EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION: A LEARNING ORIENTED

METHODOLOGY FOR THE INDUSTRIAL COMPUTER NETWORKS

DISCIPLINE

J.V. Capella, R. Ors

Universidad Politcnica de Valencia. Dept. of Computer Engineering
Valencia / Spain
{jcapella, rors}@disca.upv.es

Abstract
In this paper the organization and design of Industrial Computer Networks discipline, taught at fifth course of Industrial Engineering in the Escuela Tcnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales at Universidad Politcnica de Valencia (Spain), is presented. To improve the learning process by means of foment the students activity, achieving in consequence a bigger motivation of the same ones, has been sought with the present approach. For this, a more dynamic and active educational methodology, applying didactic techniques as Phillips 66, case method, implementation of mini-projects and oral presentations should be adopted, propitiating a bigger approach to the engineering world. On the other hand the employment of the mentioned techniques seeks to develop in the students the abilities that they will need in their professional future as to know how to make and to learn how to learn, using the new information technologies. In the present work the diverse didactic techniques used in the classroom are analyzed, justifying their election. Finally the conclusions of the experience are presented. Keywords - Teaching innovation, active methodology, case method, mini-projects, personal and professional skills development.

INTRODUCTION

In the subjects of technological character it is necessary that besides teaching the more upgraded and innovative knowledge of each one of the matters, be inculcated to the students the know to make that it is acquired by means of the practice, and of course, the learn to learn because this abilities allow them to assimilate new methods and technologies, since in their professional future this will be a key factor [1]. For this reason, the objectives of this subjects should contemplate besides those corresponding to the knowledge characteristic of the matter, the assimilation and development of these abilities. On the other hand, these additional objectives contribute to increase the capacity of the future engineers to adapt to the constant changes that take place in the application of the technology in the industry. The present methodological proposal for the Industrial Computer Networks subject, wants fundamentally to get a teaching guided to the learning. For that which intends to focus the teaching to the attainment of learn to learn and know to make, so that it is also gotten the development of the self-learning capacity and other necessary abilities for the future professional exercise [2].

MAIN GOALS OF THE SUBJECT

The Industrial Computer Networks subject is taught in fifth course of Industrial Engineering in the Escuela Tcnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales at Universidad Politcnica de Valencia. This subject doesn't usually have a high number of students, in addition the students are usually very motivated. One objective is that the students acquire the necessary knowledge of computer networks and know the main local area networks that are at the moment used at Industrial level, acquiring practice (know

Proceedings of EDULEARN09 Conference. 6th-8th July 2009, Barcelona, Spain.

ISBN:978-84-612-9802-0 005868

how to make) and learning how to assimilate new technologies for themselves, since in their professional future new network technologies will appear and will substitute the current ones. A fundamental objective, among others, that should pursue the formation of professionals in general is the use of teaching strategies that integrate the theory and the practice. This formation will be more effective and motivational as more near it is the connection with the real world [3]. Consequently, the subject objectives will be centered more in that the students learn to learn, learn to know and learn to make, developing in this manner capacities to face with success in their professional future the constant evolution of the communication systems in the industry. For this reason, the abilities in the field of the understanding, work and discussion in team, problems resolution, the capacity of information search, especially through new technologies as Internet, and finally its synthesis and public presentation will be improved.

INNOVATIVE PROPOSAL FOR THE SUBJECT

To achieve the enunciated objectives, centered in the obtaining of the capacities and necessary abilities for the future professional exercise, it becomes necessary the application of methodologies that allow to guarantee their attainment. For this reason, in the design of the subject, activities guided to the student's bigger active participation have been carried out, in order to the pupil generates conceptual schemes and doesn't inherit them of the professor, increasing the critical spirit of the students that will allow to develop the described abilities [4]. With this proposal, it is sought that the learning process has an introduction phase that wakes up the interest for the subject and provides the necessary previous knowledge together with a theoretical phase, carried out both by means of guided study and evaluated by means of the Phillips 66 technique. The following phases are synthesis, consolidation and communication, the last one by means of the public presentations. In a concurrent way is developed the practical phase by means of the case method and mini-projects, that contributes to the knowledge synthesis and consolidation. This methodology follows the line of the Bologna declaration on the European Space for Higher Education. In this manner, the proposed methodology combines in an appropriate way these techniques, selected each one of them to contribute some complementary characteristics whose conjunction contributes to the group the necessary characteristics to reach the proposed objectives. The methodologies that have been selected for its employment in this subject are described in the following sections (see figure 1).

Guided study

Guided experiences

Phillips 66

Theoretical
knowledge
learning

Seminars

Practical abilities acquisition

Case method in practical sessions

Oral presentations

Mini-project development

Figure 1. Didactic techniques applied in the subject.

3.1

Theoretical knowledge learning

For the theoretical development contents the following techniques are used.

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A.

Guided study

Professors elaborate a study guide where the learning that should be achieved is presented to the student. This guides should be composed in first place by an introduction, where it is indicated to the student the objective that is pursued, the importance of the topic, their connection with other topics, etc. The following part consists on the activities plan, where some very concrete norms about the activities that should carry out the student will be exposed, as well as the time that should dedicate to each one of them as minimum, etc. Finally, the information sources for the study (bibliography) should be referenced. Once the professor distributes or exposes the study guide, the pupil proceeds to carry out the study. First the student will analyze the steps to follow and should create a global vision, passing later on to carry out the learning of the content, reading the facilitated texts and bibliography, solving the suitable exercises and problems, etc. In this manner, the guided study is a teaching-learning process that embraces a series of logical steps and that tries to get objectives such as understanding, problems resolution and acquisition of abilities. This technique favors the relationship professor-student at the same time that increases the student's activity in class, developing their responsibility in the work and helping them to discover for itself. It also facilitates that the student goes assimilating a study methodology. Finally, this technique facilitates the continuous evaluation that is proposed as well as and the student self-evaluation. By means of the guided study, the students will learn the basic knowledge of the physical level, data link and application protocols corresponding to the more diffused industrial networks. To achieve it, the basic bibliography of each protocol will be provided.

B.

Phillips 66

This technique consists on forming groups of six students that will discuss a topic during six minutes to reach a conclusion. Each group chooses a coordinator and a secretary. The coordinator functions are to control the work time and the total participation of the members, on the other hand the secretary functions are to write the conclusions with the others members help and to read them to the other groups. Later on the problem to treat is defined, once exposed a minute for individual reflection it is left. Next all and each one of the group members should expose their proposals. After that, three minutes are given to summarize the conclusions, and finally each group proceeds to its reading. To finish the activity the professor outlines a general summary in the blackboard highlighting the important points. Phillips 66 favors the active and total participation, stimulates the responsibility and the enthusiasm, helping to overcome the inhibitions to speak before others. On the other hand the speed (few minutes for each phase are given) develops the synthesis capacity. Also, this technique has been used for the evaluation of the contents learned in the guided studies, allowing to investigate about the general information level acquired by the students on these topics. Also, by means of this technique is possible to see if the students have understood the explanation, serving as review of the main ideas of each one of the studied network protocols.

C.

Seminars

The seminars consist on interactive (professor-students) work meetings with the objective of fomenting the learn to learn and that the students acquire a wider vision of the disciplines [5]. Given the terminal character of the subject and the characteristics of the future engineers that study it, in the seminars multidisciplinary problems are treated, to relate and consolidate the students knowledge.

D.

Oral Presentations

Public presentations are used to enlarge the theoretical contents of the subject. Each student should gather the necessary information on a concrete topic related with the subject, such as other nets (CAN, TTP, QWICK, LIN, LonWorks, DeviceNet, FlexRay, etc.), other protocols (TCP/IP, 802.11, etc.) or other industrial applications. Later on each student should present his work in public (to the rest of students) in a structured and summarized way. The use of topics related with the new technologies forces the student to use Internet as bibliographical source. The student should select the most important points and summarize them (synthesis capacity) due to hi has to expose the gathered information as maximum in twenty minutes. Also, with this activity it is pretended to improve the student social abilities.

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3.2

Acquisition of practical abilities

In order to put into practice the learned knowledge, the following techniques and activities will be used in groups of two or three students.

A.

Guided experiences for the adaptation to the laboratory work environment

To facilitate that the students learn how to work in the laboratory and they can take advantage of the time, two guided practical activities have been carried out [6] with the purpose of adapting the students to the environment, acquiring the abilities and necessary dexterities to take out profit.

B.

Case method in practical sessions

One of the strategies that contribute to bring near the teaching-learning process to real situations is the study of cases technique, that is a learning technique where the student faces before the description of a specific situation that outlines a problem that must be understood, valued and solved by a group of people, through a discussion process. The student faces a concrete problem case that describes a real situation of the professional life, and hi should be able to analyze a series of facts and to arrive to a reasoned solution through a discussion process in small work groups. It is therefore a cooperative learning technique that foments the student's participation and develops the activity and the critical spirit, preparing the student to take decisions, and teaching him to defend their arguments and to contrast them with the opinions of the rest of the group components.

When designing cases it will be kept in mind the following guidelines:

- -

The cases should outline a real situation. They will be extracted of real situations of the current industry. The cases should be clear and comprehensible. The cases should not suggest solutions. The selected cases should facilitate the participation and the critical spirit of the students. The main and secondary aspects of the information should be mingled. The time for the discussion and taking of decisions it should be limited. The description of problematic situations should be based on a theoretical foundation.

Although the case method is an active technique, and therefore centered fundamentally in the students work, the professor activity is very important. The professor should expose the case with clarity, and should have ability in raising important points that help the group in the proposed case analysis. Also, the professor should ask questions when the participants forget important aspects, or when confused conclusions that the rest of the class doesn't question appear, as well as to relate the results of the case with the theory that sustains it. The study of cases develops the analysis capacity and reasoning, improves the work in group and favors the motivation from the student when feeling active agent of their own learning. The student also learns how to structure complex problems developing synthesis capacity, and acquires certain practical experience when facing similar situations to those that are confronted in the engineering world, obtaining a integral formation. In definitive this technique allows the students to learn to learn, that is to say, to discover, to identify and to interpret the problems; to look for solutions, to foresee the obstacles to these solutions and the possible remedies, to conceptualize and to deduce principles of the real situations analysis. The cases that are proposed has been selected following an educational approach that allows to structure the practical contents [7]. In this manner, cases related with the different network protocols levels are presented, and later on the students will have to implement their case solution in the mini project. The discussion and final proposal of each group will be implemented in their mini-project, in

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this way the students will experiment a real way the advantages and inconveniences that have been debated in the first part (case study).

C.

Mini-project development

The students will implement, during the whole course, an industrial local area network in a simplified way. During the elaboration stage, each group will carry out a hardware/software implementation of the proposals selected by the case method, indicating the lines to build a definitive solution in a final report, where in addition the followed steps as well as the difficulties and result to which has arrived, will be detailed.

Mini-projects development technique has many advantages from the pedagogic point of view [8]:

Allows to develop the creativity. Connects the theory and its application. Integrates diverse knowledge. Allows to relate matters and subjects. Helps to achieve a more global formation Motivates the student when proposing him real cases

Mini-projects technique is a teaching-learning process based on the student own creativity and that allows to learn how to solve high order problems, following this phases: analysis, synthesis, implementation and evaluation.

3.3

Assessment of student learning

As for the students assessment, it is opted by an continuous and multi-criteria evaluation, that is to say, to evaluate the student keeping in mind all the activities that he carries out. In this manner, the student has in all moment knowledge of their qualifications and errors. The evaluation of the guided study is carried out, as it has been exposed previously, by means of the Phillips 66 technique, so that the study of each protocol generate a punctuation, and the average of these a qualification, that together with the punctuation obtained of the public presentations values the students learning in relation to the theory contents. To obtain the note of the public presentations the professor will keep in mind the quality of the exhibition, the contents of the same one, and the answers and comments that take place, valued everything by the professor keeping in mind the opinion of the students. On the other hand, the assessment of the practical part is carried out analyzing each stage case-mini project, so that in the note of the same one it is valued the contribution of the students in the case study and the solution implementation in the project. The pondered average of all the phases or stages contribute the evaluation of the practical contents learning and abilities development. The qualification in the subject will be obtained from the theory and practical punctuations. Each one of the proposed activities will be evaluated, and the student will receive the correspondent feedback. Like so, in all moment the student has conscience of his learning evolution, what allows him to act in consequence. This information is also important for the professor, since it can allow him adjust the process to correct possible deficiencies in the learning process.

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CONCLUSIONS

The presented proposal is the result of previous experiences in Educational Innovation Projects, where in similar subjects have been applied partially, with very positive results, some of these techniques, together with a deep reflection about the different didactic techniques and the possibilities that these offer in the context of this subject. This educational innovation is giving excellent results. From its implantation the number of flunks has decreased and the students qualifications have improved. In conclusion, by means of this new educational methodology it is sought to obtain an integral formation of the student, not transmitting single knowledge but also inculcating abilities such as learn to learn, learn to know and to learn to make, that will allow the student to confront their professional future with an integral preparation and be able to overcome new challenges with success.

References
[1] Delors, J., et al., "Learning: the Treasure Within ", Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, UNESCO, 1996. [2] Kemp, R., Race, P., Promoting the development of personal and professional skills, CVCP, 1992. [3] Bonwell, C., Eison, J., "Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom", ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, No 1., 1991. [4] Capella, J.V., Ors, R., "Nuevo planteamiento metodolgico orientado al aprendizaje y apoyado en el uso de las nuevas tecnologas para la docencia en la universidad del siglo XXI", Actas de la III Conferencia Internacional sobre Educacin, Formacin, Nuevas Tecnologas y E-learning, Vol. 1, 2002. [5] Hernndez, P., Disear y ensear, Ed. Narcea, 5 edicin, 1995. [6] Capella, J.V., Ors, R., Mart, A., Educar con nuevas tecnologas en la Universidad, Actas VII Congreso de Nuevas Tecnologas de la Informacin y de la Comunicacin para la Educacin, 2004. [7] Horobin, R., Anderson, B., Williams, M., Active learning in practical classes, CVCP, 1992. [8] Williams, M., Horobin, R., Active learning in fieldwork and project work, CVCP, 1992.

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