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Developing Web-Based Notes and Conferencing for An On-Campus Course In Plant Biology

by Sloan-CABSTRACT

The development of World Wide Web course notes, quizzes, interactive materials, and conferencing as an integrated package is described. The course for which these materials are primarily intended is introductory plant biology at the undergraduate level for on-campus learners. Special attention is given to the design features of the Web presentation that make it interesting, easy to use, capable of monitoring, informative, and visually attractive. The intent is to make the course framework available for use in a wide variety of courses at different educational levels.

I. INTRODUCTION

At the time of a Sloan grant to the University of Illinois in the fall of 1994, computer technology to supplement educational courses consisted of a newsgroup for intraclass communication and the delivery of information about topics of interest related to the course syllabus. The limitations of the medium, particularly the lack of graphics, led us to consider an alternative means of electronic presentation and communication. The World Wide Web provided the opportunity to develop an asynchronous learning network (ALN). The ALN offered advantages of cross-platform compatibility, accessibility at any time, and the ability to use graphics as well as textual materials. This paper describes the attributes and rationale for ALN technology and discusses initial results. The quality of the course content and delivery has improved significantly, and the course is poised for future delivery with reduced instructional staff. We hope that the experiences and development described here may be useful for many institutions in their early work with ALN.

II. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

To target development of course materials for Web delivery, we looked for one or more courses that were at the undergraduate level, had sufficient enrollment (approximately 100 students each semester) to make the time commitments worthwhile, in an area where course content needed revision, and in an area where reducing staff while delivering the course to an equal or greater number of students was desirable. Plant Biology 102, entitled, "Plants, People and the Environment," was a general education, undergraduate course that fit these requirements. Furthermore, it shared related course content and basic instructional approach with two other courses delivered by the UIUC department of Plant Biology--"Introductory Biology" and "Introductory Plant Biology." While all three of these courses have developed Web presentations along somewhat similar lines, only Plant Biology 102 has implemented a comprehensive package of notes, illustrations, quizzes, grade accessibility, and conferencing in a single Web package. The features of ALN delivery described in this paper would also be desirable in small (<25) classes. With the initial costs and development efforts already accomplished, this may indeed be a future target.

We wanted to accomplish several instructional objectives:

• provide students with text and images that could be studied when and as often as students would like
• enable faculty to track student achievement early in the semester before written examinations
• allow students to view their grades on all quizzes and exams relative to class averages
• encourage students to explore course topics using databases around the world
• provide convenient and ready access to the instructional staff
• develop teamwork assignments through the use of conferencing

It has been a further objective to make the materials available to individuals using a typical computer of about 2 years of age, with 16 MB RAM, and limited hard drive space. At the same time, we wanted to use the latest technologies supported by currently popular Internet browsers.
These objectives have been met with the ALN approach, along with greater student interest in developing additional computer skills.

Specific programming objectives include:

• graphic navigational aids available at all times
• use of frames on Web pages to compartmentalize navigation, information indexing, and primary content delivery
• instant grading of quizzes with a report for students and a summary spreadsheet available only to the instructional staff
• use of Java applets in content presentation
• new exploratory self-directed images of cells and organelles
• convenient access to and from the conferencing module.

The course notes were initially hypertext-linked on richly illustrated pages with content related to each of the formal lecture topics presented during the semester. We moved to a graphic-based navigational system, and then to the use of frames, and currently to the extensive use of Java applets for simplified navigation and course illustrations. Small changes in the layout and programming take place almost continuously.

III. CURRENT FEATURES

The Web-based course materials have evolved significantly during the past two years, enabling greater sophistication in the content that is delivered, and greater interactivity of the students with the programmed materials. While this has happened, the materials have also become more closely integrated in a coherent package.

A. Navigation
Navigational ease is a prime consideration in designing the Web course notes. Students have highly variable skills in working with computers. To effectively present materials, we gear navigation to the level of the least sophisticated user, while making provision for advanced users. Using frames, we present all of the primary navigational tools at the top of the viewing area for each of the lecture topics (Figure 1). This frame persists throughout all of the lecture notes and even during the conferencing portions of the Web materials. In addition to the symbolic navigational guides, the current version of the Web notes uses a "Remote" feature that allows an entire list of lecture contents to appear from a chapter of the notes or conferencing software. This feature, like many of the other navigational controls, is written in Java.

 

Figure 1. An example of a lecture topic cover page with the horizontal navigation frame at the top, and
the topic index with quiz button and Web links in the vertical left-hand frame.

B. Testing
Students may take a topic quiz at any time, but are urged to do so within 2 - 4 days after each topic has been introduced during lecture. Access requires a network ID and password. Each quiz has ten items, usually in multiple choice format. The quizzes are optional, but students are strongly encouraged to take them. Students may take a particular quiz as many times as they wish to improve their performance, but the score is recorded only the first time they take it. The practice quizzes permit students to work at their own pace, and eliminate instructor or TA time to grade them. The results are automatically available to the instructional staff to track student performance.
During the Fall, 1996 semester, quiz participation and grades were matched with examination performances by identifying three groups of students. Ten quizzes, covering the first 10 lecture topics of the semester, constituted the material covered for the first written examination by the class as a whole. The 113 students in the course taking that examination were divided into three groups: students who had taken 6 to 10 of the quizzes, those who had taken 1 to 5 of the quizzes, and a third group that had not taken any of the quizzes. The average quiz scores were calculated for each group, and the average percentile rankings of the student groups were also calculated for the written examination. The results are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Relation of number of quizzes taken and quiz scores with percentile class rankings on first semester examination,
for 113 students. Perfect quiz score averages would be 10.0. Reliability of exam (KR-21) = 0.734.

Students who took more quizzes averaged higher on both quiz scores and the exam than students who took fewer quizzes. While it would be tempting to think that participation in the Web quizzes better prepared students for the written examination, we have no proof. It is just as likely that the more conscientious students who may perform better anyway were more active in quiz participation. It is even possible that both explanations may have some validity. The data do not allow us to determine. However the positive relation of number of quizzes taken and quiz scores, with the written examination provide an initial indication that instructors can use online quizzes to track student performance via the Web earlier in the semester than is typical with conventional testing procedures. Thus, students in need of early assistance may be identified, as well as those who may be better challenged with optional course assignments.

C. Grade Access
Students have access to their quiz and exam grades at any time by using the navigational framework of the course notes and conferencing. For access, they must use their network ID and password. For each grade viewed, students can determine where they stand relative to overall class average performance on the same quiz or exam. End-of-semester grades are available in this manner only, thus complying with federal and University regulations that prohibit posting grades (even by student ID numbers) in public places. Since students typically leave the campus at the end of a semester, often before grades are fully determined, they may view their grades from anywhere they have access to the Web. While more detailed information is not available to students, the records provided appear to be more than sufficient for most student needs.
Instructors have separate administrative access that permits viewing the student's name, network ID, individual scores, average quiz score, and the class average scores for each quiz (Figure2). These values are automatically calculated by a custom CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script.

Figure 2. Spreadsheet information for instructors gives quiz results which are automatically calculated.
The net ID for each student appears at the left, each quiz score is in the vertical columns, and the averages
and full names are given at the right. Students can access their own information at any time from another form.
Both students and instructors must gain access through net ID and password protection.

D. Conferencing
We have provided a seamless interface between the course notes and the course conferencing by employing the same background colors, as well as the same navigational frame and symbols. The conferencing software is Web Crossing® by Lundeen & Associates, Alameda, CA 94501. Access to the conferencing (which we term "Club 102") requires that accounts be set up for each user including a network ID and password. Once into the conferencing, students are presented with several conference folders, at least one of which is linked to their graduate teaching assistant for individual assignments and discussions. Other folders lead to discussions with faculty lecturers, general announcements, and major group assignments.
We divided students in the course into 15 virtual groups (each containing about 8 students) early in the semester. These were invited to come up with a unique name if they wished. While most groups kept their letter designations, there were groups named the "Snapdragons" and "Will Power." Likely the most inventive name was, "The Official Federation of Warriors Dedicated to Preserving the Political Stability of Small Rodent Communities." Members of this latter group quickly picked up on the use of medieval English titles. Many students working in the virtual groups have never met one another in person, although the conferencing software supports small (~10KB) portrait photos of each participant (Figure 3). The photos also help instructors identify their students.

Figure 3. An example of a discussion dialog in the conferencing system integrated with the course notes and quizzes.
Each small photo that appears with a student posting is linked to that person's E-mail address by clicking on it.

Students were asked in a first assignment to develop a questionnaire and to use it to survey other students about their attitudes toward current environmental issues. They then analyzed the results and presented their work in final form on Club 102. A common problem developed when some students in each group failed to participate. Outcries of distress arose from the more active participants. Our current approach is to define the role of each group participant and to have them clearly identified with their part of the group report. Non-participants are not given a grade.
The use of the conferencing system permits postings to be presented in HTML format. Two of the virtual groups during the Fall 1996 class chose to present their reports in this manner, which elicited the following response from one student who wrote by E-mail: "… I’m so jealous of the groups with web pages... They look very, very, neat and pretty and nice... Wow! You didn't expect that from all of us, did you? I mean, I never had any experience with the Internet or even e-mail until I started college two months ago and, well, do you see what I'm getting at? How can I learn to do this?" Indeed, students are expressing greater interest in advancing their computer skills and in using the Web for exploring databases of information (an early assignment in the semester).

E. Search Engine
A free WAIS search engine was modified for use in the Plant Biology 102 Web course materials. It permits the Boolean input of terms that are then prioritized and presented in hypertext words or phases. These provide direct links to the various sites within the Web course materials. Like other features, this one is always available in the navigation frame.

F. Interactivity
The "Virtual Cell" was developed with funding from our Sloan Grant for use in Plant Biology 102 and the other introductory-level biology courses. It is written in POVray and permits users to move, dissect, and explore all common components of a typical plant cell, primarily by moving in for closer and closer observations of structure. Images of the cell at various points may be viewed with corresponding actual electron micro-photographs, with the detail of cell structure extending to the molecular level. At that final level, views within selected cell structures transform into small, repetitive movies that show molecular transformations, energy absorption, or other key steps in the relationship of functionality with structure. Meaningful interpretations can be made by students from high school through advanced undergraduate classes. The Virtual Cell has been partitioned so that portions are viewed as different lecture topics are presented. This work is now nearing completion, and other related approaches will be used to supplement the plant biology course notes in the future.

Projected Features. While most of the features will continue to be used, major changes are under way through the efforts of Tom Dolbilin (LiveText Publishing, Champaign, IL) to develop the complete framework for course delivery using Java technology. The user will initially notice little difference other than speed, but instructors will be able to insert text and illustrations, with no programming experience at all. Thus instructors will be able to conveniently develop and update materials. In time, students will also be able to submit graphically rich content, including equations and editable text. The new software is likely to be available commercially during the first quarter of 1997 and is expected to enable nearly any kind of course (science or otherwise) to be easily prepared for Web delivery by content experts, and with complete user customization.

The Virtual Cell is being extended through reprogramming into a form that will enable complete interactivity by students using projected images and shutter glasses within CAVE -- a 3D, immersive environment. Such a facility would allow students to virtually walk around inside a cell.

IV. CONCLUSION

This description of the current and projected use of Web resources to support an on-campus course in plant biology should be viewed in context. Not all of the features are desirable in off-campus delivery, or for inter-campus presentations. Along with the current use of the materials at UIUC, extensive planning and preparations have been made with faculty members in plant biology at Michigan State University and at Eastern Illinois University for inter-campus collaboration. Such collaboration raises the question of how to distribute ownership, royalties and tuition. It may also extend the learning venue of undergraduate students beyond their own campus, and lead to cost savings and higher quality content.

V. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project is supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation through the Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments (SCALE) on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Additional inter-campus activities have been supported through a Learning Technologies in Higher Education grant through the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, UIUC. The close working arrangements with Tom Dolbilin in the design of the software is acknowledged. Matej Lexa was responsible for the programming of Virtual Cell. Great appreciation is also due to the efforts of Eileene Coscolluela and Hyung-Shim Yoo in the preparation of course materials used on the Web.

Note: The above Web-based course materials may be accessed at: http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/pb102/