Blend and Flip for Teaching Communication Skills to Final Year International Computer Science Students

Abstract

In addition to technical knowledge, graduates in computing and engineering disciplines are expected to have communication skills, and the ability to undertake lifelong learning. These skills are difficult to acquire using conventional lecture and tutorial based teaching. Final year international graduate computer science students at the Australian National University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, were found to have particular difficulty when asked to write about their learning. In response, lectures were replaced with online exercises, group workshops in a new purpose-built flat floor classroom, and peer-assessed progressive assessment. This approach was trialed with eighty students in 2019. Preliminary results indicate students performed at least as well as with conventional lecture-based instruction.

Analysing mobile learning designs: A framework for transforming learning post-COVID

“…An analysis of the case study using AT and the DTML-PAH Matrix is presented in Figures 10 and 11. For 2020, the computer project management course at the Australian National University switched from blended to pure e-learning (Worthington, 2019). The course consolidates learning at the end of a degree, with a reflective portfolio (Browne et al, 2020).…”