University of Limerick, Ireland

EMRC- Educational Media Research Centre

Prof Timothy Hall, Director EMRC

www.ul.ie

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning?

Co-operative Education

CPD- Continued Professional Development

PEBL- Problem and Enquiry Based Learning

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? Co-op

All UL undergraduate students spend part of their programme working in business or industry.

Either a single 9 month period (one semester and a summer)

Or

Two periods totalling up to one year.

UL has a large administration division that handles this placement

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? CPD

UL has a significant programme of highly modular courses that enable working professionals to upskill and retrain to Masters level and beyond.

Recognition of Prior Learning and Experiential Learning can be up to 20% of credit

Part of a national Programme MAP – Modular Accreditation Programme

Partnership with business/industry Communities of Practice, COP, for learning and training – called SkillsNet e.g. uLearning Shannon (a partner in this project)

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? CPD →Contribution to Industry and Regional Innovation

Just one example:

ERC Enterprise Research Centre

www.ul.ie/erc

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? PEBL - Problem and Enquiry Based Learning

PEBL has been widely used in medical and health science nearly 50 years, it’s new to Engineering

Employers have criticized our BE and BSc programmes for lack of transferable skills – problem solving, communication, team working

EMRC has pioneered EPBL – Engineering Problem Based Learning in the early years of programmes in Electronics and Computer Engineering

We also use EPBL to teach aspects research methodology in taught Masters programmes

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? EPBL – Engineering Problem Based Learning

The usual weekly structure of a course (2hours lectures, 2hours lab plus private study) is replaced buy a single 4hour session in the lab

Students work on a single lab based problem for the whole semester, in working towards its solution they discover, learn, and apply the material in the module syllabus

They work as a class, in small groups and individually, they learn to manage and share their work

The lecturer becomes a mentor in their activities and is the “customer” for their solution to the problem

Assessment is based on the natural outcomes of their work, design documentation, presentation, demonstration, answering questions, formal reports

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? EPBL – Engineering Problem Based Learning

There are no course notes, there are no lab scripts, there is no conventional end of semester examination

An essential feature is our use of an LMS (learning management system), we use Moodle. This looks after the course administration and management and more importantly serves as a channel for both formal and informal communication between the lecturer and the class as a whole, and as individuals, and for peer to peer communication. Through it students submit material for assessment and receive marks and feedback (both formative and summative)

(We call our EPBL courses “Outcome Based Learning Lab”)

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? EPBL – Engineering Problem Based LearningExamples

OBLL1- Lift ControllerThis is in first year and replaces a course on sequential logic. The problem is to build a controller for a model lift (elevator) using discrete logic

OBLL2- Electronic Weather Station and Public Web SiteThis third semester course combines an introduction to sensors and instrumentation with the development of dynamic web sites based on LAMP technology for student who have had one course that introduced databases and HTML and have completed first year electrical science

EMRC Moodle

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? EPBL – Engineering Problem Based LearningOther Examples

Advanced Processor Architecture: A cooperative learning course for Masters in Computer Engineering

The Engineer as a Profession: An introduction to the professional activities of the engineer for first year students

Professional Studies (Ethics) in Computer Science: A cooperative learning course for fourth year Computer Systems students. Group working with participants in three countries (IE, UK USA)

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Practice Based Learning? EPBL – Engineering Problem Based Learning

How are theoretical lectures and practical studies organised?

EPBL has no lectures, students determine what new knowledge they need to solve the problem and research it themselves

How are the practical studies incorporated into courses?

Our students study five course each semester at the moment only one in each of the first three semesters is EPBL

UL Dept Electronic & Computer Engineering Bachelors Programmes

EMRC - Ollscoil LuimnighTim Hall

Comments?

Questions?

Prof Timothy Hall

Director EMRC, Dept ECE

University of Limerick, Ireland

timothy.hall@ul.ie