Abstract
Prior to Spring Semester 2011, the University of South Carolina
Biological Sciences curriculum offered only a face-to-face
histology course where students
were required to attend lectures and labs utilizing the
microscope. Laboratory space and equipment limited enrollment in
the face-to-face class which never
exceeded 50 consisting mainly of pre-medical and pre-dental
students. In Spring, 2011, for the first time, we offered a fully
online histology course in which
all lectures, labs, quizzes and exams were online with no
face-to-face meetings. Enrollment jumped to 121 in that first
semester to include students from more
than ten curricular programs across the institution such as
anthropology, biochemistry, biomedical sciences and experimental
psychology. We now have eight
semesters of experience with the course that includes nearly 800
undergraduate, graduate and special certificate program students
having completed the
course successfully. Lectures have evolved to include SCORM
grading of quizzes at the end of each lecture permitting the
assignment of viewing lectures as
course activity. For the virtual labs, a web based virtual
microscopy program is used that contains a collection of over 100
annotated specimens, including two
forms of self-assessment. Recently, we have implemented
Biolucida Cloud (MBFBioscience) allowing the inclusion of virtual
slides in practical exams as un-
knowns and delivered in random order integrated with Blackboard.
Exams have evolved from two attempts with feedback to one attempt
with no feedback
except the score. Included will be the impact of midterm and
final exam construction and administration changes on final grade
distribution. The online
histology course is now offered year around and remains very
popular.
Evolution of a cross-institutional asynchronous online 500 level
college histology course with interactive lectures and virtual lab
component
Robert W. Ogilvie, Roger H. Sawyer, Weier Bao, Matthew J.
Greenwold, and Jordan Thompson Department of Biological Sciences,
College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina
Course Overview and Specific Aims
Upper level histology online course first offered Spring 2011 to
fill a need for a 500 level course with a lab. The specific aim for
this poster presentation is to
share the changes in the course over 8 1/2 semesters to explore
the relationship between exam administration and final grades.
Methods
Lectures with interactive quizzes at the end were created in
Power Point, recorded using Adobe Presenter, and published as
Flash. During Spring semester,
2014 the lectures with quizzes were created as SCORM compatible,
uploaded to Blackboard and now students are required to pass each
quiz at 100% after
which they earn points toward their grade. Labs were virtual,
employing WebMic to deliver annotated static specimens with two
forms of self-assessment. In
addition, virtual slides, were provided using Biolucida Viewer
and server software by MBFBioscience. Virtual slides were used to
assess the students skill
in dealing with unknown specimens. Constants during all
semesters were the lectures, the grading scale and WebMic.
Variables were quiz and
exam administration, weight of course assignments and the
addition of Biolucida to deliver virtual slides. The course is
managed with Blackboard, including
the creation and administration of the online quizzes and
exams.
Conclusions
We find that there is a correlation between the mode of exam
administration, the weight assigned to course activities and the
distribution of final grades.
Lab Resources
Acknowledgement: NSF EPSCoR: IIA-1317771
Please contact Dr. Robert Ogilvie at [email protected] for
more information
Notes/comments:
Undergraduate Students Graduate Students
Letter Grade # students % of Students Letter Grade #
students
A 464 51.9 A 15
B 263 29.4 B 10
C 95 10.6 C 2
D 37 4.1 D 1
F 35 3.9 F 2
Total 894 100 30
Compilation of grades for Eight Semesters WebMic: Static images
Biolucida: Virtual slides
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Percent(%)
% Of Grade:Final
% A/B Grades
% D/F Grades
Linear (% OfGrade:Final)
Linear (% A/B Grades)
Linear (% D/F Grades)
Distribution of grades and the weight of the final exam by
semester
Semester Module Quiz
Administration
Module Quiz
Weight
Midterm / Final Exam
Administration
Midterm Weight
Final Exam Weight
Spring 2011 3 attempts highest score
all questions at once 50%
2 attempts highest score all questions at once
25% 25%
Fall 2011 3 attempts highest score
all questions at once 50%
2 attempts highest score all questions at once
20% 25%
Spring 2012 3 attempts highest score
all questions at once 50%
2 attempts highest score all questions at once
20% 25%
Summer 2012
3 attempts highest score all questions at once
75% 2 attempts highest score
all questions at once no midterm 20%
Fall 2012 3 attempts highest score
all questions at once 30%
2 attempts highest score all questions at once
30% 30%
Spring 2013 2 attempts highest score
all questions at once 35%
2 attempts highest score all questions at once
30% 30%
Summer 2013
2 attempts highest score all questions at once
35% 1 attempt, one question at a time, no backtrack-
ing 30% 305
Fall 2013 2 attempts highest score
all questions at once 35%
1 attempt, one question at a time, backtracking,
Part B random order 30% 30%
Spring 2014 2 attempts highest score
one at a time, backtracking 25%
1 attempt, one question at a time, backtracking,
Part B random order 20% 40%
