Web & Web 2.0 Applications for Enhancing Science Education Anthony Carpi John Jay College, The City University of New York STEMtech Orlando, Fl. November 2, 2010

Background John Jay College – Largest HSI in Northeast Late 1990s - NSC 107: Introduction to Science in Society Required, core interdisciplinary science course Enrollments = 1400 – 1700 per year High withdrawal & failure rates (~20%) www.visionlearning.com

Barriers to Student Success Technical language of course (homogeneous, accelerate, orbital, …) Textbook lacking: “The nation's curriculums, textbooks, and teaching continue to lack focus and to emphasize quantity over quality. …the approach to science education is a mile wide and an inch deep.” - AAAS report Science Literacy for All www.visionlearning.com

Project History 1998: 1st series of web tutorials launched Digital Divide: >50% of students report no computer access at home Yet 82% use site in 1st semester “I think that the Web site should replace the book! I have the book, but I don't have a computer. However, I have visited the Web site more times than I have opened the book.” www.visionlearning.com

Project Development National Science Foundation Funding Visionlearning launched in 2000 www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning

Science Library

Modules

Visionlearning Users by Age www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning Users by Language www.visionlearning.com

MyClassroom The MyClassroom feature allows teachers to build private classrooms, viewable only by those they grant permission to. MyClassrooms are a space for grouping class-related modules, syllabi, quizzes, and for communicating with the class as a whole. www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning Website Usage (January 1, 2009 – September 30, 2010) www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning Website Usage cont’d (March 1, 2010 – present) Usage is up an average of 157% from last year 86.29% of weekly users, on average, are new Bounce rate ~80% Time on site ~1.5 minutes www.visionlearning.com

Facebook www.visionlearning.com

Facebook Usage www.visionlearning.com

Facebook Users by Age and Gender www.visionlearning.com

Facebook Usage cont’d All updates to the website and entries to the blog are posted on FB Provides a forum for comment and discussion on what we are offering Fans and usage of our FB page have been steadily increasing, with interest highest on quirky posts www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning Blog www.visionlearning.com

Quirky Blog Topics? www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning Blog Usage (by week; created March 1, 2010) www.visionlearning.com

Visionlearning Blog Usage cont’d Blog entries tend to center on STEM related topics that can be used in the classroom Many posts link to research that is freely available on the web Tracking options allow us to know what topics specifically interest our readers www.visionlearning.com

Glossary Application for iDevices

Visionlearning Glossary App (updated July 4, 2010) www.visionlearning.com

Upcoming/continuing projects To aid user access, we are testing downloadable module podcasts for mobile devices We are exploring the use of an interactive quiz app for mobile devices We are consistently adding new definitions to our Glossary In December 2010, all active quizzes on the Visionlearning website will be updated www.visionlearning.com

Site Content Assessment 28 modules incorporated as core readings in NSC 107 Side-by-side assessment with textbook Standardized quiz scores compared www.visionlearning.com

Quantitative Evaluation Mean Assessment Quiz Scores in 8 sections of NSC107  (n = 454) Group 1:  Sections Using Visionlearning Group 2: Sections Using Prior Web & Text Group 3: Section Using Textbook Only Quiz Score by Section ± 95% CI 77 ± 3 76 ± 4 78 ± 3 62 ± 5 61 ± 3 66 ± 5 63 ± 4 55 ± 6 Mean 77 ± 2 63 ± 2 Carpi, 2001, J. Coll. Sci. Teach.

Quantitative Evaluation Mean Quiz Scores Categorized by Web Site Use Site Use Often:  >1x/week Occasional: 1-2x/month Seldom: 1-2x Never Mean Score ± 95% CI 76 ± 2 68 ± 5 64 ± 4 61 ± 2 Carpi, 2001, J. Coll. Sci. Teach.

Acknowledgements Funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education FIPSE program www.visionlearning.com acarpi@jjay.cuny.edu