News & Updates

Week 1-2 recap: I heard you missed us, we’re back?

Whew. That felt like an entire semester. And we’re only 2 weeks done. Let’s recap teaching this research based course in a pandemic.

Remember, the University was allowing and pushing for some face-face classes. We were one. A hybrid.

Week 1 started off with an email to the faculty and students the Saturday before, that classes the first week would be remote due to a high number of positive Covid-19 tests. Every one returning had to take a test or provide results of one. So, already had to pivot for the first week. The only thing the students would really miss was an in class experiences working with high-speed cameras that weren’t their phones. In the back of my mind, I knew this is it for the semester. The first day was introductions and organizing. Monday is designed as a long class period for in class time to do research, instead after about an hour and a half, I let them go to work on small assignments at home. The first assignment is getting a high-speed video of something. I normally do this in class the first few weeks to get them use to using the equipment, instead they learned to use their phones. Students submitted videos to a VoiceThread and turned in great examples (highlight of my week). Spray aerosols, lighters, sandcrab flipping, pets, their eye blinking, partners drumming, ink in water. So, even though they weren’t learning to use high end cameras in class, they were learning how to use their devices.

Wednesday’s class was a lecture but was preceded by another email from the University that the entire semester was remote, with exceptions. Students that just moved in…had to move out. I filed to be an exception as some students really want lab/research experience. Several students are part of our Animal Behavior major and many of their internships were cancelled this summer. This might be the only hands on experience they get. Wednesday’s lecture was fine, but from my perspective it is different. I was in the classroom to give me (and them) the perspective of being in class. But I lectured to an empty room and a screen. With an owl staring at me. It’s hard to gauge how fast I’m going, if student’s understand the material, and open the class for discussion. I don’t envy the students who have to do this for all their classes, likely on different platforms (Zoom, Webex, Blackboard, oh my). It’s tough.

Week 1 went okay, despite the changes. Students were submitting videos. They were commenting on VoiceThreads on material we normally discuss in lab. The goal of the week was to understand how to get a high-speed video and what makes a good one for analysis.

Week 2 started out a bit rougher. We got approval as an exception to remote learning for at most 6 students to come in. I set up a sign up sheet on blackboard and 3 decided to come in. The building was suppose to be unlocked….it was not. I set Zoom up to be 1am not 1pm, so the link was hard to find. As I lecture I have to deliver the material, man the waiting room, and chat room. I might see if one of the ULAs can assist with this. At least I had some students in class, but I had a mask on, making it a bit more difficult to lecture. It was short lecture to introduce the week’s topic, learning how to track animals. So, afterwards I kept Zoom open and the three students in had a 1:1 ratio of student to teacher/ULA. I had some crickets, crayfish and fiddler crabs in for them to practice filming with and tutorials how to use the equipment so I didn’t have to be close. It all worked out well. But it was exhausting. There is another assignment this week to submit a video of an animal moving, some will use the videos from class some will upload their own.

Wednesday’s class was a bit smoother. I had the right zoom time to start. I lectured from my office on my computer, taking the time to have powerpoint, Zoom participants and chat open, so I could see them all at once. We discussed factors that might affect performance. The highlight of Wed. was our first Scientist Spotlight. Dr. Kristin Winchell from Washington University in St. Louis joined us virtually to tell us about her journey as a scientist and her research. The class read her recent paper on urban evolution (Winchell et al. 2018), submitted questions before hand, and asked them after her talk. She gave a great talk on her journey as a scientist, her research, provided videos for the class to see how it can be tough to motivate animals, and had some great messages throughout. I’ve never done anything like this, but thought it was great and hope to do it more, even not when we are all remote. We have a few more Scientist Spotlight’s coming up throughout the semester.

So, a rough, changing start to the semester, but we’re off and running……

Hybrid Moments….

So, a weekend out from the start of this Fall 2020 semester. Here at Towson, we are offering face to face opportunities at the discretion of each faculty and student. That is, faculty can choose for their course to be fully online, synchrnous or asynchronous, or have some face to face options; students can chose to not come in. Our class, since it is a research class, is starting off as a hybrid. This has been one of the most daunting aspects leading up to the semester. I am providing in class opportunity for students to come in and conduct research. The class is small, the room holds 6, so we could work it out. However, the uncertainty of not knowing how many students will chose to come in, how that will change, and managing to provide both in person and at home material to ensure everyone succeeds in the course is tough.  As I mentioned in the last post, I will be lecturing from the classroom, so 6 students could come in; it will be on Zoom, so students could join in; and I will record lectures, so students could tune in later.

It seems Hybrid has a lot of meanings among University and even within Universities and Departments. I empathize with our students trying to navigate all the uncertainty and options, do they have to come into class, do they have to sign up, do they choose to stay remote, is there a sign up sheet to come in, what happens if we go fully online? The question of “where is my classroom” may have a whole new meaning this semester. Some want to come in and get experience in research. Others do not think it is worth the risk. I get it. Meanwhile, us faculty seem to be facing similar issues of whether or not we choose to come in, technology issues (lecture live, broadcast, and record), uncertainty of potential in class numbers (given the constraints), and we are all trying to make the organization of our courses as clear as possible. Clear organization can be difficult if everyone (student and faculty) are in their own ‘choose your own adventure’ story. I feel as though the book is written, I know the content and the goals, but I have no idea which story students will choose. And I want to make sure, regardless of their path they have the tools to succeed in a research based course, in a hybrid environment, during a pandemic. There’s really no going back to page 7 this semester, is there? And I am just one faculty in a University writing my own choose your own adventure this semester. Not to mention the plethora of technology available. It is great we have so many options, and I do appreciate all the efforts the University has put in to providing us faculty with the tools to succeed. There have been great resources, tutorials, and discussions of all the options; and I’m excited to try out a few new ones this semester. But, all this technology can also be daunting figuring out which to use, how to use, and when to use them. It’s also occurred to me that again, I am one faculty, so students may be using Zoom for one class, Webex for another and Blackboard Ultra for yet another. So, I guess not only are students and faculty dealing with multiple choose your own adventure books, but they are going through those books on different platforms (hardcopy, audiotape, digital…). Thinking about, maybe a definition for a “Hybrid” course is choose your own adventure. Since adventures are suppose to be fun, let’s try and keep it positive for the semester and embrace the uncertainty (I say now before it all starts ;). I went out on campus with the ULA’s the other day and within minutes we caught some katydids, leafhoppers, and moths, and were able to film quickly. There is some hope we can do this.

For our class, the longer time on Monday is designed to give research experiences in class. So, some students could come in for that. However, if a student chooses not to come in, they will have to complete the assignments at home. Most of the early assignments are focused on stepping students through the process of using high-speed cameras, filming animals, digitizing, and getting some performance variables. As many (if not all) smart phones and GoPros have the capability to record at 120-240 fps, students could collect videos at home. Although, this is still a concern as we cannot assume all students have the latest tech gadgets (I’m working on alternative solutions to this). I have insect nets ready and some small containers for students to use at home, if they choose. Digitizing, analyzing, and presenting can all be done remotely. It is really the data collection that is the trickiest part, can a hypothesis be formulated to collect insects, video their performance, and digitize the videos at home.  Will it be like me in undergraduate counting fruit flies late at night on the kitchen table to see if I got Mendelian Inheritance? Or, does it all have to be home if at least one group member chooses to come in to record, while the others Zoom in to assist in the logistics and data recording. This is something I’m waiting to determine as we start next week. As students are mostly graded on the process and not the outcome, I hope, even if projects fail, they will still get something out of the course and do well, even if working remotely. But, I feel I am constantly thinking of alternative solutions that may work or that I may have to deploy if the situation at the University changes.

Sometimes I feel like Dr. Strange in the Avengers Infinity Wars when he looks into every imaginable outcome for the semester. Hopefully there is more than one solution for us all to succeed during this semester. Stay tuned as we begin on Our Adventure on Monday. Good luck to everyone else out there navigating these difficult times.

“If you’re gonna scream, scream with me. Moments like this never last…..”

Here it goes again….

Well, t minus 2 business days until the start of this “new” semester. The butterflies are fluttering (and not the ones outside!). I’ve spent the past few weeks organizing the class and have a pretty “decent” plan, despite the looming uncertainty for what might happen in this Fall. Right now, the plan is for a hybrid delivery with lectures, presentations, and meeting activities all being virtual. Some of them (such as lectures) will be synchronous and recorded; some will be asynchronous. There will be opportunity for in person collecting of specimens on campus (following proper social distancing guidelines outside) and filming of organisms following University guidelines for any face to face delivery. The class is small, so we should be able to do this if we rotate who comes in to work or if some chose not to come in. I’ve had to shift things around a bit, which has been an interesting exercise in teaching creativity.

For labs, I’ve chopped up the delivery to be smaller live components, VoiceThreads to generate discussions, and tutorials (how to digitize and use R for example). One of the biggest challenges I feel like I’m facing this semester is removing the in person discussion of research (observing in nature, discussions in small groups, troubleshooting), so I’m trying to move it online, using VoiceThreads, discussion boards and tutorials. I’ve also been motivated by Price et al’s (2020) recent paper to have discussion threads of research questions online. VoiceThreads are a new technology to me, integrated with our blackboard, so we’ll see how they work. I’ve also been inspired by colleagues at Towson teaching CUREs, where they plan to have one group member in class, while the others Zoom in. This is something I’m hoping we can do once we get groups formalized and data collection starts. A group member or two come in to film, one is at home recording the data.

As I continue to plan and organize I have been thinking about incorporating other components to the course that could use some assistance from the broader scientific community (which I am happy to reciprocate).

First, in the (likely) event that we go completely online, meaning no collection on campus or filming, I am curious if others would be able/willing to share videos of animals moving (locomotion, feeding, other) for students to analyze at home.  The videos could be part of a publication or extra that were not used, as long as students can obtain data from it (performance or kinematics) using ImageJ or something similar and there is information about the videos. The videos will not be used in publication and full credit will be given. Students may do an assignment interviewing you about the data if they chose to use it. I and ULA’s (undergrad learning assistants) will also be going out around campus collecting invertebrates to film to add to the database. I’m happy to reciprocate sharing videos, but please contact me if interested and I can provide more details.

Second, I have decided to introduce Scientist Spotlights. I have several planned with researchers whose papers we will read (thank you to those that already agreed to join us). However, I am interested in more Scientist Spotlights in the second half of the semester (after 10/12, which has fewer planned activities as most of the time is dedicated to research and lab meeting type activities). If you are interested in giving a half hour talk about yourself, your journey, and your research, please let me know. We meet M 1-4:30 and W 3-4:50 (EST). I can provide more information. My hope is that if we are limited in “doing” research, maybe we can have more discussions about research with others from all over. Again, I’m happy to reciprocate, and contact me if interested or for more details.

More information on the class can be found on these webpages and in Oufiero (2019). Towson University is Maryland’s largest comprehensive university situated just outside the Baltimore City limits. The class is all undergraduates from all of our majors, including concentrations in Functional Biology of Animals; Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; Cell and Molecular; as well as other majors in Bioinformatics, Animal Behavior and Environmental Science.

So, this is the “plan.” I have to remind myself, as I learned first time around, to expect the unexpected and be flexible.

 

And I thought it would be easier…..

In this ever changing world, I will be teaching the Organismal Form and Function CURE this coming Fall 2020. Our semester does not start until August 24th, so I have a little over a month to get ready. As Dante from Clerk’s once said, “I’m not even supposed to be here today.” Initially, I was scheduled for sabbatical Fall 2020, but decided to postpone until Spring 2021 to accommodate international travel plans. I thought Spring might be more likely for me to travel, we will see. Since schedules were already made, I added the CURE last minute, advertised and have a full class. Back in March there were hopes we would be in person. Things have been changing quickly.

In an effort to once again document what I do in the course, I will be posting through the rest of the summer and semester. The course will change, as it will not all be in person. Teaching a lecture remotely is not too difficult. Trying to engage students in research remotely is a different story. I have some ideas and plans in the works, so we will see what happens.

The first time I taught the course it was stressful not knowing if student’s could come up with questions, if we could collect anything, or if animals would perform. It all worked (Oufiero 2019). I couldn’t wait to teach the course again as I thought it would be easier. Little did I know a global pandemic would be happening. So, once again I’m a bit stressed about how all of this will go. I am currently surveying students to obtain an idea of what they might prefer, including:

  • Face to face opportunity in class to film animals in limited student capacity
  • Film animals at home with their own device and nets, enclosures provided
  • Not to film and only digitize and analyze prerecorded high speed videos
  • Not to film, but come to campus to conduct a project on morphological variation based on museum specimens

If anyone in the scientific community is reading this and has videos they are willing to share to help with option 3 above, please contact me (coufiero -at- towson.edu). I would be happy to reciprocate and even develop a network of videos students can work with. I will also be reaching out via social media, including a post on more details. Five and a half weeks to go, stay tuned. I will be updating information on this website, including course material, archiving old material, as I go.

Final Thoughts

Well, final papers are graded and final grades are in. Overall, the class was a success. I’ve been reflecting back on the beginning of the semester the past week or so, and am impressed with how far everyone has come. Some things worked well, some were okay, and some things I’ll be revising the next time I teach the course. My goal, was to give more students authentic research experiences in organismal biology, focusing on form, function, and performance. At the end of the class, I think I succeeded with that. We had four unique projects, some on topics that have not been investigated before. Students learned to use high-speed cameras, digitized animals to get kinematics and performance, present research, and write up their research. They all had hypotheses that they tested.

There are several things I think worked really well. The first, is having dedicated time in a classroom setting for research. Students have lots of other priorities (e.g., work, other classes, family commitments, etc.) and I have found it hard for them to have time for research. Having everyone in the class at the same time allowed me to move everyone through at a similar pace. Some groups were more ahead then others, but all relatively on the same page. Another thing that worked well was having students come up with questions related to animal form, function, and performance. I was worried about this at the start, everything, including the organisms, was a complete unknown. But, everyone got the hang of filming animals and motivating them to perform well (special thanks to the wooden dowels for motivation!). Field collecting was also a highlight. Many of these students have never been outside for a Biology class, and they really woke up when we went collecting. Many of their hypotheses came from catching and observing animals in nature. Weather was not on our side this semester, but the two days we did go out were beautiful and everyone seemed to have a great time. Lastly, having assignments related to students finding related articles from the primary literature seemed effective at getting them to look at other studies and refine their hypotheses.

Several things did not work well this semester. The first, as I just mentioned, was weather. I did have a contingency day build in, and we needed it. But we got rained out a lot. Group work was also challenging. We had a professional development on group work and peer evaluation, which I had not even thought about prior to the class. I implemented a peer evaluation system and had groups of 2, 3 and 4, but I need to revise it for the next class. The other major hurdle was varying operating systems and student computer literacy. I didn’t anticipate having a full 4 hour class to trouble shoot R, but I did because of weather and I will keep that in for future iterations. I tried working in the computer lab, where everyone was on the same operating system, but that was also challenging. So, in the future, I will probably spend more time working through computer programs (we used ImageJ, some students used Tracker, and R). Lastly, the final papers seemed a bit rushed, so I will likely emphasize them earlier in the class (note: all rubrics were posted to blackboard at the start of the class, so they did know there was a paper), potentially including a draft as an assignment so I can provide feedback.

At the beginning of the semester I was 50% excited, 50% terrified. There were a lot of unknowns. Could we get animals, could we film them, could students come up with hypotheses? About half way through when we were in the thick of collecting videos, I realized the class was actually working. Grasshoppers jumped, water striders strided?, crayfish escaped, and stinkbugs flew.  I was also concerned about not having enough to do later in the class, but just having them time for them to work on research seemed effective. This class set a high bar for what I will expect next time. I also learned a lot about different animals I never really thought about before. So, win/win.

Next planned class is for Fall 2020, see you then….

And just because I really enjoyed their research abstracts as movie trailers, here they are again:

 

Week 13-14 Recap

Almost done with the semester. Student’s have finished collecting their videos, are finishing up their digitizing, and some groups have moved on to data analysis. We finished our student presentations on a paper from the primary literature. I learned a lot from these this semester on al the various organisms and performances we are studying. Some students spent some time with Aaron in Dr. LaPolla’s lab taking automontage images of their organisms, including water strider legs and grasshopper hind legs. Some groups are becoming more experienced in R, learning to use mixed models to analyze their data, and are getting good at plotting and visualizing their data in R. The only assignments that are left are a poster presentation Friday Dec. 7th, in the the Department of Biological Sciences and their final paper. So, almost done. I’ve been reflecting on the class, and can’t believe how far we’ve all come. To think I was worried we wouldn’t have any projects to do, and we are now getting some interesting results from student driven questions, most of which I had never even thought about. Stay tuned as we wrap up the semester. Below are some photos from our university photographer.

Research Abstract Movie Trailer Assignment

Well the class has been in data collection mode. I am there for support, but the student’s are busy finishing collecting videos and digitizing. We learned about data analysis and presentation these past weeks.

This week I had the students create and submit a movie trailer for their research. I wanted to give the students a creative assignment, highlight their videos, and advertise their research. Since I am a big fan of movies (and love when new trailers come out), I thought I would try this as an assignment. I created a rubric to ensure that the student’s were aware their research needed to be the focus, but that it should be creative and fun. They needed to clearly state their hypothesis, show some methods, and have fun with it. Every group submitted theirs and on the Monday before Thanksgiving, I made some popcorn and we all previewed them. I wasn’t aware that iMovie actually had movie trailer templates, so several groups used those, which helped with editing, creativity, and creative commons music (which we discussed). They were a bit skeptical of the assignment, not sure of what I was looking for, and asked if I had ever done one, which I had not. But, since we had an unexpected snow day the Thursday before, I decided to try my hand at it and created one for them. This was a really fun assignment, every group did a great job at showcasing their research and creativity. As a bonus, I will be sharing their videos with the faculty and staff here as advertisements for each group’s poster coming up at our Dept.’s annual fall poster day. The group that gets the most faculty to visit (they’ll have sign in sheets) based on their trailers will get some bonus points. I’ve also considered giving a bonus to the group that has the most views on social media as they are posted on youtube and twitter. Below are the trailers, get some popcorn and enjoy!

 

 

First up, my trailer for the assignment. I’m not a horror movie fan, but felt it was appropriate:

 

Second, team water strider takes a sci-fi suspense approach, can these scientists save mankind from the invading water striders?

 

Next, team stink bug examines the “super” flight abilities of invasive marmorated stink bugs.

 

Team crayfish introduced the world to the crayfish olympics.

 

And last, but certainly not least, team jump draws inspiration from the Hunger Games to examine the Jumping Games:

 

 

Week 9-10 recap

Well, the class is really up and running now and we are in the midst of data collection. During week 9 we spent Monday collecting videos. Everyone has been working really well and are getting some great videos. On Wed. of week 9, we had our first set of presentations by students summarizing a paper relevant to their research project. I used this rubric to grade the presentations and we learned about different crayfish escapes, crayfish facial recognition, and grasshopper jumping. I also extended the deadline for their video, digitized point, and kinematic test, so we spent some of Wed. going through their kinematic code to make sure they are getting data.

Here is a video of team jump.

 

Week 10 started off with more data collection, teams came in and started working. Groups also started working on digitizing their videos and getting kinematics. The goal is to have all our videos collected by Thanksgiving, so we can move on to data analysis. In a few weeks I’ll give a short lecture on data analysis and presentation, since all groups will be presenting at the Department of Biological Sciences poster day on Dec. 7. On Wed, each group gave a short presentation on their proposed research, graded following this rubric. We also had another student present a paper on water strider jumping performance.

Here is a video from Team Water Strider

Week 7-8 recap

Well, we are more than half way through the semester and the class has been moving along well. Week 7 started off with another nice day and trip to Oregon Ridge, the focus was to get grasshoppers and crickets, but we also got some more water striders and crayfish. We also caught some praying mantises, as they were pretty abundant in the field. We managed to get more grasshoppers, mostly short winged, and some crickets.

Wed. we had our only exam, a midterm to ensure we all understood the content. The class did well, 13 short answers and a B average.

Week 8 started with a tank of dead crayfish (miscommunication, overfeeding, and a build up of ammonia). We sent the crayfish team out to catch some more with Aaron, while the rest stayed behind and began working on collecting data. They set up their high-speed cameras and tanks to capture the performance they were interested in. By the end of the day, each group had gotten their filming setup figured out, and started collecting data. Water striders were gliding on calm water, invasive stink bugs were flying towards the light, and grasshoppers were jumping in the air. On Wed. we continued filming and the crayfish team got up and running after being a bit behind. The groups had an assignment due with a video from their research, a digitized point, and resulting kinematics. We are still working on it, as I am going to work with groups this week to finalize their kinematic code to get the data they need. But, we have animals, we have projects, and now we have some data. My concerns at the beginning of the semester of whether this whole thing will work, (what will there questions be, can we get animals, can we get them to perform) have disappeared. Some concern with the stink bugs, but once we realized that they are phototaxis, and we need the light for the camera anyway, they were off and flying.

 

Week 5-6 recap

Things are moving along in the course. Week 5 started off with another cancelled field trip due to weather. But, as I’m learning with this course, we adapted and instead spent time trouble shooting R. None of the students have ever used R, so it was a lot to ask of them. I made a simple code for them to get displacement, velocity, and acceleration from the point they digitized on their video in MTrackJ. There is a learning curve to R, so we spent the first part of Monday’s class making sure everyone can run their point through and get some data. And we did. I also asked them to get mean velocity and acceleration, not giving them the code, but pointing them to online resources.

Students then went back out to the Glenn Arboretum to collect some invertebrates with Aaron and Jess. They came back with a bunch of organisms. Instead of filming, I wanted to give them time to talk about project ideas. So, I had them brainstorm. We wrote all the ideas on the board and started thinking about experimental design, sample sizes, and feasibility. They had an assignment due the next Monday on an initial project idea with citation. Starting to move from learning about animal movement and research to conducting research. In class on Wed. we had a lecture on jumping and discussed a paper on hindlimb length and jumping in leafhoppers.

Week 6 began with weather finally on our side! So, we headed out to Oregon Ridge Park to try and collect. Students had submitted initial project ideas, so we had some target species. Many students went with Jess to catch crayfish in a creek, and they were successful, capturing ~23 in an hour. I went with several students to sample the fields, and we got some crickets and grasshoppers. Students in the creek also realized there were water striders, so they caught a bunch of them. We then sat in the pavilion and students rotated around discussing project ideas, while Aaron and Jess caught all the invasive stink bugs on the pavilion. We started to organize into groups and project ideas. Seemed there was a group that wanted to work with crayfish, a group wanting to work with water striders, another on crickets/grasshoppers and one that was open. We headed back to campus, Aaron and Jess took care of our new animals.

On Wed. we spent the first few minutes finalizing groups. They have a proposal abstract due next week, as a group. We are switching over to more group work now. We then discussed movement in the air and read a paper on bee flight performance. We’re suppose to head back to Oregon Ridge on Monday to target grasshoppers and crickets, and our midterm on Wed. Then, it is all about research.