Characterizing Student Use of Virtual Plant Maps as a Study Tool in Plant Identification Courses

Virtual plant maps were developed using the Google Maps web-application for the Landscape Plant Identification Courses at Kansas State University. The maps were provided as an additional study resource for students in the courses to review and revisit plants covered in lecture and laboratory sections at their convenience. We obtained student feedback administered through a survey at the end of the fall semesters (2013 and 2014; n=87) and spring semester (2014; n=20) in order to assess the student use of the study tool. We found that 63% (n=55) and 75% (n=15) of the students in the fall courses and spring course, respectively, used the virtual maps as a study tool. Of the students that used the virtual maps, 47% used them for studying the most recent plant list, and 47% used them to review all previous plant lists including the most recent list, in the fall semesters. In the spring semester, of students that used the maps, most students (67%) used them for reviewing all previous plant lists, including the most recent list. When asked how the students used the maps, 67% of the fall and 87% of the spring students reported using the virtual maps mainly for visual review (online only), while 21% of fall and 13% of the spring students used the maps for both visual, online review and physically re-walking the path covered in lab. Of those students who did not use the virtual maps, 63% (fall) and 80% (spring) indicated other study methods were more useful for them; while 34% and 20%, fall and spring, respectively, cited that they forgot about the map as a resource, as the two main reasons for not using the maps as a study tool.