My Thoughts on Distance Education

It's really funny how our perspectives change so quickly. I have been teaching online courses at the college level for about 4 years. For a long time, I resisted teaching courses online. I really thought that online courses in any science or math field would be ineffective. I truly thought that there was no way to convey important information students needed to learn about the sciences online, especially when it came to the labs. It bothered me for a long time. The idea of online courses for the sciences in colleges and universities tend to be frowned upon by many science faculty (or at least that is my experience). It was not until I was asked by my college to teach one of my biology courses online, that I realized that science education in the online format was "doable".

Biology Word Cloud created on Wordle

Over the years, I have worked to improve my online science courses. I have learned that online science courses take much more time, attention, and patience than my face-to-face courses. All that time and effort, however, are well worth it. I have worked hard to improve all my courses, and my online courses are no exception. In effort to keep improving, I decided to complete a graduate program in online education and instructional design. I thought that the more I understood about instructional design, the better I would be at designing online courses for my students.

This fall, I started that graduate program and I am coming on the end of my journey of my first two courses. One of the courses is Foundations in Distance Learning. The course had an interesting set up. Each module related to a variety of "myths" about online education. Each module was a journey for us to understand and work our way through some of the misconceptions about online education. As I made the journey through these myths, I realized that the hesitation by faculty to offer online courses, especially in colleges and universities, was greater than I had thought. I did not realize the extent of the reach that some of these "myths" had on attitudes toward online instruction.

The biggest thing that surprised me in this foundations course is that a lot of the fear that instructors had were due to of lack of experience or training in online education. The fear seems to be in large part due to misconception and lack of experience in the technology. I guess I knew this going in to the course, but I was honestly surprised that the misconceptions were so widespread. While I will save the discussion on the particular myths I learned about in a later post (as well as the data for backing it up), I will say that a large misconception about online learning seems to be from fear of the unknown (which has a lot of components to  it, as mentioned above... such as training and experience). I think a big part of moving forward in online education, especially in the sciences is to make sure we educate our educators about how to teach material online.

Online Learning Word cloud by V. Holanda

One of the things I will take away from the course, is that online instruction is constantly changing and improving. In order to be an effective online instructor, you must constantly improve your courses and make changes to the course presentation as often as possible. New technologies are always being developed and we have to be willing to adapt to new technologies and apply them when we learn about them.

While my beliefs and attitudes about online education remained the same throughout the course, I will make sure that I spend as much time as possible on continuously improving my courses.

Gamification: A Reflection

In August, I started taking a course called Emerging Web and Mobile Technology for professional development in an Online Teaching and Instructional Design graduate program. When I first learned the course was set up as a game, I laughed. I had never heard of gamification and my first impression was shock. Was this really a graduate level course? I am a college professor and thought that this was just another way to dumb down education. Okay now... don't be too harsh on me for my initial critique of the course set up. I realized that I was wrong after just a few completed "quests" (otherwise known as assignments).

Image from 3D Game Labs
www.3dgamelabs.com

Once I learned a little about gamification, I realized it was a pretty interesting way to set up and run a course. It's funny, after starting the course, I got really competitive about the assignments. I wanted to master all the material as fast as possible. Our course utilized a site called 3D game Labs. I continued to work through the "quests" and worked to get them complete. While I knew it was not a race, I keep on completing assignments every chance I got. I wanted to finish the course and win the game. ;)

A funny thing happened, as it turned out. I realized that I had learned a lot of information without even feeling like I was even trying. It was really a funny experience. I started using the technology in everyday life and in my biology courses I teach at the college without really thinking about it. I started having discussions about various ways to incorporate knew teaching ideas in the classroom without realizing (at least at first) that it was the information that I learned in the course. By using gamification, I was learning while playing a game. It is funny. I really did not realize how much I was getting out of the course until I was standing in front of my students teaching or in my office planning for something to do in my course. While doing the coursework, I felt like I was playing a game and trying to get enough points to get that ultimate grade of an A. I quickly came to realize that the game I had played in the course, actually had me learn many new ways of presenting information and working toward improving my courses. It is really amazing.

Image from S. Prasad @ datasciencecentral.com 

In a nutshell, gamification in education is a way for students to learn information in a course while they feel like they are playing a game. As in the definition, the course or the activity is set up like a game and the students are able to "play" the game and earn points, badges, and rewards. It reminds me a lot of standards based learning, because the students can play (or resubmit assignments) until they master the material. I had never heard of doing this in a course before, but think it is a interesting tool to use to help students learn. 

I will say, I will more than likely not use gamification as a way to set up my entire course. I will, however, use some aspects of it in order to incorporate it in my biology courses. I think I could make some virtual labs and turn them into a game (like in genetics) to help students understand the concepts better. I think students would have fun playing a genetics game. 

My take away from this course is that I feel like I can open up my mind to new ideas and new ways to teaching biology. I think this course has given me insight into new tools to use as well as new ways to teach information. I think in the long run, this class will help me improve my teaching. In fact, I have already seen that it has. 

By the way... I won the game!!! haha

My Brief Review of Gaming in Science Education

A recent trend in education has been including gaming as a part of the educational experience. As a college professor, I am not sure that I really took the idea seriously until I starting taking a graduate course that used gamification. Once I started the course, I realized it made learning a lot of fun (of course... I already think learning is fun...). My experience, however, is with a graduate course in the department of education. I happen to be a biology professor and just could not see where I could apply this in my courses. 

Minecraft Logo with background
www.minecraft.net

In a way, I have used some aspects of gaming in the classroom without knowing it. I have had students use animations for some basic laboratory techniques in order to have them better understand a lab topic before they come to lab, but it was not a "gaming" tool. So, after being given an assignment to challenge me to use a game in an educational way, I chose to try Minecraft. 

My son has played Minecraft for years, and I have watched him create some pretty amazing things throughout the years. So, I thought it might be a tool I could try to integrate into a biology lesson. 

Minecreft Genetics
by ObsiLP

As I began search for ways to incorporate this gaming experience into at least one of my science classes, I came upon two "mods" that I thought were interesting. "Mods" are downloaded content that can players can add to their came to modify game play. The mods were called, "Advanced Genetics" and "DNA Science". 

Currently, I teach a couple of courses where I thought I could use this content: General Biology 1 (during the genetics and dna units), Genetics, and Recombinant DNA. One of the areas that students tend to have trouble is in genetics. So, I thought I would have my son download the mod for Advanced Genetics and give it a try. 

One thing I noticed with the Advanced genetics mod is that it did let you genetically alter organisms. In the genetics mod, you could obtain genes from bees, trees, butterflies, and flowers. The genes could be "isolated" and "sequenced" and then added to the database to alter organisms. It is a very interesting game. I really enjoyed trying to learn how to use it. For me, someone that does not play games, I had no experience with Minecraft. So, not only was I having to learn how to use Minecraft from my son, we were also having to learn how to use this mod. While I can honestly say I do not fully understand the mod, I did think it was interesting to try and genetically modify organisms in a game. 

One thing I did not like about using this mod for genetics is that it did not accurately use genetics to create organisms. For me, there was not a lot of "real science" to it. I felt like it was a great idea and concept, but I would not be able to use to it teach the content in any of the classes. 

The second "mod" I found, but did not try out was the "DNA Science" mod. While I did not download it or play it, I did find an overview of how it is done on You Tube. You can watch it below or click here to watch it on YouTube directly. 

The biggest issues I have is the inaccuracy of the science in the game. While the game and the mods are really interesting and make me want to play more, I think I would not be able to apply this in the science courses I teach. It is very important for the concepts to be accurate in order to use it as a tool. I think I could mention it in passing as an interesting thing to try, but I would make sure to reiterate that the science is not accurate. I also think it may be a little difficult to find college students that would think this is interesting. I may be making an incorrect assumption, but when I hear college students talk about gaming, it is usually other games (e.g. Call of Duty) that I hear them talk about. So, I wonder if there would be a lot of college students playing Minecraft? 

I do think it could be a really useful tool for primary and secondary education in other subject areas, but I am not sure if I can apply it directly in my courses. 

I will keep my eyes open for any other options out there. I think I would be great to find other games that I could use in my courses. 

Cooking With TPACK!!!

For one of my graduate classes I am taking for professional development, we were challenged to complete a task called "Cooking with TPACK". I posted information on TPACK and what it is on another blog post back on September 2, 2015 called "Technology in the Collegiate Biology Lecture: TPACK or SAMR?". Feel free to take a look if you have time.

For our assignment, Cooking with TPACK? [credit to Michigan State University MAET program], we were asked to complete an activity that was similar to a "blind study" where a person (in this case my husband) was asked to obtain a set of somewhat random utensils (a plate, a bowl, and utensil). In this case, without knowing why he was choosing them, he chose a dinner plate, a glass mixing bowl, and a rubber spatula. I then asked him to pick a number (1-5). These numbers corresponded to a set of activities we were to do if that number were chosen.

The potential activities were...
1. Slice Hard Cheese (e.g. cheddar, gouda, havarti, wensleydale) as though you were going to add it to a cheese plate.
2. Make whipped cream from 35% heavy whipping cream.
3. Make a fruit salad (or at least slice up two types of fruit as though you were going to add them to the salad).
4. make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
5. Slice veggies for a veggie tray.

My husband picked #3. So, below is my video recording of me attempting to make a fruit salad using the items chosen by my husband.

This was a very interesting challenge. With my tools, I was able to complete my assigned task. While I needed to change the way one of the utensils was used, the spatula, it worked enough to get the task done. The biggest thing that I got out of this challenge is understanding how important it is to make sure the tools we are using when instructing are actually the best tools to use. We, as educators, need to make sure we are instructing our students with the best and most purposeful tools we possible can. 

I would have really hated to cut a whole pineapple with the rubber spatula. I need to think about this every time I am designing an assignment with technology.

How Does Digital Citizenship Apply to Collegiate Education?

Copyrights in Shreds
Image by Catherine MacBride
From Getty Images

I think it all boils down to being informed. I am a college professor who grew up with little technology. I was an undergraduate student studying cell and molecular biology when YouTube and Facebook were created. That was also a time when texting was not a "thing". It existed, but it was not really used frequently. So, while I was growing up and getting my education as a young adult, digital baggage and digital footprints were not really an issue. At the same time, worrying about digital citizenship was not a huge thing either.
Everyone at my undergraduate institution had a computer (they were provided for free to each student). But, research was still predominately done in the library searching through a localized database and requesting inter-library loans via a paper document. My point is, I grew up in a time, which was not so long ago, that did not have the worries of leaving digital traces of ourselves and we did not even comprehend that digital citizenship would really be a thing.

This post comes about from an assignment I have been working on in a class I am taking for professional development. We were challenged to work with a partner to create an info graphic about digital citizenship. It was broad and we could cover the topic of digital citizenship or even just make an info-graphic about something related, such as FERPA issues. My group member and I chose FERPA as it relates to college students and their rights (as well as their parents). It was a fun activity and I really enjoyed completing it with my fellow classmate. Here is a link to the info graphic we created: A College Student's Guide to FERPA.

After creating this with my fellow classmate, I starting thinking about the assignment in a different way. Students (and people in general) just do not know things that maybe they should know. I am not claiming to be versed on any specific issue relating to digital citizenship or other aspect, but I do take the time to try to learn and understand. It seems like young adults are missing this piece of the puzzle. They can create media, but they have no idea about protecting it or protecting someone else's work. An example I can give is my own son. I have a 14 year-old son (who is in high school, but attending college at the same time). If I asked him to write some code or create digital content, he could in the blink of an eye. If I were to ask him, however, how to cite media or attribute media, he would have no idea. It is not that his father and I have never told him it is important. I also know this high school and college have told him of its importance, but it is like it goes over his head. Is it maturity level? Is it apathy? I have no idea.

Copyright Keyboard
Image by Peter Dazeley
From Getty Images

Being informed about digital citizenship is important. While I know the basics of digital citizenship, I realize I do not know everything. I remember being told very general statements about educational uses of material and copyright issues. It was common to hear someone say, "well, we are in education, we can use anything for education purposes" or "copyright does not really affect us because we are in education". I knew even then, something did not sound right about it. But, it's funny how little we learn about it when it is really important.

One thing we need to do as educators is prepare our students the best we can. They have grown up in a world, where most of their life they were taught they could post anything and everything they want to any digital space. Even in this digital age, my students do not realize that they have worry about proper citation of images, videos, and other media or writing. Where have we gone wrong? How do I know more about this stuff, when my students are clueless? I think we need to be better educators for ourselves and for our students.

Twitter?!?! I Need to Get My Feet Wet!!!

Twitter Logo
Source: twitter.com 

This is an interesting topic for me. I have been challenged to use Twitter to create a PLN (personal learning network). I am not a fan of twitter, even though I have an account. I have had an account since 2009 and have made a total of 28 tweets. So, I am clearly not an active twitter user. While I am not a big fan, I am willing to give it a try in order to develop a personal learning network. I guess I still qualify as a twitter newbie because I just never use it. While I understand the premise, I just never thought it was as useful as other media sites, such as Facebook.

My plan is start using twitter to keep up with the social media surrounding college teaching and the field of science. I have started following several people and organizations in order to grow my personal learning network. Hopefully these will give me tips and help me progress through the world of online education in the sciences. I also started following many science sites that I keep up with in other social media outlets. I am a big fan of keeping up with current research in Microbiology, so I have started to keep up with them on Twitter.

My Barely Used Twitter Account

I will continue to find interesting people and organizations to follow that will help contribute to and grow my PLN as well as keep up with various scientific interests and pursuits. I will embrace this challenge and try to use a new tool (at least a new tool for me), to keep up with trends in education and trends in the biological sciences.

Feel free to follow me on twitter. While it is a little bland now, I plan to be more active and interesting in the near future.

Technology in the Collegiate Biology Lecture: TPACK or SAMR?

TPACK / SAMR Word Cloud created on Wordle

One of the amazing things about the biological and chemical sciences, especially in a collegiate setting, is that the field is inherently structured around technology. While this is a personal opinion, it seems that the sciences has been the leader in a lot of these pushes in education to include more technology. The structure of science courses have always been hands-on, discovery-based learning. Our laboratories serve as a technology heavy haven where critical thinking and hands-on experience is central and key to the learning experience. In fact, many other fields have taken this collegiate scientific approach and tried to model the diverse teaching style of science in their own courses. You can see this in frameworks such as the flipped classroom model, as well as many others. Science laboratories have always been the leader in creating a diverse learning environment where many different andragogical (the practice of how adults learn) approaches are used and embraced.

One area where I feel the collegiate sciences can improve is in the lecture portion of the course. In the sciences, we tend to focus on the lab being the biggest aspect of learning that separates itself from the traditional, everyday lecture. Sometimes I wonder if we fall into a rut (so to speak) with the lecture because we know that the students will get all the technology and hands-on learning in the lab. I wonder if there is something else we can do to prepare our students for the technology in the laboratory before we step into the lab.

I have been lucky enough to start in a program and take some classes where I can address this very question. Recently, I have been introduced to a couple of educational frameworks that address the usage of technology in the classroom in order to reinforce learning and critical thinking. These frameworks are TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) and SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition Model). Both models focus on how to integrate technology in the classroom in order to improve or enhance learning.

TPACK Framework.
Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org.

TPACK is essentially a model that allows the instructor to integrate technology into the classroom while promoting learning of a specific topic. I like to think of it as a collaboration of technology, content, and pedagogy. According to Mishra and Koehler (2009), TPACK is the basis of effective teaching with technology that requires the instructor to know and understand the relationship between technology and content.

 While the SAMR model is similar, it uses a different approach to still allow for learning while integrating technology. The SAMR model uses a step-wise progression for technology integration to achieve the desired level of technology use with content learning. This model uses various forms of substitution (with no functional change of the content), Augmentation (which helps to functionally improve the content), modification (which allow for some redesign), and redefinition (creation of a new task not used before). The goal in this model is to be able to redefine a task in the classroom and move beyond the everyday and allow students to learn content with technology they may have not used in that way in previous situations. It is the use to technology (that they may or may not know) to help them learn the content knowledge in order to be successful in the subject or topic.

SAMR Model
Image Credit: Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D.
 http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/ 

While both of these frameworks seems very appropriate to use in the science classroom, I seem to gravitate toward the TPACK framework. For my biology lectures in the classroom, I can see myself integrating technology with content, knowledge, and pedagogy in a way that is similar to the TPACK framework. I feel like this framework allows a person to break down their integration of technology in the classroom in several different ways in order to best help the student learn. I could use a virtual demonstration of a scientific concept (ex. how gel electrophoresis works) in the lecture portion to help a student understand the content (what it is, why we do it, how we do it, etc.) and then take the students into the laboratory and use the equipment hands-on. In this case, the students were able to get the concepts in the classroom while learning how the technology works before they stepped into the lab. So, I can see this framework integrating into my biology lectures rather seamlessly.

One hesitation I have with the framework is its design and intended audience. As I continue to read and learn about different approaches to learning, I find that these frameworks are designed for primary and secondary education. I am, and will only ever be, a post-secondary instructor. The ways adults learn in a collegiate setting is very different from the way children and young adults learn. Our approaches are extremely different. Pedagogy and pedagogical techniques are outside my teaching responsibilities and I must educate my students in a method that is suitable for them. In general, adults learn in very different ways from our younger counterparts. Many of these frameworks are designed with pedagogical ideas in mind. I must focus on a more andragogical approach. While this is not impossible, it does mean that these frameworks must be tweaked in order to allow for adults to learn in a manner more suited to their needs. Perhaps I will tweak the TPACK method in a future blog post, but for now, I will leave it here. I have a lot of information to process with just the basic ideas.

Fill free to comment or give ideas on how you would use these frameworks in the collegiate classroom. I am up for some awesome ideas.


Resources:
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.