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Abstract Detail

Teaching Section

Scott, Brenton [1], Pate, Amy [1], Mullins, Guy [2], Pigg, Kathleen B. [1].

Making the transition from traditional to online and hybrid plant biology courses in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU).

ASU's School of Life Sciences (SoLS) course PLB 302, Plants and Civilization is an upper-level course that has been taught in a traditional classroom setting for over 15 years. It was co-taught for around ten of those years and the last five has been taught by Kathleen Pigg, with an increasingly larger online component. This spring we were given the opportunity to develop a six-week online version of this traditional 16-week course to be taught in May-June of this year. In this poster presentation we describe our work in making the transition from traditional lecture format with in-course and online discussions, homework and take-home essay exams to an iCourse format. We also discuss how we plan to integrate new elements developed for the iCourse to produce a hybrid version of the typical course offered during each fall semester. The SoLS iCourse standards and course design are based on the Quality Matters™ rubric. Lectures are translated into the use of 6-7 minute segments that are designed to engage students actively into the topic. This rubric also includes the use of short videos, active learning components and online interaction with faculty and peers. Segmenting, sequencing and other aspects of the video production follow recommendations from a recent publication by Gul et al. (2014).* The process starts with closely working with the instructional advisor, delivery of the course during the summer and then in the fall a review and assessment of its success. Suggestions will be made to improve the course for subsequent years. After three years of teaching the online course it will be eligible to be certified by Quality Matters™. Because we are continuing to teach the course during the regular school year we will have the opportunity to use components of the iCourse in transitioning the in-class course to hybrid course. Having pretaped lectures, videos and other resources developed from the iCourse, will free up time during class for discussions and activity days with exploring plants and plant products. ASU, the "New American University" is at the forefront of innovating instruction and engaging students in online and active learning. *Gul, PJ, J Kim, and R Rubin. 2014. How video production affects student engagement: an empirical study of MOOC videos. ACM Conference on Learning Skills. Proceedings of Learning at Scale Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

1 - Arizona State University, School Of Life Sciences Faculty & Admin, Box 874501, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA
2 - ASU Online New Media Studio, SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES FACULTY & ADMIN, BOX 874501, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

Keywords:
teaching
online learning
icourse
best practices
plant biology course
hybrid classes.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Hall D/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PTE007
Abstract ID:1293
Candidate for Awards:None