CSULA Virtual Lab Project

CSU eAcademy Workshop for Proven Course RedesignOnline Courses and Virtual Labs in Biology II

15-16 January 2014

What courses are being redesigned?

BIOL 155 ─ Animal Biology (4) 10 week course with 3 hours of lecture and 3

hours of laboratory per week Satisfies GE Block B2 Usually 192 students with 8 lab sections of 24

students each Facility and labor intensive

What does the course redesign involve? Overview

– Redesigning a GE biology laboratory course– Replace traditional labs with engaging inquiry-

based exercises– Experiment with different modes of delivery– Two new modes of lab instruction vs. traditional

(1) ALL labs online and (2) TWO tracks online & wet labs alternating every week

– Use GAs for “drop-in help center” and grading

Assessment (formative and summative)– Hired an assessment evaluator (Dr. Ji Son)– Pre- and post-course student surveys– Assess student attitudes (BioCLASS: Colorado

Learning Attitudes about Science Survey)– Knowledge: Natural Selection Concept Inventory

(Anderson, Fisher, & Norman, 2002)– Performance individual activities and course

grades– Comparison of different virtual lab products

(Biology labs OnLine vs. Smart Science Labs)

Online Labs– Ten weekly labs in each lab section will be

offered online– Drop-In Help Center staffed by GAs

Hybrid Labs– Five weekly labs in each lab section will be

offered online; the other five will be wet labs. – Eight of the 16 lab sections will start with wet

labs and alternate with online labs. – The remaining eight sections will begin with

online labs and alternate with wet labs.

Virtual Lab Assignments (distributed via Moodle)– Two types of lab assignment: (1) lab exercises &

(2) lab reports– All lab topics have a lab exercise, two lab topics

also require reports– Lab exercises require the student to conduct

experiments and interpret the results by answering multiple choice questions in Moodle

– Lab reports require that students address a specific scientific question by designing and carrying out an experiments and reporting the results and conclusions using a template for producing a brief scientific report

Who is involved in each project?

Bob Desharnais, FT faculty, Project Director Paul Narguizian, FT faculty, Project Co-Director Dwight Beltz, PT faculty, BIOL 155 Instructor Barbara Veno, PT faculty, BIOL 155 Instructor Ji Son, FT faculty in Psychology, Evaluator

When will the courses be offered?

Fall 2013 (two large lecture sections and 16 all online lab sections = 24 students in each lab with 6 GAs @ 10 hrs/week)

Winter 2014 (two large lecture sections and 8 all online lab sections = 24 students in each lab with 3 GAs @ 10 hrs/week; 8 all wet lab sections = 24 students in each)

Spring 2014 (two large lecture sections and 16 hybrid lab sections = 24 students/lab)

What software/products will be used?

TWO web-based products:

1. Biology Labs Online (BiologyLabsOnline.com) which uses simulations.

2. Smart Science Labs (SmartScience.net) which uses videos of real lab experiments.

Table 1. Online Activities to be Used as Virtual LabsActivity Topics

Biology Labs On-Line

CardioLab cardiovascular physiology

DemographyLab age-structured human population growth

EvolutionLab variability, heritability, and adaptation through natural selection

FlyLab dominant and recessive traits, Mendelian ratios, sex-linkage

PopEcoLab population growth, competition, predation

TranslationLab codons, the genetic code

SmartScience Labs

Animal behavior animal taxis, habitat preference

Enzymes & pH enzyme catalysis, reaction rates, optimal pH

Frog dissection anatomy of major organs

How many students will be served?

– A total of 2-4 sections of BIOL 155 has traditionally been offered per year. This is approximately 400-800 students.

– We anticipate being able to offer 6-8 sections per year serving approximately1200-1600 students.

How does the project address “bottleneck” issues?

– Online labs would allow enrollments to be increased to the capacity of the lecture hall.

– Reduce the need for lab facilities, and reduce staffing costs.– Example, @ CSULA (quarter system) we offer BIOL 155 with 8

lab sections of 24 students each (38.4 FTES).– Personnel needs are 22 units for instruction (6 units for large

lecture and lab coordination, 16 units for labs) and 5 hours of graduate assistance (GA).

– Using a rate of $1105/unit instruction and $14.80/hr/GA, the total cost is $25,050. A course of the same size with virtual labs, assuming 30 hours of GA help for drop-in assistance and grading, costs $11,070.

– Using a rate of $1105/unit instruction and $14.80/hr/GA, the total cost is $25,050. A course of the same size with virtual labs, assuming 30 hours of GA help for drop-in assistance and grading, costs $11,070.

– Thus a course taught with all virtual labs could be offered at 44% of the current cost with no impact on physical lab facilities. A similar calculation for half online and half wet labs would be 71% of the traditional cost and would double the throughput capacity of the physical lab facilities.

Student Usage

Home School Other (e.g., Work)

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Where did students access virtual labs?

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Student Usage

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What devices were used to access virtual labs?

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Student Learning: Natural Selection

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Natural Selection Concept Inventory (Anderson, Fisher, & Norman, 2002)

Student Ratings

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Smart ScienceBiology Labs On-lineR

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Generally students rated BLO better than Smart Science… felt that BLO contributed more to their understanding and appreciation of science/biology than Smart Science.

Student Ratings

5153555759

Smart ScienceBiology Labs Online