Course ePortfolio

No prerequisites

Pedagogical Approach

None

Learning Outcomes

The goal of my course is to inspire my students to continue their study of the living world. I am doing this by framing my modules as questions in order to stoke their curiosity. Often times school and society makes people feel dumb for asking questions, when it is in fact one of the first steps in the scientific process. I encourage my students to ask questions and to further their understanding. I hope that my students will also be better prepared if they choose to take higher level general education biology courses.

Assessment

I have made some changes to the course curriculum I have been using for years. Instead of a classic model of course organization based on topics as they may be written in a text book, I organized my lectures into Modules with titles written as questions. The aim here is to emphasize that science is about curiosity. The students ask the question, and by watching my lectures they are able to answer the question. I hope that the more my students learn, the more curious they will be, and the more comfortable they will feel asking questions.

Other Information

Was my redesign successful? A resounding "yes." By posting my lectures online, my students found it a lot easier to fit my class into their busy schedules. Students were happy that they could view the content at their own pace and on their own time.

My students were so happy with my class, that they nominated me for the 2014-2015 Biological Sciences Department Award for Teaching Excellence, which I won. One of the students who nominated me for the award said I "effectively connects with students...even creating interest in a subject that before her class didn't offer any excitement. [Her] communication to students is flawless and she goes the extra mile with communication. Consistency, knowledge and experience is abundant in all of her lectures. Professor Marin has earned an A in my grade book and deserves to be recognized. She is definitely an asset to this University."

My quarterly student evaluations did not change whether the course was online or face-to-face. I am consistently rated in the highest percentile regardless of the mode of instruction. One interesting note, however, is that the evalutaions for the face-to-face class were given face-to-face, and the evaluations for the online class were given online. I was unsure at first how my evaluations would change after the conversion. I figured there would be bias in the face-to-face class because the students who are present to take the evaulations are probably in attendance in class because they value my teaching. With the online evaluations, however, every single student is asked to conduct the evaluation. I was relieved that my reviews stayed high, even without the bias.

Student grades improved after I converted my face-to-face class to a fully online format. It would appear that students who normally would have received Bs, earned As instead. This is not surprising as my course is so much more accessible now. Students can now study at their own pace and on their own time, and can ensure that they are prepared to ace the exams.

There was no significant difference in the ratio of students who passed or failed before or after the conversion. This indicates that the mode of instruction and testing do not have an effect on whether or not a student passes.

It would appear that the mode of instruction does not have a huge effect on student success in the course. How well a student does is a dynamic problem with many variables, not limited to the quality of the instruction, the rigor of the course, the background and study habits of the student, and inumerous unforseen circumstances. The most I can do as an instructor is to ensure that my course is well-designed, meaning organized, clear, understandable, and entertaining. This can be achieved whether the course is taught online or face-to-face. I am satisfied with my course redesign because it allowed students who would have succeeded in my face-to-face class the chance to succeed in a course that also allowed them to have better access to my instruction and thus a more flexible schedule.