Using the Internet to improve university education: Problem-oriented web-based learning and the MUNICS environment

Up to this point, university education has largely remained unaffected by the developments of novel approaches to web-based learning. The paper presents a principled approach to the design of problem-oriented, web-based learning at the university level. The principles include providing authentic contexts with multimedia, supporting collaborative knowledge construction, making thinking visible with dynamic visualisation, quick access to content resources via Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and flexible support by tele-tutoring. These principles are used in the Munich Net-based Learning In Computer Science (MUNICS) learning environment, which is designed to support students of computer science to apply their factual knowledge from the lectures to complex real-world problems. For example, students can model the knowledge management in an educational organisation with a graphical simulation tool. Some more general findings from a formative evaluation study with the MUNICS prototype are reported and discussed. E.g., the students' ignorance of the additional content resources is discussed in the light of the well-known finding of insufficient use of help systems in software applications

[1]  H. Cowie Social Interaction in Learning and Instruction , 2000 .

[2]  E. Cohen Restructuring the Classroom: Conditions for Productive Small Groups , 1994 .

[3]  D. Perkins,et al.  Individual and Social Aspects of Learning , 1998 .

[4]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  Designing Environments for Constructive Learning , 2012, NATO ASI Series.

[5]  Marcia C. Linn,et al.  How do students make sense of science , 1993 .

[6]  L. Resnick,et al.  Knowing, Learning, and Instruction , 2018 .

[7]  Susan E. Newman,et al.  Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Craft of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Technical Report No. 403. , 1987 .

[8]  Roy D. Pea,et al.  The CoVis Project: Building a Large-Scale Science Education Testbed , 1998, Interact. Learn. Environ..

[9]  Heinz Mandl,et al.  Problem-oriented learning: Facilitating the use of domain-specific and control strategies through modeling by an expert , 2000 .

[10]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  Designing Learning Environments That Support Thinking: The Jasper Series as a Case Study , 1993 .

[11]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. , 1999 .

[12]  F. Fischer,et al.  Fostering collaborative knowledge construction with visualization tools , 2002 .

[13]  Heinz Mandl,et al.  Munics: Multimedia for Problem-Based Learning in Computer Science , 1999, Building University Electronic Educational Environments.

[14]  Angela M. O'Donnell,et al.  Cognitive Perspectives on Peer Learning , 1999 .

[15]  J. Bruner,et al.  The role of tutoring in problem solving. , 1976, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[16]  Timothy Koschmann,et al.  Cscl : Theory and Practice of An Emerging Paradigm , 1996 .

[17]  F. Fischer,et al.  The Use of Additional Information in Problem-Oriented Learning Environments , 2000 .

[18]  Ton de Jong,et al.  Scientific Discovery Learning with Computer Simulations of Conceptual Domains , 1998 .

[19]  Jiajie Zhang,et al.  Representations in Distributed Cognitive Tasks , 1994, Cogn. Sci..

[20]  Marlene Scardamalia,et al.  Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities , 1994 .

[21]  John D. Bransford,et al.  Toward a Learning Technologies knowledge network , 1999 .