The Influence of Iterative Online Course Designs on Student Learning Outcomes in Large Undergraduate Biology Courses and Labs

IF 1.9 3区教育学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education Pub Date : 2023-12-04 DOI:10.1007/s10763-023-10429-z

Brenda Such, Stefanie Gazda

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Abstract

The expectations within higher education to improve online STEM courses have continued to increase. The pressure to do so particularly pertains to the lower-level introductory courses that act as gatekeeping courses to various STEM-related majors. Rather than working alone to improve their courses, more instructors for these courses pair with the respective instructional designers at their institutions to refresh or revise, their online courses. This study examines the revisions of a two-part introduction-to-biology series of online courses with their respective online labs over the span of three years, and from a sampling of 905 students, compares the final scores from the courses and the labs between each iteration. Findings indicate that multiple iterations of a course have the potential to increase student outcomes and to decrease the student dropout rate over time. Additionally, purely online students can perform differently in response to course revisions in comparison to the online students who also enroll in non-online courses, implying that the needs of online-only students may differ from those who have a blended learning experience.

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迭代式网络课程设计对大学生生物学大型课程与实验学习成果的影响

高等教育内部对改进在线STEM课程的期望不断增加。这样做的压力尤其体现在较低水平的入门课程上，这些课程是通往各种stem相关专业的把关课程。这些课程的教师不再独自改进他们的课程，而是与各自机构的教学设计师合作，更新或修改他们的在线课程。本研究考察了三年来两部分的生物学入门系列在线课程及其各自的在线实验的修订情况，并从905名学生中抽样，比较了每次迭代的课程和实验的最终分数。研究结果表明，随着时间的推移，课程的多次迭代有可能提高学生的学习成绩，降低学生的辍学率。此外，纯在线学生对课程修订的反应可能与同时参加非在线课程的在线学生不同，这意味着纯在线学生的需求可能与那些有混合学习经历的学生不同。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

9.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： The objective of this journal is to publish original, fully peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics and research methods in both science and mathematics education. The journal welcomes articles that address common issues in mathematics and science education and cross-curricular dimensions more widely. Specific attention will be paid to manuscripts written by authors whose native language is not English and the editors have made arrangements for support in re-writing where appropriate. Contemporary educators highlight the importance of viewing knowledge as context-oriented and not limited to one domain. This concurs with current curriculum reforms worldwide for interdisciplinary and integrated curricula. Modern educational practice also focuses on the use of new technology in assisting instruction which may be easily implemented into such an integrated curriculum. The journal welcomes studies that explore science and mathematics education from different cultural perspectives.