Enhancing Student’s Mathematical Skills with Smart Worksheets

Donald, C. and McCaughey, L. (2024) Enhancing Student’s Mathematical Skills with Smart Worksheets. Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2024, Edinburgh, UK, 08-11 Apr 2024. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Higher education teachers are continually exploring innovative approaches to facilitate active learning within our frequently expanding cohorts. A key area which students are known to find challenging is appropriate use of calculations and data analysis. Our study involves the implementation of an interactive online assessment tool within a second year undergraduate ‘Microbiology and Immunology’ course. We have been working with digital learning company, Learning Science, to develop 2 independent ‘smart worksheets’ as part of a blended learning approach to formative and summative assessment of key calculation and data analysis methods. These interactive worksheets are embedded within our virtual learning environment (VLE), Moodle, and present students with a unique dataset for analysis, as well as a series of questions for them to work through independently in their own time. Each worksheet is automatically graded within the VLE and students are given immediate feedback on their responses as they work through each question. In this way, feedback is given at every stage of the calculation to catch any errors quickly, as well as providing advice on any errors and how to correct them. Students are therefore able to achieve a deeper level of understanding of key calculations they are required to learn as part of this course. Furthermore, autograding has benefits for staff by reducing marking and feedback time. We expect that the long-term impacts from this study will encourage the implementation of similar innovative teaching modalities in other biology courses.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Unpublished
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: MCCAUGHEY, Dr LAURA and Donald, Dr Claire
• Authors: Donald, C., and McCaughey, L.
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); Q Science > QR Microbiology
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity

Related URLs

• Organisation