the transfer of materials to guided self study mode

• Staff should have access to personnel who are experienced in the design of such materials, ie. Instructional Designers.

Sections of taught courses which adapt well to guided self study mode

Introductory modules

• cover areas of knowledge the students should already be familiar with or

• assume incorrectly that all the students are at the same level of 'learner readiness'

Duplicated or often repeated lectures

Duplicated or often repeated lectures are easily transferred to self study mode; for example, by the production of print based workbooks or by a package of video and worksheets.

Service teaching

Laboratory Work

Once all the students have been through a course of theory lectures there is suddenly a difficult period of timetabling 100 or more students into laboratories and workshops to do the practical work. In some subject areas so many students need access to labs and workshop facilities that it is necessary to extend access hours and sometimes have students working unsupervised.

These logistical problems can be overcome by developing guided self study manuals embracing theory and instruction related to laboratory and workshop assignments. Students may work to a prescribed order or one which suits them. The point being that not all students will need access to labs and workshops at the same time. Thus reducing timetabling problems.

Technology being used at Curtin University for guided self study programs

Desktop publishing and computer graphics

• it's flexible

• it's easy to produce, update and change

• using word processors, it's relatively cheap to produce, duplicate and disseminate

The potential of this technology for education is enormous. Since all the data is on computer, it is now possible to produce either whole units as guided self study packages, or divide the units into individually packaged modules, each complete with their own learning objectives, text information, learning tasks and self evaluation tests with answers etc. These could then be interchanged with modules from other units thus giving students a far greater range of options than ever before from which to build up courses more closely suited to their individual needs and goals. Obviously, this flexibility would not be possible within an institution offering only lecture based courses.

Computer managed learning

The program was developed specifically for nurses who are returning to the profession after five years and thus need to re-register. 100 students are currently following the nursing re registration course. Instead of requiring all 100 to come from all over Western Australia to attend a series of formal lectures at Curtin, the course comes to them. Students access computers through local learning centres strategically placed in the major cities or towns of the geographical regions of the State.

The program is made up of 22 discrete print based topics. Each topic has a set of learning objectives and contains information type material and clear instructions to guide students through the instructional module. A1122 topics must be completed successfully before students are allowed to progress to the clinical stage of the nursing course.

Students can randomly select topics to study although progression from one topic to another is entirely controlled by computer testing. Tests precede and follow each topic. If students achieve 80% in the pre test, they are not required to study that topic and can choose another at their level of knowledge. Students must also achieve 80% in the test which follows each topic before going on to another one. On completion of the end of topic test the computer provides the student with a list of areas which need more work, plus references for further reading for revision; an individual attention which is often not possible within a lecture based program where the teacher/learner ratio is often 50-1 or more.

All test items taken and test results are recorded and stored by the computer so that students and course controllers can monitor progress.

Video

The Educational Media Centre at Curtin has recently produced a short video course in learning skills to replace a series of learning skills lectures. The course is aimed particularly at non-native English speaking overseas students coming into Curtin. There are ten videos in the course, each packaged with a set of notes and learner tasks for users to complete. The advantages of such a program over a series of lectures for overseas students are obvious. They can play and replay the videos to ensure complete understanding and they can make mistakes in privacy: an important factor in all independent learning materials - and particularly important for Asian students.

The Educational Media Centre at Curtin has also produced a major new video course in Microbiology - a key unit in the degree offered by the School of Nursing. The series will be available for the second semester this year. It comprises 18 topic based video lectures and ten laboratory demonstrations. The videos are accompanied by a study manual and practical workbook which will allow students to work through the unit requirements at their own pace. The workbook includes tests and answers, so that students can evaluate their own progress through the topics. At present a conventional 2 hour end of unit written exam is offered. The unit is wrapped around a published text which all students are required to purchase.

The intention, after trialing the material, is to divide the unit into discrete modules and adapt the program for CML.

The Unit is being offered to 'off campus' external and country contracted students. In order to reach external students dotted across the whole of WA, 28 videos will be broadcast on the local GWN EdTV Network. Students will be informed when these programs are to be aired and back up copies of each video will be held in the regional colleges as well as in the main Curtin Library External Editions Reserve.

Interactive video

• The Surrogate Laboratory.

• The Japanese Interactive Video.

The Surrogate Laboratory

DEET has funded the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering with assistance from the Educational Media Centre to develop the surrogate laboratory interactive video for on campus students and for the WADEC distance learning program.

The displays and controls of various technical equipment are stored on video disc and are made available for adjustment by the student through the computer controlled interactive video. The displays and controls are easily integrated with graphics and textual teaching material. Students are thus enabled to operate as well as to see and be informed about the equipment.

Educational audit software will be integrated into the package. This will provide the student with immediate feedback on progress and will provide the educator with longer term statistical and progressional information.

Access for the student is via a computer controlled video disc, thus eliminating the need, in many cases, to provide the full range of training equipment in the early stages of the learning process. Considerable capital and maintenance cost savings are made. In addition, students only gain access to delicate equipment when competent to operate it, having undergone basic training via interactive videodisc.

Not only can interactive video improve teaching methods and the presentation of educational material, but it can also be used to minimise problems associated with teaching in remote locations and the lack of availability and access to extremely expensive equipment. Where the student population is remote from an educational institution, or where the student population is widely distributed, it is uneconomic, as well as physically difficult to ensure adequate access to a wide range of technical equipment for a suitable period.

The Japanese Interactive Video

This interactive video is also funded by DEET and is being produced by WA Distance Education Consortium.

This interactive video is to be a major resource for Australian educational institutions for use by upper secondary and beginning tertiary students in, either distance education or classroom mode. The disc will be suitable also for use in business and industry as a self instructional or open learning package.

The project will be composed of video sequences of 5-30 seconds in length. These sequences can be linked to each other or they can be self contained. Users select video sequences and further select ways of interacting with them.

It is intended that users will be able to:

• browse around the whole system and choose which sequence they want to work with

• choose to access sequences in target or native language

• choose the language of the subtitles displayed, ie Japanese or English

• Choose the type of interaction with the selected video sequence, ie

  repetition
  grammar exercises
  dialogue building
  role playing, etc.

• choose to print out sequences in Japanese or English. They will be able to select a print out of the whole sequence, or specific character roles etc. (Note that the problems of printing Japanese text are still to be solved)

• choose to access self evaluation tests

• choose to control the program using keyboard, mouse, or, if possible, voice recognition, a barcode will also be investigated.

Conclusion

Introducing educational change is always fraught with difficulties, especially in traditional institutions. Management and colleagues have to be convinced. It is safer in the long run to approach the change of focus from teacher controlled instruction to student self directed study on a 'softly, softly' basis, easing into guided self study and slowly moving towards the goal of independent learning.

We have technology available which can make the task of producing effective guided self study materials less daunting. Technology also makes the exploitation of materials more flexible and enjoyable for the learner. However, no matter what technology we have access to it is the teachers' skills as facilitators, resource persons and counsellors, which, in the end, determine the success or failure of the independent learning experience.

Author: Robert Fox, Lecturer, Instructional Design, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6001 Please cite as: Fox, R. (1990). Developing guided self study materials for higher education: The Curtin experience. In J. G. Hedberg, J. Steele and M. Mooney (Eds), Converging Technologies: Selected papers from EdTech'90, 141-151. Canberra: AJET Publications. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech90/fox.html