**6.2 Feedback from students**

Table 3 shows the result of students' feedback which indicates that the students were undecided as regards perceiving any remarkable change in the teaching method. The mean and median scores for this item are (3) as shown in Table 3. However, the students acknowledged that the approaches of active learning method had helped them in learning better. With regard to group discussion and presentations, the results show that the students agreed that the methods had helped them in learning better. The students also indicated that they were more motivated to learn than before. The result for information search/library search indicates that though the result is positive, the students were not highly motivated to search for more information about the subject.


Table 3. Summary of student survey

#### **6.3 Teacher's observations**

14 Emerging Informatics – Innovative Concepts and Applications

Performance No. Of Students Average

Remote Sensing 2.89 7 2.65 10 GIS 2.59 8 2.67 6

also show that the performance in the assessed semester is more consistent than the performance in the previous semester. There was a larger gap between performance in remote sensing and GIS in the previous semester than the assessed semester. As mentioned in section 5.2 above, the result should be interpreted with caution as the cohorts cannot be compared without accounting for differences in students' capability. In the light of this, other means of

Table 3 shows the result of students' feedback which indicates that the students were undecided as regards perceiving any remarkable change in the teaching method. The mean and median scores for this item are (3) as shown in Table 3. However, the students acknowledged that the approaches of active learning method had helped them in learning better. With regard to group discussion and presentations, the results show that the students agreed that the methods had helped them in learning better. The students also indicated that they were more motivated to learn than before. The result for information search/library search indicates that though the result is positive, the students were not highly motivated to

Items Mean Median Range

3.8 4 2

2.9 3 3

the teaching method of this course 2.9 3 4

in learning better 4.3 4.5 3

before 3.8 4 3

better learner 4 3.5 3

information about the subject 3.6 3.5 2

Table 2. The assessment of student performances for two semesters (Before and after

assessment (questionnaire survey and teacher's observations) were also employed.

Average

Previous Semester Assessed Semester

Performance

No. Of Students

1 – Highly Disagree 2 – Disagree 3 – Undecided 4 – Agree

5 – Highly Agree

Courses

adopting active learning techniques)

**6.2 Feedback from students** 

search for more information about the subject.

There has been a remarkable change in

The current teaching method helps me

Teaching other members of the class by making presentations helps me in my

I am encouraged to search for more

There is no difference between how I learn now and how I have been

Table 3. Summary of student survey

I am more motivated to learn than

The group discussions make me a

learning

learning before

There were two changes noted after the introduction of the active learning approaches. Some of the students developed keen interest in searching for additional information that could enrich their presentations and understanding of the subject. And some of them became passionate about the given topic that they felt they were the experts in the topics so others should just accept their findings. So, the presentation exercises also taught the student how to accommodate classmates with different views about the subject. Another noted change was in the answers provided by the students to examination questions. Previously, students responded to exam question by virtually regurgitating the information in the course material. During the assessed semester, responses from students showed that some of them had started explaining issues in their own words different from the expressions in the given material. This indicates that they were able to understand the material better than before. The new approaches did not really affect student attendance. And this is an important issue in the department. The goal of the department is to nurture the students to a level that they can be selfmotivated to attend classes and to search for additional information about their subjects. It might be too early for the department to fully assess the impact of the transformation since the method has just been implemented for a semester. The results from the assessment are promising enough to encourage the department to continue on the active learning path.
