Abstract
This study considers the needs of staff and students in relation to lectures and some associated alternative methods of presentation of course materials. It looks at these through effects clearly visible in the application of a systematic approach to course design based on the evidence of questionnaires, tests, and end-of-course examinations for first year undergraduates from science courses of the University of Surrey. The first experiments in this study were concerned with a comparison of conventional lectures with tape/slide lectures, an investigation of a tape recorded lecture service and an experiment. which used a written text, self-test questions and shortened lectures. This latter lead to the design of the main experiment which investigated a system using self-tests and library-based reference material integrated with lectures in a first year electricity course. The main points which emerge from this study are: a) that students who regularly took the self-tests used in the main experiment in comparison with those who did not i) showed a superior performance in all end-of-course examinations investigated. ii)showed a superior performance and had an increased chance of passing the examination for the electricity course to which the system was applied, compared to their performance in another electricity course as near equivalent as possible to the first where the system was not applied. b) students made relatively little use of the reference materials supplied in the main experiment. c) staff and students appear to like lectures and do not like their replacement by tape/slide presentations used as a lecture substitute. d) students show a liking for methods which involve them with the course material. e) student motivation is an important factor both in terms of student behaviour on the course and in performance on end-of-course examinations. f) there is a need to make staff more aware of the implications of student perception of the teaching/learning process as well as of the process itself.