Abstract:

Although curricula are specifically designed with overall synergies and relevance in mind, these synergies are often lacking at the individual course level or, at least, are vague for students to realize. Additionally, classical frontal-teaching lecture techniques often fail to engage and motivate the new generation of learners. This paper explains the system, named Topic Oriented Mixed Methods System (TOMMS) (Docherty & Gaubinger, 2018), which utilises a blend of State-of-the-Art Methodological Approaches to address said issues in technical Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The theory behind the implemented approaches and methodologies, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Blended Learning (BL), Student-Centred Learning (SCL) and Project-Based Learning (PBL), is initially expounded and, subsequently, the TOMMS approach is conceptualized and explained. As the ultimate aim of teaching is learning, the final exam results are compared to a traditional classical approach, same content and lecturer, clearly indicating a positive impact of the methodologies on student content comprehension. Furthermore, student feedback in the form of a questionnaire is presented which outlines the acceptance and some criticisms of the new approach.

Keywords:

Blended Learning, Student-Centred Learning, Project-Based Learning, Content Comprehension.