The 3rd Instructor Training Event hosted by University of Malaya was held on the 31 October 2019. Six (6) lecturers from the Department of Software Engineering attended this session. They are those lecturers teaching courses in the Software Engineering programme in the first semester for the 2019/2020 session whom been identified to benefit from implementing action learning using TEALs lab and or equipment. This session was conducted in two parts, the first being the matters related to the preparation for implementing action learning using TEALs / TEALs equipment and the second being the research aspect of the action learning implementation.
In the first part, we identified courses, number students and pedagogical approach to be used for the intended action learning activities. The pedagogical approaches ranges from problem based learning, project oriented problem based learning and cased study. The class size issue was also discussed where large class size was broken up into smaller groups to ensure access to the TEALs lab facilities. We also looked into necessary documents to be used during the implementation phase and document templates have been discussed including the PBL FILA form, the team contract form, critical reflection writes up guidelines and assessment rubrics. The aim of the first part of the discussion was to ensure the smooth running of action learning implementation during the semester.
The second part was coached by Prof. Dr. Siti Salwah where she leads us on how we may leverage our action learning experiences into research (action research) project. We started by going through journals papers related to Software Engineering Education. From here we identified research aspect, methodologies and data to be collected. We also discussed issues and problems we intended to resolve in our courses that make us wanting to improve it through action learning activities we chose. By reflecting on those issues, we were clear on the objective on why we chose the action learning activities and hence able to decide on the research methodologies and data collection methods. We realised that improvement on teaching and learning is effectively done through proper research. To ensure that our experiences benefit others, we also looked at the possible journal publication related to this project. At the end of this part, we are much clearer as to why, what, how and ‘what is it for me’ we are participating in this project. It is all about improving students learning experiences and improving lecturers teaching practice via action research.
