Goals of our redesign 1. Enhance student learning by using more active- learning techniques and increasing students’ out-of- class time spent on the course 2. Promote students’ view of biology as a rapidly changing, interdisciplinary endeavor 3. Increase the uniformity in course content and instructional approaches among the different sections 4. Increase student success rates in the class (number of students who achieve overall scores ≥ 60% in the course). 5. Develop mechanisms that enable these changes and accommodate anticipated increased student enrollment without a concomitant increase in personnel.
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Redesigning Introductory Biology Lisa Elfring University of
Arizona Introductory Biology ~1800 students per year, ~1500 in fall
This is a course for majors (>25 different majors) Six fall
sections taught by 6-8 faculty Lecture sections of students No
graduate student TAs Undergraduate tutors assist in class
Traditional lecture-style presentation Variable use of
instructional technology Goals of our redesign 1. Enhance student
learning by using more active- learning techniques and increasing
students out-of- class time spent on the course 2. Promote students
view of biology as a rapidly changing, interdisciplinary endeavor
3. Increase the uniformity in course content and instructional
approaches among the different sections 4. Increase student success
rates in the class (number of students who achieve overall scores
60% in the course). 5. Develop mechanisms that enable these changes
and accommodate anticipated increased student enrollment without a
concomitant increase in personnel. Key features of redesign
Pre-class tutorials and quizzes In-class and discussion section
activities that promote student interaction and higher-level
learning Undergraduate tutors use technology to provide
out-of-class help Learning materials adopted from Pearson
Publishing- Mastering Biology Assessment: Pre- and post-tests,
post-post tests in ensuing biology courses Progress report Pilot
section Spring 2008 is utilizing pre- class tutorials,
active-learning exercises Website to collect resources, make
available to all faculty Piloting activities designed for
discussion sections Challenges: Changing instructor lineup, text
adoption, uniformity of approach, student response Assessment Pre-
and post-tests: use instrument that has been administered for 4
years Emphasize conceptual knowledge, not lower-level/recognition
Use some common exam questions from instructors who have taught
previously Design a post-post instrument for administration in
next-step courses (Genetics, Molecular Biology) We have secured IRB
approval for student record review and data collection
