Narrowing the Knowledge Gap When Teaching the Theory of Acoustics for Higher Education Elena Prokofieva 1 Edinburgh Napier University Unit 1, 37 Bankhead Crossway South, Edinburgh, EH11 4EP, Scotland, UK

ABSTRACT In many academic institutions across the UK it is currently popular to offer higher education degrees to people who are working in industry. Mature students are able to develop the industry skills in their job whilst studying for a university degree. When teaching at the graduate apprenticeship scheme or the higher education diploma in acoustics, it is always important to study what is the background of the individual students. If the group of students has mixed educational/ experience backgrounds, then teaching the theory of acoustics must be reviewed and tailored by the tutor to ensure maximum involvement of the students as a group, as well as to include purpose-built individual exercises and examples for the students. It is important that the tutors either know engineering subjects or are adaptive to learn quickly to be able to accommodate the needs of the industry and the desire of the students to study. Examples from teaching experience at the Institute of Acoustics (General Principles of Acoustics) are discussed.

1. INTRODUCTION

The students who enter higher education can be segmented into two major groups by their age: young and mature students. For undergraduate courses, the students classified as “mature” are 21 years and older upon entry. For postgraduate courses, the “mature” students are those above 25 years upon entry or within the academic year of entry. This concept is used within the UK Performance Indicators in Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) [1]. Although it sometimes feels like the higher educational institutions are primarily trying to appeal to the younger people, the mature students are also joining the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In fact, HESA provides information that minimum one third of the students in 2018 were mature students. In addition to the main academic institutions, there are distance learning courses and compressed-hours courses such as the diploma at the Institute of Acoustics, and, as the most common example, the courses provided by the Open University. In the last 5 years, the Open University has reported more than double the number of first year students joining the studies across many disciplines than any other education provider [1].

The percentage of mature students have been fluctuating depending on the global or national economy rises and downturns, or, for example, during the most recent global pandemic. People decide returning to the studies they had terminated before or seeking complete change of their carrier by studying new subject.

Figure 1 below shows the breakdown of students by their age in the years between 2016-2021 [1].

1 E.prokofieva@napier.ac.uk

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Figure 1. Higher Education students’ enrolment for years 2016-2021

The majority of mature students are studying in the institutions that are local to them. However, if the choice is not limited to the location (distance learning or online study, i.e. [3], [4]), then any institution that accepts mature students for the courses of their choice could be considered.

2. SUPPORTING MATURE STUDENTS DURING THE STUDY

Approaching higher education studies as a mature student can be both exciting and difficult. The students should consider several factors when they are choosing where and how to study: online or in-person, distance learning or compressed hours courses such as apprenticeship courses (i.e. [3, 4]).

2.1. Support from academic institution and workplace

The mature students can be quite a diverse group. They may have a lot to consider, such as their job and their family [2]. Their needs are to be addressed by the institution of their choice and, ideally, by their employer to help them to study.

The Open University [3] runs regular surveys among their students (including Engineering, Design and Technology students) , and publish the case studies on their website . Many students across disciplines have confirmed that they have great support from their family and loved ones, however, where the employers were not supportive to the students, this created extra difficulties in their study .

The institutions across UK have developed various approaches aimed at improving outcomes for mature students. This includes, for example, some activities, tailored to mature leaners including on and off-campus daytime activities to coincide with school runs, and evening sessions to allow the flexibility for working/ caring students to participate; wider variety of on-line activities, seminars, short courses for students; the career workshops held in the evenings or at the weekends; inclusive programmes such as degree apprenticeships. The apprenticeships are collaborations between the company/ organisation and the institution providing the teaching. The apprenticeship schemes are offering employers the chance to train and develop new and existing employees through the university degree. According to the statistics, provided in [2], in 2018-2019, 53% of Level 6 degree’ apprentices and 96% of Level 7 degree’ apprentices were students age 25 or over.

2.2. Motivation for students

Several studies had been conducted on motivation for mature students (i.e. [5], [6], [7]). The study conducted in [5] highlights that one of the most common reasons for a return to education was a lack of opportunity at the earlier age to carry on the study.

The findings in [6] show that for mature students (of age 25+) at least 65% answered the question "Which of these aspects is a priority for you?", as “Fulfil my ideals and personal goals”, 25% “To be close to people I am interested in” and around 10% - “Ensure my survival, get the paid job”. This indicates that the personal and professional interests are leading these students and provide them with motivation for their studies.

HE student enrolments by personal characteristics ‘Academie years 2016/17 to 2020/21 ‘snow: (@Mambar) © Percent Ccoutryot HE prowter |AT] Dome | ANT Frstyoormarar ANT] Lovetotstay [ABT] Mode of tay [AR 953.015 980690 985.170 1,008,760 1,037,155 51815675360 689,170 732615788775 208475 709690 «274.2158 286,360 338,460 495405488780 496,780 508.4052, 108 28 228 210 ‘160 ‘28

The main obstacle, however, is the gap in the knowledge. The OU students in the surveys and case studies published in [3] mention the knowledge gaps in material learnt at school at the moment of re- starting the higher education. It is widely recommended for students who had completed their studies long time ago or left school without necessary qualifications to sit through foundation subject courses, which help to get up to speed with the subject they are planning to study – ideally some time away from the time allocated for further education. Many students highlighted that their confidence had improved after completing the first year of study and praised the support from the associate lecturers.

The students often require extra support to gain the necessary knowledge in the key areas of their study, and mainly in Mathematics and Calculus. It is also essential foundation knowledge for higher educational degree in Audio Engineering and Acoustics.

It is also noted that among the mature students there are fewer so-called “passive students” [7], who are not active during lectures, and do not ask questions on the material they struggle with. This could be due to the high personal motivation and short time given to absorb the knowledge required to get the desired degree.

3. TEACHING STUDENTS WITH EXISTING KNOWLEDGE IN ACOUSTICS

The students who start the courses at the Higher Educational institutions at any subject can be generally placed in three groups: new to subject (this group includes both young and mature students), already have theoretical knowledge on the subject (return students, young and mature) and students who have existing knowledge from their job, working in industry, or from practicing the subject as a hobby. The s tudy in [5] reflects on this, stating: “given that mature students have first-hand experience of work and employment, the applied nature of the course and the subject areas covered has also helped with selection”.

3.1. Variability within the student group

The students coming from a related industrial background or with a developed hobby have additional instruments in hand to understand the subject. For example, people working as environmental health officers, sound mixing engineers, architects or designers, salespeople of acoustic products are people who have knowledge of acoustics at work and have some basic understanding of acoustic principles in relation to their day-to-day work, which could be used in further study. Also, people who play musical instruments or designed their own home studio, or are passionate about loudspeakers or turntables, are considered as people with a hobby related to acoustics and have some specific insights, which should be used to help them to study the theory of acoustics.

It had been experienced when teaching at the Institute of Acoustics Diploma course [3] that within the student group, their experience could vary quite significantly. Typically the students choose the IoA branch where to study the Diploma based on their location or the availability of travel to the teaching destination. The diversity of knowledge within the single group generates some uncertainty for the lecturer regarding how to deliver the material to everyone in the same course. At the beginning of the course the lecturer usually introduces themselves and asks the students about their experience to understand the spectrum of the knowledge within the group, and as a result alters, where practicable, their lecture material.

It would be practicable to have the list of interests and expertise or pre-existing knowledge of the students received from the institution in advance, which will give the lecturer the opportunity to tailor the material before the course’ start and allow to prepare the specific examples related to that experience in order to fulfil the group needs and interests.

3.2. Flexibility of the lecturer

The students with experience are likely to ask questions based on their existing knowledge, and they expect the lecturer to be able to answer them. The students with developed hobbies also have a tendency to ask hobby-related questions, but these often require less specific answers. In practice, of course, the lecturer cannot have the knowledge of every industry related to the subject.

Nevertheless, it is essential for the lecturer delivering the material to mature students to understand and be able to reflect on the needs of the industry representatives among the students with examples or explanations of various engineering problems or aspects that may occur. The lecturer ideally should have broad knowledge of the adjacent disciplines and should be flexible in finding ways to learn or find information to satisfy their students’ needs without compromising the teaching of the core material.

When teaching the subject, the lecturer should select examples that are clear to understand by everyone in the group (common knowledge examples, or typical examples from the day-to-day use), and also try to include some examples related to the individuals. By working through these latter examples, the lecturer could create the inclusion effect for individuals and additionally widen the knowledge of the entire group on the subjects only known by some of them.

3.3. Examples

The examples, which a lecturer chooses to use when delivering the material should be relevant to the subject and to the experiences of the student group they are teaching. The examples could be recorded and catalogued to be used in future teaching of individuals with similar experience. Road traffic noise

In IoA diploma course the topic of road traffic noise is studied across several modules. The discussions include the sources of the noise (engine noise, rolling noise, road surface reflection and re-radiation of noise, etc) and the propagation of the noise. As many people nowadays either drive cars or have been passengers in them, examples related to common knowledge are suitable at this stage. However, if the group of students include, for instance, people working with electric cars, or in car design or maintenance, some additional examples should also be considered, i.e. looking into the noise from the most significant motor parts, or brief explanation why it is not applicable to electric cars, and what danger does it create for the other users (e.g. not being able to hear a car approaching), although it is not included in detail in the scope of the course. If in the student group there are environmental health officers who review proposals for construction adjacent to motorways and large roads as part of their job, some extra examples can also be used on how the change of traffic speed and car types, or the resurfacing of the road, should affect the overall noise from the road in terms of its reduction or increase. These examples will allow the students to reflect on the topic from their own experience and will give them a clearer understanding, i.e. why they need to study this material. Flanking paths and bridging in complex constructions

Flanking paths for sound are discussed at several junctures within the IoA diploma course. The flanking routes are discussed as part of sound propagation between the spaces, and many common knowledge examples are appropriate to use on this topic. If the group of students includes people working in construction industry (i.e. architects, or builders, or construction site surveyors), then the examples should be used on how the bridging may occur during the building process (workmanship issues) and enhance the flanking around the partitions on site, and why it is detrimental for the complete construction. If mechanical engineers are represented in the student group, the lecturer may look into the problem of creating solid joints as bridges, and how the presence of additional connections increases the spread of the unwanted sound through the structure.

Ground reflection

Ground reflection effects can be described with use of many common knowledge examples. However, if there are landscape architects or designers in the group of students, some key landscaping elements and their effects on absorption, reflection and scattering of the sound could be discussed in the examples.

Summarising the above, examples must be tailored to the auditoria in order to create an additional level of involvement for the students and allowing them to learn from each other as well as from the lecturer.

4. OTHER SKILLS DEVELOPED DURING THE STUDY

In academic institutions, the students learn not only the subject courses, but also develop other essential skills, which help them expand their learning after leaving the institution. They learn such skills as working in groups on delivering short projects or laboratory work, or similar. They also learn how to self-study: how to use the literature, how to write essays, how to select the problem, how to identify aims and work on the objectives to achieve the aim, how to draw meaningful conclusions and so on.

Mature students, who for any reason have these skills underdeveloped before, need an opportunity to work on developing their general learning skills, as well as become proficient in the subject being studied. Working in groups, for example, should be included into the course curriculum, to make sure that students are able to practice it during their study. It is essential that the students are not divided into groups based on their pre-existing knowledge, but the groups are formed with people as diversely and widely experienced as possible, to create the correct environment to exchange knowledge during the group work.

The diploma projects or coursework assignments with elements of literature review and setting the objectives’ exercise should also be present in the study (e.g. the IoA Diploma course includes both of these elements). The subjects for the diplomas are chosen by the students themselves, however the lecturer should keep encouraging the students to try something new and to develop their knowledge further, beyond what they are already proficient in, and learn how to search for this new material during the course. For example, students are encouraged not to select the subject directly related to their day-to-day work, and to prepare the work in form of research rather than technical report.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Giving mature students the ability to study is very important for the academic institutions and for the students themselves to succeed in their chosen careers. The tailored approach to the students’ individual skills and knowledge is essential. The lecturer or the diploma project supervisor should continuously improve their understanding of the subject in relation to the industry needs and day-to- day life issues. This constantly growing knowledge should help the lecturer to be able to master the course’s flexibility, create a supportive environment for the students, and help them to develop and refine their self-study skills. At the end, these skills will help them to progress further in their work as efficient as the new degree they have achieved.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank Institute of Acoustics for their continuous and invaluable support in her role of associate lecturer for IoA diploma.

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