E-Learning
in My Biostatistics Class
By:
Early Sol A. Gadong
When I look back to my “favorite
teachers,” a common denominator that they have is that they all taught me in
ways that benefitted my future undertakings, whether in my chosen career as an educator,
or in life in general. I believe that if my 31 year old self came back to the
short, spunky student that I was 20, 15, or 10 years ago, I’d probably tell
past-me, “Pay attention. You will use this in real life.”
This is one of my motivations
for incorporating e-learning in my biostatistics class last semester with my UP
Visayas Public Health students. I imagined them as medical professionals,
researchers, teachers, or even actors[1]
a decade or so in the future and I’d like for them to think back to a time in
2014 when they took up PH 141 Lab and say, “Hey, I may not remember the
statistics anymore but that was one relevant learning experience.”
Technology is an important
aspect of our lives and unless we find ways to incorporate it in the educational
environment aside from the usual GMG (Google Mo, Gwapo[2]!)
principle, then we may just find ourselves pitifully left behind and losing an
extremely beneficial opportunity for innovative pedagogy.
In a broad sense, e-learning utilizes
all modes of instruction delivered by way of electronic media. This would
include the Internet, audio-video tapes/CD’s/DVD’s, social networking sites,
and mobile apps. These electronic devices and materials are readily available
both to students and teachers and it would be almost a sin to not use them
since it looks like they are meant to stay in one form or another for many
years to come. Moreover, educational theorists provide sufficient support for
an effective theoretical framework for e-learning[3].
To put this undertaking in
context, laboratory classes in UP translate one teaching unit to three contact
hours. Since the class was for two teaching units, I was required to hold six
straight hours of statistics lessons for 18-20 year olds on Saturday mornings.
Not only would I be ruining their Saturdays, I would have to feel the brunt of being
in a class that starts at seven in the morning[4].
Thus, with their permission, we
decided to meet only for three hours on Saturday and to make up for the other
three hours, we would have to set up a platform where they would be required to
respond to discussion prompts that are given every week[5].
They had to give three responses on three different days to each of these
prompts. That is, two or more responses given on the same day would count as
one response only[6].
I also made it clear that at least 70% of the content of their response should
be their own words and that they had to cite their sources whenever necessary.
Personal biases aside, I found
the experiment[7]
to be mildly successful. All in all, we had a total of 16 discussion prompts
over a four month period. I designed the online platform so that it will only
be available to those who were given permissions to view them. Each of the
seven official discussion weeks were actively participated in by the class,
with only two to four absences some weeks. Not only were students responding to
the discussion prompts I posted, they also responded to their classmates’
responses. I found this to be extremely satisfying because it was like a lively
discussion with everyone’s voices being heard[8].
Normally, I would give
discussion prompts that would give students a heads-up on what we would be
taking up the coming Saturday. Some prompts would require them to do practice
exercises on which their classmates could comment on, or pose questions on how
they got them. A great number of students did well on whatever discussion or
hands-on laboratory exercises that they needed to participate in during the
Saturday meetings. More importantly, their final outputs of a mini-mini
research were impressive.
As for students’ reactions to
the online discussion, these were among the things that they said:
“In my opinion, the best thing about having an online discussion was
the fact that we were still able to learn even within in the confines of our
home. I would recommend online discussions for other classes as it did help a
lot in my learning for this subject, so perhaps it would do the same for other
subjects.” – Student A
“I actually found the online discussion to be enjoyable. But, there are
times when I can't post comments because I can't access the internet at the UPV
dorm.” – Student B
“…prompts require effort in three consecutive days, if you want to
finish it earlier. So the essence of prompt is trimmed down a bit because you
are racing with time just to finish the requirement, and you partially forget
some of what you have posted.” – Student C
“I
found the online prompts to be useful and much more convenient replacement…
Online discussions requires a hourly/daily checking of the site. Another thing
was that, internet is not an easy access here in our dorm... Nevertheless, it
was fun interacting with all of our classmates which happens rarely on a
classroom basis.” – Student D
It is at this point where I feel
that I must state the obvious: there is no one template for effective
instruction. As a first attempt, I am giving this enterprise a grade of 6 out
of 10. Clearly, there are many things that have to be worked out with this
system. I should mention that I felt comfortable engaging them in an online
platform (something that would have required a computer, an internet
connection, and, therefore, financial resources) because they were mostly
Bracket A-B[9]
students with smartphones that they brandished about before our classes start.
Despite this consideration, most cons-reactions to the exercise was attributed
to the difficulty of being connected online while they were in Miag-ao[10].
In
conclusion, there is no escaping the reality that technology is an important
ingredient in the teaching-learning recipe. If UPV is hell-bent on keeping with
the ASEAN University Network (AUN) Quality Standards, then investigations on
similar technology-centered instruction should have started as far back as ten
years ago[11].
This coming semester, I will be replicating this system, with the necessary
improvements and revisions[12].
Hopefully, this will provide the necessary empirical evidence supporting the
need for e-learning to be an imperative requirement in instruction.
[1] Clovers kids are very pleasing to the eyes!
[2] Gwapo was used in place of a more profane
G-word.
[3] John Dewey’s (1916) and Lev Vygotsky’s
(1978) respective work on collaborative and social constructivism propose that
meaning-making in a relevant environment with a community is key to learning.
[4] I don’t even wake up at seven in the
morning on a Saturday!
[5] One to three prompts per week.
[6] Naturally, these responses were to be part
of their grades. Shut up, Paolo Freire.
[7] In the loosest sense of the word.
[8] I used to hate it when I mumbled a response
in my seat and my teacher would not hear it, and then someone else would say it
out louder and that classmate would get the grade, or worse, the teacher’s
approving nod or recognition. [Remind me to deal with my unresolved studenthood
issues in another article.]
[9] Bracket A - 8; Bracket B – 11; Bracket C –
1; Bracket D – 2
[10] So much for UPV’s AUN dreams.
[11] Of course, in a sense, distance learning
has actually been going on in the university for decades. *wink*wink*
[12]
For comments, suggestions, and a chance at collaboration, do email me at
early(dot)sol(at)gmail(dot)com.
