Platform for Learning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Platform for Learning is a registered name through which the TekBots program was created. Through working with Oregon State University's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, the Platform for Learning name is the general name for all innovative learning that goes on in the EECS department through 5 years of combined faculty and student work they have created a company of sorts that is responsible for teaching Electrical and Computer Engineers the needed skills to be ready for future work and their future career.
A Platform for Learning is a set of common, unifying objects or experiences that weave together the various classes in a curriculum. By employing this common platform in each class, it illustrates the interrelationships and interdependencies of the classes. A key characteristic of the platform is that it becomes a concrete yet dynamic system that is built upon as the student progresses through the curriculum. The evolving system represents what the student has learned, how it is applied and how it relates to other subjects they have learned in other classes.
Currently their product can be used for Electrical, Computer and Mechanical Engineering. Work is being done to expand out the program to Computer Science students.
[edit] 7 Key points make up a Platform
- Curriculum Continuity
By using a common learning platform throughout our degree program, we're enhancing students' integration of knowledge. The platform provides the conceptual "glue" between lecture topics. When using the platform, lecture topics are related to or discussed in the context of the platform. As all the topics relate to the platform, they will also relate to each other. This holds true if the context is one class or the entire curriculum. Interaction between topics becomes clear when viewed from the perspective of the platform.
- Enhances Lecture and Lab Understanding with Context
A Platform for Learning complements the existing structure of lecture and lab—it makes lecture topics more concrete and active and meshes them with lab experiences. Class lectures are effective in providing depth and breadth in the discipline. This knowledge introduction is complemented by the laboratory where hands-on experiences reinforce the lecture material. Integrating a platform for learning into the curriculum expands the learning opportunities and effectiveness in many different dimensions. The platform provides a context for learning that enables connecting the knowledge among classes, developing innovative skills and enhancing knowledge integration for solving complex problems.
- Builds the Learning Community
Using a platform for learning throughout the curriculum gives all the students a common point of interest, which establishes each student as part of a learning community. If a common platform is used throughout the program, it provides a bridge between students at different stages of their studies. This helps build a large community of learners who share a common focus, and that common focus facilitates learning.
- Personal Ownership
The learning platform should be personally owned. As a student progresses through a curriculum, they will make a considerable investment of time and money in it. As with any personal item acquired at considerable price, there is a vested interest in the condition of that object. The student may also want to maintain whatever status they have attained with their platform, as it is visible and tangible evidence of their ability.
When students have ownership for their platform, they also take more ownership for their learning. As a result, they tend to interact with their classmates seeking advice and mentoring as well as working with others to share what they have learned. Although it may be expected that if each student has their own platform it would discourage teamwork, it actually enhances teamwork.
- Hands-on/Minds-on
The preferred learning platform is hands-on/minds-on, and preferably, a physical object. A platform for learning can take many different forms. For an electrical engineering student, the platform may be a very simplistic mobile base that illustrates the operation and construction of basic electronics. Then as the student progresses through the curriculum, capability and functionality is added such as sensors and a microprocessor to provide a platform for learning that has wireless communications, networking, digital signal processing and other topics all contained on the platform. For a computer science student, a single-chip "computer" with no pre-defined brains may serve as a learning platform. As the CS student progresses through the curriculum, they build up the brains in the computer.
But "hands-on" does not necessarily imply a physically tangible platform. A business student may use a business plan as a platform. The point is that there must be an intensive interaction between student and platform so that the student has personal ownership of the platform.
- Emulate Engineering Practice
The platform should create an environment that closely emulates engineering practice and experience. The platform is a real project that helps create the atmosphere of a large engineering team. The team community sets the stage for the students to engage in formulating and evaluating questions, problems, conjectures, arguments, and explanations, just as professional engineers would in the workplace.
If the platform is a real project, not a "pretend" paper project, it brings with it all the real world constraints and problems and general "untidiness" of projects found in contemporary engineering. Thus the procedures, practices and approaches used by everyday engineers are naturally brought into the classroom or lab. This is in stark contrast to the often boring, contrived and sanitized exercises found at the end of the chapter which have no loose ends or real constraints and which typically have only one correct solution.
- Flexibility to Promote Innovation
A learning platform itself is a powerful device to promote learning. However, for it to be truly effective, the learning platform should also have certain attributes. Innovation occurs when something new is created. A flexible platform encourages innovation by making new creations a natural extension of what has been done previously.
Flexibility also means that the student can access the platform in a way convenient to them. When curiosity strikes, the platform should be accessible. If the learning platform is located in a laboratory, the opportunity for experimentation and innovation is lost. The optimum situation is where the platform is accessible any time and anywhere.
[edit] Where Platform Products are used
Currently 6 Colleges & Universities also use a Platform for Learning and several eduational institutions are trying out the program to see if they want to implement PFL programs.
Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon
Texas A & M University College Station, Texas
Fukuoka Institute of Technology Fukuoka, Japan
University of Nebraska-Omaha Omaha, Nebraska
