Linda Fan [HREF1], Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. bsfan@polyu.edu.hk
Christabel Ho [HREF2], Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. bscrysta@polyu.edu.hk
Stephen Mak [HREF3], Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. bssmak@polyu.edu.hk
This paper presents the application of web-teaching methodology to develop a self-accessed, interactive, multimedia computer-aided learning package, namely, "ethics for professionals in construction and real estate". The paper describes the outcomes of the development of the learning-on-demand study package that consists of three learning units, each of which adopted different technology. At the same time, students would develop their technical competence to search and to learn via World Wide Web.
Ethics is needed in creating and nurturing an atmosphere of honesty and integrity within an organisation and within society. At present, professional institutions in the construction and real estate industries have drawn up a code of conduct for their members and are keen on promoting ethics at work. It is agreed that ethics is important to professionals in the construction and real estate industries. The Department of Building and Real Estate, producing the largest number of graduates for the construction industry, supports the idea of promoting professional ethics and has placed this theme at a relatively early part of the undergraduate curriculum.
It is considered that it would be less effective to deliver the topic by the traditional teaching method that is predominantly one-way in communication. Students have limited time to think and it is difficult, if not impossible, for them to discuss important issues. It is further considered that the topic of professional ethics is suitable to conduct in small group such as 12 students in a group. However, it is also impossible for a small group of teaching staff to cater for 240 students if the small group teaching method was used.
As a result, attempts were made to deliver the materials using the newly developed an on-line system with video-on-demand, namely, LCOD (Learning Construction On Demand) system.
The system was basically a framework for delivering learning materials. In summary, the system enables students to:
It allows teaching staff to set up a subject and organise teaching materials with multimedia, for example, rich-text, graphics, animations (VRML) and video-on-demand (streamed full-speed MPEG 1). In addition, it is allowed the input of revision questions and course work assignments for student assessment. Students' academic records can be reviewed by use of this system.
The essential software and hardware equipment supporting the operation of the system consists of:-
The success of using the learning-on-demand study package depends largely on the quality of education materials and a reliable technical system to facilitate both students and staff.
Over the years, the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) in Hong Kong plays an important role in promoting the ethical standard in Hong Kong. A continuation of effort of the ICAC of the previous year to inject the topic "Ethics" into the tertiary curriculum has been done. In order to promote the ethical standard for society, the Hong Kong Ethical Development Centre (HKEDC) was set up in 1996. Several reference packages (ICAC 1996a, 1996b, 1996c, 1996d) on professional ethics were produced for tertiary students by the HKEDC.
Traditionally "Ethics" was only a less significant subject in the main stream of Hong Kong university education. There is no such stand-a-lone subject in connection with "Ethics" or "Professional Ethics". Some subjects might touch on the topic but it was never a formal subject incorporated into the curriculum. As a result, we see a demand for a comprehensive ethics course for our students.
The existing way of teaching ethics is that each year staff from ICAC goes to the tertiary institutes to deliver one or two guest lectures and talks. The work is quite successful in terms of arousing students' interest in the issue but the outcome is limited since their work is quite ad hoc and discrete one, which is not a complete and continuing training. In addition, their emphasize is placed on introducing the ICAC and promoting the concept of anti-corruption.
The developed the content of the learning package was then enhanced upon agreement, cooperation and collaboration with the ICAC working with the support of a team of technical staff.
The web can be used as good media for self-learning and instruction. It can be access by many users at the time. For this project up to 40 students could access the program. The web was also portability meaning that the material could be delivered over many locations. The web proves to superior over traditional material in that it allowed the material to be presented in a non-linear format. This meant that with the help of hyper-links and books marks the student could gain access to different section of the material easily. The non-linear format of presentation accumulates for self-learning because of its ability to choose the areas they want to learn more about.
The use of the web also provides the superiority of being dynamic. The instruction material can be altered and updated easily for future used. The use of the webs proves to be advantages in that there is limited recurring cost. In the past material had to reproduced for each student. By making the available on the web, students can access the material where there is a computer. This reduced the cost and the need to print all the material.
The topic professional ethics was chosen as a subject to test the effectiveness of this web base teaching in the Department of Building and Real. In the past the material had been taught using the tradition method through lecture and tutorial. The students found at some ideas difficult to grasp and applied. Traditional tutorials were also less effective in large classes and not everyone had a chance to participate. Therefore Professional Ethics was the first subject to full-unitized web base teaching. It was also a paperless course from the instruction material to the assignment where all distributed and submitted using the electronic media.
The first learning unit allow for the student to use books marks and hyper links to read and surf through the material. In the second learning unit, the use of a video was used to help the students realize the reality of a case for professional ethics and the third unit provided referencing and hyper links to other more specific areas of research.
In lecture students were introduced to the use of the web interface and the basic command specific to this project. Students were also briefed on the subject matter. In tutorials students were allow to access the material on the computer. The instructor only acted as a facilitator and helping out with the technical difficulties. The students were reviewing and interacting with the material.
The process for developing the learning-on-demand study package can be summarized in the following figure.
Gather the information and material for teaching the professional ethics using multimedia is similar to traditional methods. However, the presentation of the study materials was more prone to related material in other forms besides traditional text, such as colorful diagrams, videos and web site. After the material was gathered, the presentation method was then decided. This was in consideration, the advantages of the web teaching.
The initiation set-up took longer than the traditional method, but that is due to the professional nature of the final presentation. Additional time was also allocated to publish the material on the net. However, the time spent can be justified from in two ways. First, was that the material can serve both as lecture material and also a reading material for the student. Second was that compared to the traditional method, by having a digital form of the presentation allowed for easy revisions and updates without having to redo the entire presentation again.
Since most of the students had used the World Wide Web they were fairly familiar with most of the basic functions. Some of the more specified functions and uses had to be explained in more detail.
The learning package consists of three learning units. Learning Unit one consists of learning materials and a self-review exercise. Learning Unit two encompasses 3 case studies using video-on-demand to deliver the stories. Learning Unit three contains study materials of ethical management and dilemmas. All learning units relied on the use of the system's built-in discussion forum so that virtual contacts could be maintained. The forum allowed students to ask and answer questions, argue on topics raised by other students or the teaching staff.
Learning Unit one provided the background, origins and theories behind professional ethics. The students were allowed to read and review on their own. The students could review the notes on their own pace and order. The use of the web teaching enables the students to read different selections of the notes by clicking onto to bookmarks. The students were also given the "Forum" to allow for interaction among other students and instructors. Ideas encourage to flow and discussion in the form of a digital notice board was used. The assistant was readily available.
After the students had completed their review of material, they were given a multiple-choice quiz to test their knowledge. This quiz was administrated through the computer. A set of questions was inputted into the computer, and randomized to prevent cheating. Using the computer allowed the quiz to be conducted efficiency and fairly all the students gained access to the quiz at the same time and had to the same cut-off time.
Unlike the traditional method of using a paper quiz, the quiz was also a learning experience for the students. During the quiz, the students received instant feedback, regarding their response to the questions. The students were notified if the answer was right or wrong. The students were also allowed to attempt the question until the correct one was chosen. All the correct answers and attempts were recorded for grading purposes.
Learning Unit two is a video provided by the ICAC. The students could watch the video as part of a case study.
Learning Unit three provided the application and resources for further study of professional students. Like Learning Unit one, the students could read and study the material on their own pace and access to "Forum" was provided. However, Learning Unit three included two more features. The first, internal bookmarks were provided. This allowed for students to skip to a bibliography and provide the referencing immediately, so those students can read up further on the top. The second feature is that there are hyperlinks provided in the bibliography. As a result, the students could access additional material through the Internet. One useful link provided was the Hong Kong Ordinance on-line. This gave the students the opportunity to access additional updated material.
Two evaluation methods were used to evaluate the students' work.
The forum is similar to an electronic notice board where students and instructors can initiate or response to questions and comments. This forum acts like a discussion group to exchange ideas and comments. The advantage of this electronic notice board is that more users can participate and observe. It can serve as a database of information, because the forum can be continued with new students next year. More students may participate due to the informal and anonymous nature of the discussion group.
The quiz is digital multiple-choice exam administrated through the web. The questions are first inputted into the program and given to the students. When the quiz is completed the instructors has the results immediately. The advantage of this computer quiz is that it is fair and time efficient. The quiz is fair because of ability of the computer to time the start and end of the quiz and the option to randomized/select the questions from a pool of questions. The advantage of this system from an Instructor's perspective is the results can be obtained after the quiz without the need to mark the quiz. The computer would also analyze the quiz results by showing the number of attempts required for each question. The Instructor could modify the quiz as required.
The system provides an on-line general feedback that asks the students how they like the system and the presentation style. The Instructor will receive a summery of this result. More specific course feedback would still have to be administrated the traditional way.
In our study, two control groups used for this learning package. Both groups were first year students of the Department of Building and Real Estate. One group (Control Group A) was degree students that total 111. Control Group A used the full computer-aided learning package. Another group (Control Group B) was 80 higher diploma students and 37 degree student. Control Group B were given the print out of the material but still had to write the quiz on the using the computer. All the students were ask to attend the lecture to introduce the material, however only Control Group A were required to attend the tutorial class for completion of a project work.
Student feedback has been collected to identify the benefits and drawback of the learning-on-demand package. The paper will highlight the key issues for exchange of teaching experience.
The following summarizes findings:
In general the feedback was satisfactory. Advantages gained in teaching and learning outweighed the disadvantages in technical difficulties. Nonetheless, robustness of system cannot be neglected. Training is indispensable.
The student users and the instructors identified future development of the web-based access. Two areas of development include improving the system and incorporating more items to the systems. The users (students) identified the need to incorporate more pictures, sounds and video to the learning units. The Instructors suggest the use of more hyper-links within the system and external sources.
In addition, the use of an interactive video clips. This would serve as a decision tree to allow the user to view the video with different possible outcomes. The user will view parts of a video and then asked to make a decision to carry on with the story. This would increase the amount of interaction and more fully unutilized the current system
ICAC (1996a), Ethics for Professionals (Architecture, Engineering & Surveying): A Resource Portfolio For Hong Kong Universities ;
ICAC (1996b), Ethics for Professionals (Law) : A Resource Portfolio For Hong Kong Universities;
ICAC (1996c), Ethics for Professionals (Medicine & Health Care) : A Resource Portfolio For Hong Kong Universities;
ICAC (1996d), Ethics in Action : A Resource Portfolio For Hong Kong Universities ;
Linda Fan, Christabel Ho & Stephen Mak © 1999. The authors assign to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive lience to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web.