1 Maximizing Content Coverage and Learning in a Blended Biology CourseGerald Bergtrom, Ph.D. Professor of Biological Sciences & Learning Technology Consultant Sept. 16, 2010 Hi, I’m Gerry Bergtrom. I serve 2 masters at UW-M. I have been a faculty member in the Biological Sciences at UW-M for more than 30 years, and a Instructional design Consultant in our Learning Technology Center for about 5 years. As a science instructor, my biggest challenge over the years has been to cover a traditional body of content and at the same time, model how science is done. I never achieved both in my traditional face-to-face cell biology lecture-only course. But it is effortless now in my blended course! I will illustrate my transition from traditional to blended instruction and then share some specific examples.

2 Lecture, in- class examsThe Original F2F Course Home: Text readings & slide presentations assessed by online quizzes, due before lecture F2F: Lecture, in- class exams 10% % Here’s the F2F course. Students read the text and took online ‘pre-quizzes’ before coming to class. Quizzes were low stakes formative assessments with multiple attempts. In class, I lectured, and gave 3 summative exams (including a final exam). The 3 exams accounted for most of a student’s grade. As with many F2F biology courses, basic content is delivered twice! It’s like we think the textbook is essential and superfluous at the same time. And even with double-coverage, I often couldn’t cover all the topics by the end of the semester. So where do I find the time for the interactive, collaborative learning that could really benefit the students and that in any case, really reflects the gregarious way science is done. Content delivered at home & in class No time for interactive, collaborative learning

3 Redesign Decisions for the Blended Course:Stable canon of content moved online. Provide multiple modes of content delivery No lecturing in class. The Result: Freedom to model scientific thinking and “science as a way of knowing” in class and at home… In redesigning the F2F course into a blended course, I made three major decisions: I moved all basic unchanging content coverage online. I assigned the content as textbook readings, narrated and un-narrated PowerPoint presentations. I decided that I did not need to… and would no longer lecture in class. My goal was to make students responsible for learning the basic content at home, before they ever came to class. I should have predicted it, but I suddenly found myself free to use all of the class time to get students to engage with each other and with the content. Instead of listening to me repeat what’s in a textbook, students now analyze data, interpret and design experiments, formulate hypotheses… in short, think critically and scientifically about cell and molecular biology. The bottom line: I spent all my F2F time modeling how science is really done.

4 VOP lectures, Muddiest PointsThe Blended Course Home Text readings, un-narrated PowerPoint slide presentations, online quizzes VOP lectures, Muddiest Points Discussions Short Papers online exams Home Text readings, un-narrated PowerPoint slide presentations, online quizzes 5% % % % % % 45% Integration: mutual reinforcement of online and F2F activities F2F: Index Card Qs Clicker Qs Debrief muddiest points So here is what the blended course looks like. Homework still includes text readings, PowerPoints & online quizzes. But the home/online component of the course is dramatically expanded. Now it includes the Voice-over PowerPoint presentations, several discussions and short writing assignments. And finally, the summative exams have also been moved online. The major changes and additions are in bold-face italics. I introduced three activities and assessments that emphasize student engagement with content and each other. “Muddiest Points” are be completed at home and handed in at the start of class. Then students try to answer their classmates question about material studied at home. After debriefing the muddiest points, I use the rest of the F2F time to challenge small impromptu groups of students to ‘do and talk science’ with clicker questions, …and experimental scenarios using index cards. I’ll show you a few examples of this in a moment. With all the new activities and assessments, the aggregate the low-stakes activities are worth 55%, considerably more than the summative exams which are now only worth 45%. This is one key to the success of a blended or online course. Another key is the integration of online and F2F activities to avoid a dismembered course (one that seem to be two separate, unconnected courses). The purple arrows map major points where this integration occurs. Note that integration is a two way street. I want to spend my next few minutes showing you an example of integration at work in my course. 55%

5 Index Card Challenge & Clicker questions…engage all students, promote collaboration Learning goals: -critical thinking analytical inquiry -collaborative problem solving -more self-confident students Here is an example that combines index card and clicker questions. I use them to get students to collaborate in small groups to think about observations and come up with an hypothesis, interpret a graph or other data, design an experiment, or solve a quantitative problem. These objectives are reflected in this list of learning goals. The learning goals include the practice of cooperative good science (kind of redundant, since science these days is by definition a gregarious collaborative adventure). I also believe that repeated exposure of students to exercises like these increases a student’s self confidence in their ability to do think like a scientist. Because of time constraints, I don’t have time to show examples of instructions and rubrics for short writing or discussion forum assignments, but they are more discursive exercises that demand much the same ‘scientific thinking’ as the following examples and in the case of the short papers, as a show of scientific literacy beyond the basic course content.

6 INDEX CARD EXERCISE A ship’s captain visiting a far away paradise island saw much livestock and produce. Years of breeding had yielded a variety of fast growing maize with more and larger kernels on the cob. Island farmers stopped growing the other varieties of maize. Some years later, the captain returned with her ship to find the island desolate, strewn with animal and human remains. Why? Work in groups of 3-5 (no more, no less); write your response on a 4X5” index card signed by your group members. This question asks students to recognize a key outcome of evolution, one that is essential to survival. One class ‘group’ member would write out the groups consensus response. An index card question like this one alone can take minutes of class time. After class, I will grade the responses, but in class, after I collect the cards I can use the responses to generate discussion, or to challenge students with a clicker question like the following one…

7 A follow-up concept questionUnderstanding evolution is a key to understanding life because it led to the improvement of species. diversity of species. the extinction of the dinosaurs. origin of cells. This follow-up question asks students to discriminate potentially confusing aspects of life and evolution, and drives home the message of the index card challenge question. After allowing time for students to click their answers, I show the aggregate class responses… There is some confusion! Conceptual misunderstanding!

8 Question reset… Understanding evolution is a key to understanding life because it led to the improvement of species. diversity of species. the extinction of the dinosaurs. origin of cells. If this happens, I reset the question and have students turn to a classmate and discuss their thoughts in a ‘think-pair-share’ exercise. That’s ‘ed-speak’ for me asking them to try and convince their classmate that they are right! Then I let the students answer the question again, and if things go according to plan, the students will have learned by collaboration. Of course, I will debrief both the index card and clicker questions, making sure that students leave the exercise knowing that evolution explains the diversity of life on earth, and that diversity is necessary for survival! I also use index card questions to challenge students to manipulate quantitative data, complete calculations and interpret the solutions. I’ve done this with bioenenergetic problems, but there is no time to show you! Peer instruction success!

9 Index Card Assignment Look at these sucrose density (sedimentation velocity) gradient separations of purified RNA. What can you conclude from these results? 28S 18S 4-5S Fraction number [ribosomal RNA] Fraction number 28S 18S 4-5S [total cell RNA] Here’s another index card exercise, requiring interpretation of experimental data… Work in groups of 3-5 (no more, no less); write your response on a 4x5” index card signed by your group members.

10 Index Card Assignment If I ask you to run a gradient of purified messenger RNA (mRNA) from a culture of liver cells, what should the gradient look like after the centrifugation? Draw what the RNA profile might look like and explain your drawing. Work in groups of 3-5 (no more, no less); write your response on a 4x5” index card signed by your group members. The index card exercise is immediately followed by another, asking students to design an experiment or at least an approach to follow up on the first exercise.

11 Was ‘going blended’ hard to do?Finding time for redesign Settling on a mode of content delivery Integration of online & F2F activities But mostly Letting go of old, cherished ways of teaching! Was it hard to redesign my course to be blended? Time was certainly a challenge. Once I decided to move essential content online, designing F2F activities and the integration took time. But this was not truly the hard part of my course redesign. I suspect that integration will be easy enough in any science course. The challenge for me was be the ‘letting go’.

12 Some Numbers, Some ThoughtsF2F year Exam raw scores Final Scores n F2F sp 2003 70.03 82.13 36 F2F sp 2004 61.28 82.14 38 F2F fall 2004 72.36 80.94 61 F2F sp 2005 74.94 83.82 94 F2F Averages 69.65 82.26 229 Blended sp 2008 66.29 85.09 28 Blended sp 2009 65.52 86.63 33 Blended Averages 65.91 85.86 Does this inversion mean that more learning is takes place in the blended course, or that I have discounted objective testing because it doesn’t measure the kind or learning I aim for? So, how does the blended course work? Here are some preliminary numbers. All the exams contained similar objective multiple choice and true-false questions. Raw scores are scores before curving. Course letter grades were based on the final scores (which reflected all assessments, extra credit assignments and any adjustments. As you might imagine, I was disappointed that raw exam scores in the blended course, were lower (not higher!) than scores in my older traditional F2F course offerings. Final scores, on which final grades were based were actually higher in the blended course. Dis this inversion result from some kind of grade inflation despite poorer exam performance. Then I realized that in redesigning Cell Biology to be a blended course, I had intentionally downgraded the importance of the largely objective exams (tests of retention). Instead, I placed greater value on assessing improvements in student reasoning, scientific critical thinking and scientific literacy. This assessment of different skills alone could explain the inversion. I want to believe that the higher final scores (and higher course grades) reflect the acquisition of those deeper learning and analytical skills. But I acknowledge that these are preliminary conclusions based on a data set with low n’s. Therefore these last questions are still open.

13 It was an effort, but the payoff wasA more enjoyable, more effective way of teaching science. Enduring, easily updatable course materials. More content coverage. More student engagement with content, concept and each other more learning. To sum up, I truly enjoy teaching my blended course, I cover all of the content online and can even update content with supplements to my online course materials. The biggest payoff, and source of enjoyment is the more active role my students play as self learners and peer instructors in my course. In spite of the unanswered questions, I thought the effort was more than worthwhile. I urge you to follow suit!

14 Be my guest… You are enrolled in my blended Cell Biology course as a guest. To get in: Click on this link: https://uwm.courses.wisconsin.edu/ Log on using guest.bergtrom as your login name and password. Scroll down the next screen and click on the blended Cell Biology course link. Use the clickable tabs above the announcements area (circled) to explore course features. Pertinent tabs are Course Home (takes you back to Announcements), Content (contains syllabus, general information, slide shows, assignments, etc.). Also, check out Discussions, Quizzes, Dropbox, Grades (where you can see a student’s eye view of the gradebook), and Surveys (e.g., an anonymous course evaluation form). Finally, please be my guest and feel free to explore my D2L course management site. With attribution, you are welcome to use any materials from this course site that you find useful . If you have any questions please contact me at

15 Maximizing Content Coverage and Learning in a Blended Biology CourseGerald Bergtrom, Ph.D. Professor of Biological Sciences & Learning Technology Consultant Learning Technology Center University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

16 Supplements The following slides include a few more examples of student-centered assignments/assessments, and instructions to access my D2L course sites.

17 Enzyme Kinetics [S]= Time (seconds) [P] 1mM 2mM 4mM These curves tally the [P] over time for enzyme reactions containing different starting [S]. they level off because the reactions are reaching equilibrium. The [S] are reaching higher levels. all substrate has been converted to product. most substrate has been converted to product. Even though they clickers only support objective questions, they can serve higher order learning, by challenging students to interpret quantitative data. 17

18 To be submitted individuallyIndex Card Exercise Discuss this question with your classmates. Then set up your equations and solutions, showing only the calculations necessary to answer the question. To be submitted individually DH =DG0 + TDS DG0 = -RTlnKeq Phosphoglucomutase Glucose-1-P Glucose-6-P This reaction was conducted under standard conditions. The starting [glucose-1-P] = 0.20M The equilibrium [glucose-6-P] = 0.19M The equilibrium [glucose 1-P] = 0.01M Students can be asked to collaborate to discuss a quantitative problem in chemistry or biology, to solve the problem and then to interpret the solved data on their own (or just continue the collaboration!). Determine the Keq for this reaction Is this reaction exergonic or endergonic? Explain.

19 Asynchronous Discussion Forum.  Asynchronous Discussion Forum Consider the following: Primase is a sloppy enzyme that makes many mistakes.  Eventually the RNA primers it makes are disposed of and replaced with DNA synthesized by DNA Polymerase with higher fidelity.  This is wasteful.  It would be more energy efficient if a DNA polymerase made an accurate copy in the first place. INSTRUCTIONS:   Post an initial response to the statement below by midnight on (late posts will not receive credit). Formulate a thoughtful, reflective reply to one or more of your classmates initial response posts beginning on at 12:00am but no later than midnight (replies posted before the 4th day will not receive credit) Here is a Discussion forum with basic instructions. More detailed instructions are in the Discussion Forum area of my course management site (for access, see last slide). The key to a good discussion topic is that there be something to discuss… so the topic or question should not have a single right or wrong answer or approach. This is sometimes difficult in a science class… but not impossible! Students can take more than one approach and there is more than one acceptable response. The result is that there are a few pitfalls for students to stunmble around, and therefore much grist for replies. In the more detailed description of the assignment (see the course site in D2L), students are required to cite sources of information that support their argument.

20 Instructions for a short writing exercise (Learning Objective: increase scientific literacy) Write a 1-2 page ( ) word, double spaced one page paper on the recent synthesis of a complete microbial genome.  Sources should be cited on a separate page.  Your paper must address the following: 1. What did the researchers do? 2. How did they do it? 3. What is to be gained by knowing their results?  That is, what is the value (social and/or scientific) of the research?  4. Cite Sources on a separate page 5. Check spelling. For full credit on this paper, you must address all of these points. The learning objectives of this writing exercise include sharpening students’ scientific literacy, there ability to cast a critical eye on science in the popular press. But another objective is to apply concepts of molecular biology that we would have considered in class to answering the specific question in the assignment. As you can guess, the list of requirements provides an easy rubric for grading the papers, and since most students used the numbered items as an outline, most of the submissions were quite acceptable.