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Exchange of Course Modules across Universities

Exchange of Course Modules across Universities. Axel Jantsch Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Fundamental Challenges. Competition in research and education drives specialization → increase in number of specialized courses

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Exchange of Course Modules across Universities

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  1. Exchange of Course Modulesacross Universities Axel Jantsch Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

  2. Fundamental Challenges • Competition in research and education drives specialization • → increase in number of specialized courses • → labs have increasingly higher and more narrow competence profiles • Peak competence is very expensive • Education is under economic pressure

  3. Exchange of Courses and Modules • Enlarges the economic base for peak competence • Increases the selection of specialized course • Increases the quality of specialized courses

  4. Practical Challenges • Costs and inconvenience of travelling • Should the teacher or the students travel • Course delivery over the internet • Does not deliver the live classroom experience • Professional equipment and operation is costly as well • Lab equipement and tools • Verification of exam results; Student authentication • Cost Model ?

  5. Exchange of a Course Module • Partners: • Royal Institute of Technology • Danish Technical University (Prof. Jan Madsen) • Course: System Modeling • Supported by SOC-Mobinet (EU) and SOC-SME (Nordic Industrial Fund) • January 2004 - May 2004

  6. Objectives • Keep the pedagogic quality • Reduce costs of course operation • Share a course among multiple organizations

  7. Essence of Good, Traditional Courses • Excellent textbook • Well designed organization • Labs • Exercises • Sequence of activities • etc. • Inspiring teacher

  8. Main Principles • Improve the textbook with internet technology • Provide an elaborate course organization which leads the student through the course • Give the student control within the course limits • Exploit opportunities of new technology

  9. Course Template • Length: 16 weeks • 3 Phases (Preparation, Interaction, Labs) • Provider, Lecturer • Local Organization, Host

  10. Phase 1: Preparation • Length: 4-6 weeks • Self study of material • Homeworks • Interaction with lecturer via web/email

  11. Phase 2: Interaction • Length: 1 week • Lecturer is present at host • Lectures • Exercise hours, joint discussion of problems and key issues • Tutorials to labs

  12. Phase 3: Labs • Length: 8-10 weeks • Labs and projects • Self study • Homeworks • Interaction with lecturer via web/email • Exam

  13. Lecturer’s Responsibility • Provide course material • Exercises, homeworks • Tools, accessible to the student at the host • Labs, projects • Exam • Check exams and rate students • Commit to high on-line availability for students and respond within 24 hours to every question and request from the students

  14. Host’s Responisbility • Provide local organization • Computer infra structure, net access • Provide local responsible person • Execute the exams

  15. The Student Controls Progress • The course consists of 5 - 10 chapters • For each chapter the student repeats: • Step A: Read lecture notes • Step B: Interact with teacher • Step C: Solve Exercises and labs • Step D: Explore tools • Step E: Pass check point

  16. Student - Teacher Interaction • Email • Internet based chat rooms • In person • Teacher responds to requests within 24 hours • 30% as traditional lectures • 70% in dialog form

  17. Tools and Labs • Tools readily available via the internet • Easy to install and license, or • Operated by a host and aivalable via the net • Labs to support the self-study process • Labs for each chapter of the course

  18. Organization Options • Free self-study • Relative schedule with milestones and check points • Controlled self-study with certificate • Absolute schedule (2-3 month) with registration • Milestones, Homeworks, labs, project • Physically controlled examination • Campus based exchange course • Preperation phase • Interaction phase (teacher presence) • Lab phase • Campus based course • Preparation phase (teacher presence) • Interaction phase (teacher presence) • Lab phase (teacher presence)

  19. Course Template Summary • Course template to accommodate new needs and opportunities • Higher preparation costs but lower operation costs • Gives the student more control while still providing a study skeleton

  20. Experience • KTH’s System Modeling course given at DTU • Jan. 2004 – May 2004 • 3 part template applied • Elements: • Reading instructions • Home assignments • Lectures • Labs • Exam • Student numbers: • 26 students registered • 17 eventually passed the exam

  21. System Modeling Course • Survey and systematic development of Models of Computation • Introduction • Behaviour and Concurrency (FSMs and Petri Nets) • The Untimed Model of Computation • The Synchronous Model of Computation • The Timed Model of Computation • MoC Interfaces • Tightly Coupled Process Networks • Nondeterminism and Probability • Applications • Course Book: ”Modeling Embedded Systems and SoCs”, Morgan Kaufmann, June 2003

  22. Part I: Home Reading • Home reading and home assignments • 6 weeks • Module schedule with deadlines • Exercise server • Interaction via email

  23. Part II: Lecture • Monday • 13-15: Lecture on Untimed models of computatio • 15-17: Individual questions and discussions • Tuesday • 8-10: Lecture on Synchronous models of computation • 10-12: Individual questions and discussions • 13-15: Lecture on Timed models of computation • 15-16:30: Individual questions and discussions

  24. Part III: Home Assignments • 10 weeks • Home reading • Home assignments, exercise server • Exam preparation • Intensive contact by email and phone

  25. Exam • Course provider: • Design of exam • Grading of exam • Host: • Organization of exam: room, student authetication, etc. • Course approval

  26. Student Feedback • 12 students answered • Overall impression (1-5): 3.58 • In line or slightly lower than for traditional courses • Comments: • ” There's no similar course at DTU so without your effort we would not have covered the subjects!” • ” I think it is not really possible to have … on topics which are not always straightforward, using the distance learning method” • “It was no problem that the course was distant learning, as the deadlines made you go through the book as the semester went forward” • ”Solving exercises during the course is very good way to get a better understanding of the topics. Automatic checking of exercises is a very nice feature.” • “Many of the exercises are too "computer generated" “

  27. Conclusion • The exchange of course modules is possible and useful, but • It must be very carefully planned, structured and organized • There must be a clear benefit • Main obstacle is the cost model • Costs for external and internal courses are calculated radically different • Many Universities are not able to invest in education • Universities and the education system is not prepared to outsource courses

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