Increasing the opportunity for students to be involved in inquiry-based activities can improve engagement with content and assist in the development of analysis and critical thinking skills. The science laboratory has traditionally been used as a platform to apply the content gained through the lecture series. These activities have exposed students to experiments which test the concepts taught but which often result in a predicted outcome. To improve the engagement and learning outcomes of our large first year biology cohort, the laboratories were redeveloped. Superlabs were run with 100 students attending weekly sessions increasing the amount of contact time from previous years. Laboratories were redeveloped into guided-inquiry and educators facilitated teams of students to design and carry out an experiment. To analyse the impact of the redevelopment on student satisfaction and learning outcomes, students were surveyed and multiple choice exam data was compared before and after the redevelopment. Results suggest high levels of student satisfaction and a significant improvement in student learning outcomes. All disciplines should consider including inquiry-based activities as a methodology to improve student engagement and learning outcome as it fosters the development of independent learners.
I Told You So. By Way of Introduction. (Tara) I am a five-foot two Australian woman working in the humanities. I am accustomed to be ignored, mansplained, marginalized or described as 'wrong' or 'too theoretical' or 'naïve' in multiple languages. But on this singular occasion, my predictions were correct. Completely and saturatingly correct. My first full-time academic post was in 1994, in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Large lecture theatres. Huge student cohorts. I was a junior, contract staff member that fulfilled the housework functions of a traditional, conservative history department. Moving through a series of contract roles, I was tenured by 1998 as I started to teach online classes in addition to on-campus and distance education modes. As early adopters of e-learning, my colleagues and I were left angry, manipulated, deceived and exploited, enduring third-rate learning management systems, incompetent 'leadership' decisions about teaching and learning, no funding and ridiculous timelines. It was dreadful. The entire e-learning movement at this time can be captured by a t-shirt slogan andragogy: "get it online." The 'it' is important to identify. 'It' was content. No time nor expertise were given to explore the relationship between form and content, ponder interface management and multimodality, universal design, deficit models of teaching and learning, the availability of hardware and software in regional, rural and remote locations, or the information literacy of academics or students. "Get it online" was the crow call. Because of a lack of professional development, this strategy failed. Compliance dominated. In the rush to 'get it online,' study guides and syllabi were saved to PDF and uploaded. Live lectures were recorded and posted online. Substandard content began filling and clogging learning management systems without carefully developed born-digital objects. Poor lectures-and poor lecturers-were revealed, amplified and enhanced through this process. Academics had not complied. They had not innovated. Instead, their lectures were automatically recorded and their study guides were digitized. This was the online learning revolution that never happened. I was angry. I am still angry. As an Australian woman working in the humanities, anger is my primary socialization. It then translates into rage, frustration and bitterness. I am an academic that-alongside my disciplinary expertise-also completed Bachelor and Master's degrees in Education. To this day, it amazes me that academics teach without any formal learning in how to do so. Certainly, some lunchtime seminars or a graduate certificate sands off the roughest of edges of incompetence. But the construction of curriculum, backward mapping, multimodal materials that activate diverse approaches to learning outcomes for diverse student cohorts, require more learning and professional development than is possible through a session on "how to create a rubric."
First year biology students at Flinders University with no prior biology background knowledge fail at almost twice the rate as those with a background. To remedy this discrepancy we enabled students to attend a weekly series of pre-lectures aimed at providing basic biological concepts, thereby removing the need for students to complete a prerequisite course. The overall failure rate of first year biology students was lowered and the gap between students with and without the background knowledge was significantly reduced. The overall effect of the implementation of pre-lectures was a more appropriate level of teaching for the first year students, neither too difficult for students without a prior biology background and no longer too easy (or repetitive) for students with high school level biology.
A PhD in science demands rigour, repeatability, and accountability. Epistemological, methodological, and ontological expectations flood the policies, procedures, and practice. One mode of doctorate has existed beyond the typical parameters of science: the artefact and exegesis PhD. Most commonly positioned in the creative arts and creative writing, how could this mode of doctorate be deployed in the sciences? This article, written by three academics who shared this innovative supervisory space, reveals the strengths and challenges that emerge from this innovative form and content for research. Our goal is to open out transformative spaces for doctoral education through diverse disciplines. Ilmuwan, Artefak, dan Eksegesis: Menantang Parameter PhDAbstrakGelar PhD dalam sains menuntut ketelitian, pengulangan, dan akuntabilitas. Harapan epistemologis, metodologis, dan ontologis membanjiri kebijakan, prosedur, dan praktik. Satu mode doktor telah ada di luar parameter khas sains: artefak dan eksegesis PhD. Paling sering diposisikan dalam seni kreatif dan penulisan kreatif, bagaimana mode doktor ini dapat digunakan dalam sains? Artikel yang ditulis oleh tiga akademisi yang berbagi ruang pengawasan inovatif ini mengungkapkan kekuatan dan tantangan yang muncul dari bentuk dan konten inovatif untuk penelitian ini. Tujuan kami adalah untuk membuka ruang transformatif untuk pendidikan doktoral melalui beragam disiplin ilmu.
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