Earth Materials and Processes

Submitted by dunning on 11 April 2008 - 1:31pm.

G103, Earth Materials and Processes, is a general education course that fills the science requirement in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Informatics, the Kelley Business School, and the School of Education. The course is composed of two traditional lectures and one laboratory each week. The key delivery components that separate this class from other introductory general education classes are the use of a leaning object enriched web environment in which each student can review the material covered in lecture and assess whether they have mastered it through simulations, learning objects, virtual field trips, animations, virtual experiments and Podcasts; and the chat room in which the students can collaborate with the instructor, other students in the class or within assigned research groups. In a sense, the student is being taught in blended learning format in an ostensibly traditional course. The student evaluations of the course invariably point out the efficacy of the interactive web components for each week. The simplicity, from the student’s point of view, of the Sakai/OnCourse platform provides the instructor with the ability to provide a blended learning approach to a traditional large enrollment class, and through that blended learning approach create a more intensive interaction between the instructor and student through the types of interactive exercises described below. This blended learning version of G103 has been quite successful by any of the typical assessment criteria. The enrollment has increased markedly, along with the retention, the average grade on a test composed of standard questions bank used in all of the introductory geology courses, and the student evaluations of the course.

Course Information

Course Number/ID:

SP08 BL GEOL G103 7817

Course Length (number of weeks):

Course Delivery Mode:

In-Class

Average Number of Enrolled Students:

More than 60 students

Course Level:

College

Describe Other Course Level:

General Education science class for non science majors

Course Development & Delivery

Course Contributors:

The course and all accompanying software applications were designed and developed by the instructor, Jeremy Dunning, using a repurposeable Flash learning object suite with 44 templates he developed. There are also approximately 10 learning objects designed by students in the class to demonstrate a particular process or structure in the Earth, that were programmed by the instructor in Flash. The instructor also created all animations, virtual-reality panoramas, and virtual field trips.

Course Development:

In a class this large it is difficult for the instructor to connect in a meaningful way with each student. The 300+ learning objects create an environment in which the student can learn in much the same way as in a one-on-one interaction with a professor in a smaller class. There is feedback at every level of most learning objects so that the student not only gets an assessment, but also gets feedback on incorrect steps or decisions within the learning objects. Students learn as much by making errors as by getting the correct answer from the start. An example of this type of exercise can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/pubpol.swf
Other exercises provide the student with an opportunity to do real-world science by solving geological problems with actual data. Two examples are provided below.
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/landfill/analysis0g.swf
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/case.swf.SWF
Another design criterion was to try at all times to match the learning style of the material to that of the student. The student is given an opportunity in the beginning of the class to assess his/her learning style with an exercise that can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/geoassess/start.html
Multiple media were used to vary the mode of learning as much as possible. Each module had at least one virtual field trip and Podcast for the student to explore. The Podcasts proved to be particularly popular among the students. An example can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/pompod.swf
The key challenges included the size of the class and the limited lecture time. The technology-mediated materials for each module allowed the instructor and student to extend the learning to individual and group learning outside the classroom. Each weekly module contained a number of assessment pieces that involved assessment by the learning object or by the instructor. An example of a weekly module can be found at;
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/plate/plate.html
You will note in this module a learning object designed by students. This student-designed learning object can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/plate/labex1.swf
Last Spring eight students participated in a research study on learning styles. The paper will be presented at the 2008 EISTA Conference in July of 2008, and is linked below;
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/eista/start.html

Course Delivery:

The design principal employed throughout the course was based on matching the learning style of the interactive materials to the preferred learning style of the students. Over twenty years of teaching introductory geology in the traditional format and nearly ten years teaching in a technology-mediated environment have made it possible for he instructor to develop an understanding of which teaching strategy/ learning style works best for each part of the content presented in each weekly module. Using the principles contained in the Cognitive Style Profile, the Learning Style Inventory, and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning the instructor developed the set of over 40 repurposeable learning object templates in Flash to create exercises and simulations, like the ones described earlier, that match the learning styles encountered as he taught this type of class.
The repurposeable nature of the templates allowed the instructor to create relatively complex learning objects in less than an hour.
The great challenge in teaching introductory geology is visualization of geologic structures and processes that are complex and inaccessible to the average liberal arts major. Virtual reality, animations, and learning objects with audio and enriched graphics provide a self–paced auxiliary to the lecture. A virtual field trip and object movie are contained in the links below.
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/plate/platevr/unkmet1.html
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/G103/Week8/tetobj.mov
The Vox Populi projects are assigned four times during the course of the semester. One example involved the shortage of fossil fuels and the increasing international competition for these resources. Four groups of 10 students are selected and then the entire class is briefed on the issue with extensive data presented and research resources identified. Each group is then assigned one of four solutions that they must research and make a presentation to the class (on their assigned solution). The class, the instructor, and the teaching assistants then rank the four presentations. In the fossil fuel example the four solutions were; to let the market determine fossil fuel costs, allow each nation to purchase the same percentage of the world’s fossil fuel resources that they currently purchase, create a UN-like agency to manage world supplies and usage, and to link the cost of fossil fuel to per capita income. The Vox Populi exercises appear to be effective learning exercises.

Course Self-Assessment

Communication & Collaboration Self-Assessment:

Effective

Communication & Collaboration Evidence:

A course with approximately 250 students in it provides special challenges to the instructor in terms of communication with the students, collaborative learning among the students, and most importantly collaborative “one on one” interaction between student and instructor. In this course the lecture portion of the class is supplemented by a rich interactive multimedia environment which is designed to mimic the kinds of individual instruction a student receives in a small classroom environment. In most of the learning objects, the students learn as much by making mistakes and following flawed logic as they do when they correctly navigate the problem. Many of the exercises have as many as 24 possible outcomes and, therefore, more accurately represent real science in which there are often a spectrum of answers. The chat room feature in Sakai/Oncourse also provides a mechanism for communication and collaboration among students and between the instructor and the students. This tool is especially useful in the Vox Populi exercises and the Town Meeting exercise.

Learning Material Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Material Evidence:

The learning materials in the course include a customized textbook, designed specifically for this course and audience, web enhanced lectures, and over 300 interactive learning exercises covering almost every aspect of the course. The learning materials within each weekly module contain relatively simple exercises designed to provide the student with feedback on whether he/she understands the particular piece of content, and more complex “keystone” exercises in which the student must solve a real geologic problem by utilizing several content areas from within the module. The “keystone” exercises provide detailed feedback that allow the student to understand what aspects of the material in the module are mastered and what are not.
A simple, targeted exercise can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/G103/week6/disch.swf
A “keystone” exercise from the same module can be found at;
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/G103/week6/casefloodex%20copy.swf

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Evidence:

The learning objects provide a great deal of immediate assessment directly to the student as they are reviewing the class materials. This helps them prepare for the two formal hourly tests and final exam during the course. Other assessments include weekly in-class exercises, the Vox Populi, and the Town Hall Meeting. The course has been tracked over the last five years in terms of quantitative factors that indicate the level of success of the “blended/traditional” approach being taken. The enrollment in the class has increased over the four years from under 170 to over 250 per semester (closed by room size) and has been oversubscribed for the last three semesters. The retention rate (the number of students still in the course at the end of the semester) has risen from 78% to over 92%. The most important indicator is that the performance in hourlies and exams (with questions drawn form a large database of questions asked in all 100 level geology courses) has risen by 8 points on a 100 point scale. The most satisfying learning outcome, from the instructor’s point of view, is the comment made by many students in the evaluations that the course gave them a much greater appreciation of science and how it works.

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:

The layout of the course materials is simple and contains long scrolling pages for each weeks module, with animations, images, and learning objects either embedded in the pages or linked. An example of a weekly modules summary can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/plate/plate.html
The interactive elements are designed to run at fast modem speed, and are therefore accessible to the students form any location and connection type. Some problems with OnCourse during test periods for this large class have prompted the instructor to host the web materials on another university server, so that the students may successfully access the course materials even if OnCourse is down. The most important look and feel aspect from the instructor’s viewpoint is that the design allows students with no computer experience, or computer phobia, to comfortably navigate through the course, without irritating the more computer-savvy students.

Learner Support Self-Assessment:

Effective

Learner Support Evidence:

Learner support can be difficult in a class of 250 students, however, the learning objects in this course provide the levels of customized feedback built into the learning objects that would be provided by one-to-one interaction with the instructor. The feedback is dependent on the specific response of the student at each phase in the learning object. An example can be found at;
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/hurricane.swf
Even media based learning objects have assessment sections in which the students can assess their understanding of the material covered in the learning object. An example of this type of learning object can be found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/plate/converga.swf
The chat room tool in OnCourse/Sakai allows the instructor to hold group office hours in which students can ask questions in an online group environment and have them answered by the instructor immediately. This activity appeals to some students far more than the traditional office hours, at the instructor’s office, that are part of the course.
Before midterm examinations, simulated practice exams are provided that allow the student to practice before the test.
http://www.indiana.edu/~g103/practest2.swf

Teaching Innovation

Teaching Innovation:

The challenge with large general education classes is how do we reach each student in a meaningful way that accommodates the personality and learning style of the student. This class has over 250 students and is taught in a cavernous room with modest acoustics. The use of technology in this class was designed to allow the instructor to reach and interact with each student in a format and learning style matched to the student. Although it seems counterintuitive, technology, when used properly, actually increases the contact between the instructor and the student. The 300 learning objects also provide the student with real experiential learning opportunities. The student learns science by doing science, The long teaching experience of the instructor allows the instructor to know which strategies work for each content area and which mistakes students commonly make. Those mistakes may actually be used in learning objects to help the student learn the content correctly, by showing the student why the flawed logic leads to an incorrect outcome. The technology elements also allow the students at almost every step in the course to assess whether they understand a particular content area. In large traditional courses, students often do no realize they fail to comprehend material until after a test. By then it is too late. In this class, the student may test mcontent mastery at every key point in the course. Finally, the technology extends the class beyond the classroom and ensures that students who put in the requisite amount of time on the course materials, succeed in the course.

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Earth Materials and Processes