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Electronic systems : a course based on adult education practices

University of British Columbia

The causes of low student attendance for continuing education courses in electronics at the Pacific Vocational Institute (PVI) are analyzed. The unsatisfactory student persistence reflected inadequacies in the approaches used to instruct and in the textbooks utilized in these courses. This report describes how modern principles of adult education were employed to identify these inadequacies and how the application of these principles was used to develop a new curriculum and a new book (appendix F). The new curriculum and its accompanying book not only incorporate the latest developments from the electronics industry, but they also incorporate the continuing application of adult education principles and practices. The criteria for the selection of electronic components is discussed. The resulting component selection provides the students with a moderately priced kit that is easy to transport, and whose components find repeated application throughout the various experiments in the course. The students' attendance records provide one index of the success achieved by the new course. These records show that the successful application of adult education principles has renewed the interest and promoted the active participation of continuing education students attending electronics courses. Another indicative index of the success of the course is the result of field tests performed by other instructors at PVI as well as at other institutions. These results confirm that the new curriculum, the new book and the application of the recommended adult education practices provide the same successful responses as those experienced during the initial tests and development of the course.

Text

2010-03-22

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/22297

Administrative, Adult and Higher Education

University of British Columbia

Graduate