Flowchart

Interactive flowchart

Synopsis

Mark Phythian, lecturer in Electrical Engineering, uses an interactive flowchart to help his students design computer programs.

Description

Mark designed the microFlowCharter, a flowchart program developed with the use of Shockwave Flash that helps computer engineering students design and write a computer program. It provides a structured approach to the different decision-making processes involved, and is colour-coded for ease of use. The flowchart can be printed or the program exported to a text file.

Target audience

The microFlowCharter was designed for second year students of ELE 2303 (Embedded Systems Design). This course has 50-60 external and about 40 internal students.

Learning goals and objectives

Students on this course can feel overwhelmed by the huge number of commands that can be used in programming, and this flowchart program is designed to facilitate and streamline the process. Students use drag-and-drop tools to structure the program from flowchart symbols and then select from a sub-set of commands appropriate to each part of the program. The aim is to provide a self-guided tool that enables students to write programs for a microprocessor more effectively.

Roles

Mark designed the model and the program was built by Ken Morton of Multimedia and Web Development Services. Students aren’t obliged to use this tool but it is encouraged.

Results

The tool does what Mark hoped it would do and the students find it very helpful. Because of this success, Mark is currently considering whether to introduce it to the preceding first year course.

Problems and advice for others

Putting it together took time and effort from Mark and from Ken. Ken was helpful in telling Mark what was possible and what wasn’t, as well as in overcoming technical hurdles.

General recommendations

Mark would encourage more staff to use Flash in similar learning situations. He’d also like to see the development of a suite of applications that would simplify the task for lecturers who aren’t so familiar with the technologies. For example, he’d like to see a range of java-based applets, representations and animations available to use in an ‘off the shelf’ way.
Mark suggests that it’s a good idea to consider the learning styles of the students in particular disciplines. In Engineering, for example, Mark finds that many of the students learn best when taught with kinaesthetic or visual materials, and he tries to use different tools to cater to different styles of learning