TY - JOUR
T1 - Anatomical self-efficacy of undergraduate students improves during a fully online biology course with at-home dissections
AU - Youngblood, Jacob P.
AU - Webb, Emily A.
AU - Gin, Logan E.
AU - van Leusen, Peter
AU - Henry, Joanna R.
AU - VandenBrooks, John M.
AU - Brownell, Sara E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge and thank the ASU Biology Education Research Laboratory for feedback on this work at different stages
Funding Information:
The course was taught by a tenured professor who was the instructor of record (J.M.V.) with the help of one to three adjunct instructors or graduate teaching assistants each term. The course was also supported by a laboratory coordinator (J.R.H.). During the course, the laboratory coordinator communicated with Carolina Biological Supply Co. to organize the creation and delivery of the dissection kits, whereas the teaching assistants graded the critical thinking exercises and dissection assignments. The course content was developed by the instructor (J.M.V.), who curated content and recorded lectures for CogBooks. The instructional videos were directed and produced by New Media Studios and EdPlus at Arizona State University (https://onlinestudio.asu.edu/). Two graduate students (E.A.W. and J.P.Y.) performed the instructional dissection videos and created the dissection primers with assistance from the laboratory coordinator and the course instructor. One Ph.D.-level instructional designer (P.v.L.) oversaw course development, which included organizing the production of the instructional videos and finalizing the course content on CogBooks and the learning management system (Canvas). Because our institution (Arizona State University) had existing partnerships with the learning management system (Canvas), the adaptive learning software (CogBooks), and the video production team (New Media Studios and EdPlus), the most substantial cost of development for this course was the cost of salary support for the developmental team.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. the American Physiological Society
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Student enrollments in online college courses have grown steadily over the past decade, and college administrators expect this trend to continue or accelerate. Despite the growing popularity of online education, one major critique in the sciences is that studentsare not trained in the hands-on skills they may need for the workforce, graduate school, or professional school. For example,the Association of American Medical Colleges has recommended that medical schools evaluate applicants on their motorskills and observation skills, yet many online biology programs do not offer opportunities for students to develop these skills. Inon-campus biology programs, students commonly develop these skills through hands-on animal dissections, but educators havestruggled with how to teach dissections in an online environment. We designed a fully online undergraduate biology course thatincludes at-home, hands-on dissections of eight vertebrate specimens. Over three course offerings, we evaluated changes infour student outcomes: anatomical self-efficacy, confidence in laboratory skills, perceptions of support, and concerns about dissections.Here, we describe how we implemented at-home dissections in the online course and show that students taking thecourse gained anatomical self-efficacy and confidence in multiple laboratory skills. Based on open-ended responses, the studentsperceived that their experiences with the at-home dissections facilitated these gains. These results demonstrate that athome,hands-on laboratories are a viable approach for teaching practical skills to students in fully online courses.
AB - Student enrollments in online college courses have grown steadily over the past decade, and college administrators expect this trend to continue or accelerate. Despite the growing popularity of online education, one major critique in the sciences is that studentsare not trained in the hands-on skills they may need for the workforce, graduate school, or professional school. For example,the Association of American Medical Colleges has recommended that medical schools evaluate applicants on their motorskills and observation skills, yet many online biology programs do not offer opportunities for students to develop these skills. Inon-campus biology programs, students commonly develop these skills through hands-on animal dissections, but educators havestruggled with how to teach dissections in an online environment. We designed a fully online undergraduate biology course thatincludes at-home, hands-on dissections of eight vertebrate specimens. Over three course offerings, we evaluated changes infour student outcomes: anatomical self-efficacy, confidence in laboratory skills, perceptions of support, and concerns about dissections.Here, we describe how we implemented at-home dissections in the online course and show that students taking thecourse gained anatomical self-efficacy and confidence in multiple laboratory skills. Based on open-ended responses, the studentsperceived that their experiences with the at-home dissections facilitated these gains. These results demonstrate that athome,hands-on laboratories are a viable approach for teaching practical skills to students in fully online courses.
KW - Anatomy
KW - Distance education
KW - Laboratory kit
KW - Online learning
KW - Zoology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123651191&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123651191&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1152/ADVAN.00139.2021
DO - 10.1152/ADVAN.00139.2021
M3 - Article
C2 - 34855541
AN - SCOPUS:85123651191
SN - 1043-4046
VL - 46
SP - 125
EP - 139
JO - American Journal of Physiology - Advances in Physiology Education
JF - American Journal of Physiology - Advances in Physiology Education
IS - 1
ER -