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HIGH TECH, LOW TECH & NO TECH

For my new NS course, Exercise Physiology (Bio 198), I successfully used every newly installed computer-controlled audiovisual equipment in the Science Center auditorium. They indeed helped the students follow the lectures easier, understand the material better, maintain their interest in and out of class longer, and communicate with me, the teaching assistant, and among themselves faster. A. Results All the specific aims in my proposal were accomplished: 1. I used Power Point presentation for all the lectures. 2. I put my lecture notes (Bio 198 file) in the "Course Material" file and my drop box. 3. With the document projector, I did show relevant and/or interesting pictures in current newspapers, magazines and reference books. 4. With the document projector, I did demonstrations, such as a viable frog muscle for muscle physiology and a beating frog heart (in a beaker) for cardiac activities. In addition, I used PowerLab, a data acquisition/analysis system, to simultaneously demonstrate, "The Staircase Phenomena" "Muscle Twitch", "Tetanus" etc. on one screen while the "moving" frog leg muscle on the other screen. Furthermore, I used the PowerLab to show the EKG and breathing pattern of my teaching assistant on the screen when I lectured on these topics. I am quite sure no one else has ever done this before. I intend to write this up as a short paper or a short communication to be submitted to Advances in Physiology Teaching (a part of American Journal of Physiology). 5. With the VCR/TV setup I showed short video recordings (1-3 min) of relevant, stimulating and/or controversial information from anatomy/physiology tapes, NOVA specials, National Geographic programs, 60 minutes, 20/20, exercise tapes, Sports programs, Evening News, Informercials, Martial arts shows/movies at the beginning, middle or the end of lectures as brief introductions, a means of stimulating students' interests, practical applications of concepts, or visual summaries. The result is even better than I expected. The students' response is so good that I am planning to do the same thing for my other courses (Bio 111 and Bio 244). 6. With CD ROM discs (A.D.A.M., and other CDs supplied by various publishers), I also illustrated detailed anatomical features and physiological concepts very clearly to the class. 7. With listserve & email I easily established a network of communication between myself, the teaching assistant and everyone in the class. 8. In addition to the "high tech" approach described in my proposal, I also effectively combined the "high tech" approach with "low tech" - using the overhead projectors to show numerous diagrams, pictures, photographs, flowcharts, etc. from my huge collection of overhead transparencies supplied by different publishers. 9. Another approach was the use of "no tech" demonstrations (e.g.arm or leg movements, Tai Chi, Kung-Fu, etc) to illustrate certain physiological concepts (e.g. stretch reflex, flexor reflex, point action, learned motor skills, etc). I even demonstrated two movements in Tai Chi myself while on the screen my Tai Chi Master was performing the same movements. This specific combination of "high tech" and "no tech" proved to be highly effective in my explanation of the "defensive" origin of every part of a Tai Chi movement. B. Evaluation I conducted a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of my use of technology in Exercise Physiology. The responses from the students who participated in the survey were highly positive. The results are presented below: Exercise Physiology (Bio 198) 1999 A Survey of the Application of New Technology In order to determine how effective the use of new technology was during lecture, please answer the following questions: 1. Are you taking this course pass/fail? Yes 16; No 12 2. Approximate percentage of class meetings that you attended: 80%-100% 67; 60%-79% 10; 40%-59% 7; 20%-39% 10 3. The use of Power Point is aimed to help you follow the lectures better and to facilitate note- taking. How effective was it? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 67% of responses are 4 & 5. 4. Instead of the easy way of showing a half-hour or one-hour video, I have been editing various recordings into 1 to 3 minute video segments to serve as an introduction, a conclusion or a means to stimulate students' interest at the beginning, the end or anywhere appropriate of the lecture. How effective was this approach? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 73% of responses are 4 & 5. 5. How effective was the use of the document projector to show pictures from magazines or journals, a beating frog heart and a contracting frog muscle? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 66% of responses are 4 & 5. 6. How effective was the use of the PowerLab to demonstrate various physiological phenomena (e.g. muscle twitch, staircase phenomena, tetanus, EKG, heart rate, breathing rate, etc.) ? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 60% of responses are 4 & 5. 7. How effective was the use of the document projector to show pictures from magazines or journals, a beating frog heart, a contracting frog muscle etc. ? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 66% of responses are 4 & 5. 8. How effective was the use of "low tech.", the overhead projector, to help you visualize anatomical structures and physiological concepts through pictures, graphs, flowcharts, etc.? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 70% of responses are 4 & 5. 9. How effective was the use of "no tech" demonstrations (e.g. stretch reflex, flexor reflex, Tai Chi, Kung-Fu, etc.) to illustrate certain physiological concepts? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 67% of responses are 4 & 5. 10. How effective was the combined usage of high tech., "low tech." & "no tech." in lecture? not effective 1 2 3 4 5 highly effective 67% of responses are 4 & 5. C. Dissemination 1. I presented a 30 min demonstration of my use of technology in Exercise Physiology, "High Tech, Low Tech & No Tech", during the May 28, 1999 Faculty Technology Workshop. The general reaction by the attendees was highly enthusiastic. 2. As mentioned above, I plan to write a short paper or communication so that my experience from doing this project may be shared by other biology/physiology instructors in other institutions.

Last updated on 12/1/00;
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