Classroom Teaching Expansion of Computer Fundamentals Course

Автор: SHANG Junping, LIU Hebing

Журнал: International Journal of Education and Management Engineering(IJEME) @ijeme

Статья в выпуске: 11 vol.2, 2012 года.

Бесплатный доступ

This paper mainly studies classroom teaching expansion of Computer Fundamentals Course. The classroom teaching of Computer Fundamentals Course can be expanded in the perspectives of time and space by using various resources such as library, Internet, science and technology market for non-computer major students. As shown in the practice results the students have really benefited a lot from these efforts.

Computer Fundamentals Course, classroom teaching expansion, teaching method

Короткий адрес: https://sciup.org/15013777

IDR: 15013777

Текст научной статьи Classroom Teaching Expansion of Computer Fundamentals Course

  • 1.    Introduction

  • 2.    Characteristics

  • 3.    Classroom Expansion Plan

As the information technology which centers on computers has been widely applied to our daily life, the education of computer fundamentals has become an integral part of higher education system. The subject of “Computer Fundamentals” is one of the compulsory public courses for non-computer majors in universities, which aim to help students establish a complete knowledge structure in computer technology and to develop students’ interdisciplinary research capabilities. In Henan Agricultural University, we set up the curriculum of “Computer Fundamentals”, which weighs 3 credits, 60 hours (30 hours each for both theoretical and experimental lessons), for non-computer majors in the second semester.

Teaching quality has become the concern of all sectors including the government and the university since the implementation of expanding the enrollment of colleges in 1999 [1]. How to improve the course of “Computer Fundamentals” in the aim, contents, methods and exam’s modes has become an important subject of teachers [2,3] under the new circumstance. We manage to improve the teaching quality and students’ computer skills by expanding classroom teaching of “Computer Fundamentals” in both time and space.

The contents of “Computer Fundamentals” include the basic knowledge of computers, the operating system, Microsoft Office applications, network basics, multimedia, information security, etc, and it is characterized as having much knowledge and flexible operability. Thus, it is difficult to cover all the aspects in detail in limited classroom teaching. In addition, computer science is a subject which updates constantly, and it has transcended

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any previous discipline in the speed of updating in either software or hardware. Besides, teachers also need to update the classroom teaching of the subject constantly to keep pace with the development of computer technology. In this case, it will be very important for teachers to help the students master the contents of teaching, the knowledge and applications of computer skills by using effective classroom teaching expansion.

On the basis of the teaching content, we try to expand classroom teaching of the subject in the following aspects:

  • A.    Library Resources

It being one of the three supports of teaching and scientific research in universities, the library enjoys rich literature and network information resources. It is the center of information resources of the school, and is also nicknamed as the second- class of the students. If the students can act on their own to read books in the library, they will surely gain knowledge beyond textbooks and will successfully change themselves from “passive accepter” to “active explorer”. When the library resources are used effectively, it will definitely shed the limitations of classroom teaching, expand the teaching contents, and inspire students’ eagerness for self-teaching to the greatest extent.

  • B.    Internet Resources

Having been spread rapidly and widely, the Internet has become an important platform for information dissemination and transmission. Thus, it’s no wonder that more and more news media, government agencies, enterprises and individuals are publishing information on the Internet. Moreover, the Internet has become “the fourth media” after the broadcast, newspaper and television, and is superior to all the other media in the amount, the speed and the variety of information.

The World Wide Web is virtually a library that is convenient and free of restrictions on time. Besides, it also contains useful resources such as the basic knowledge of computers, teaching materials, operation skills, product information and so on.

  • C.    Science and Technology Market

  • 4.    Teaching Practices

The computer software and hardware updates so rapidly that knowledge on the textbook can not catch up with it. In the light of this statement, contents of teaching shouldn’t be limited only to books.

As the distribution center of IT products and of scientific and technological information, the stage to show latest scientific and technological achievements and products and the trade center of high-tech products, the science and technology market has become the most ideal place for students to expand their classroom teaching. Specifically speaking, students can go there to conduct scientific researches, to perform exploitation of technology, to gain the latest information of high-tech products, etc. Schools such as Henan Agricultural University can organize students to carry out such researches and investigations in Henan Science and Technology Market, which is located in the north of Zhengzhou and is centered by a number of universities. And it is also known as “the hinterland Silicon Valley”.

We ingeniously combine the contents of teaching with the expansion, which not only enriches the contents of teaching, cultivate students’ interests in learning, but also inspire the eagerness within themselves and improve their ability of self-teaching.

  • A.    Use the Library Resources

Apart from introducing several classical reference books, we also guide students to read more books, and show them how to find relevant books of the subject quickly during the process of teaching. We introduce and demonstrate the school library booklist, CALIS Union-Catalog Database, Super Star digital library, CNKI and other literature resources to students in class, and this enables students to get to know the resources of the paper books, electronic books and other literature as well as the method to search for them when necessary.

When the students have mastered the contents of the textbooks, they are required to expand their horizons by reading more and accumulating more after gaining some knowledge about the resources of teaching reference. Besides, there’s still one thing they can’t miss, that is, to fulfill their book reports. Judging from their book reports, we can see that students have got a further understanding of basic computer knowledge. In addition, they have realized the importance of learning the course, and they can even define the concepts in their own words. More importantly, the sense of achievement can be achieved during the process of self-teaching.

  • B.    Application of the Internet Resources

As the course nearly covers all the aspects of software and hardware, it will be too limited if the learners merely burry themselves in the textbooks and reference books.

Our country has started a project of establishing the essential courses to improve the quality of teaching and to promote the reformation of teaching among universities since the year 2003. According to the latest statistics, by June 2010 3,417 national essential courses and 6,978 provincial essential courses have been set up [4]. What’s more, these courses are also shown on the Internet, and relevant syllabus, teaching plan, exercises, experimental direction, catalogue of bibliography are also provided free of charge. In this way, excellent teaching resources can be shared. The websites set up especially for the course have been one of the important resources for students to expand their horizons through self-teaching.

In the first class, the essential courses as well as the methods of how to retrieve by googling are advised to be introduced to students. Besides, teaching materials, such as E-teaching planning, PPT of teaching content, teaching cases, exercises, test papers and so on, can be browsed and downloaded to largely supplement are also necessary to be introduced to the students. Examples are preferred when it comes to search for certain types of teaching resources, for example, search the course slides by googling with the keywords[Computer Fundamentals filetype:ppt]. Other kinds of files by substituting [ppt] with the corresponding file extensions and further explanation will be made when introducing file types.

  • C.    Investigation and Research in Science and Technology(Sci &Tech) Market

  • D.    Comparison of Teaching Effects

    Expansion activities have been conducted in the teaching of “Computer Fundamentals Course” for the students in the second semester of 2009-2010 as shown in Table 1. It lists up the comparison of scores between the 220 students in 8 classes with classroom teaching expansion and the 231 students in 8 classes without the expansion in the second semester of 2008-2009. It is seen that the application of the classroom teaching expansion could, to a certain degree, enhance students’ computer skills, thus improving the teaching quality.

  • 5. Conclusion

table i.    Comparison of Scores

Semester

Number of Students

90-100

80-89

70-79

60-69

<60

Average

2008-2009-2

231

13

62

98

50

8

74.9

2009-2010-2

220

24

114

58

21

3

80.2

During the process of teaching “Computer Fundamentals Course”, we try to expand classroom teaching in both time and space. We also try to guide the students to use the library resources, the Internet resources, the science and technology market resources, etc. There is a great improvement in students’ eagerness and capacity of learning, and their knowledge of the theories and skills of computers. From this we can see that students have really benefited a lot from these efforts.

Список литературы Classroom Teaching Expansion of Computer Fundamentals Course

  • Wang Yiqiu, “Some views on the current quality of undergraduate teaching,” China University Teaching, vol. 3, pp. 4–14,2008(in Chinese).
  • Fengyun Li, Ying Liu, Gao Fuxiang, “Research and Practice on the Teaching Reform of Computer Fundamentals Course,” ifcsta, vol. 3, pp.35–37, 2009 International Forum on Computer Science-Technology and Applications, 2009.
  • Xiu Li, Li Zheng, Fang Yang, “A General Education Curriculum on Computer Fundamentals--Needs Assessment and Design,” The First ACM Summit on Computing Education in China, October 24-25, 2008, Beijing, China.
  • Li Huijie, Ju Feng, Wang Hongyu, “National essential courses resource centre briefing [2010] No.6,” http://www.tech.net.cn/page/N003/2010072200003.html,2010-07-22(in Chinese).
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