| Literature DB >> 33898001 |
Eve A Humphrey1, Jason R Wiles2.
Abstract
During the Spring Semester of 2020, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the illnesses it caused (COVID-19) led to widespread cancelling of on-campus instruction at colleges and universities in the United States and other countries around the world. Response to the pandemic in university settings included a rapid and unexpected shift to online learning for faculty and students. The transition to teaching and learning online posed many challenges, and the experiences of students during this crisis may inform future planning for distance learning experiences during the ongoing pandemic and beyond. Herein, we discuss the experiences of first- and second-year university students enrolled in a biology seminar course as their classes migrated to online environments. Drawing on reported student experiences and prior research and resources, we discuss the ways we will adjust our own teaching for future iterations of the course while offering recommendations for instructors tasked with teaching in online environments.Entities:
Keywords: COVID‐19; biology; distance learning; ecology; evolution; science education
Year: 2021 PMID: 33898001 PMCID: PMC8057322 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7303
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Ecol Evol ISSN: 2045-7758 Impact factor: 2.912
Classification of student majors enrolled in the course
| Students' declared majors | Number of students |
|---|---|
| Biology | 5 |
| Biochemistry | 2 |
| Forensic Science | 2 |
| Neuroscience | 2 |
| Biology/Neuroscience | 1 |
| Psychology | 1 |
| Economics | 1 |
| Undeclared | 1 |
Questions students received through an online format in the first and third weeks of their online experience
| Week 1 questions | Week 3 questions |
|---|---|
|
a. How has the pandemic impacted you? How have you responded? b. How do you plan to approach your courses for the rest of the semester? c. Now that your courses will be completely online how do you think this will impact you? Do you prefer online versus in person instruction? d. Is there anything else you would like to mention that you are concerned about? |
a. Do you believe professors have adjusted well to teaching online? How or how not, use examples. b. Do you believe your level of learning is similar to being on campus? How or how not? c. What changes/efforts can professors make to improve your learning participation in their courses? |
Examples of activities and assessments that can be modified for remote learning by ecology and evolution educators
| Assessment/Activity Type | Description | Data received | Implementation/examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick course diagnostic (Millis & Vasquez, | Diagnostic tool that utilizes pre and post student interviews. |
Satisfaction with course Qualitative data on course satisfaction Course strengths &weaknesses Learning outcomes met Data multiple times during the course Individual & group data Pre and post assessment |
Can stimulate online questionnaire Students indicate course satisfaction with a number (1–5) Students provide 1–2‐word descriptor of course Students look at list of student learning outcomes and select which were achieved Students discuss strength & weaknesses of course in groups |
| Minute Paper (Angelo & Cross, | Metacognitive tool to get feedback on specific areas of confusion or difficulty at the end of a lesson |
Qualitative data Clarity of lecture or activity Student links between learning outcomes and class tasks Comparison of student understanding between/across classes within a course |
Students given about 60 s (or class appropriate amount of time) What was confusing today in class? What was the most important thing you learned today? How does today's topic connect with what we discussed last class? |
|
Case Studies (Feagin et al., | An active learning tool that engages students in learning through inquiry. Also supports students' learning as they explore ecological and evolutionary phenomena. |
Educators assess student responses or assign students' peers to read and provide feedback to others' responses to case study assignments Quick assessment of students' incorporation of course information with data Assess students' ability to understand statistics, summarize data, discuss methodology |
Over 800 peer reviewed case studies at the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science ( Students become researchers as they work through questions and data to come to conclusions about ecological and evolutionary phenomena Can be given after discussing a specific topic to give real word application to a lecture or concept |
| Muddiest Point (Carberry et al., | An activity that provides students the opportunity to reflect and communicate what was confusing or “muddy” during a class session. |
Educators receive formative feedback from students Understanding of clarity of lecture or review points Identifying required knowledge that is missing or misunderstood in students Data collected during multiple classes across the course |
Using clicker questions to receive quick data what percent of the class found difficult with specific lecture topics or Students can “traffic light” topics, and write most difficult topic highlighted in red, somewhat difficult topic highlighted in yellow and topics completely understood highlighted in green Used in a discussion board where students can “like” or agree on “muddiest point” during online lecture Use collected data of “muddiest point” as an examination review tool |
| Citizen Science (Kobori et al., |
Quick assessment of students' incorporation of course information with data Determine student's perspective on the efficacy of citizen research
Assess students' ability to understand statistics, summarize data, discuss methodology |
e.g., citizenscience.gov, science.nasa.gov, zooniverse.org, ecologyproject.org, etc.
Educators can also create class data for students to practice statistics, summarize data, discuss methodology and explore the efficacy of citizen science itself |