Adaptive Learning in BIOL 151

Students earning poor or failing grades in introductory major’s coursework are left to choose from continuing with upper level courses ill prepared, repeating courses with prior poor performance, or changing their major. Too often these students go on only to fail again. Their continued struggle can present a bottleneck within the curriculum for a degree program and / or lead to extended times to graduation. Previously we identified poor study habits among students in our freshmen course including low numbers of hours per week spent in study. Among new pedagogical tools recently developed we are interested in those that may encourage student engagement with coursework material. In an attempt to increase student engagement with course material we will test efficacy of adaptive learning software assignments paired to course lecture topics. In evaluation we will examine student perceived study times, software provided measures student required time for completion, and performance on biology concept inventory assessments.