Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting

Online courses are a large and growing part of the undergraduate education landscape, but many biology instructors are skeptical about the effectiveness of online instruction. We reviewed studies comparing the effectiveness of online and face-to-face (F2F) undergraduate biology courses. Five studies...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Rachel Biel, Cynthia J. Brame
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2016
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c25c862bc6544eaf8fd55308f19ce653
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:c25c862bc6544eaf8fd55308f19ce653
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c25c862bc6544eaf8fd55308f19ce6532021-11-15T15:13:57ZTraditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting10.1128/jmbe.v17i3.11571935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/c25c862bc6544eaf8fd55308f19ce6532016-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v17i3.1157https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885Online courses are a large and growing part of the undergraduate education landscape, but many biology instructors are skeptical about the effectiveness of online instruction. We reviewed studies comparing the effectiveness of online and face-to-face (F2F) undergraduate biology courses. Five studies compared student performance in multiple course sections at community colleges, while eight were smaller scale and compared student performance in particular biology courses at a variety of types of institutions. Of the larger-scale studies, two found that students in F2F sections outperformed students in online sections, and three found no significant difference; it should be noted, however, that these studies reported little information about course design. Of the eight smaller scale studies, six found no significant difference in student performance between the F2F and online sections, while two found that the online sections outperformed the F2F sections. In alignment with general findings about online teaching and learning, these results suggest that well-designed online biology courses can be effective at promoting student learning. Three recommendations for effective online instruction in biology are given: the inclusion of an online orientation to acclimate students to the online classroom; student-instructor and student-student interactions facilitated through synchronous and asynchronous communication; and elements that prompt student reflection and self-assessment. We conclude that well-designed online biology courses can be as effective as their traditional counterparts, but that more research is needed to elucidate specific course elements and structures that can maximize online students’ learning of key biology skills and concepts.Rachel BielCynthia J. BrameAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 17, Iss 3, Pp 417-422 (2016)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Rachel Biel Cynthia J. Brame Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting
description	Online courses are a large and growing part of the undergraduate education landscape, but many biology instructors are skeptical about the effectiveness of online instruction. We reviewed studies comparing the effectiveness of online and face-to-face (F2F) undergraduate biology courses. Five studies compared student performance in multiple course sections at community colleges, while eight were smaller scale and compared student performance in particular biology courses at a variety of types of institutions. Of the larger-scale studies, two found that students in F2F sections outperformed students in online sections, and three found no significant difference; it should be noted, however, that these studies reported little information about course design. Of the eight smaller scale studies, six found no significant difference in student performance between the F2F and online sections, while two found that the online sections outperformed the F2F sections. In alignment with general findings about online teaching and learning, these results suggest that well-designed online biology courses can be effective at promoting student learning. Three recommendations for effective online instruction in biology are given: the inclusion of an online orientation to acclimate students to the online classroom; student-instructor and student-student interactions facilitated through synchronous and asynchronous communication; and elements that prompt student reflection and self-assessment. We conclude that well-designed online biology courses can be as effective as their traditional counterparts, but that more research is needed to elucidate specific course elements and structures that can maximize online students’ learning of key biology skills and concepts.
format	article
author	Rachel Biel Cynthia J. Brame
author_facet	Rachel Biel Cynthia J. Brame
author_sort	Rachel Biel
title	Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting
title_short	Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting
title_full	Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting
title_fullStr	Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting
title_full_unstemmed	Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting
title_sort	traditional versus online biology courses: connecting course design and student learning in an online setting
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2016
url	https://doaj.org/article/c25c862bc6544eaf8fd55308f19ce653
work_keys_str_mv	AT rachelbiel traditionalversusonlinebiologycoursesconnectingcoursedesignandstudentlearninginanonlinesetting AT cynthiajbrame traditionalversusonlinebiologycoursesconnectingcoursedesignandstudentlearninginanonlinesetting
_version_	1718428217556074496

Traditional Versus Online Biology Courses: Connecting Course Design and Student Learning in an Online Setting

Ejemplares similares