(Biological Sciences 61) This project focuses on fostering active student engagement and instructor feedback via on-line technologies in biochemistry, with simulations and interactive animations and embedded assessments.
Based on research in active student engagement and effective feedback, the project is developing, refining and assessing an integrated set of instructional modules for courses in molecular and cellular biology. The project goes beyond typical course development in that it is creating new computer-based instructional activities for students (simulations, interactive animations, etc.) and also collecting feedback from the activities via the "Open Leaning Initiative" (OLI) environment. This provides reports that allow the instructor to monitor the progress of the students in learning the content and to identify misconceptions and/or concepts that are difficult for students to learn. Instructional products emanating from this project include: A new set of research-informed, computer-based instructional activities; instructor feedback reports; a publicly available hybrid biochemistry course; and a version of these instructional activities packaged for use in any online learning environment and contributed to the NSDL.
Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this proposal resides in the use of computer-based and on-line technologies and tools to create new instructional materials with embedded assessments that address the variability of student backgrounds and learning styles in the midst of course delivery. In addition, the project is assessing the impact of these tools on teaching and learning in biochemistry and molecular biology.
Broader Impact: This project is not only of benefit to the biology students of Carnegie-Mellon University, one-hundred per year during this project, but is also being made available well beyond this institution. The materials developed are being made freely accessible through the "Open Learning Initiative" and therefore instructors at other institutions can adapt and integrate the modules as they deem appropriate. Given the importance of quantitative biology, these materials and the evidence generated through the research study relative to impact are making significant contributions to the teaching and learning of biology and perhaps other quantitative sciences as well.
