Evaluating technology-, information literacy-, and content-related learning outcomes among
undergraduate students in face-to-face and social networking environments1
Phillip M. Edwards2, Evelyn Daniel, Claudia J. Gollop, Stephen Seiberling and Alan S. Weakley Michael Shoffner
Jane Greenberg, Jacob Kramer-Duffield, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI)
Hill Taylor, and David Woodbury University of North Carolina Herbarium Chapel Hill, NC, USA
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC, USA
School of Information and Library Science
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
The Bot 2.0 project is an innovative technological approach to Focus group responses
enhance student interest in the biological and botanical
sciences. The project attempts to addresses the lack of 2008 Appreciation for botanical concepts in everyday life
diversity among the population of students who ultimately Student A, FG#1: “I thought it was really cool, ‘cause Student E, FG#2: “I think for me [the most helpful
pursue advanced education and careers in these fields. The I’m not really an outdoor person. I spend most of aspect] was stopping every so regularly to have
main activity for this project is BotCamp, a hybrid curriculum my time indoors, so I thought it was really cool to stuff pointed out because if not, you really don’t
actually get out there, and get out, outside, and look around and notice stuff until it’s pointed out
based on field exercises, communal learning, and reflection. look at plants that I never would have looked at, you, and after that, you start noticing your
but I know, probably just walked past and, like, surroundings more and wondering, “I’ve always
‘okay, who cares?’, but actually got me in there and just passed by this, but I never actually knew what
Bot 2.0 project goals got me interested. I actually walked past, like, it was,” and now, y’know, you have some
some trees on campus, on Chapel Hill’s campus, knowledge and tools to help you, y’know, learn
Use social software to connect students to the natural world and was like, ‘Oh, that has some cool fruit on there, more about your surroundings and, uh, [that] has
and botanical science and I wonder what that is?’” been one of the best things about it.
Study how students organize information
2009 Uses of social tagging and taxonomic labeling
Examine the role and potential use of the memex
framework to facilitate learning of science, technology, Student C, FG#1: “Well, I sort of went more toward the Student F, FG#2: “I thought the tags were useful when
scientific side [of tagging photographs] because if we were trying to identify our group’s, um, [photos].
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics somebody just searches ‘tall tree’, they’re going to If they had tagged ‘alternate’ or ‘opposite’, we’d be
Recruit students from diverse and underrepresented get tall trees, not specifically one type of tall tree, able to go through d-, the dichotomous key and be
but if they search, maybe, serrate leaves, they’ll get able to identify [the tree] easier. So I mean, I
populations to the field of botany trees with serrate leaves, or something like that…like thought that part was pretty useful.”
they search in a specific family of tree. Student G, FG#2: “And you can even try to create a
Student D, FG#1: “Yeah, yeah, I’d agree. The more dichotomous key with the tags, because if you click
BotCamp 2008 cohort and curriculum scientifical [sic] term[s] are specific, so it’s easier. I on ‘serrate’, then you just get all the plants that
Undergraduate students from a range of colleges and mean, if you don’t know what it is, then I guess, were, er, trees that were serrate, and then it can go
y’know,…it’s a little easier to do the more casual further than that so you click on the tags of the
universities in the Piedmont region of North Carolina [tags].” serrate plants, and then…
Student H, FG#2: “That’s how I did my, my tags: what I
Residential instruction followed by online activities clicked to, well, when I had kind of, like, identified it
Incorporated Web 2.0 technologies such as social software already, I, and I was, like, pretty sure it was going to
be, y’know, a red maple and then I used those tags.”
and cell phones to facilitate student engagement with the Focus group questions
disciplinary content of the course
What are some of the challenges you've encountered when studying
science and/or botany? Challenges from a fragmented online learning environment
Botcamp 2009 modified curriculum How important is science, especially of plants, in your daily life? Student A, FG#1: “I think the Flickr thing was a little bit different, I guess. It
would have been kind of easier if we could have maybe put the pictures on
Two periods of residential instruction (start and end) with On a typical day, what do you think scientists do? the Facebook group or something and then commented through that…It
online activities in the interim just, it just seemed like were going to like ten different websites…just for
What do you see yourself doing in your career or working life? one…program, whereas everything could have been, like, all Facebook or
What technologies have been useful to you in your social life (e.g., something like that, [it] would have been a little bit easier.”
Curriculum evaluation methods when you’re out with your friends, when you’re spending time
Student B, FG#1: “‘Cause we were, I mean, we’re getting emails, we’re doing
Facebook, and we’re doing Flickr.”
Baseline survey of experiences with botany, metadata with your family)? Student A, FG#1: “And then, y’know, the key website too, so it was, it was a
concepts, and technological tools What technologies have been useful to you in your academic life? lot of stuff. I have like five windows open one time, sometimes.”
Plant identification experiment How would you describe the relationship between academic and social
technologies?
Small group interviews Notes
Do you think of yourself any differently than you did when you began 1 This project is funded under award #0737466 from the National Science
Focus groups BotCamp? If “yes”, How? Foundation; Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI)-
Phase 1 (Exploratory), Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering,
Summative evaluation in the form of a survey and Mathematics (S-STEM).
2 Email: phillip.m.edwards@unc.edu