Threshold concepts (TCs) are concepts that, when mastered, represent a transformed understanding of a discipline without which the learner cannot progress. We have undertaken a process involving more than 75 faculty members and 50 undergraduate students to identify a working list of TCs for biochemistry. The process of identifying TCs for biochemistry was modeled on extensive work related to TC...

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a major tool in this field of research and education development. However, many challenges arise for students during the course instruction learning. The learning process, placement support assessment variables, behavioral intention to continue using it within spectrum are crucial success virtual educational sector. goals study inquire into degree which VR is...

Computational tools are rapidly becoming an essential component of molecular biology research. However, there is as yet relatively little attention paid to computational biology in the standard curricula of most biology programs. We describe here some of the graduate computational biology courses we have developed in the Center for Bioengineering at the University of Washington, with special em...

The application of quality processes to tertiary teaching can result in a more team-based approach to course curriculum planning, the instructional design of individual subjects or units, the learning support associated with subject implementation and subsequent evaluation. The "art" of teaching requires more explicit communication within and across different teams that may be involved in each ...

Physical simulations have a proven record as a teaching tool. Concepts that are often hard to grasp are made easy by the use of physical simulation activities. The constructivism learning theory suggests that people learn better by actively participating in the process of learning. According to the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, "Simulation-based learning involves the placement of a st...

Mobile learning (mLearning) is a rapidly expanding area of educational research. Theorists, researchers, and instructional designers are excited about the potential contributions of mobile technology to the field of education. Mobile tools such as Apple’s iPad or Galaxy Tab have sparked this interest based on their ability to provide high-powered computing within a small, extremely portable for...

This paper employs a heuristic evaluation checklist based on socio-cultural theory to assess open learning opportunities in the Visible Web where further integration of Infrastructure 2.0 or WEB 2.0 tools, accompanied by purposeful design (i.e. design which clearly ties integration and use of tools to achievement of specific learning outcomes), could improve the quality of interaction and ultim...

Digital Geolinguistic systems encourages collaboration between linguists, historians, archaeologists, ethnographers, as they explore the relationship between language and cultural adaptation and change. These systems can be used as instructional tools, presenting complex data and relationships in a way accessible to all educational levels. In this poster, we present a system architecture based ...

Evaluation and annotation are two of the greatest challenges in developing NLP instructional or diagnostic tools to mark grammar and usage errors in the writing of non-native speakers. Past approaches have commonly used only one rater to annotate a corpus of learner errors to compare to system output. In this paper, we show how using only one rater can skew system evaluation and then we present...