Impact of the First Year Higher Education Conference (FYHE) on a large cohort subject, MCR101 Microbiology at CSU Author: Peter Anderson, PhD Lecturer B, CSU Orange. Introduction: The FYHE conference is for presentation and exchange of ideas and research on all aspects of teaching to students during the transition year, the first year at university. In a broader perspective the conference has the key aim of reducing attrition rate and improving the first year experience. In this short report, I will demonstrate and provide evidence that ideas from FYHE have been extensively incorporated by me (and others) into a CSU subject MCR101 Microbiology. As a discipline group, we anticipate a significant improvement in SEQ scores and lower attrition rates for this subject over the 2010 year as a result of these subject improvements; some of which have flowed through from FHYE. (1) FYHE Seminars that interested me:  Transition and the art of engagement. Anita Harris, Australian College of Applied Psychology The take home message from Anita's seminar was to ask student entering the 1st year of university to "imagine they had a magic wand" and "could move ahead to the end of the session". They had passed all their exams. How had they managed to do it? Students asked this question list working strategies which can pass useful coping strategies throughout a cohort.  Reliving First Year Gillian Colclough et al, University of Southern QLD. I especially liked this seminar, which asked each group of participants to "think back and relive your first year experience. How difficult was it? how did you cope? how did you pass or fail the year? where did you live?" I have a particularly strong recollection of my own first year experience, which involved living with a group of crazy 1st year students in a cold house and chopping up furniture to put in on the fireplace to stay warm. That included desks and chairs. After that it was finding "Past Papers" and asking students how to study in particular for 1st year chemistry, since I had not studied that previously. Reliving first year is a useful exercise because it makes one think a bit like a student entering 1st year. (2) Flow through of FYHE Wimba ideas to MCR101 Microbiology DE students A first year subject that I teach into is "large cohort", having around 600 students across all modes (distance and internal) each year coming from all walks of life, not necessarily just high school. The FYHE allowed me to spend time with ALTC recipient Lucy Webster (CSU/WW) about how she uses the Wimba platform to teach, what worked for her and what didn't work. This information translated into turning the MCR101 Distance Experience into by all "forum chat comments" an excellent and enjoyable experience by DE students. Much of this is due to John Harper's work on the forum and with Test Centre for DE students, but the Wimba sessions clearly added to the experience, this has been articulated by students during the session. Here are some closing comments from some DE students in MCR101 Microbiology. Names Removed
To: MCR101_201160_W_D
Subject: Best lecturers!!! Thanx so much for all your help in making Micro more interesting!!!!! ; )
Just wanted to give my appreciation to the lecturers, Micro has by far been my best subject at Uni- all the effort you put in
with the slides, pdf's, podcast, mp3's has really helped me through this subject. LOVED all the funny slides too.. You all
clearly love your work and have a respect for the students which showed greatly during the semester. Wish I could day the
say for my other subject lecturers : ) hahahaha. I hope everyone did well in the exam, enjoy the end of year and merry xmas
to all..
To: MCR101_201160_W_D
"Subject: Re: Best lecturers!!! Thanx so much for all your help in making Micro more interesting!!!!! ; )
Just want to ditto this :) this is my first semester so I don't have anything to compare against except my other class but I can
tell you this one was a million times better!! You made the subject interesting, I have learnt so much, you accommodated for
different needs and learning styles and you gave 110% all the time (even with the man-flu!!) and for that I am very
appreciative. If it so happens that I need to re-do this subject, you know I won't be too upset!!! I have done the evaluation as
well - once again, thanks for making my first semester at uni so great!"
Interestingly, many of the students demanded MP3 recordings of the Wimba lectures so they could listen to them, but only around 30 DE students regularly attended the Wimba interactive lectures. The students that did attend were very comfortable with the technology and passed on their knowledge and increasing confidence to other DE students in the subject via the forum and at the residential school. At the FYHE conference, it was clear to me that CSU was a leader in using technologies such as Wimba for lecture/tutorial delivery to DE students. One problem that I have encountered in using Wimba is that it doesn't have a really nice "whiteboard" interface. At the FYHE, one seminar focussed on how to teach mathematics to DE students. They had solved the whiteboard problem by using a tablet‐style computer, which allows drawing directly onto the computer screen. We may look into using a tablet‐style computer in future years. I tried out a stylus and tablet (stand alone) but it's not so great compared to the tablet computer. The same seminar showed how to unpack a seemingly complex mathematical problem into a series of logical, small steps. These were shown to DE students as a movie, with each of the single steps being done, rather than the massive solution which looks "impossible to understand" if it is shown as that one, large solution. Appendix I shows the Wimba lectures which were delivered to MCR101‐DE students. The Wimba lectures were pre‐prepared by me, the lecturing duties for Wimba were jointly shared (tag‐team) which allowed text‐questions by students into Wimba Chat to be answered by the non‐speaking academic, while the lecture itself continued to flow occasionally picking up a really good question and answer from the text chat and putting that into the lecture discussion. Appendix II shows part of the concise objective alignment of MCR101 with course studied (there are 11 courses fed by MCR101, so only a few shown). This alignment had been missing from the subject pre 2011. Most of the lectures from MCR101 lacked clear objective alignment and I have spent every hour of every day this year improving this subject with that exact alignment (Appendix III for example). Similarly when the objectives were clearly stated, it was dead obvious that lecture content rarely followed objectives so that was also corrected (Appendix IV for example). If you didn't get my report earlier, it was because I have been working to so many deadlines. In 2009 students didn't like the lectures and strangely exams didn't relate to lecture materials. In 2010 there were incremental changes but fundamentally similar to 2009. In 2011 students often applaud lectures and the tutorials. Doing all that was serious hard work. Peter Anderson 21 October 2011. Appendix I ‐ Wimba Screenshot showing MCR101 lecture archives Appendix II ‐ Formal Course Alignment Shot. MCR101 feeds about 11 courses. Appendix III: Standardised and clear learning objectives for each lecture in MCR101 Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Differentiate a virus from a bacterium (13‐1)
List the properties of an enveloped & non‐enveloped virus (13‐2)
Describe the structure of a complex virus
Define viral species (13‐3)
Give an example of a family, genus, and common name for a virus (13‐4)
Describe how bacteriophage are cultured (13‐5)
Describe how animal viruses are cultured and their growth curve (13‐6)
List three techniques used to identify viruses (13‐7)
Describe the lytic cycle of T‐even bacteriophages (13‐8)
Describe the lysogenic cycle of bacteriophage lambda (13‐9)
Describe the life cycle of an animal virus
Appendix IV: Learning objectives clearly articulated in all lectures 3. Describe the structure of a complex virus
Morphology of a Complex Virus
Bacteriophage are viruses
that are pathogenic to bacteria.
They have a complex virion structure
• Head
• Sheath
• Baseplate
• Tail
The “T‐even” designation means that the bacteriophage will have an even‐
number.
T4 Bacteriophage: non‐enveloped and complex virus
Figure 13.5