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Betts, M and Liow, S R (1993) The relationship between teaching methods and educational objectives in building education. Construction Management and Economics, 11(02), 131-41.

  • Type: Journal Article
  • Keywords: active learning; education; teaching method
  • ISBN/ISSN: 0144-6193
  • URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/01446199300000006
  • Abstract:

    The educational objectives of different University courses and the combination and sequence of teaching methods used for them, vary between institutions and disciplines. When designing and implementing courses in higher education, we make decisions regarding the match between educational objectives to be set and the teaching methods to adopt. We base these decisions on implicit assumptions about the relationship between teaching methods and educational objectives for the Building discipline. We tested these assumptions with a survey of staff and students involved in undergraduate courses in Building at the National University of Singapore. First, we asked both the staff and students to rank order a set of educational objectives in terms of importance. Then we asked students how effective they thought different teaching methods would be in meeting these objectives, and asked students how effective they thought a range of teaching methods had been. The teaching methods considered included lectures, seminars, quantitative assignments, and student project work. The educational objectives included preparing for a future career, understanding concepts, developing problem solving skills, preparing for examinations, developing communication skills and gathering information. The results indicated some discrepancies between staff assumptions and students perceptions of the relationship between educational objectives and different teaching methods. Two related implications of the findings are discussed: (i) choice of teaching method should be linked more closely to educational objectives and (ii) active learning through project work and tutorials is more likely to meet important objectives than the traditional lecture method.