STUDENT ASSIGNMENT

ABAC encourages teachers to use participative class methods, to get students involved. It’s part of the movement at all levels of education to encourage self-learning, the teacher becoming more a facilitator of learning rather than an instructor of fact.

Case studies, problems, and, quizzes are some of the techniques used. At ABAC, we insist that each undergraduate course includes at least one assignment. The marks count towards the final mark for the semester. An assignment can take many forms, but they are really mini-projects, the teacher setting the topic or issue, the students having to dig and delve to find the answer-which must be written as a report but also presented orally to the whole class.

The photograph here shows a recent presentation of assignment reports, in the Engineering Insurance class (in the Faculty of Risk Management). The computerised projection facilities in the new Bangna classrooms have been eagerly used by some student - presenters. In these presentations the whole class comes alive, because they know it is all their own work. The sense of pride and , achievement is obvious. It is well earned, for a great deal of work must have gone into the search for data which forms the basis of each report, and into making sense of the data so as to suggest a solution to the set problem, structuring it in a sensible sequential manner, and illustrating it in ingenious ways. And then the oral presentation has to be designed and delivered.

Assignments are a splendid way of developing self-learning-and they help the listeners (and the reader!) to learn also.

Reported by A. Brian Lawrence

Note.
Contributions on classroom innovations and demonstrations like the one presented here are solicited from lecturers of all departments. Ed.