From Linear to "Big Canvas" – Development of a Learning Scheme with Enhancement of Innovation,Problem-solving, Critical Thinking and Student Participation

Abstract

The field I am working on is related to transportation and city/regional planning. Therefore, the spatial relationship is usually a core of my subjects. This proposed project looks for developing a spatial-based teaching approach to enhance the innovation, problem-solving, critical thinking and student participation, and I name this approach as "Big-Canvas-Spatial-Learning-Scheme (BCSLS)". The BCSLS can be easily adopted by taking advantage of existing commercial software, such as Prezi. In short, Prezi is a big blank canvas for people to add any contents on it. A fixed sequence of viewing those contents can be developed. However, this software also allows viewers to navigate through this big canvas (with zooming) anytime during the sequential presentation. The short-term goal of adopting BCSLS is to enhance on-class student participation and innovation. The long-term goal is to achieve the best practice of non-conventional teaching, and transfer this practice to other fields beyond my own area.