Complete thesis - Murdoch University

approach), the content was no longer spiralled. This meant that students worked throughthe discipline content in one pass, although there were many opportunities throughout theproblem to revisit understanding of any component – in particular, all resources were availablethroughout the unit (and in fact, throughout any subsequent unit in SE).All interaction with the client is undertaken through web-based material: a fictitious character,the Team Manager acts as go-between for the team and the client, while memos, minutesof meetings, telephone messages, ‘talking heads’, press releases etc provide the problem triggersrequired. These act as prompts to students to undertake some task identified in the PBLproblem. Support material is provided, as are expert consultants as required. The ‘lecturer’is always available as a resource. The interaction between stakeholders in this scenario is indicatedin Figure 7.8. Students are expected to undertake the learning tasks collaborativelyby interacting with the learning environment.The decision was taken to minimise technical complexity (eg in terms of advanced interactivemedia and ‘appearance’) so that students could easily access the resource off-site and withminimal software requirements (a Sun Microsystems (2006) Java runtime environment andAdobe Systems Inc. (2006) Flash reader). Pragmatically, technological capacity could neverkeep up with student expectations (in general males in their late teens, very au fait withgaming environments). Rather, ‘cognitive realism’ (Herrington et al, 2003) to the real-life task(as opposed to a technological-driven view) was seen as having (much) greater significance.Figures 7.9 and 7.10 are samples of the support material provided within the environment.Unit content is centred on the online teaching material (now viewed as a resource repositoryin the problem environment) within the Software Factory previously described, and a recommendedtext. These act as a constraint: students initially explore this material in orderto achieve the learning outcomes they have identified in a problem component, rather thanhaving unlimited access to resources on the Internet and elsewhere. This is a significant issue:RE is a relatively new discipline, with varying approaches taken in its description. It isimportant at this early concept-learning stage that students are not confused or frustrated bythe presentation of too many alternate viewpoints, tools, definitions for the same concept etc.This is likely to occur if students are to explore freely during the self-directed learning stage ofthe PBL process. On the other hand, it is important that students become aware that otherviews exist. Again, providing environment constraints adds to the authentic approach: asgraduates, students will be expected to follow the operating procedures standardised withinthe employing organisation, rather than having the freedom to choose those which suit themindividually.The development of each problem required:299