Abstract
Many universities have increased distance education and the majority of Chief Academic Officers view online education as critical to the long-term strategy of their institution.1 However, preserving the academic integrity of a course as it transitions to a distance education format is a major concern.1,2 Further, many struggle with a sense that information is not effectively communicated to students outside of a traditional classroom setting.1 Despite the fact that many of us have experienced poorly organized and/or outdated traditional courses where little information was gained. This highlights the need for pedagogical theory in any course design.3
Over the years, many technological resources have been developed to improve education, whether it is in virtual or traditional classrooms. In addition to lecture-based course technology, recent advances now enable laboratory sections to be taught successfully in a distance learning format. For example, a multi-headed microscope can be replaced with a digital slide scanner and virtual microscope software. These technologies benefit not only distance education students but can improve learning in traditional courses and support collaborations with colleagues located elsewhere in the world.
The Aquatic Animal Health program at the University of Florida has investigated various technologies as the program expands to the virtual classroom. Formats and tools implemented include prerecorded PowerPoint lectures for on-demand viewing (Mediasite by Sonic Foundry Inc), live sessions with student-instructor interactions (Elluminate by Blackboard, Inc. and Adobe Connect by Adobe Systems, Inc.), and virtual microscope sessions (ImageScope, Aperio Technologies, Inc). Ninety-seven students enrolled in at least one of our four online courses and 36 participating instructors provided feedback on each format/tool. The students either preferred fully online courses or greater than 50% online courses, to traditional courses or less than 50% online. Additionally, students openly preferred prerecorded lectures with minimal live online sessions to synchronous online courses. Students responded favorably to the recorded lecture format and online discussion session formats with the majority noting a similar level of learning compared to traditional courses (N = 64 for recorded lectures and N = 62 for online discussion). Furthermore, a strong proportion responded that they learned more or significantly more with recorded lectures (N = 21). However, instructors were disappointed that Mediasite did not accommodate the use of real-time features (i.e., laser pointers, video). Students overwhelmingly requested access to PDFs of the PowerPoint lecture and were interested in an audio file (ex: mp3) of the lecture. Both students and instructors were highly satisfied with the virtual microscope quality and instructors noted improvements in their ability to communicate information with students.
Overall, the technologies used are viewed as successful methodologies for both teaching and learning. The vast majority of students (N = 58) felt the technology allowed them to understand the material better and over half felt it increased their interest in the subject matter (N = 44). Thus, program resources will continue to be allocated for further development of distance education curricula and additional technologies will be explored for continued improvements in education within this specialized field.
Acknowledgements
Support is provided by the UF Aquatic Animal Health program including the Self-funded Online Education program, UF College of Veterinary Medicine, UF Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. UF IRB #: U-1113-2011.
* Presenting author
Literature Cited
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2. Allen IE, Seaman J, Lederman D, Jaschik S. 2012. Conflicted: Faculty and Online Education, 2012. Washington, DC: Babson Survey Research Group and Inside Higher Ed. Available from: www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/survey/conflicted.html
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