Offering self study modules to first year students

An important driver for introducing a self study module was a need to replace the lectures we offer on the theme ‘light’, mainly due to the fact that the main lecturer on the topic retired.

We added a step by step plan as self study module in Brightspace replacing 1 of the modules offered during this course. For this we used existing instruction videos provided by Phillips and referring to the lecture contents. A Q&A lecture followed the self study module.

We found that students have trouble finding and actually reading the information we placed on Brightspace. The exam results for this module were actually comparable to previous years. 

We comletely changed the setup of 1 week (self study, in Brightspace, adding to and clarifying lecture contents). The contents were put together really well. We added a bonus point to completing the self study module. We tried to clarify and emphasize what was expected of students in the lectures and in other ways, but it seemed not to have a big effect for students.

The experiences with this new setup were very valuable. We are however considering not to offer self study modules in this course, because we think courses further on in the curriculum are better suited for this type of learning experience.

We found that students have trouble finding and actually reading the information we placed on Brightspace. The exam results for this module were actually comparable to previous years. 

• The self study module was offered in the 3^rd week of this course. This courses is one of the first courses students follow after they started their Bachelors program at our faculty. The question is whether students in this starting phase of their study program were not yet ready for this way of self study, or if it had to do with how we introduced the self study module. Students in this phase of their study still need to get adjusted to the many aspects of studying at a university. 
• Another complicating factor is that in parallel to this course a mechanics course is offered. Students experience this as very difficult, and so it seemed to take away a lot of our students’ attention. 

• Pay attention when setting up Brightspace. For example at one point, when setting up quizzes in Brightspace, we found that the answers were immediately visible.

• Don’t underestimate the amount of time it takes to set up a proper self study module in Brightspace.