Optoelectronic technology profiles - motivating & developing research skills in undergraduate students

A case study is described of the redesign of an assessment task – the writing of an Optoelectronic Technology profile – to achieve improved outcomes in student education and capability development, in particular, research skills. Attention is drawn to the value of a formally scheduled discussion between teacher and student around controlling the scope of the profile via an appropriately constructed “brief”, and the selection and evaluation of the reference resources to be used in completing the task. Student motivation is improved through “student publishing” and encouraging students to regard their technology profile as an example of their work that can be shown to potential employers, possibly as part of a portfolio. Students have the choice as to whether they will also use the technology profile task as a vehicle to develop teamwork experience and skills. INTRODUCTION Macquarie University introduced a three year Bachelor of Technology (Optoelectronics) degree as one of a program of BTech degrees in 1990. The first cohort of students completed the degree in 1992. The graduates of this degree were targeted to employment in the emerging photonics industries of Australia. Thus, components of the degree (and its successor phased in from 2007) have to address development of skills and capabilities in several key areas such as: knowledge and understanding of appropriate content; problem solving skills; comfort and confidence with sophisticated photonics and optics related instrumentation; communication skills; time management; and research skills. One key assessment task to develop the latter three skills requires the students to research and write a Technology Profile, on an area of optoelectronic/photonic technology of their choice, most often from a comprehensive list provided. This was one of the assessment tasks in the unit of study “Optoelectronic Systems and Devices II”, a third year, second semester unit. They also gave a seminar to the class and teaching staff, drawn from the content of their Technology Profile. After almost ten years of this offering, teaching staff noted that the engagement by students with this assessment task, was waning. Also, the quality of the technology profiles submitted was perceived as diminishing and there was an increase in use of “cut-and-paste”. These changes were not judged as being correlated with any identifiable change in the ability or background of the student cohort at that time. Instead it was concluded that a process of renewal of the task should be undertaken with the aim of increasing student motivation, increasing student engagement and learning, decreasing plagiarism, increasing the priority student’s gave to completing the task, and increasing the real and perceived benefits by the students. These learning dimensions are summarised in Table 1. To assist the students to develop the necessary research skills they are given an example of an Optoelectronic Technology Profile written by the author, along with a “how to/ where to” find the information that will be needed for different types of technology profile. Examples are reviews of a mature technology, or a state-of-play of an emerging technology. Students are assisted to use their “brief” as a tool to manage the reference set that needs to be assimilated and synthesised to adequately address their chosen topic. They learn about time and project management, as well as the technology, via this task design.