Scott Bradley
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Presented at the 4th Annual "Innovations in Education" Conference Sponsored by the Midcontinent Institute of Writing and Critical Thinking, Minot State University, Minot, North Dakota, Novemeber 9-11, 1995.
It is the philosophy of the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to use computers on a daily bases to help students understand and develop confidence and competence in computer usage. This paper discusses three computer applications and how they are used in the Audiometry course. First, students are expected to complete computer instruction modules (CIMs) which were written on Hypercard, Hyperstudio and Astound, prior to the class meeting. Students are then quizzed on the CIMs. Second, students extensively use the internet including World Wide Web, Gopher, e-mail, telnet and File Transfer Protocol as part of the class. Finally, a Power Macintosh 7100 and a Sharp LCD projector are used to display information during class. The advantages of this type of projection system when compared to slides and transparencies will be discussed.
The use of computers in communicative disorders and other educational disciplines has become indispensable. The purpose of this paper is to show how computers are used in the Audiometry class in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The computer's application in research and the clinic is well known, although its introduction in the classroom has not been as rapid. This is not unexpected. Pedagogical techniques at the university level have not significantly changed over the past 50 years. While some instructors have instituted inovative techniques in the classroom to encourage critical thinking and class participation, most university classrooms involve the traditional lecture format supplemented by assigned readings usually out of a text book and sometimes with a term paper. Visual aids if used at all, often are in the form of slides or transparencies displayed on an overhead projecter.
More and more, instructors are turning to alternate methods of teaching. Discussion groups, problem solving, hands on experience with clients and equipment (including computers) are becoming more prevalent. While it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss these techniques we will provide information on how computer technology can be used as an important tool on implementing some of these techniques.
There is little debate that computers are important for managing our personal and professional lives. If we accept this hypothesis it is important that we teach students how computers are used in our disciplines and secondly we need to teach them how to use computers. If we are effective in teaching computer usage we must use computers across a number of our courses. Most educators agree that students would be poor writers if the only experience that they had with writing was in English 101. Likewise, many students would be computer illiterate if the only experience they had was a Freshman or Sophomore class in an introduction to computers class. Over the past several years many universities have integrated writing into numerous university courses. This has been labeled as "writing across the curriculum". Maybe we should also promote the concept of "computing across the curriculum". Indeed, it is only if the computer is used across different courses that students will become proficient in the knowledge and use of computers.
The Department of Communicative Disorders at UW-Whitewater has supported this position. A number of the faculty have included the use of computers in different phases of their teaching and research.
Audiometry, which is a course on the measurement of hearing, is a required course for undergraduate Communicative Disorders majors at UW-Whitewater. Computers have been integrated into many phases of this class. The balance of this paper will discuss the use of computer instructional modules (CIMs), the internet, and computer projection.
One purpose of the CIMs is to prepare students for the information which is to be discussed in class. The Audiometry class is divided into nine units. CIMs have been written on Hypercard, Hyperstudio and Astound for seven of the nine units. I have purposely not written CIMs on the first two units. Fortunately there is a good chapter in the student's text on material covered in the first unit and the information is covered during the first two class sessions before the students have a chance to learn how to use the CIMs. The student is given several hands on exercises to intruduce them to the internet; this is necessary for the second unit.
Correspondence courses for years have used a format where the student reads about a concept or idea and then is asked a question on the material. Most CIMs used for the class are written on Hypercard. To access the CIMs the student opens a Hypercard stack which contains a main menu with links to nine stacks. The first several cards of each stack provide the student with the estimated time of completion and provides a menu which allows the student to choose different topics in that stack. Once the student choses a topic he then reads a card which presents an idea or concept. A subsequent card presents a question about the concept they have just learned. The student can then see if he correctly answered the question by clicking the mouse on the pop-up field located in the upper right hand corner of the card.
The advantage of having students complete the CIMs and readings prior to class is that the students are prepared for the class discussion and for practical activities. For example, when covering the unit on tuning forks the students would complete the appropriate CIM and assigned readings and take a quiz on the material. After the readiness quiz the tuning forks are passed out and they are then allowed to practice different hearing tests. This format is also used for a number of other audiological tests. Another advantage of using CIMs is the students have another tool that can be used to prepare for periodic written and practical examinations given throughout the semester.
Animation, scanned photographs and drawings, film clips and audio samples can also be integrated into the CIMs. As an example, the concept of sound propagation is an abstract concept that students have difficulty grasping. They are unable to understand that sound propagation involves a chain reaction of air molecules. By using animation we can show the students how this actually occurs, making an abstract concept more easily understood. Another example is a presentation of simulated hearing losses which was written using the Astound presentation software. The concept of a high frequency hearing loss or a hearing loss involving cochlear distortion is extremely abstract, but is important to understand if students are expected to work with clients with a hearing loss. With this program students only have to click on one of nine different audiograms to hear what speech sounds like for various types of hearing loss. Another benefit is that we can use this program in our audiology clinic to show the spouses, friends and parents of clients with a hearing loss what speech sounds like for the client.
Having access to the internet for a student adds a powerful dimension to their learning. All university faculty have had students ask what type of computer to purchase. While I try to be sensitive to the student needs and their computer skills, the one piece of equipment that I insist on is a modem. Having a modem gives a student the ability to dial into the campus mainframe computer and access the internet.
Students are taught to conduct data base and library searches using the internet. Using telnet, the student may log onto off-campus computers and conduct library searches not only of the UW-Whitewater library but also larger surrounding libraries, primarily at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. Students are also introduced to the ERIC and Medline data bases. These data bases are important for locating articles in special education and medicine.
World Wide Web (WWW) and Gopher are navigational tools used on the internet. They allow the user to quickly and easily access numerous sites on the internet by typing in an address or clicking an icon with a mouse. The amount of information on WWW and Gopher is extensive. With proper guidance the student is taught to be a critical consumer of WWW and Gopher information and how best to "surf the net" without "wiping out". The most commonly accessed sites by our students are those relating to the class and the department. We maintain a departmental home page which can be used as a starting point to access a number of important WWW and Gopher sites including an on-line otolaryngology textbook, Net Connections for Communication Disorders and Sciences, a Web page maintained by our department which links the user to all communicative disorders programs with WWW and Gopher sites in the U.S. and Canada, and other relevant sites related to communicative disorders.
We also have the Audiometry class syllabus on WWW. Students who misplace or forget their syllabus can always access it. Also, any changes in the syllabus such as the class calendar can easily be made throughout the semester. For those who would like to peruse our departmental home page and the Audiometry class syllabus can do so by using the uniform resource locator (URL)http://www.uww.edu/commdis/cdhome.html. E-mail is considered to be indispensable. The biggest advantage is that it allows students to access faculty 24 hours per day. It is not unusual for students who are verbally withdrawn to freely use e-mail to correspond with faculty and other students. By using a collective e-mail address it is possible to post announcements to all members of the class simultaneously.
Another advantage of e-mail is the posting of grades. By sending out grades via e-mail, confidentiality is maintained since passwords are required to access student accounts. It also has the advantage of immediate feedback. In most cases tests are graded scores are disseminated on the same day the student takes the exam. It only takes about 15 minutes to send out the grades to a class of 40 students. Because the information is copied and pasted from a spreadsheet the student also receives a cumulative history of grades on all assignments and tests, their class rank, and the minimum score needed to obtain a A or a B in the class.
Electronic discussion groups are important forums for students. These groups allow students to share questions and information with their peers and other professionals. Students in Audiometry are required to join a group. The two groups that we recommend are the CDMAJOR discussion group which is a group comprised of students in communicative disorders, and INTERSOC-L which is also comprised of students interested in issues relating to the internet.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a method which allows files and programs to be downloaded from various computers around the world. Students are introduced to FTP, including the main repositories of software programs and files that relate to speech-language pathology and audiology. Students are required to download the CIMs used in the class which are found on the audiology FTP site maintained at UW-Whitewater. Students are also expected to conduct Archie searches for different topics related to audiometry and other areas of communicative disorders.
In the class we have a Power Macintosh 7100 interfaced with a Sharp LCD projector to present class material. There are of course other ways to present visual material including slides and overhead transparencies. However, the preparation of these materials can be cumbersome, expensive and slow. The advantage of using Astound and other presentation software is that faculty can easily put together professional looking presentations with little effort. As well, sound, drawings, animation, and photographs can easily be integrated into the presentations. Another advantage of using presentation software is that updating information can be easily and immediately accomplished. A biproduct of the use of this technology is an improvement in student evaluations of the instructor. Although I had not made any substantive changes in the curriculum, students rated me higher in organization and competence when compared to the previous year.
It is important that students and faculty see and use computer technology on a daily basis so that they become more proficient with computer use. While the use of computers may not be the complete answer for improving student learning, the innovative use of this technology can clearly improve our ability to meet the challenges of the 21st century.