scholarly journals T ransitioning a L arge Biology Class from a n i n Person t o a n Online Exam During the COVID 19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Dr. Niki Sharan ◽  
◽  
Dr. Meaghan Cuerden ◽  
Dr. Denis Maxwell ◽  
Dr. Anne Simon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Biology Class ◽  
Course Material ◽  
On Line ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Multiple Choice Exam ◽  
Online Format

As occurred in many Universities worldwide, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic required us, professors at Western University (London, Canada), to quickly convert a first-year biology course with over 1200 enrolled students from an in-classroom format to an on-line format. This transition included the course exams. While the first multiple-choice exam in February 2020 was in-person and proctored, we changed the second multiple-choice exam in March 2020 so that it was completed by students online at home without a proctor. We had concerns about this online conversion, including whether the grades would represent student understanding of the course material when access to peers and other resources during the exam was not monitored. In this report we show student scores on the online exam were highly correlated with their prior in-person exam. A similar correlation was observed with prior first-year students who took similar exams in February and March 2019 which were both in-person and proctored. These results provide some reassurance that it is possible to rapidly transition the delivery of an exam from an in-person format to an online format without compromising the exam process.

Blended Collaborative Learning through a Wiki-Based Project

2013 ◽  
pp. 130-145
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Roussinos ◽  
Athanassios Jimoyiannis
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Collaborative Tools ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
On Line ◽  
University Course

Wikis are currently gaining in popularity in schools and higher education institutions and they are widely promoted as collaborative tools supporting students’ active learning. This paper reports on the investigation of university students’ beliefs and perceptions of a wiki authoring activity, designed to support blended and collaborative learning. The study was administered in the context of an authentic coursework project activity in a first semester university course on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), attended by 47 first year students. Research findings indicated that the students in the sample were generally positive about the collaborative experience offered through the wiki and the consequent learning outcomes. Students’ perceptions of the functionality and usability of the wiki environment were also positive. They considered the wiki as an effective and easy to use technology. In overall, they evaluated positively the wiki assignment, as well as the technical and learning support they received on-line, through the wiki pages, and by their instructors during the class sessions.

Blended Collaborative Learning Through a Wiki-Based Project

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Roussinos ◽  
Athanassios Jimoyiannis
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Collaborative Tools ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
On Line ◽  
University Course

Wikis are currently gaining in popularity in schools and higher education institutions and they are widely promoted as collaborative tools supporting students’ active learning. This paper reports on the investigation of university students’ beliefs and perceptions of a wiki authoring activity, designed to support blended and collaborative learning. The study was administered in the context of an authentic coursework project activity in a first semester university course on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), attended by 47 first year students. Research findings indicated that the students in the sample were generally positive about the collaborative experience offered through the wiki and the consequent learning outcomes. Students’ perceptions of the functionality and usability of the wiki environment were also positive. They considered the wiki as an effective and easy to use technology. In overall, they evaluated positively the wiki assignment, as well as the technical and learning support they received on-line, through the wiki pages, and by their instructors during the class sessions.

scholarly journals Analysis of Understanding of First-Year Chemistry Education Students on Molecular Forces Topic

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
Muhammad Miqdam Musawwa ◽  
Beta Wulan Febriana ◽  
Widinda Normalia Arlianty
Keyword(s):  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
First Year ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Study Program ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Concept Understanding ◽  
Molecular Forces ◽  
Material Concept

This research aims to investigate the concept understanding of first year students of study program chemistry education, faculty of mathematics and natural sciences, Universitas Islam Indonesia Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The sample used in this study was 49 students. Data collection instruments used are multiple choice questions.  The results of the study show that there are still many students who have difficulty in determining the example of the force between molecules that occurs in several molecules. Students also have difficulty in determining the molecuar forces between molecules from the example case given. The level of student understanding in the material concept of moleculecular forces is classified intermediate.

scholarly journals An interactive online approach to small-group student presentations and discussions

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Der Thor ◽  
Nan Xiao ◽  
Meixun Zheng ◽  
Ruidan Ma ◽  
Xiao Xi Yu
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Dental Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Dental Surgery ◽  
Traditional Student ◽  
Online Format ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Group Student

Student presentations had been widely implemented across content areas, including health sciences education. However, due to various limitations, small-group student presentations in the classroom may not reach their full potential for student learning. To address challenges with presentations in the classroom, we redesigned the assignment by having students present and discuss online using VoiceThread, a cloud-based presentation and discussion tool. First-year students pursuing a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree were assigned into small groups to present physiology content and to discuss that content online. This assignment was similar to traditional student classroom presentations, with the exception that the entire assignment was conducted online. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the impact of the online format on the discussion quality. Another purpose of the study was to examine students’ perceptions of using VoiceThread for presenting and learning, as well as the online interactions between the presenter and audience. Students posted a higher number of questions and comments than required by the assignment. The questions from students were also higher level questions, and the answers to these questions were more thorough compared with what we had previously observed in classroom presentations. The survey results showed that students preferred using VoiceThread for presenting, learning from other presentations, and discussing presentation content over performing this process in the classroom. Preliminary findings suggested that having dental students make presentations and hold discussions online might help address the challenges of student presentations in the classroom.

scholarly journals Tracking plagiarism electronically: First-year students' perceptions of academic dishonesty and reports of cheating behaviour in the basic communication course

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Mazer ◽  
Stephen Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Academic Dishonesty ◽  
Self Report ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Electronic Submission ◽  
Basic Communication Course ◽  
Course Material ◽  
Basic Communication

This study explored how electronic submission of course material, intended to deter instances of plagiarism, influenced first-year students' perceptions of academic dishonesty and reports of cheating behaviour in a large, multi-section basic communication course. Results reveal that electronic submission of course material results in first-year students being less likely to self-report engaging in cheating behaviours and heightens their appreciation and awareness of what constitutes academic dishonesty. Implications for classroom pedagogy, course management, and teacher training are discussed.

scholarly journals 20. Developing a New Activity: STUDENT APPROVED

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Julie Smit ◽  
Dora Cavallo-Medved ◽  
Kirsten Poling
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
Student Surveys ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Laboratory Exercise ◽  
Innovation Fund ◽  
On Line ◽  
Student Input ◽  
Benefits And Costs ◽  
Biology Majors

Do you have an idea for a new activity or laboratory exercise that you would like to incorporate into your course but feel unsure as to how it will be received by your students? This was our concern when developing first-year biology labs for a biology majors’ course at University of Windsor. Through a Centred on Learning Innovation Fund (CLIF) grant at our institution, we were able to form new and revised laboratory exercises, incorporating on-line, active, and reflective components. But, would the students like the labs? Which labs should be replaced? Using student surveys and a ‘trial’ lab, we were able to collect information about the new lab, as well as the old labs. It was a revelation to witness the enthusiasm and the appreciation first-year students had for being involved in the development of the labs. The goal of this essay is to identify the benefits and costs of incorporating a new activity into a course, as well as describing the process that we developed, which includes student input as an important component in the development of the activity.

scholarly journals First-Year Students and the Framework: Using Topic Modeling to Analyze Student Understanding of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-69
Author(s):  
Melissa Harden
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Assigned Reading ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objective – The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has generated a significant amount of discussion among academic librarians; however, few have discussed the potential impact on learning when students interact directly with the Framework itself. At the University of Notre Dame, over 1,900 first-year students completed an information literacy assignment in their required first-year experience course. Students read a condensed version of the Framework, then wrote a response discussing how a frame of their choosing was reflected in an assigned reading. The goal of this exploratory study was to determine if the students demonstrated an understanding of the themes and concepts in the Framework based on this assignment. Methods – Topic modeling, a method for discovering topics contained in a corpus of text, was used to explore the themes that emerged in the students’ responses to this assignment and assess the degree to which they connect to frames in the Framework. The model receives no information about the Framework prior to the analysis; it only uses the students’ words to form topics. Results – The responses formed several topics that are recognizable as related to the frames from the Framework, suggesting that students were able to engage effectively and meaningfully with the language of the Framework. Because the topic model does not know anything about the Framework, the fact that the responses formed topics that are recognizable as frames suggests that students internalized the concepts in the Framework well enough to express them in their own writing. Conclusion – This research provides insight regarding the impact that the Framework may have on student understanding of information literacy concepts.

scholarly journals Using Invention to Change How Students Tackle Problems

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 504-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared L. Taylor ◽  
Karen M. Smith ◽  
Adrian P. van Stolk ◽  
George B. Spiegelman
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Year ◽  
Biology Class ◽  
Course Material ◽  
Structured Problem Solving ◽  
Invention Activity ◽  
Invention Activities

Invention activities challenge students to tackle problems that superficially appear unrelated to the course material but illustrate underlying fundamental concepts that are fundamental to material that will be presented. During our invention activities in a first-year biology class, students were presented with problems that are parallel to those that living cells must solve, in weekly sessions over a 13-wk term. We compared students who participated in the invention activities sessions with students who participated in sessions of structured problem solving and with students who did not participate in either activity. When faced with developing a solution to a challenging and unfamiliar biology problem, invention activity students were much quicker to engage with the problem and routinely provided multiple reasonable hypotheses. In contrast the other students were significantly slower in beginning to work on the problem and routinely produced relatively few ideas. We suggest that the invention activities develop a highly valuable skill that operates at the initial stages of problem solving.

scholarly journals Closing the Gap: First Year Success in College Mathematics at an HBCU

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 92-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa A Harrington ◽  
Andrew Lloyd ◽  
Tomasz Smolinski ◽  
Mazen Shahin
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Developmental Mathematics ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
First Year ◽  
Summer Bridge ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Mathematics Courses ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Bridge Program ◽  
On Line

At our Historically-Black University, about 89% of first-year students place into developmental mathematics, negatively impacting retention and degree completion. In 2012, an NSF-funded learning enrichment project began offering the introductory and developmental mathematics courses on-line over the summer to incoming science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors at no cost. Passing rates for the summer on-line classes were around 80%, and students in the on-line classes scored equivalently on the common departmental final exams as students taking the classes in the traditional format. For students who passed the on-line classes, their performance in the following classes (College Algebra and Trigonometry) exceeded that of students who progressed to those courses by taking the traditional series of in-person courses. Three years of data show that students who started college with an on-line mathematics course in a summer bridge program had a higher first year GPA, a better first year retention rate and earned significantly more credits in their first year than the overall population of STEM students. These results suggest that offering introductory mathematics courses on-line as part of a freshman bridge program is an effective, scalable intervention to increase the academic success of students who enter college under-prepared in mathematics. The positive results are particularly exciting since the students in our project were 87% minority.

scholarly journals Immersive 3D Experience of Osmosis Improves Learning Outcomes of First-Year Cell Biology Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. ar1
Author(s):  
Nicole B. Reinke ◽  
Mary Kynn ◽  
Ann L. Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
First Year ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Short Answer ◽  
Base Level ◽  
High Base ◽  
Multiple Choice Exam ◽  
Short Answer Questions

An immersive 320° 3D experience of osmosis was perceived by cell biology students to be fun, useful, and educational. Performance of all students improved on a multiple-choice exam question, and those students with moderate to high base-level knowledge also performed better on short-answer questions.

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