I was sitting at a Biology meeting recently and started to talk about the success I have had using Facebook in my Anatomy & Physiology (AP) course. The group I was talking to acted like I just betrayed the teaching profession. The first comment was along the lines of, “They spend too much time on Facebook now.” That is right. The students spend a lot of time on Facebook but I always felt it was best to fish where the fish are. I reach them because they are already there.
When we made the move to extend my Anatomy and Physiology module online to meet demand I felt I had removed a lot of the critical student and teacher interaction. Our adjunct professors were essentially using a canned course. I wanted a format that the adjunct professors could use to share material and ideas with all of the students. My own IT staff did not think the students would become involved in a Facebook group. What occurred was not what I planned and it was not what I expected. It was so much better. (more…)
Filed under: Community college, laboratory, online, science education | Tagged: anatomy & physiology, distance education, facebook, geralyn m. caplan, online A&P, online course development, online education, online engagement, online interaction, online lab, online science course, owensboro community & technical college, Science Education, student engagement, teaching with social media | 2 Comments »
How can instructors help struggling students who need tutoring and more assistance than the course time allows? For students willing to put in the extra time and energy to genuinely grasp difficult concepts, there are many new websites that can effectively serve in a self-guided tutoring role. These sites provide students with visual and interactive aids that may drive their understanding better than traditional textual explanations. They also provide instructors with easy access to a history of the students’ activities and progress.
