Redesigning Intro Bio Part 3: Alignment
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WhatStudentsNeedToKnow.docx
In Redesigning Intro Bio Part 1, I outlined how I decided on my 8 main learning objectives, and in Redesigning Intro Bio Part 2, I described how I settled on two types of assessment: long form exams, and online multiple-choice quizzes. I knew I needed to actually write the long form exams as a way to clarify what my super-vague learning objectives actually mean. So I wrote the exams (yes, the semester hasn’t started yet, and yes, I’ve written them all).
Then I opened up a Word doc, titled it WhatStudentsNeedToKnow.docx and, based on the Exam questions I had just written, I wrote bullet-point lists of things students need to know and be able to do to successfully complete each exam. Here’s an example from Exam 2:
• Conceptual understanding of how protein function is related to alleles, esp in heterozygous individuals
• Familiarity with the genetics of sickle cell anemia and lactase persistence
• How to do a dihybrid Punnett Square, and the implication when genes are linked
• Discussion of Tishkoff et al. (2007) paper, including discussion of evidence of selective sweep
o SNPs
o regions of homozygosity – aka, good understanding of homologous recombination
• And a discussion of the luciferase assay
o Biotechnology
- Plasmids
- Reporter assays
- Cell culture
- Positive and negative controls
• Promoters and gene expression
• The origins of human race and the genetic basis (or not) thereof
Obviously, even just from the Exam questions, I already know some of the content we’re going to cover (i.e. Tishkoff et al. 2007). Once I wrote this list, I went searching for other content to support student learning of these topics and skills.
I’m a big believer in free and open resources, especially for community college students. At my community college, the cost to enroll in BIO111 is just $334 — an excellent low-cost way to get an education! But the required textbook (assigned by all the instructors of the other sections of BIO111) costs $189! Do the math ladies and gentlemen, that’s more than half the cost of the class itself. And that book price is for online-only access!! Online access + loose leaf is $269!! AND THE ONLINE ACCESS LASTS FOR ONLY 1.5 YEARS!!! Good luck to a student who takes BIO111, then waits a full year before enrolling in BIO112: they have to buy the book again! Why do instructors even choose these outrageously priced books, when excellent free and open alternative options exist??? Colleagues in my department argue that, unlike the free and open textbook alternative, the expensive textbook has more resources for new instructors — and since the majority of instruction in our department is provided by Adjuncts (who are paid below the living wage) — they can’t afford to spend time on course design and they need easy-to-adopt resources. But let’s be clear about what the institution is doing here: to provide under-funded Adjunct faculty with easy-to-adopt teaching materials, students pay the price. Literally. It is, in my opinion, unjust, inequitable, and inexcusable.
(Sorry, not sorry about that detour.)
<Deep breath.>
Right. So naturally, I went searching for free and open resources to support my students’ learning*. I plan to use case studies focusing primarily on human-related conditions, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, lactase persistence, and antibiotic resistance, using resources like the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, The Explorer’s Guide to Biology (XBio), and HHMI BioInteractive.
Armed with my list of What Students Need to Know, and what resources I would use to develop their understanding and skills, I started populating a course schedule. Finally, it was starting to look like a real class! Hooray!
Wait. Do my learning objectives, exam questions, and lecture topics all align?
After I wrote the tentative schedule, I went back to my learning objectives and read them again with (a few days’) fresh eyes. Having just written the exam questions, I could clarify some of the learning objectives, by breaking them down into more concrete sub-LOs:
1. Seamlessly move through the Central Dogma from DNA replication, transcription, translation, and protein structure/function.
a. Describe the flow of information and name each process as information is transferred from one molecule to the other.
b. Draw or describe the physical molecules and cellular spaces where each step occurs.
c. Transcribe and translate genetic sequences.
d. Predict the impact of a genetic mutation on protein structure and function.
e. Compare and contrast mutations in coding and non-coding sequences.
2. Describe how genetic information is passed on to offspring, and predict how genetic variation manifests in offspring populations.
a. Compare and contrast eukaryotic and prokaryotic mechanisms of reproduction that produce genetically identical, and genetically diverse, offspring.
b. Use a Punnett square to predict the proportion of offspring with a specific trait.
c. Relate the cellular functions of the central dogma to the dominant or recessive expression of a trait.
3. Describe what causes populations to change over time.
a. Identify the mechanisms that produce novel traits.
b. Predict how a specific selective pressure will result in a change in a population over time.
4. Move between respiration and photosynthesis to articulate the carbon cycle at the biosphere level through the molecular level.
a. Demonstrate familiarity with the molecular transitions that occur during respiration and photosynthesis by tracking where atoms in reactants end up in product molecules
b. Describe or draw the physical spaces where key metabolic processes occur and predict the impact on respiration and photosynthesis if a key component is removed or changed
c. Relate the processes of respiration and photosynthesis to the carbon cycle and climate change
5. Describe the biological, social, and evolutionary relationships between human race and health.
6. Analyze data to make a scientific claim, and evaluate whether a scientific claim is supported by the data.
7. Describe the characteristics of a scientist, and personally relate to one or more scientists.
8. Evaluate the credibility of a Biology-related claim on the internet and articulate how the claim fits within a framework of how science is conducted.
9. Demonstrate evidence of personal contributions to the classroom learning community.
Good, good. My Learning Objectives are solidifying into concrete skills that I can explicitly assess on the Exams and quizzes.
But wait.
My Exam questions mostly assess these updated LOs, but not perfectly. For example, I overtest 3a and undertest 1e. And, I know the materials I’ve selected will support student learning for 3a, but I haven’t made time in the schedule to practice learning 1c. So I need to go back to my WhatStudentsNeedToKnow.docx and revise it based on my updated LOs, which means revising my list of resources and the course schedule. But this is how course design should go!
Good course design should be iterative:
Write Learning Objectives.
Plan Assessments.
Design course material to support student success on assessments.
Now that you have clarity on what you’re doing in the class, return to the LOs and update/revise them.
Revise assessments according to updated LOs.
Revise course material according to updated assessments.
Repeat until LOs, assessments, and course material are in good alignment.
In retrospect this iterative loop is obvious, but here I am, stumbling on it in real time, less than a week before classes start. Yikes. (Not regretting that summer vacation, though!)
OK, I’ll be frantically working in the background on that re-alignment while I write Part 4, which is about Grading.
*I am Adjunct faculty, but I have the incredible privilege of financial security through my partner’s income. Therefore, I can spend considerably more time on my teaching than many Adjunct faculty who assemble multiple Adjunct positions to make a living.