Every year we see level 1 students repeat the same mistakes due to lack of experience. Unfortunately, in most cases experience is gained after failure, which means that by the time that students learn what it means to be pro-active, it is too late. At the Computer Science Department we have a case study, which is also used by other Departments too during academic and transferable skills related units. We discuss this case study as part of the personal tutorial system in order to help give to the students the necessary experience without the ill effects of failure first.
The story evolves around a character, Chance Nota. We give the students the a scenario in which Chance Nota has just finished high school. He has been admitted to the University but has just moved to a new city, where he found a house to rent with two fellow students. As a new student, he has decided to keep a diary about his activities in the University.
Here you can access the whole scenario as given to Business Studies students in Sofia, appropriately modified by Petros Kefalas. It is worth it looking at it before you carry on reading. We have developed the diary to reflect gradually the problems that an average student faces during the first level, from class attendance and preparing for a coursework, to time management. The diary lists weeks 1 to 6 of the semester and finally week 11 and after the exam results. In each week, few events are recorded each in a short paragraph.
We ask
the students to underline any problems they might identify. Then the
tutor plays the role of Chance Nota, with the students advising him on
what he did wrong and what he should have done, going through the dairy
day by day, with the tutor trying to focus the discussion on the
following subjects:
- What is the coursework map?
- How and when to study?
- Coursework: before and after!
- Personal and Computer organization.
- What to do in class.
- Ways of self-motivation!
Because there are 6-7 students in the group, most of the issues are identified by at least two students. The students like the format of the tutorial since they fell like a role playing game, and get a connection with the student as they see themselves there. Although they do not admit it, they will fall at the same mistakes during the semester, and the scenario of Chance Nota is reminded to them during personal advising and discussions in the class. Since the tutorial is done in the first weeks of lectures immediately after the induction week, it is a good opportunity to discuss issues that appeared at the induction (like what they did not understand at the induction, and how to get help) and that presents a realistic case for them. Furthermore, it is a starting point that leads to most problems that we have identified students face at their first level. Nota Chance has been returning in other tutorials, as an example to avoid.
As part of a final year final project, the tutorial of Nota Chance has been implemented as a 3D computer game titled “The crystal of wisdom”, where students explore a virtual environment, gathering the information in the diary from computer characters, in order to help Nota Chance. Then the students answer a series of questions that Nota Chance asks about how he should improve. Depending on the answers the students score points, and get a final score. We will be installing the system at the labs for the students to use in the future. The system was presented last year at the 13th Students Spring Symposium.
Kostas Dimopoulos
Lecturer, Computer Science Department
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