Page 84 - Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century

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Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
Overview of student reports and
feedback
Following the submission of the reports, it was important for the instructors to receive feedback from the students about the activity. Students were therefore asked to fill in an anonymous questionnaire using a Google Form. A summary of the feedback is reported below (bearing in mind that 40% of the class submitted answers to this questionnaire):
Conclusion and way forward
An online activity on sound waves was developed for second-year physics students at UJ with the aim of providing students with real-life examples of sound waves concepts, as well as improving their computer literacy by making them use two open source software to perform the data analysis. From the informal feedback provided by the students, it can be inferred that this innovative approach to learning was well received by the class.
For future rollouts, this activity can be easily re-adapted to cater for a more blended learning approach, where students will be provided with the same videos ahead of time, and a face-to face class demonstration can be run in a computer lab. In that case, a real-life demonstration of cello playing could be given and students could have the chance to experiment with the software and the data analysis in the presence of the lecturer. This would be the optimal way to deliver this activity.
In 2022 the instructors will focus on optimising the activity in light of the feedback received by the students. This will include, for example, the recording of a video on music theory (focusing on notes, octaves and overtones) which will be done using the keyboard of a piano. Ways to assess the long-term retention of the skills acquired by the students will also be carefully considered, by possibly designing a follow up questionnaire in their third year of study.
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All respondents reported that it was relatively easy to find and install both open access software on their devices.
All respondents reported that the available study material (notes and videos) made it relatively straightforward for them to learn to manipulate the software and do the work.
Roughly 90% of the respondents reported that they watched all the videos; roughly 90% of them also reported that they watched at least some of the videos more than once.
Very interestingly, more than 90% of the respondents reported that the activity sparked their interest for sound waves and the complexity of sound production and musical instruments. Some went as far as to say that they would be interested to learn how to play a musical instrument, and suggested to broaden the scope of the activity
to incorporate other kinds of instruments (this is something we will consider for the 2022 roll-out).
All respondents felt that the assignment increased their computer literacy in a broader sense, by making them learn new software and search for information online.