Is a web based course a better way to teach biology than in a traditional classroom?

Many in the sciences have embraced the web concept of teaching by placing their course material on the web for others to share. If one were to do a web search for a common topic of biology courses, such as biome, one would find numerous sites developed by experts in the field anxious to share their best descriptions, pictures and animations with us. In our "lectures", I will make extensive use of the best visuals available on the web.

You will need to take more responsibility for your actions in this course than in a traditional lecture course. The information presented and the learning expectations for the exams will be very similar to those in a traditional biology lecture course.

Ask yourself what you get from a traditional lecture. Why do you attend (or not attend) lectures and what adjustments will you need to make in your study habits to be able to learn the information presented.

Taking notes is an activity you likely participate in when you attend a lecture. An expert on the subject is speaking and you are trying to learn what is being presented. Learning takes place when you are actively involved in manipulating the information presented. You are hearing the instructor deliver the lecture, you are watching information being written on the blackboard, and you are actively summarizing the information presented in your notes. If the class is not too large and you are not too intimidated, you will ask questions if you don't understand.

You are also alertly and very keenly trying to read the instructors mind and determine by mannerisms, voice inflections or direct questioning what is likely to be on the exams. All of this has been happening at least since the days of Aristotle several hundred years BC. In spite of tremendous changes in technology, with the exception of increasing class sizes, the University learning process has remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of years.

In this course, we are taking a huge leap in a different direction. We are attempting to substitute for, and perhaps even improve on, the traditional learning process. What has changed that could allow us to do this? For one thing, technology has changed. The web has created an environment where we can travel anywhere in the world via our computer screens.

Perhaps most importantly, students have changed and their expectations have changed from those of previous generations. Many of you are "digital natives". You are part of a generation that likely played video games before you could walk or talk. You grew up with Sesame Street, Barney, Carmen San Diego, and other educational television programs teaching you the basics of language, math and science before you actually went to school.

How do you learn your way through video games? How did Big Bird teach you to read? I don't actually know. Practice, repetition, memorization, and synthesis of ideas are all involved in learning. In both video games and classroom lectures, your senses and your concentration are engaged, and you manipulate the information presented. Differently perhaps, but hopefully just as effectively, as when you are sitting in a classroom lecture. And which have you found to be more enjoyable?

In this course, you may find that since the lecture material has already been written down for you, that you do not need to take as many notes as in a traditional course.

You must make the time each week to log onto the course, read the lecture material, participate in the Virtual Office, and write your essays. Do yourself a favor and put the due dates for assignments down on your calendar as you read through this Syllabus. Not completing assignments on time is the main reason some people have done poorly in this course in the past.

But, how will you know what is going to be on the exams? Well, we don't actually have video games, but I have placed at least 70% of the questions (linked interactively to their answers) that will be on the midterm and 80% of the questions that will be on the final within the lecture notes. The remaining questions will be from the lecture notes and will be similar to the ones given to you. Please use the review questions as a study guide for the information presented in the lectures, not as a substitute for them. Remember that you will only get out of this course what you put into it. If you choose to just memorize the review questions without studying the lectures, it is likely that you will end up feeling like you have not learned much of anything, and that will be true.

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