The development of case-based learning for an antenna engineering course using folklore

Abstract

Several subjects, including antenna engineering in a communication engineering program, is a math-intensive subject where most students say that it is difficult to understand and visualize. Students are unable to relate theoretical knowledge to real world applications. To overcome this issue, we proposed to motivate students’ curiosity using fun and interesting ways of teaching based on real cases in the community. In an antenna engineering course, there are folklores that performance of an antenna can be improved by attaching items such as basins to the antenna or using everyday objects as an antenna. Theoretical explanations have not been developed yet. In this research, we aim to propose the idea of using folklores as a case-based learning (CBL) exercise. Based on the process of CBL, a 15-week course plan starts with establishing the case in the first week, followed by weeks of theoretical study, lectures and group discussions. Group discussions on the case are established on the 5th and the 10th weeks to share the problems and the new findings. The results of the study are presented in the 15th week. Impressively, the pre-evaluating result shows that 97.5% of students who never attend an antenna engineering class were interested in joining the challenge. The proposed idea will be applied in an antenna engineering course for 4th year students in communication engineering, at the University of Phayao, in the first semester of the 2017 academic year in August 2017.