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Project BIO is a partnership for biology education. It involves biology educators and students at Iowa State University, Iowa community colleges, Iowa high schools and selected Iowa industries. The goal the project is to develop and share biology education resources via the internet. We have established a world wide web site which is the point of access for the Project BIO materials. Email is being used to facility communication among biology teachers and students. We believe that Project BIO will have an international impact on Biology education as a model for distance education and cooperation among educators. The materials developed in Project BIO are available world-wide on the internet.
Development of Project BIO has been guided by faculty and administrators in seven departments and programs at ISU. These include Zoology & Genetics, Biochemistry & Biophysics, Botany, MI/PM (Microbiology, Immunology and Preventive Medicine), Biology Program, Computation Center and Parks Library. Representatives from the 15 Iowa community college districts, 2 Iowa high schools and 2 Iowa industries are also participating in the development of this project.
Goals of Project BIO
On-line Courses
Distance education is an important mission of ISU and it will assume increasing importance as we move into the 21st century. The internet is an attractive vehicle for delivering distance ed courses. It has several advantages over other methods of delivering such courses. One is flexibility in scheduling. Internet courses can be taken at a time and location that is convenient for each student. Students can progress through the course at their own pace. There are opportunities for questions, feedback and class discussions through email or interactive web pages. Thereare also opportunities for real time review or help sessions using video conferencing software such as CUSeeMe. Here are some examples of courses that could be offered and their clientele. Biol 201 could be offered as an alternative to advanced placement biology for small high schools that don't have the resources or sufficient numbers of students to offer such a course. Biotech or Genetics courses might be attractive to biology students at community colleges that don't have the resources or staffing to offer such courses. Upper level biology courses might be attractive to non-traditional students at community colleges or elsewhere who have difficulty getting to a four year college campus. Industry might be interested in internet courses for training or continuing education of biology personnel. Specialized graduate courses could also be offered via the internet. These courses might be of interest to only a small number of individuals at a given site but have a much larger audience on a world-wide scale. Internet biology courses might also be an attractive alternative for ISU students because of the scheduling flexibility. Internet courses offer numerous opportunities for partnerships with high schools and community colleges as well as with industry.
Teaching Resources
Curriculum development efforts will initially focus on sharing resources that are currently available at ISU and the community colleges. These include Biology lectures (text and visual aids) and other learning activities that are currently on the local Darwin server at ISU. Also available at the Project BIO Web site will be learning activities that are currently being used as part of community college biology courses. We also plan to develop a list of ISU biology faculty who would be willing to mentor community college or high school students working on special projects.
A longer term goal is for instructors at ISU, Iowa community colleges and Iowa high schools to work together to develop instructional materials for courses (e.g. animations, interactive simulations, interactive tutorials, practice exams or common exam base) or new courses entirely. This would allow optimum utlilization of the skills and interests of the biology teachers involved. For example in developing curriculum materials for a high school biology course, the high school teachers have the expertise in presenting material to a high school biology class but lack access to the most up-to-date knowledge in Biology. Conversely, ISU biology faculty have access to up-to-date information but lack expertise in actually presenting this information to a high school biology class. The eventual goal is the development of shared courses in which instruction is provided by instructors at multiple sites.
Continuing Education
One way in which Project BIO will promote continuing education will be through an innovative electronic seminar series. The series would involve biology instructors at ISU, Iowa community colleges and Iowa high schools. Topics will could include advances in biology research and advances in biology education. Presentations would be made at a level appropriate for this broad audience. The seminars would be created once a week or so and would be accessed from the Project BIO Web site. The visual part of the presentations would use electronic slides (e.g. PowerPoint slides converted to the pdf format using Adobe Acrobat) and the audio part would use the RealAudio technology or perhaps some other related audio technology. The key for the audio technology is that it allows continuous streaming of the audio presentation. Other ways to promote continuing education would be through workshops and courses which would be offered at least in part on-line.
Articulation
Articulation will be promoted by placing information at the Project BIO Web site about biology courses at ISU and at each of the 15 Iowa community colleges. The material will provide information about knowledge that a student is expected to gain from a particular course and also knowledge that is a prerequisite for taking the course. The initial focus will be first year biology courses for biology majors offered at ISU and the community colleges. Ultimately information about all biology courses offered at ISU and the community colleges will be placed on the Project BIO Web site.
Communication
Communication among biology educators at ISU, Iowa community colleges and Iowa high school will be enhanced through the use of the video conferencing cababilities of World Wide Web Learning Stations and of the Project BIO Resource Center at ISU. Communication will also be enhance by use of the Project BIO listserver, by placing searchable directories of biology faculty at ISU, Iowa community colleges and Iowa high schools on the Project BIO Web site, by publishing newsletters of professional organizations of Iowa biology teachers on the web site, by sending announcements about workshops and courses to biology teachers using the Project BIO listserver and by advertising the availability of used equipment from ISU on the Project BIO Web site.