Covid-19 caught all of us off guard, but educators were hit particularly hard and uniquely. I already have flipped classroom teaching and active learning, so the transition was not too difficult for me. However, I found myself incorporating many technological innovations. Was I doing too much? Which features were helping my students, and which ones were overwhelming? In this blog, I want to share some of the strategies I used with undergraduate students taking Advanced Exercise Physiology synchronously and asynchronously.

Additionally, within this blog, I am sharing the student’s perceptions of these technological innovations. In total, fifty-two students enrolled in different sections of “Advanced Exercise Physiology” culminating undergraduate experience (CUE) were invited to participate in a short survey regarding their learning experiences during this current Spring 2021 semester. A total of thirty-nine (n=39) students completed the confidential survey about whether different technological innovations helped them understand the material and study.

Who completed the survey?

Figure 1: Fifty-two students enrolled either in synchronous or asynchronous undergraduate advanced exercise physiology sections were invited to participate, and thirty-nine (n=39) responses were obtained. Seventy-two percent of the responders were enrolled in the asynchronous section, and 27.78% were enrolled in the synchronous section.

Video assignment for glucose metabolism

 During pre-COVID-19 times, I would teach using active-learning team-based instruction. For the first team-based assignment, student teams were asked to discuss and explain in easy terms one of the most difficult topics for my students: glucose metabolism. For this activity, I would bring Legos, markers of different colors, magnets, and other toys; and students were asked to use the materials and make a video of the complete oxidation of a glucose molecule. This in-class, graded assignment seem to help students to understand the metabolic pathways.  I modified the project due to distance learning, so each student has to create a video using any material desired to explain in simple words (without chemical formulas). This assignment is based on the constructivism theory of learning. It makes it innovative because the students learned that glucose is a six-carbon molecule that has to be fully “broken down” (oxidated) through different stages. Once they understand the steps, they could “name” each step and each enzyme. Some students used coins, Legos, or wrote down the step while explaining the process verbally. Some examples of the submissions can be seen in the links below:

Example submission glycolysis  one and example complete glucose oxidation.

 Students perception on making a video assignment for glucose metabolism

Figure 2: Students’ responses to the question “Having to make the video of metabolism in assignment two helped me understand glucose metabolism.” 71.43% responded true (it was helpful), and 28.57% responded false (it was not helpful)

Incorporation of Virtual Lab Experiences using Visible Body and Lt Kuracloud platforms.

One of the main concerns for me was to maintain and increase engagement while teaching virtually or remotely. I incorporated the Lt Kuracloud, a platform for interactive assignments, immediate feedback, videos, and physiology laboratory experiences in all my courses. I took advantage of the free trial, and I used it for some assignments. I received unsolicited emails from students expressing how helpful they found these assignments.  I also used Visible Body Anatomy and Physiology, which I used for lectures. I recommended it to students as supplemental material and for self-graded quizzes. Visible Body Anatomy and Physiology is available at no cost to students as our Institution’s library obtained the subscription for all the students.

Students’ perceptions: “How helpful do you find the following features? “

Figure 3: Responses to the question: How helpful do you find the following features (from 0 to 100 being 0 not useful to 100 very useful). The mean value for assignments in Lt Kuracloud was 79.08/100 (sd= 21), and for Visible Body was 74.74/100 (sd= 24)

Old Reliable Discussion Board

I recently completed my training on Quality Matters (QM) certification (1), and so my courses follow the rubrics of QM Higher Education General Standards. Specifically, QM Module 1 suggests using an introductory welcoming video encouraging the students to introduce themselves to the class using a video, a meme, a photo, or text. The best, and probably the only feature on Blackboard to do this is the “Discussion Board.” The discussion board is a great feature that allows students to increase participation. After all, students are the biggest consumers of social media, videos, and memes. The Discussion Board should be the closest FERPA approved version of TikTok or Facebook, right? WRONG! It worked fine for the first thread entitled “welcome,” most of the students responded by typing to answer the questions. Nobody made a voice thread, a meme, or a video. Afterward, I encouraged participation on the discussion board by posting questions and suggesting posting questions on the discussion board. After a few “virtual crickets” on Discussion Board, I quit posting questions there and developed interactive lectures with pop-up quizzes. As expected, Discussion Board was not very popular among my students.

Students’ perceptions: “How helpful do you find the discussion board on Blackboard? “

 Figure 4: Responses to the question: How helpful do you find the following features (from 0 to 100 being 0 not useful to 100 very useful). The mean value for the discussion board was 43.08/100 (sd= 25).

 Interactive pre-recorded lectures

Pre-recorded lectures are integral components of my synchronous and asynchronous course sections. These are developed using the interactive feature in Camtasia, in which I developed animated lectures. Thus, students are asked to watch the lessons and complete short quizzes that provide immediate feedback. If the concept is mastered, the student continues watching. If not, they are redirected to the lecture or part of the lecture where the concept is explained.

 Students’ perceptions: “How helpful do you find the interactive pre-recorded lectures? “

Figure 5: Responses to the question: How helpful do you find the following features (from 0 to 100 being 0 not useful to 100 very useful). The mean value for interactive pre-recorded lectures was 79.27/100 (sd= 16.8), and for Visible Body was 81.74/100 (sd= 17.8)

Quizlet and Quizlet live game

Like many educators worldwide, I teach my students and support their learning throughout our virtual synchronous meetings. Indeed, this is not easy. One day, as I was finishing my class, I heard screams and laughs! My ten-year-old was having so much fun in his most favorite subject. What is going on? I asked, “it was a close one,” my son said, “I got second place.”  It turned out that he was playing a “Quizlet Game.” Quizlet and Quizlet live have been used by teachers and students to reinforce learned material. I decided to try it, and I created a teacher profile to play games during the remote lectures. Every class, I started a Quizlet game; students use their phones or computers to play a race (team and individual). They play a “race” at the beginning of the class and again at the end of the class. This low-risk activity provides me with important information about misconceptions or concepts that are not mastered yet. Students play again towards the end of the class. This simple activity takes 10 minutes of instruction (5 minutes each “race”). However, it has been proven to be both helpful and fun for the students. Quizlet live was used only in my synchronous classes, but the Quizlet study sets were available to both synchronous and asynchronous sections.

I used this with graduate students enrolled in Human Physiology in the previous semester, and it was a hit! Students loved it, and class after class, this became very competitive. Not only were my students very well prepared for class, but also the competition made it so much fun!

Similar to Quizlet are such programs as Kahoot, Brainscape,  and others that are available for free or very affordable options.

Students’ perceptions: “How helpful do you find Quizlet study sets and Quizlet live? “

Figure 6: Responses to the question: How helpful do you find the following features (from 0 to 100 being 0 not useful to 100 very useful). The mean value for Quizlet sets was 76.86/100 (sd= 24), and for Quizlet live was 68.31/100 (sd= 28). One limitation is that most responders were students in the asynchronous section who did not participate in Quizlet live games.

MS Teams meetings and/or virtual office hours

 I chose Microsoft Teams (MS) for my virtual meetings simply because it is widely adopted at my Institution, and I prefer to keep it simple for students. For my synchronous section, I used a flipped virtual model, in which we meet once per week, and the other day they work on their own on assignments. I did this to avoid screen burnout students in the synchronous section. However, I have been happily surprised with students attending remote classes and the various office hours I provide. Yes, I do provide different office hours; very much this semester, I made every space available on my calendar as extra office hours. I realize that for many, meeting online for “virtual office hours” is more accessible to them (and perhaps less intimidating) than attending office hours in my office, as we did pre-pandemic.

Why did I offer so many office hours? First of all, because I could. Since I can’t conduct research studies with humans during the pandemic, it freed some time I had set aside for data collection to teaching.

Additionally, not driving to and from campus saved me an average of 75 minutes per day, which allowed me to have another office hour option. In reality, I did not use all these hours in meetings with students. Many times nobody needed to meet. However, there were a couple of times in which I’d meet with a student who was struggling. Not with the class or the content. But struggling with life, some students had somebody close to them sick or dying; some lost their job or financial aid, some were working exceptionally long hours as essential workers. For some, isolation was too much. One student, in particular, told me recently, “I do not have any questions today; I just needed some social interaction.” Flexible and various virtual office hours seemed beneficial for students, particularly for those in asynchronous e-learning experiences.

Students’ perceptions: “How helpful do you find the MS Teams meetings and virtual office hours? “

Figure 7: Responses to the question: How helpful do you find the following features (from 0 to 100 being 0 not useful to 100 very useful). The mean value for MS Teams and Virtual Office Hours was 75.86/100 (sd= 21).

 Conclusions

 Like most higher education instructors, I had to adapt quickly and shift to e-learning due to the pandemic. Fortunately, I had already taught online several times before and introduced several components to my flipped courses. However, I still struggled to find more interactive ways to keep my students engaged. Not only educators have to deal with the mental exhaustion of finding pedagogical tools that work in this new scenario when we have not had the time to produce evidence-based successful approaches to teaching remotely. But also, we are teaching distraught students. From the scarce but rapidly growing literature, we know that “our college students are currently struggling to stay hopeful and positive in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic” (2). When asked about their feelings during the transition to virtual classes, students reported that they felt “uncertain” (59.5%), “anxious” (50.7%), “nervous” (41.2%), and “sad” (37.2%). (3) We have to teach students that are dealing with a lot of negative emotions and stress. We, educators, are also living with many of those emotions. My goal with this blog was to share some of my experiences teaching virtually and provide some ideas for any physiology educator that may need them.

References

Standards from the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric, Sixth Edition. Quality Matters. Retrieved from Specific Review Standards from the QM Higher Education Rubric, Sixth Edition

• Munsell, S. E., O’Malley, L. & Mackey, C. (2020). Coping with COVID. Educational Research: Theory and Practice, 31(3), 101-109.
• Murphy, L., Eduljee, N. B., Croteau, K. College Student Transition to Synchronous Virtual Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northeastern United States. Pedagogical Research,5(4), em0078. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/8485

Dr. Terson de Paleville teaches Advanced Exercise Physiology, Neuromuscular Exercise Physiology, and Human Physiology courses. Her research interests include motor control and exercise-induced neuroplasticity. In particular, Dr. Terson de Paleville has investigated the effects of activity-based therapy on respiratory muscles and trunk motor control after spinal cord injury. Additional research project involves the assessment of the effects of exercise training in elementary and middle school students on balance, visual efficiency, motor proficiency, motor control and behavior in the classroom and at home. Dr. Terson de Paleville is interested in elucidating any links between physical activity and academic skills and performance.