Well-defined
experiments on courses that are given on-site at Uppsala University and
Karolinska Institute as well as on-line for students from many different places
in Sweden will be performed in order to compare the efficiency of different
alternative learning situations in interdisciplinary research areas. This is
accomplished by bringing together scientists and teachers from disparate
disciplines to stimulate an exchange of ideas and foster cross-disciplinary
educational interaction. The aim is to present the learning material in the
form of web-based modules and examine how to best incorporate these modules
into different infrastructures. Information on courses used as test-beds is
available at http://linnaeus.bmc.uu.se/wgln_bioinfo.html
Educational evaluation aims and goals
The
objective of this project is to test hypotheses for student learning in
situations where the information/knowledge to be acquired is of a highly
complex nature and dynamic in time. Bioinformatics is such a discipline,
bridging biology, medicine, mathematics and computer science with an extremely
rapid half-life. Students are faced with an increasing mass of information to
digest at the same time as this information is being updated, or even replaced,
at a rapid rate. This type of learning situation is likely to become a rule
rather than an exception in most disciplines in the near future. Therefore
there is a need to evaluate different models for student learning in complex
and highly dynamic information environments. Bioinformatics is a suitable testing
ground for controlled experiments in the area of learning and teaching. The aim
is to examine how well students integrate the three different subjects in
Bioinformatics and how such integration can be promoted in the future.
We have
created a large set of preliminary modules in the areas of bioinformatics
related to genome analysis, such as Biological databases, Genome assembly,
Genome analysis, Phylogeny, Gene expression, Metabolic networks, Protein
sequence information, Structure prediction and Proteomics. Students in media
have designed a common interface for the modules and the modules completed so
far have been placed under this general design. See for example: http://web1.ebc.uu.se/molev/swell/modules/biodata_mod1.html and http://web1.ebc.uu.se/molev/swell/modules/modules_1/ex/blast/index.html.
The first
set of course modules was implemented in on-site courses at Uppsala University
(http://linnaeus.bmc.uu.se/course/bioinfo/)
and Karolinska Institute as well as in a national on-line course (http://linnaeus.bmc.uu.se/course/distance/)
during the fall of –00.
A second
set of course modules was created during the spring of –01 and implemented
during an on-line course (http://linnaeus.bmc.uu.se/course/sommar/)
given during the summer of –01 with teachers from Uppsala University and
Karolinska Institute. In this course we used a new platform for web-based
learning, Ping Pong (http://wbl.uu.se/)
To
broaden the perspectives of the project, we have initiated contacts with
Stanford University (USA), National University of Singapore (Singapore),
University of Sydney (Australia), University of Western Cape (SouthAfrica).
These contacts have resulted in a first prototype global course with on-line
lectures and excerices that is open to the public. Our attempt to establish a
global alliance for the development of courses, tools and infrastructure for
bioinformatics education was reported in Nature (Nature
2001, 411:513)
The experiments performed during the fall of –00 have
resulted in a new evaluation-based learning model that was jointly developed by
the faculty and members of the assessment team. The basic goal is to let the students play an
active role in evaluating and redesigning the learning environment so as to fit
with their individual needs and limitations.
We stimulated the students and the teachers to work jointly on improving gaps in the understanding of important concepts, as revealed by the on-line evaluation schemes and the exam. The students created new pages to the web-book that presented the content in what they considered to be a better manner. The aim was to improve students understanding as well as the learning environment for next year’s students. This method of learning is reciprocal in the meaning that the teachers guide the students learning in response to their individual needs (teacher to student), and the students then guide the teachers in how to design a learning environment that full-fills these individual needs (student to teacher). An example of student-designed pages for the web-page can be found at:
http://web1.ebc.uu.se/molev/student/sara/index.html
The
students contributions will be tested in the courses to be given during the
fall of –01.
The new pedagogic
model is described in a paper that was presented at the first European Conference on Computer-Supported
Collaborative Learning in Maastricht, March –01 (http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/euro-cscl/).
This
model is of particular relevance for learning in information intense and cross-disciplinary
environments. In such fields there is a tendency for the lecturers to teach
their specialised fields of research in a manner that is optimal for students
within that area, but not necessarily for students with another background.
This raises complications when teaching inter-disciplinary research fields. We
believe that a reciprocal, evaluation-based collaborative learning scheme will
solve part of these problems by stimulating communications across disciplines
and fostering integration of the sub-disciplines in a learning-productive
manner.
Goal
Accomplishment
According to the goals described in the project proposal,
we have created a large set of course modules that have been implemented in a
variety of courses given during 00 and 01. We have decided to use ping-pong as
our technology platform and implemented it in a course given during the summer
of –01.
According to the goals described
in the project proposal, we have initiated an extensive evaluation program that
has been used during all of our courses.
We have developed a new
pedagogic model, referred to as evaluation-based learning, based on the results
obtained from the courses given during the fall –00.
We have generated publicity for this project in the form of
• oral
presentations in meetings at Uppsala and Stockholm.
• oral
presentation at the European Conference on
Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning in Maastricht, March –01 (http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/euro-cscl/).
• a report in Nature about our
attempts to create a global alliance for bioinformatics education, May -01 (Nature 2001, 411:513)
• the organization of an international workshop on bionformatics
education, WEB01, July -01 (http://surya.bic.nus.edu.sg/web01/)
The
current state of the project is in line with the initial project plan as
detailed below:
Step 1: January
– July 2000: Creation of flexible facts and modules.
First
round of designing flexible facts and modules is completed in line with the
action plan.
Step 2: July – December 2000: Course execution and assessment.
First
round of course execution is completed in line with the action plan.
Step 3: January – July 2001: Evaluation.
Second
round of designing flexible facts and modules has been initiated. The use of
ping-pong as our technological support system has been implemented in a course
given during the summer of -01. An in-depth evaluation of the experimental
results obtained from the courses given during the fall of –01 has been
initiated.
The
assessment has been slightly delayed due to difficulties in accessing the data
stored in the database at the Karolinska Institute that contains the results of
the daily on-line evaluations. We have nevertheless decided to continue using
the KI-developed system for evaluation so as to use the same system throughout
the entire period of the project. It has been difficult for us to establish
collaborative links with Stanford due to the lack of funding for the
bionformatics project by Stanford Learning Lab. However, we will discuss these
issues with representatives from Stanford University during the WEB01
conference in July.
Step 4: July – December 2001: Course execution and assessment
Based on
our new pedagogic model and the new web-based course material created by the
teachers and the student we are now planning for a new set of experiments to be
conducted during the fall of 2001. Novel material for the web-book will be
designed and old material will be redesigned and edited based on the comments
and suggestions provided and the prototypes developed for modified web-based
resources by the students in their project works. An in-depth assessment will
be performed during the fall – 01. A full paper describing the results of our
project based on the two years of experimentation will be written.
Principle investigators
Prof. Siv G.E. Andersson
Collaborative partners
KI, UU, SU