Blending Human Biology: Students as Creators in the Online and On-Campus Environments

Title

Blending Human Biology: Students as Creators in the Online and On-Campus Environments

Author(s)

Dr Jamie Chapman

Presentation Goals

• Understand successes and challenges associated with embracing blended learning in a relatively large on-campus introductory unit;
• Hear about two blended group-learning tasks: a Wiki and an anatomical body painting experience and consider these tasks from three perspectives: academic, technical/administrative and student.

Subtheme

UTAS Blended Learning Model

Presentation Type

Spotlight on Practice

Keywords

human biology, high impact learning experience, body painting

Room

Social Sciences 210

Time

14.05-15.05

Abstract

The shift from "students as consumers" to "students as creators" of content has been highlighted as one of the developing themes in higher education. In order to more fully engage in blended learning and to promote group work, several new tasks were introduced to the first semester, introductory level, Human Biology unit. Specifically, aspects relating to the introduction of an online group cell biology wiki task (termed The Encyclopedia) and an on-campus anatomical body painting practical will be presented. The group wiki task involved groups of three students, over the course of the semester, creating a wiki page (500-1000 words) on a specific cell type, describing its development, broader relationships in the human body, structure and function and a pathological condition associated with this cell type (and, for Pharmacy students, a drug that treats this condition). Generally, while students performed very well in this task, with an average grade of 73%, the administration and assessment of this task was very challenging due to the class size (~170 students in 60 groups) and continual manual administration of group members within the UTAS Wiki software (Confluence). Anatomical body painting was introduced as a relatively low cost, high impact on-campus learning experience to reinforce the learning of musculoskeletal anatomy. Students, working in small groups, painted the skeletal (right side) and muscular (left side) anatomy of the upper limb on a peer, highlighting major structures and functional relationships. Students found this visual method of learning informative (60% of respondents) and/or an enjoyable experience (48%), however would have preferred to see more direction and/or discussion of the anatomy (47%). Suggested modifications of these tasks for future iterations will be described.