Summary In a lecture with a big number of students various e-learning offers are provided in order to check on the learning progress of the students and, if necessary, to adjust the contents of the course. Self-tests can be used for individual learning checks and in forums questions can be asked about the learning content. The results and the questions are dealt with during the actual lectures. The lecture "Methods of genetics and molecular biology" at the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy has many students enrolled and no tutorials are available. In order to reach the individual students and gain some knowledge of their actual learning status, self-tests and forums were implemented in Blackboard. The online self-tests were offered as learning checks and for the preparation of the exam in Blackboard after the lecture. In addition, questions on the learning content were posted in the forums. The lecturer thereby received an insight to the learning status of the participants and was able to use the information in order to optimize the course. The students were able to assess their own knowledge status, uncover knowledge gaps and were able to review some examples of possible exam questions. |
| Course title | Methods of genetics and molecular biology |
| Course type | Lecture |
| Department/Institute | Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy |
| Degree program | Bachelor |
| Lecturer | Dr. Alexander Heyl |
| No. of participants | approx. 150 participants |
| Phase | Accompanying the course |
| Duration | one semester |
| SWS/CP | 2 SWS |
Blackboard, tests and surveys in Blackboard
The central LMS Blackboard was implemented for the lectures, especially the content areas for the provision of material, the discussion forum for questions posed by the students and tests for self-checks.
Illustration 1: Screenshot of the subfolder "Course material methods lecture"
The main function of the face-to-face course was the frontal dissemination of knowledge. This was enriched with e-learning offers. For one, the self-tests in which students answered questions on the contents of the previous lecture. The questions within the self-tests have two functions. The students should self-check themselves by answering the questions and thereby assess if they have correctly understood the lecture contents. As the questions were similar style-wise to the later exam questions, answering the questions served not just as content preparation for the exam but was also a formal preparation (type of questions being asked). At the same time, the course lecturer was able to discern if the students had understood the lecture contents from what and how the students answered. Neither the learning check nor participating in the discussion forum were mandatory.
Illustration 2: Blended learning concept
Illustration 2 shows the blended learning concept; i.e. the interaction between the lectures and the e-learning elements: Ideally, the self-test is posted together with the lecture slides in Blackboard approx. 24 hours before the course begins. The self-test also provided the answers directly; therefore no special supervision was necessary here. The forum was checked every 48 hours and, if needed, help and pointers were provided. In case the results of the self-tests and the forum posts pointed to problems with the comprehension of the lecture contents, then these aspects are re-discussed during the next face-to-face session. Planning in this manner presumes that all students have access - either privately or via Zedat - to a computer in order to be able to log in to Blackboard and work within the system.
The students were introduced to the usage of the various Blackboard areas during the first lecture hour. The possibilities of using the self-tests were pointed out. All in all, around 30-40% of the students took part in the self-tests at the start. This participation percentage was under that expected as, in the past, the students often asked about preparatory exam questions. For future use we are thinking of providing the right answers as a document so that the students receive the correct answers directly after entering their answers.
The students did not participate in the discussion forum. At the same time, about 50 reading hits were registered during the semester. Even though posts could be anonymous, the inhibitions to participate in the forum were apparently high. .
In the course two e-learning tools were implemented and only one of these was used. The experiences made by the lecturer show that an introduction to the tools is necessary for the students as not all of them seem to know how to use and work with Blackboard. The events and results of the online environment should also be taken up in the face-to-face sessions. For example, questions that were answered incorrectly by more than 30% of the participants within the self-tests were taken up during the lecture once again and explained in another manner.