Effectiveness of using technology for reflective learning in engineering and design courses

Whilst it is true that technology can be excellent as an enabling tool in promoting learning in design and engineering courses, it can also be very much a distraction to the learning process. A scheme was devised that identified clear pedagogic principles in the aims and objectives of the project.

The clear lesson from the experience was that student need to have more control over their own learning process, allowing them to employ their own learning techniques, even it meant that they did not always prepare before a session. It was important that the process would include a method where students who did not prepare for a session could still participate in the learning activities.

What is more important is to reel in the students on their own volition, and to allow them to make mistakes. More importantly allowing them to recognize a good way forward in their learning process allows them to feel more valued.

The final use of technology revolved around the use of the on-line journal using the resources provided by the VLE and the amount of staff time needed. A scheme was devised where the students would refer to their reflective posts on BLOGS in a series of reports, each report covering a short period of a few weeks. This shifted the responsibility for the monitoring of the reflections back to the student.