Enhancing the Learning Experience of an Online Plant Science Lab Course Using Moodle’s Tools and External Applications

Enhancing the learning experience of an online plant science lab course was done by using tools in Moodle and External Applications. Over the past eight years, “Introduction to Plant Science” evolved from being offered face-to-face, to being fully on-line, including the lab activities. Students, at home, conduct the lab activities using a commercial lab kit, which is integrated with other course activities. Three types of direct assessment using pre/post test quizzes and a rubric for the lab reports. Also, indirect assessment was done using pre/post surveys of student self-assessment of their learning gains (SALG). Though using these tools, the course content and delivery is modified. One of the key enhancements is by increasing interactivity of student activities. Additional software tools are now used to develop modules with interactive student activities. These include adding immersive interactive 360 degree VR imaging as well as using Softchalk, ZebraZapps and Adobe Captivate.