Topic Area: Student Success
Presented By: Jon Stoltzfus, Katie Krueger, Kirstin Parkin, Mike Wiser, George Mias
Abstract:
The switch to online learning provided fourteen instructors the opportunity to collaborate and develop an evidence-based synchronous online course that enrolled over 2000 BS161 students during the 20-21 academic year. Here we present lessons learned as we worked collaboratively to create a course that focused on science practices, core ideas, and cross-cutting concepts using a highly structured format based on the flipped classroom model. In this course, students complete guided notes using a short, recorded lecture and the textbook and take a formative pre-class quiz before attending the synchronous session. During the synchronous session, small groups of students meet in Zoom breakout rooms and complete a scaffolded activity. The activity requires construction of scientific arguments to support claims and predictions leveraging reasoning and the core ideas from their notes. Groups are formed using CATME software to increase the chances of creating productive group-learning environments. Each week students complete a low-stakes summative review and integration quiz that includes construction of a scientific argument like those created during the in-class activity but focused on a slightly different biological phenomenon or process. The review and integration quizzes are formatted and timed like the exams, helping students become familiar with the on-line exam format. The number of students who did not earn credit for BS161 in FS20 was 7.2% as compared to 10.4%, 8.1%, and 6.6% the previous three fall semesters. This indicates that the course supported student success as well as or better than previous face-to-face versions of the course.
Session Resources: Supporting 3-D Learning and Student Success (PowerPoint)