Development and Application of Computer-Based In-class Review Sessions for Improving

摘要

The effectiveness of computer-based review sessions were examined in four different courses. The results show that the review sessions had increased the students?conceptual understanding of electrical circuits in three out of four courses. The review session can also be used as lecture outlines. An effective review session should include graphical representation of concepts when possible. A consistent presentation in terms of font size, highlighting colors, and design may attract students?attention. It is also important to tie similar concepts together while showing the relationships among them. Though it takes additional time to prepare computer-based lesson outlines and review sessions, the benefits outweigh the apparent drawbacks. Some observed benefits are: 1. Easy to upgrade -- as the course content change, individual slides can be modified or added to the presentation. This may not be possible with regular transparency based presentations. 2. Telecommunication ready -- Students are able to download the presentations from a web-site to review missed lesson and notes. Computer-based material are fully compatible with telecommunication mediums and can be used in distant education activities. 3. Supplement to slow-learners -- Students who have learning difficulties may be able to copy the material into their personnel computers for additional review. 4. Multimedia Presentations -- The computer-based nature allow easy integration of the content in multimedia presentation with sound and animation. 5. Activated attention -- The review sessions focus students?attention to the topic being discussed.