Developing a multimedia package for university teaching and learning

A number of undergraduate courses related to natural resource management, agriculture and environmental sciences at UWS emphasise experiential education (cf. experiential learning) philosophy that focuses on learning through action (e.g., Burgin et al., 2005; Vickers et al, 2004). The emphasis of this philosophy is to purposefully engage learners in direct experience and focused reflection to increase knowledge, skill, competency development and understanding of their values (see e.g., Bawden, 2005; Vickers et al., 2004). In this educational approach media techniques are a powerful option as they can help in self-directed learning. Further, they can facilitate interactive and active learning experiences to enhance the student’s creative and critical thinking abilities.

A range of subjects in the above courses require an in-depth understanding of water resources management, including issues, concepts and theory related to water quantity and quality management, river ecology, irrigation management and environmental hydrology. Students are encouraged to learn through experiencing real-world situations by initiating field projects, but they also require access to relevant theory and concepts. Student learning will be greatly improved in these courses if some user-friendly, interactive and self-directed resource materials are made available. The current alternative is that students working on tasks approach resource staff for help in understanding relevant subject matter on an ad hoc basis. To provide adequate resources for these students is demanding on staff time and frequently less than optimal for the needs of individual students. Printed material is limited in its effectiveness without staff support, particularly if students have limited backgrounds in water resources management and its associated theory. As indicated previously, with increasing pressures on staff, there is an urgent need for measures to improve their teaching effectiveness and efficiency. Computer-assisted learning (CAL) packages, widely known as multimedia packages, provide a tool to enhance teaching and learning outcomes, particularly in project based, experiential learning subjects at UWS. However, there are no suitable packages available in the area of water resources management. For this reason a group of staff at UWS secured a grant and embarked on developing a suitable package that would supplement teaching and learning needs of students studying in natural resource management, agriculture and environmental science courses.