A Fully Online Introductory Astronomy Course using

Adaptive eLearning

Jeremy Bailey, Lucyna Kedziora-Chudzcer

(School of Physics, UNSW, Sydney),

Carol Oliver

(School of BEES, UNSW, Sydney)

PHYS 1160 – Introduction to Astronomy and the Search for Life Elsewhere

• Large, popular online course• ~2500 students per year since 2015• Not a MOOC!

– It is not open.– Most students who enrol finish the

course (compared with ~7% for MOOCs)

• Taken by students across all faculties– Most not science students

• Popular because:– Online– Interesting subject– UNSW general education requirement

• Originally set up 2008-2009• Based on 5-years experience

– Some things we clearly got right– But there were also some improvements we could

make.• Recently we have been able to substantially

upgrade the course – Thanks to a grant from UNSW Learning &

Teaching– Upgraded course ran in 2016 semester 1

What we got right• Wide ranging and interdisciplinary course material

– “this was an amazing course that I found very interesting”

• Extensive student-student and staff-student interaction through discussion forums– “the level of staff interaction and feedback was much

better than any face-to-face course …”– “Discussion forum was a thought provoking experience

which I enjoyed very much”• The way we encouraged students to do their own

research on the internet rather than restrict study to a set syllabus

What we decided to change• New ‘web-page format’ online lessons with

rich embedded multimedia content.– Replacing video lectures in old course.

• New adaptive eLearning tutorials (activities) built around simulations and videos.– Replacing multiple-choice quizzes.

• Depiction of astronomers.– Changed to better reflect diversity and

particularly the role of women.• A number of other changes

PHYS 1160 Upgrades Project — 18 Month project — funded by UNSW Learning & Teaching

Project TeamJeremy Bailey — Project LeaderLucyna Chudczer — Scientific Content DesignerCarol Oliver — Evaluation CoordinatorGeorge Hatsidimitris — Multimedia AdvisorDaniel Cotton — Diversity Project CoordinatorGuannan Lin, Samuel Unicomb, Brad Lewis, Annie Zhang, Glen Carmichael — Web ProgrammersKim Bott, John Bentley — Research Assistants

PHYS 1160 Upgrades Project — 18 Month project — funded by UNSW Learning & Teaching

Project TeamJeremy Bailey — Project LeaderLucyna Chudczer — Scientific Content DesignerCarol Oliver — Evaluation CoordinatorGeorge Hatsidimitris — Multimedia AdvisorDaniel Cotton — Diversity Project CoordinatorGuannan Lin, Samuel Unicomb, Brad Lewis, Annie Zhang, Glen Carmichael — Web ProgrammersKim Bott, John Bentley — Research Assistants UNSW Students

Lectures — A 900 year-old teaching method that continues to be widely used by universities despite extensive evidence that it is not very effective.

Lecturing is a passive (teacher-centered) learning methods.

Many studies show that active (student-centered) learning methods are more effective.

Lecture at Univ. of Bologna – mid 14th Century

For example:Hake, R.R., 1998, Am J. Phys., 66, 64 — Analyses results from 62 introductory physics courses and found improved test results for active learning as compared with traditional teaching.

Freeman, S. et al., PNAS, 111, 8410 — Meta-analysis of 225 individual studies in STEM disciplines show that active learning boosts examination scores and reduces failure rates.

Moodle Analytics (2014 S2)• Usage of videos falls of

steeply• PowerPoint slides preferred

Course Survey (2015 S2)

Students rate the lectures (videos) as the least useful course element — but the PowerPoint slides used in these lectures as the most useful.

By using the slides rather than the videos the students are missing out on much of the multimedia content (e.g. NASA video clips, animations etc.) that have been put into the videos.

New Lesson Format• Our new online lesson format is basically a web-page

containing all the text and pictures from the original lecture.– We embed in that the multimedia material (i.e. videos, animations and

simulations).• Advantages (compared with a lecture)

– The student sets the pace (skim through quickly or study in depth).– Interactive content (simulations) provide active learning.– Useful as reference material.– Can be printed to provide a hardcopy of the course.– Searchable.– Hyperlinked to other resources.– Student can have lesson on screen while doing other assessments.

Examples

Video

Simulation

Section from Lesson 3 – Key ConceptsSection from Lesson 17 – Habitabilityand Life on Exoplanets

Activities• Associated with each of these lessons is what we call

an activity.• This is an interactive tutorial constructed using the

adaptive eLearning platform “Smart Sparrow”.– Adaptive here means that the feedback responses and path

through the activity can be controlled in a flexible way based on past student behaviour.

• Activities provide:– An additional tutorial component that builds on what is in

the lessons.– An assessment component that is part of the overall grade.

Simulations

Activities are built around a set of ~60 new interactive simulations written by our programming team covering all aspects of the course.

Example screen from activity 4

Old Course (2015 S2) Upgraded Course (2016 S1)

The new course elements (lessons and activities) were rated much more useful by students than the videos and quizzes they replaced.

Effectiveness of New Elements

Upgraded Course (2016 S1)

Average: 74.40

Old Course(2015 S1)

Average: 70.92

Final Test Scores

All named astronomers pictured in our course textbook!

In Upgraded Course• We avoid using pictures of

historical scientists.• Instead show contemporary

astronomers talking about their work through videos.

• Include profiles of a number of scientists focusing on diversity.

• Highlight stories of discovery involving women.

Women in Science

Old Course (2015 S2) Upgraded Course (2016 S1)

Essay Question — Choose your favourite astronomer or astrobiologist that you learnt about in studying this course, and describe their contribution to their field of research. Explain why this person inspired you personally.

Summary• We have upgraded a popular online introductory

astronomy course.• We replaced video lectures with a new format of online

lesson– Web pages with rich embedded multimedia content.

• We replaced quizzes with interactive adaptive tutorials– Built around a new set of interactive simulations.

• We improved the way we present astronomers in the course– Focusing on the role of women, and contemporary scientists.

• Preliminary evaluation shows we were successful in our goals