Context

1. Context • Learning Problem: Many students are under-prepared for freshman biology courses. They have difficulty using their biology textbook and performing well on exams due to poor reading skills. They also have negative perceptions/attitudes towards biology due to a lack of confidence in their reading ability. • Target: 150 Biology majors in a Freshman Seminar class (focused student success and the transition to college) • Solving this problem impacts student success as measured by: • Gains in reading comprehension • Changes in Attitudes, Motivation, and Perception • Retention in the Major • Overall GPA • Performance in Introductory Biology

2. Research Question • Does reading annotation improve student performance and attitudes about biology? • Design: • Select 2-4 topics of = difficulty • Divide the class by lab section, and annotate using traditional methods in 3 sections, and digitally on iPad with the other 3 sections assess • With second topic, flip flop so that each group uses iPad and traditional annotation assess

3. Why is this Interesting? • I am interested in Student Success and how students learn! • We are piloting our freshman seminar and would like information that what we are doing impacts student learning, motivation, perception, and attitudes (and retention) • Understanding the role technology plays in education is of interest to me, the Dept., the college, and the University

4. Alignment • Collected data will measure: • Gains in reading comprehension (quantitative reading comprehension assessment) • Changes in Attitudes, Motivation, and Perception (qualitative survey) • Retention in the Major • Overall GPA • Performance in Introductory Biology (embedded exam questions) • Impact of technology on above items (statistical analysis of data)