Implementing Internet Source as Tools in Teaching and Learning Engineering Mathematics

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 102 ( 2013 ) 122 – 127

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Dr Mohd. Zaidi Omar, Associate Professor Dr Ruhizan Mohammad Yasin, Dr Roszilah Hamid, Dr Norngainy Mohd. Tawil, Associate Professor Dr Wan Kamal Mujani, Associate Professor Dr Effandi Zakaria.doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.722

ScienceDirect

6th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE 2012)

Implementing Internet Source as Tools in Teaching and Learning Engineering Mathematics

N.M.Tawil*, I. Shaari, A. Zaharim, H. Othman, N. A. Ismail Centre for Engineering Education Research &

Unit Of Fundamental Engineering Studies Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor

MALAYSIA

Abstract

Mathematical engineering is a fundamental course for engineering students. A strong mathematical knowledge will help them in empowering other engineering subjects. Since these subjects are taken place in first year and second year of academic calendar, some students need to adjust their learning style with their new environment of study. This method is hoped to fill the transformation gap from school or pre university environment into real university life. in university, the students need to have higher spirit of self learning. The ability of connecting the real engineering problem and mathematics are very important. Thus it is hoped that the e-learning provided can help them to smaller the gap and increase their confidence in engineering study. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Mohd Zaidi Omar, Ruhizan Mohammad Yasin, Roszilah Hamid, Norngainy Mohd. Tawil, Kamaruzaman Yusoff, Mohamad Sattar Rasul Keywords: e-learning; Mathematical Engineering; Facebook,; You tube; Online application.

1. Introduction

Differences in teaching styles across disciplines in higher-education courses are common. Many colleges and universities have adopted e-learning platforms to utilize computers as an instructional tool in development

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +603 8911 8424. E-mail address: [email protected]

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Dr Mohd. Zaidi Omar, Associate Professor Dr Ruhizan Mohammad Yasin, Dr Roszilah Hamid, Dr Norngainy Mohd. Tawil, Associate Professor Dr Wan Kamal Mujani, Associate Professor Dr Effandi Zakaria.

123 N.M. Tawil et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 102 ( 2013 ) 122 – 127

mathematics courses [1]. Rapid scientific and technological developments, along with changes in the structure of society, influence the educational system in general and instructional methods in particular. Research done by Albano et al. [2] was about the integration of research in mathematics education and e-learning by using techniques and tools in Web 2.0. Brandusa [3] discusses the importance of developing comprehensive and forward-looking education strategies in universities. Students should be enabled to acquire necessary skills in order to actively participate in and understand the information society and fully benefit from the possibilities that it offers [3]. The convergence of technology and traditional practice in the education system will allow for better teaching and learning development. Divjak [4] mentioned that learning outcomes can be successfully implemented in teaching and learning mathematics on higher educational level together with appropriate level of technology enhanced learning can provide the framework for successful learning process even for students that have not been primarily interested in mathematics To bolster learning, Computer-Aided Assessment may help students by giving them individual feedback about their progress[5]. Today, web-based instruction has become one of the methods used. A study by Yao Lin [6]

goals. According to Dirk, learning technologies have the potential to enhance innovations in education [7]. Lately, higher-education providers have shown an increasing interest in the dynamics of institutional change and e-learning. According to Mark [8], some institutions have accepted e-learning as part of their everyday activities; however, in other institutions, it still struggles to gain traction. The e-learning clearly identifies those institutions that have successfully engaged with e-learning across their teaching and learning functions [8]. With limited face-to-face time, a lecturer does not normally have sufficient time to explain and guide students through every subject in a course. Since mathematics is one of the toughest yet fundamental subjects required for engineering students [9], alternative methods to teaching and learning need to be implemented and incorporated with conventional methods. 2.0 Implimentation of internet base in Mathematical engineering The idea of integrating e-learning in teaching and learning was proposed to the students in an ordinary differential equations (ODE) course in 2009. At that time, the researcher implemented Hot Potatoes as their exercise and obtained the feedback in a survey. The survey shows that the students agree that they need e-learning as a substantial component of their learning process and understanding . followed by year two of the research, a system from a Wiley textbook called WILEY PLUS was chosen as an e-learning method for engineering mathematics courses in Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment. WILEY PLUS is a web-based application that assists lecturers in preparing for classes and lectures and that automates the processes of assigning and grading homework [10]. By using this system provided together with the textbook, the students can self study, self exercising and has 24/7 online feedback that can help them improving themselves. Tawil et al. have discovered that students believe that the e-learning system has a positive impact on teaching and learning progress in mathematics courses [9]. This continuous research is to add three elements of e-Learning as an innovative methods of teaching and learning together with Wiley Plus. which is facebook, youtube and any related mathematical engineering website. The syndrome of facebook cannot be deny as an effective mediator in transformation of information. Facebook constitutes a rich site for researchers interested in the affordances of social networks due to its heavy usage patterns and technological capacities that bridge online and offline connections [11]. The site is tightly integrated into the daily media practices of its users: The typical user spends about 20 minutes a day on the site, and two-


thirds of users log in at least once a day. thus, researcher wil use facebook as mediator of learning and communication in between teacher and students. Since facebooking is a phenomenon to almost everyone especially the students, it is beneficial to use this web base as communication port. inherit, researcher wants to examine the effectiveness of facebook in helping students in any matter about mathematical courses. Secondly to provide example from any website including youtube especially when it is deal with the students ability in imagining . And the third element was to analyse the state of understanding of any topic in the course by letting the students to learn by themselves and having short quiz in wiley plus as shown in figure 1.

Wileyplus as elearning tools in

teaching and learning- e-

Web base self learning; youtube, any mathematical website such

Facebook as medium of

distance communicati

on in-

Fig. 1: The method used in elearning medium tools

3.0 Results Figure 1.0 shows the list of files in one of students facebook group. the students can use this mediator to upload and download any files that they think related to them and their friends for particully course.


Fig. 2: The files in facebook group for engineering Mathematics

Fig. 3 : The online source of mathematical engineering embedded in Wiley plus. http://edugen.wileyplus.com/edugen/shared/resource/view_resource.uni?id=rsd9206084


Figure 3 shows the usage of wiley-plus as mediator of other mathematical web base. In this figure it shows Paul online Math notes in Taylor series. the students can explore and study on their own or discuss with their friend whenever they feel free or needs extra source of studies besides of notes and textbook. There are some of the topic that is difficult for the students to visualize them, such as in tensor. Thus, this researcher provide youtube link for the students to do selflearning and try themselve at anytime they want. Figure 4 shows the youtube uploaded by dfleisch on 20 Nov 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5liqUk0ZTw. He explain tensor in a concrete way in order to help the students understands the relationship inbetween vectors and tensor.

Fig. 4: What is tensor? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5liqUk0ZTw

4.0 Conclusion Implimenting elearning in mathematical courses are not actually easy. Especially when it is due to a big number of students. The cooperation among the lecturers are very much needed. As the influence of the internet are rapidly increase among the young generation, thus the educator need to slowly change the paradigm of teaching and learning. This is to coherent with the style and the needs of the students. rather then the students use the internets for searching unnecessity now we try to change their paradigm of using the internet especially in facebook as mediator of knowledge transform. in this research we can see that the students are actually appreciate the medium of elearning as one of their communicating, sharing and digging knowledge.


References [1] Broggs et al . Using e-learning Platforms for Mastery Learning in Development Mathematics Courses, Mathematics and Computer

Education, V38 n2 p213-220, 2004 [2] Albano, G. Mathematics Education: Teaching and Learning Opportunities in Blended Learning. In A. Juan, M. Huertas, S. Trenholm, & C. Steegmann (Eds.),TeachingMathematics Online: Emergent Technologies and Methodologies, 2012, pp. 60-89. [3] Brandusa Prepelita-Raileanu. Inovative Pedagogical Intervention Strategies and Social Software Technologies in an e-Learning Project Initiated by the University Politehnica of Bucharest (Faculty of Applied Sciences). Wseas Transactions On Advances In Engineering Education. Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2010. [4] Divjak, B. Implementation of Learning Outcomes in Mathematics for Non- Mathematics Major by Using E-Learning. In A. Juan, 2012. [5] Bescherer, C., Herding, D., Kortenkamp, U., Müller, W., & Zimmermann, M. E-Learning Tools with Intelligent Assessment and Feedback for Mathematics Study. In S. Graf, F. Lin, Kinshuk, & R. McGreal (Eds.), Intelligent and Adaptive Learning Systems: Technology Enhanced Support for Learners and Teachers (pp. 151-163). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-60960-842-2.ch010, 2012. [6] Yao, L, C. Beliefs About Using Technology In Mathematics Classroom: Interview with Pre-Service Elementary Teachers. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science &Technology Education , 2008, 4(2):135-142. [7] Dirk Schneckenberg. Overcoming barriers for eLearning in universities portfolio models for eCompetence development of faculty. British Journal of Educational Technology. 2010, Volume 41, Issue 6, pages 979 991, November 2010. [8] Mark Nichols. Institutional perspectives: The challenges of e-learning diffusion. British Journal of Educational Technology. 39(4):, pages 598 609, July 2008 [9] Tawil, N. M., A. Zaharim, F. H. M. Ariff, N. A. Ismail, M. H. Osman Implementing e-learning in mathematics engineering for better understanding. AIKED'10 Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference On Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering And Data Bases. 2010. [10] Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-60960-875-0.ch004 [11] Online Social Network Sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12: 1143 1168. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367. 2007.

Documents

Implementing Internet Source as Tools in Teaching and Learning Engineering Mathematics