title: Motivating students' participation in a computer networks course by means of magic, drama and games.
abstract: The recent economic crisis has forced many universities to cut down expenses by packing students into large lecture groups. The problem with large auditoria is that they discourage dialogue between students and faculty and they burden participation. Adding to this, students in computer science courses usually find the field to be full of theoretical and technical concepts. Lack of understanding leads them to lose interest and / or motivation. Classroom experience shows that the lecturer could employ alternative teaching methods, especially for early-year undergraduate students, in order to grasp their interest and introduce basic concepts. This paper describes some of the approaches that may be used to keep students interested and make them feel comfortable as they comprehend basic concepts in computer networks. The lecturing procedure was enriched with games, magic tricks and dramatic representations. This approach was used experimentally for two semesters and the results were more than encouraging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Communications, Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia, Terma Magnisias, GR-62124 Serres, Greece.
authors.forename: Constantinos S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hilas
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Communications, Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia, Terma Magnisias, GR-62124 Serres, Greece.
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Politis
keywords: Computer networking course; Engineering education; Lecture improvements; Teaching approaches
references.citation: Springerplus. 2013 Sep 12;2:455
references.pmid: 24130957
references.citation: Springerplus. 2013 Dec;2(1):105
references.pmid: 23556145
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2012 Feb;141(1):19-25
references.pmid: 21517206
references.citation: Springerplus. 2014 May 12;3:242
references.pmid: 24851200
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2003 Jul;14(4):373-6
references.pmid: 12807413