Can Students Really Learn Microbiology Online?

Biology Scholars Program

2008

Lucy Kluckhohn Jones

What’s Your Problem?

• Resistance to Online Delivery

• Problem vs. Problem– Bass (1999) changed my thinking about what

constituted a “problem.” (Randy Bass. 1999. The Scholarship of Teaching: What’s the Problem? Inventio, vol. 1, no. 1, http://www.doiiit.gmu.edu/Archives/feb98/rbass.htm).

– Alisauskas (2007) started me thinking about the effect of using technology. (Alisauskas, Rita. 2007. “The love triangle” forging links to students using digital technology to deliver content in microbiology classes. Focus on Microbiology Education ﾊ

13(2):13-15. http://www.microbelibrary.org/asmonly/details.asp?id=2558).

Teaching Microbiology Online

• Nursing Grant – Provided a mentor to convert nursing prerequisite

courses to online delivery.

• Online delivery Spring 2007– Hybrid course

• Lecture entirely online by PowerPoint with voiceover• Laboratory (6 hours/week) on campus

– Time intensive preparation– Exams were taken during lab sessions

• Serendipity for SoTL Exploration

So What’s My Problem?

• Pre-Biology Scholars Program– My research problem derives from many years of classroom

teaching followed by a year of teaching online: How does online delivery of microbiology lecture information compare to traditional classroom delivery?

• Present Iteration– Can students in online hybrid course learn as

effectively as in a traditional classroom?

M&Ms

• The Plan--Use old exams– Compare test results from Fall 2006 (on

ground) with test results from Spring 2007 (online)

• Method– Score questions for Bloom’s or other

taxonomy– Compare results on taxonomic level, as

well as content.

Tools

• Biology in Bloom• ASMCUE 2008, Clarissa Dicks

• Biology Scholars 2008, Mary Pat WenderothBiology in Bloom: Implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy to Enhance Student Learning in Biology Alison Crowe1, Clarissa Dirks2, and Mary Pat Wenderoth1--submitted June 2008 to Cell Biology Education

• Takayama 2008. Taxonomy of Learning

Build a Rubric?

• Elmendorf 2008. Learning Taxonomies– Bennett and Dewar 2007

(Curtis Bennett and Jackie Dewar. 2007. Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, courtesy Heidi Elmendorf, Biology Scholars Program 2008)

• Benson 2008. BSCI106 Lab Report Draft Scoring Rubric -- Spring 2007

Coding the Questions

• Examine each question– Bin/Categorize questions– Code for Bloom (or other taxonomic) level

• Compare results by taxonomic level and content