RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Nationally endorsed learning objectives to improve course design in introductory biology
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2023.10.25.563732
DO 10.1101/2023.10.25.563732
A1 Hennessey, Kelly M
A1 Freeman, Scott
YR 2024
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2024/07/24/2023.10.25.563732.abstract
AB Introductory biology for majors is one of the most consequential courses in STEM, with annual enrollments of several hundred thousand students in the United States alone. To support increased student success and meet current and projected needs for qualified STEM professionals, it will be crucial to redesign majors biology by using explicit learning objectives (LOs) that can be aligned with assessments and active learning exercises. When a course is designed in this way, students have opportunities for the practice and support they need to learn, and instructors can collect the evidence they need to evaluate whether students have mastered key concepts and skills. Following an iterative process of review, revision, and evaluation, which included input from over 800 biology instructors around the country, we produced a nationally endorsed set of lesson-level LOs for a year-long introductory biology for major’s course. These LOs are granular enough to support individual class sessions and provide instructors with a framework for course design that is directly connected to the broad themes in Vision and Change and the general statements in the BioCore and BioSkills Guides. Instructors can implement backward course design by aligning these community endorsed LOs with daily and weekly learning activities and with formative and summative assessments.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.