Fall CUE 2013 presentation

NON-MAJORS ONLINE BIOLOGY: how to make

it work?(applicable for any online

science class)

Fall CUE 2013#fallcue

Ana Maria Barral & Denise TolbertNational University

Costa Mesa, CA

Sounds familiar?

You haven't faced students like mine. They have already lost the spark of curiosity, if they ever had it. They have already decided that biology is uninteresting and irrelevant. They have already learned that it is too hard for them to master. They would not even be here unless they had to meet their Gen Ed requirements.”

Spark curiosity, track curiosity, and quench curiosity (Ramsey Musallam)

We want students to LOVE biology!

• By 2018, STEM jobs = 5.3% of U.S.

jobs• Increase = 1 million jobs• 92% will require college

education/training• Retaining more STEM majors

is the lowest-cost, fastest policy option to meet the labor force needs

Report: Engage to Excel

Most students abandon STEM during the first 2 years of undergraduate studies. We NEED to engage them!

Vision and Change After extensive conversations with faculty,

administrators, students and policymakers, the AAAS and the NSF released in 2011 the Vision and Change Report for a 21st century view of biology education.

http://visionandchange.org/files/2011/03/Revised-Vision-and-Change-Final-Report.pdf

Core concepts and competencies were recommended.

Later, detailed rubrics for the adoption of the recommendations were developed.

“Effective power in action is the true end of education, rather than the storing up of information.”

Charles Eliot, president of Harvard, 1898

What is National University?

Second-largest private, nonprofit institution of higher education in California. Founded in 1971.

Includes: Schools of Business and Management; Education; Engineering, Technology and Media; Health and Human Services; and Professional Studies; and the College of Letters and Sciences.

Undergraduate and graduate programs.

Mainly non-traditional students, minorities, veterans, adult learners.

Strong online presence.

In each of the past 13 years, National University has prepared more credentialed teachers than any other single institution of higher education in the state, according to the Commission on Teaching Credentialing.

NU Bio100 Survey to Biosciences course

Part of the GE curriculum

Very high enrollment, mostly online

4 week curriculum

Open enrollment: variable level of previous science education

Sum of Total Enrolled Instruction Mode

Row Labels Onsite Online Grand Total

FY09 130 560 690

FY10 207 514 721

FY11 198 567 765

FY12 280 688 968

FY13 322 714 1036

Grand Total 1137 3043 4180

Course LMS: eCollege

ProblemsCourse developed more than 5 years ago, no major

revisions

Students: high workload, especially in written assignments lack of recorded lectures difficulty finding answers to questions textbook cost high

Instructors: materials plagiarized difficulty to customize course textbook did not offer online/electronic supplements

Assignments could be found on the internet

Revamping the courseNew textbook:

Good quality Fresh, easy to read Extensive companion material, including animations,

videos, case studies, recommended readings (updated) Extensive assessment testbank, with a variety of

question types/choices, customizable. Dashboard for evaluation of student performance

Instructional design based on educational research & learning theories New course shell Assignments & assessments

Supporting learning theories

Cognitivism “knowledge acquisition =mental activity that entails internal coding and structuring by the learner. Emphasis is on the building blocks of knowledge (e.g. identifying prerequisite relationships of content) (Instructional Design Knowledge Base, 2013).

Constructivist theory => people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing the world and reflecting on those experiences” (Harasim, 2012, p. 60).

Principles of human learning, and implications for non-majors biology

courses

Assessments: interactive lessons and game-like quizzes

Formative

Scaffolded

Include multimedia and quizzes with feedbackLearningCurve (game-like quizzes)PrepU mastery-level quizzes Interactive study guides

Not graded

Allow instructors to identify weaknesses & misconceptions in the class and individuals

LearningCurve

Quick overview of class performance, strength & weaknesses

PrepU: robust dashboard

PrepU: allows comparison with classes nationwide

Interactive study guidesDeveloped with Softchalk

Contain quizzes, activities (drag/drop, ordering, labeling), videos, etc.

Assessment: “My topic”Authentic learning

Based on Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivation: students choose their own topic

Formative, plenty of feedback (peers & instructor)

Students analyze the topic from levels of increasing complexity

Require higher Bloom’s skills

Final presentation: poster Collaboration, communication, cooperation, creativity!

Real life student-instructor conversation

Good day, Professor. I am having a little bit of trouble choosing a topic for this class. I like to hunt deer, and I was wondering if would be a good topic if I discussed about how the formation of deer antlers are determined and how to identify a deer's age or class by the size and shape of antlers.

Hi J, wow those are all good topics! I really like the deer antler one, as on week 2 you could concentrate on the materials that make up the antlers (proteins probably with some kind of hardening component), then the week after you could look into the hormones or other factors involved, and at the end you could wrap it up nicely with animal behavior (the whole sexual selection thing).

Other course elementsSummative assessments: exams

Mainly multiple choice questions, but planning to add short answer/short essay in the future.

Practice quizzes provided in advance

Recorded lectures (audio)

Live chats via Elluminate 2x weekMaterial to review based on LearningCurve report &

student feedback

Weekly surveys via Google forms

Preliminary resultsPositive feedback about book and practice quizzes

I would have to say that the most interesting thing about this course is the Discussion Board because I think it's great that we can interact with and learn from each other.

I found that looking for a topic to discuss for the weeks to come was very interesting. I have never tried to break down a topic like that.

Still lots to do…We need data to compare student satisfaction

and learning

Optimize course design so the basics are the same for all courses but allowing academic freedom for individual instructors

Adapt the approach to onsite classes

Thank you!

[email protected] also @[email protected] Harbor Boulevard, Costa Mesa CA 92626