Use of Moodle group forums to facilitate an interactive exercise in a large Second Year class

1. Use of Moodle group forums to facilitate an interactive exercise in a large Second Year class Dr. Avril Edmond, Andrea Brown, Prof. Felicity Huntingford, Lorna Kennedy, Dr Mary McVey, Prof. Douglas Neil, Ian Reid, Anne Tierney a.edmond@bio.gla.ac.uk

2. Overview • Background • The Interactive Exercise • Aims and Objectives • Design of the exercise • Results • What we have learned • Conclusions and Future Direction

3. Level 2 Neuroscience and Behaviour • Background • 2nd year course • 10 Credits • Approximately 450 Students • 88% of students go on to Level 3 FBLS courses Research Exercise • Introduced in session 2005-06 • Drop-in Session • Early in course

4. Research Exercise • Self Teach Poster Session • Posters created by young FBLS researchers • Students study 3 of 9 posters • The Task • View poster • Think about the work • Answer questions • Encourage students to: • Engage with research within the faculty • Think about research design and interpretation • Meet the researcher • Assessment • Two MCQ questions

5. Exercise Feedback Course Evaluation • Rated as good • Room for improvement Comments ‘Only point I felt I did not greatly benefit from was the poster lab although it is good to see student works‘ 'Poster session caused a lot of confusion and was very busy - longer time and clearer instruction would be better‘ Staff –Student Liaison Meeting

6. Exercise Feedback Self Teach Poster Session • Pros • Exercise generally liked • Subject interesting • Aims of exercise still valid • Cons • Needs clearer instruction • Accessibility issues • Lacking feedback • Opportunity to meet researchers not taken up Exercise Redesign 2008 - 2009 • Aims • Improve Instructions • Improve Accessibility • Provide Feedback • Increase student / researcher engagement • Constraint • No requirement for extra class time

7. Exercise Redesign Ideas for Redesign: • Retain wide range of research subjects • Continue allowing students to choose subject • Allow students online access to resources • Encourage student interaction • Provide feedback Use of Moodle VLE

8. Use of Moodle • Why use Moodle? • Supported by University • Easy storage of online resources • Students familiar with the system • Ability to use Group Forums - History of successful use with several other level 1 and level 2 courses • Students familiar with the forum format • Facilitates peer discussion • Facilitates researcher feedback

9. LTDF Project Current LTDF project Extent and type of usage in Biology 1A and 1B being evaluated Aim of project to establish ‘best practice’ Create a manual on setting up group forums using Moodle Opportunity to introduce and evaluate Moodle group forum usage in another large biology course

10. Exercise Details • Information Provided • Exercise introduced during first lecture • Aims of exercise • Assessment - 2 questions • Trailers for each topic released • Group sign-up opened • Choose a topic • Access to group forum • Assignment deadlines released - Tasks to be posted on forum

11. Research Trailers Who did the work: The work described here was carried out by Monica Vanessa Garduno Paz, who is writing up her PhD thesis on plasticity of jaw structure in fishes and its possible role in speciation. Her PhD has been supported by a scholarship from the Mexican Government, and when she has her doctorate, Monica will return to Mexico to take up a post in the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico.

12. Assignments • Design of Assignments • Lead students through research • Gradual release of information • Small tasks • Short timescale – retain momentum • How did it work? • Assignment released • - Questions to be answered • Student response on forum • Assignment 2 released • - Feedback on responses supplied • - Further information • - Questions to be answered

13. Assignment Example Assignment 1 – Research Hypothesis

14. Forum Posts Assignment 1 – Forum Posts

15. Feedback Assignment 1 – Feedback from Researchers The possibility of testing the same female several times was also discussed; this would reduce “noise” due to uncontrolled variables, but as one of you rightly pointed out her motivation might well change with time. (Female sticklebacks do indeed get less choosy if their eggs are getting over-mature). These are all issues that researchers working on mate choice have had to wrestle with and between you, you have covered more or less all of the angles in an excellent set of comments.

16. Assignments Assignment 2 – Experimental Design Think about the design of these two studies and post any comments (positive or negative) that you may have about them.

17. Further Assignments and Group Quiz • Series of Assignments • Results, Conclusions • Comments Invited • Feedback posted • Moodle Quiz • 2 questions per group • Not assessed

18. Results • Evaluation • Moodle Site Statistics • Student Questionnaires • Researcher Interviews • Course Staff Debrief Meeting

19. Results - Group Sizes Number of students signing up for each group • Results • 420 students signed up • Topic Choice - 70% ns • Topics H and I popular b – behaviour ns – neuroscience N=420

20. Results - Group Forum Activity Student activity within each group • 3 participation types • % of group in each category • Results • Activity in all groups • Direct participation >30% • No effect of group size

21. What the students said… • Student Questionnaire • Qualitative Results What if anything did you particularly like / dislike about this exercise? • Liked Topic, variety of topics • Liked Research / studying real research / real science • Disliked timescales / too fast • ‘Encouraged awareness of further research projects and potential career paths for graduating student; allowed open discussion; encouraged exchanging of ideas’ • ‘I liked having an insight into actual research done by students.’

22. What the students said… What do you think you have learned from this exercise? • Experimental design / techniques / methods • About specific research topic • Postgraduate research / work of researchers • ‘I have learned how much thought must go into experimental design; how a particular design is chosen and that there are benefits and drawbacks to each way of doing things’ • ‘More about experimental procedures, a bit more about what it would be like doing research myself’ What are the disadvantages of the Moodle group forum? • Lack of participation / motivation to participate • Repetitive messages • Not as good as tutorials / face-to-face • ‘Can get repetitive as everyone wants to post something but has no more to add so writes the same and / or I agree; That put me off posting if I was one of the later ones to read the assignment’

23. What the researchers said… What did you like / dislike about the project? • Enjoyed seeing the suggestions made • Liked that students early in their career got the opportunity to study actual projects • ‘Indeed the course was a brilliant idea. I liked the idea of making students think about research work from this early stage and encourage them to search and explore’ Benefits to the researcher in taking part? • Improving communication skills • Confirming research ideas • ‘It is helpful to get the opportunity to communicate this to different audiences as every time you do this, you learn more about how to communicate effectively and it reminds you not to get bogged down in the minutia‘ • ‘Astounded by the insights and suggestions received’ • Anything you feel should be changed? • Face-to-face meeting should be timetabled

24. So what did we learn? Group sign-up worked • Forum Use • All groups used the forums • Participation rates were high • Forum use tailed off towards the end of the project Forums Worked • Students • Did not like the timescale • Appreciated the choice of subjects • Enjoyed studying real research • Felt they learned about experimental design and analysis Students appreciated studying work in progress • Researchers / Teachers • Increased science communication skills • Appreciated seeing student’s suggestions Has benefits for researchers / teachers

25. Future Directions • Making the forums even better • Reduction in group sizes • Hide forum posts from students initially • Improving the timescale • Removal of one assignment • Assignments more evenly spread across the time • Promoting Personal Contact • Inclusion of a face-to-face meeting – timing issues

26. Acknowledgements • 450 patient second year students • University Teachers • Maureen Griffiths, Pam Scott • Moodle support • Craig Brown, Dave Scotson • Learning and Teaching Support • Jane MacKenzie, Amanda Sykes • Learning and Teaching Development Fund a.edmond@bio.gla.ac.uk