Linkages between courses: a holistic approach to programmes

Abstract

All of us have had the experience of asking a class 'Remember this...?' and receiving blank stares in response. One demotivator for students to utilise deep learning techniques is a failure to attach value to the concept being learned. In order to encourage students to attach value to concepts, it is suggested that as fundamental, threshold concepts are being taught, they are explicitly linked to other future concepts requiring the fundamental one. This is proposed, not just on an ad hoc basis, but so that the explicit portion of the course should be correctly referenced inside the study material. This idea extends beyond foundational concept building towards more complex concepts within a course, but also providing linkages — both forwards and backwards — between courses. This paper will explain the proposed methodology to develop a representation of the mathematical concepts spanning the Engineering and Surveying courses at the University of Southern Queensland, and the proposed means for linking this information into course materials.