Campus Units
Education, School of, Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Physics and Astronomy
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
Summer 2016
Journal or Book Title
CBE—Life Sciences Education
Volume
15
Issue
2
DOI
10.1187/cbe.14-07-0112
Abstract
Undergraduate introductory biology courses are changing based on our growing understanding of how students learn and rapid scientific advancement in the biological sciences. At Iowa State University, faculty instructors are transforming a second-semester large-enrollment introductory biology course to include active learning within the lecture setting. To support this change, we set up a faculty learning community (FLC) in which instructors develop new pedagogies, adapt active-learning strategies to large courses, discuss challenges and progress, critique and revise classroom interventions, and share materials. We present data on how the collaborative work of the FLC led to increased implementation of active-learning strategies and a concurrent improvement in student learning. Interestingly, student learning gains correlate with the percentage of classroom time spent in active-learning modes. Furthermore, student attitudes toward learning biology are weakly positively correlated with these learning gains. At our institution, the FLC framework serves as an agent of iterative emergent change, resulting in the creation of a more student-centered course that better supports learning.
Rights
This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).
Copyright Owner
E. R. Elliott et al.
Copyright Date
2016
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Elliott, Emily R.; Reason, Robert D.; Coffman, Clark R.; Gangloff, Eric J.; Raker, Jeffrey R.; Powell-Coffman, Jo Anne; and Ogilvie, Craig, "Improved Student Learning through a Faculty Learning Community: How Faculty Collaboration Transformed a Large-Enrollment Course from Lecture to Student Centered" (2016). Education Publications. 50.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/edu_pubs/50
Included in
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons
Comments
This article is from CBE—Life Sciences Education 15 (2016): ar22, doi:10.1187/cbe.14-07-0112. Posted with permission.