DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED PLANT SCIENCE
TEACHING RESOURCE FOR USE BY UNIVERSITY
LECTURERS
The Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource
A. Levesley, S. J. Jopson and C. D. Knight
Centre for Plant Sciences, IICB, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
Keywords: e-Learning, plant science, learning materials development, web-based teaching resource, teaching material.
Abstract: Undergraduate interest in plant science has reached a new critical low; with so few students taking plant-
based options that some Universities no longer do a separate Plant Science degree. This raises the question
“where is the next generation of British plant science researchers going to come from?”. The Gatsby Plants
Teaching Resource http://www.gatsbyplants.leeds.ac.uk/tr aims to support research academics to provide
stimulating and inspiring plant science teaching to reverse this downwards trend. The on-line resource will
supply a mix of novel teaching ideas, images and practical protocols, as well as holding a database of plant
science lecturer contacts so the lecturing community can work together to spread good teaching practice.
1 INTRODUCTION
Plants hold the key to many of the world’s problems,
such as food production; managing the environment
and climate; providing alternative renewable energy
sources and materials. But solutions need graduates
with a solid understanding of plant function,
diversity and potential. However, recent years have
seen a rapid decline in undergraduate student uptake
of plant based options, with a knock on effect of
reduced numbers choosing plant science for post
graduate studies and as a career. It is often the case
that students arrive at University with a perception
that ‘plants are boring’ and with a poor
understanding of the subject.
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation supports plant
research and, recognising this problem, has funded
Gatsby Plants – a 4 year National Teaching Facility
for Plant Sciences, coordinated by Dr. Celia Knight
at the University of Leeds.
Gatsby Plants aims to support academics to
provide stimulating and inspiring plant science
teaching to reverse this downwards trend and
enthuse students. One part of this initiative is the
Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource
(http://www.gatsbyplants.leeds.ac.uk/tr), which is
currently running as a pilot resource. It aims to
provide University lecturers with access to novel and
inspiring plant science teaching material developed
by experienced lecturers in the field.
In this paper we describe the approach we have
taken in the development of this teaching resource.
The link between research and teaching is core to
our approach, as is the support of a network of
University lecturers from 20 UK Universities who
have been key in identifying teaching requirements,
defining the user interface, providing direction and
will continue to be central to the development of the
teaching material. This resource has been developed
with the lecturer as the user, so that they may
download and use material from this resource for
their University teaching. As such it is described as
a Teaching Resource and the emphasis is to develop
inspiring teaching material rather than informative
material alone.
2 IDENTIFYING USER
REQUIREMENTS
2.1 Method
In order to establish the design and direction of the
resource we sought the views of the Plant Science
lecturing community through a user survey
433
Levesley A., J. Jopson S. and D. Knight C. (2007).
DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED PLANT SCIENCE TEACHING RESOURCE FOR USE BY UNIVERSITY LECTURERS - The Gatsby Plants
Teaching Resource.
In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Society, e-Business and e-Government /
e-Learning, pages 433-439
DOI: 10.5220/0001282004330439
Copyright
c
SciTePress
consisting of a focus group meeting and a
questionnaire which was sent out to an established
network of university lecturers from 20 UK
Universities. The focus group meeting and
questionnaire were constructed to examine the
following key areas:
1. Lecturer use of on-line teaching material.
2. Priority content for the proposed resource
3. Priority features for the proposed resource
Questions took two forms: multiple choice or
open ended questions. The multiple choice questions
asked lecturers to rate resources/features as either
very useful, useful, fairly useful or not useful. Other
questions required lecturers to input their answers or
comments into text boxes.
2.2 Results
18 lectures from 12 UK Universities and research
institutions responded to the user survey, either
through the focus group or on-line questionnaire. A
scoring system was then applied to the ratings (very
useful=3; useful=2; fairly useful=1; not useful=0)
for analysis. The results are summarised below.
2.2.1 Lecturer Use of On-line Teaching
Material
67% of plant science lecturers use on-line material
to support their lectures. The most used types are
images, movies and on-line databases (e.g. DNA
sequence databases, protein interaction databases,
DNA analysis programmes).
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
Mo
vie
s
Ima
ges
Da
ta
base
s
Sel
f
comp
o
sed
Animatio
n
s
L
a
bora
to
ry we
b
sites
%
Figure 1: Types of on-line teaching material used by plant
science lecturers (n=18). On-line databases refers to DNA
sequence databases, protein interaction databases, DNA
analysis programmes; Self composed refers to learning
and revision packages created by the lecturer.
2.2.2 Establishing Priority Content for the
Proposed Resource
Lecturers were asked to suggest and rate the types of
resource which would best support their teaching.
The resources that were ranked highest were: high
quality images; animations to explain a concept,
short video clips (3 minutes or less) and practicals.
Figure 2: Lecturer resource preference. A high score
indicates a resource that was assessed as most useful in
supporting lecturer teaching.
Other favoured resources included:
Links to reviewed quality web sites,
subject specific information e.g. plant
physiology,
facts and figures,
current issues,
research and text book images and
case studies.
Resources which did not rank highly included
tutorials, Multiple Choice Questions, whole TV
programmes and materials which are pre-packaged
into ‘teaching packs’ for a particular key concept or
topic.
Analysis seems to show that lectures would
prefer to be given raw materials from which they
build their own custom made learning resources
rather than pre-packaged learning materials. This is
perhaps not surprising given that raw materials may
be incorporated into a module which may change
and evolve from year to year with relative ease.
Score
0 102030405060
High quality images
Animations to explain a concept
Video clips
Practicals
Links to reviewed websites
Subject specific information
Facts and figures
Current issues
Research images
Text-book diagrams
Case studies
Complex diagrams
Text from experts
MCQs
Teaching packs
Geographical maps
Tutorial s
Whole TV programmes
Current research techniques
WEBIST 2007 - International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies
434
Further consultations with the plants science
community has highlighted the importance of having
all teaching material peer-reviewed for accuracy,
relevance and quality. This could be done through a
resource-review panel or subject consultants who
could comment on materials submitted to them and
identify priority content for a specific subject.
2.2.3 Establishing Priority Features for the
Proposed Resource
Lecturers were asked to rate potentially useful web
site features. The features that were rated highest
(with a majority of lecturers rating them as very
useful) were:
that all teaching material should be free for
educational use,
that the web site should facilitate browsing
as well as searching;
and that the teaching material should be
developed by experts in the field.
Score
0 10203040
All material is free to use for
educational purposes
The website allows browsing
An easy to use search facility
Resources developed by
experts in their field
Upload facility for contributions
Feedback facility
Figure 3: Lecturer preference for web site features and
functions.
Given the high rating attributed to browsing for
teaching material, lecturers were asked to state how
they prefer to browse for teaching material.
Lecturers rated browsing by subject and by resource
type as their preferred browsing categories.
Score
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Subject
Resource type
Contributors name
Species name
Special collection
Habitat type:
Geographical location
Figure 4: Lecturer preference for browse categories.
3 EVALUATION OF DIGITAL
OBJECT REPOSITORY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Several options were available to us in developing
the digital object repository management system
(software system) required to facilitate delivery and
management of the Gatsby Plants Teaching
Material:
1. A bespoke ‘in-house’ system
2. Commercially available system
3. Freely available, open source system
A brief evaluation of commercially available and
open source software systems was carried out. The
evaluation was based on testing the ‘user side’ and
where possible accessing and testing the ‘admin
side’. A technical evaluation of most of the
evaluated open source software was assessed
through a report published by the Open Society
Institute: A Guide to Institutional Repository
Software,
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/pdf/OSI_Guide_to
_IR_Software_v3.pdf
Commercially available digital asset management
systems:
Contentdm
Digitool
Symposia
Endevour: encompass
Open Source digital asset management systems
DSpace
Fedora
CDSware
i-Tor
MyCoRe
OPUS
Greenstore
While many of the software systems evaluated
mostly met our requirements, developing an in
house bespoke resource was the best option
available to us. Although open source software
would mostly meet our needs, considerable in-house
technical expertise would be required to install onto
a server and adapt to our requirements. No technical
support is offered other than that available through
discussion fora and BLOGS. Furthermore, many of
the additional features found in open access and
commercial systems were found to be unnecessary
for our purposes, as defined by our user
requirements. A bespoke system developed in-house
would have the added advantage of being adaptable
so that we would be at liberty to respond rapidly to
user requirements.
DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED PLANT SCIENCE TEACHING RESOURCE FOR USE BY UNIVERSITY
LECTURERS - The Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource
435
4 THE GATSBY PLANTS
TEACHING RESOURCE
4.1 The System
The development of a bespoke digital object
repository management system was required to
facilitate delivery of the Gatsby Plants Teaching
Resource. Institutional support was a major
contribution to the decision to adopt PHP and
MySQL database for the necessary dynamic
database driven web site.
The system uses a MySQL 3.23 database with
PHP 4.3.1 web pages on a SUSE Linux v.8.2
operating system on an Apache 1.3 server. The
system consists of a user end and an administrator
side. The administrator side has been designed to
accommodate content upload, editing of content
metadata and deleting. The system accommodates
deliver of a variety of teaching media (jpegs, gif,
ppt, MPEG, streamed video (AVI), word documents,
url links) as well as a database of lecturer contact
details. The system is scalable and may be modified
to respond to user requirements.
4.2 The User Interface
The user survey informed the user interface design.
The ability to browse by subject, resource type and
contributor as well as to search the teaching material
was implemented.
Figure 6: Resource type specific icons are used to
facilitate navigation.
4.3 Teaching Materials Development
The user survey was essential in establishing priority
content to be delivered through the Gatsby Plants
Teaching Resource. The following have been
prioritised:
High quality images
Video clips and animations
Practical class exercises
Links to quality web sites
Development of subject specific content
(Plant Physiology in the first instance)
4.3.1 High Quality Images
Targeted publishers and organisations have been
approached for high quality images. Research
images will be sought from the research community
Figure 5: Three screen shots of the Gatsby Plants
Teaching Resource. The user is able to search o
r
b
rowse the teaching material by subject, by resource
type or by contributor. Selecting a category takes the
user to a resource list page. Selecting a resource takes
the user to a detail page, from where viewing an
d
downloading the full resource is possible.
WEBIST 2007 - International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies
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and targeted research journals. The plant science
community will be consulted to identify key images.
4.3.2 Video Clips and Animations
In response to the user survey, which identified time
lapse photography of plants as useful content, we
have initially acquired 5 such clips and if further
need is established, will acquire more.
Further consultation with the plant science
lecturer community identified the use of short films
highlighting key research breakthroughs as potential
lecture hooks. We intend to trial the production of
such short films. The aim of this novel resource is to
produce a film of about 5 minutes for lecturers to
use in a number of different ways. The emphasis of
the film will be to inspire students rather than
informing them through the film alone.
4.3.3 Practical Class Exercises
A focus group of plant science lecturers was created
to look into the issues surrounding practical classes.
Tried and tested practical class exercises that
illustrate key concepts in contemporary plant science
were identified as a much needed resource.
Gathering such practicals has subsequently been
identified as key to the initial stages of developing
more subject-specific content.
4.3.4 Links to Quality Websites
An extensive, although not exhaustive, survey of
over 60 plant science related web sites has been
carried out. The best web sites have been included
as links from the Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource.
Additional evaluated links are included as necessary,
most come from recommendations by the plant
science community. Links will be reviewed on a
regular basis to ensure their continued relevance.
4.3.5 Development of Subject Specific
Content
The development of content within a specific subject
area will be piloted. A strategy has been put into
place where by an established and recognised
member of the plant science community will
champion a subject area, identify content and
encourage contributions from the plant science
community.
4.4 Copyright
Copyright is governed primarily by statute and the
Act now in force is the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). Often copyright is
transferred to publishers when an academic
publishes his or her research in a journal.
Furthermore, although the legal position is
inevitably complex, the law is such that, unless there
are specific agreements to the contrary, an
academic’s employer would normally be regarded as
owning all intellectual property generated by them
during the course of their employment, with some
exceptions (Leeds University Library, Copyright and
Licences http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/rights/).
These two factors broadly mean that much of the
material we receive from academics requires rights
clearance not just from them as authors (since they
hold the moral rights on their materials) but often
from publishers or/and their employing institution
before it can be made freely available, through the
Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource, for educational
use. We have worked with the University of Leeds
lawyer to develop the appropriate procedures and
licenses to copyright clear all materials for
educational use.
4.5 Additional Features
4.5.1 Lecturers Database
A database of plant science lecturer contacts has
been established so that the lecturing community can
work together to spread good teaching practice. The
database includes over 150 plant science lecturers
who have agreed to be contactable to discuss
teaching and possibly share resources. The database
covers contact details, research interests and, where
provided, teaching interests. This database has
already been essential in providing feedback and
disseminating information on important learning and
teaching issues. An associated discussion forum
will be piloted and evaluated to assess whether it is
an effective means of facilitating discussions
amongst the plant science lecturing community and
so help spread good teaching practice.
4.5.2 Password Protection
The question of whether the website should be open
access or password protected was discussed as part
of the practical focus group. The decision was made
to password protect the site for three reasons: to
reassure contributors of resources that their material
DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED PLANT SCIENCE TEACHING RESOURCE FOR USE BY UNIVERSITY
LECTURERS - The Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource
437
was only going to be accessible by legitimate
members of the plant science community, to protect
lecturers in the lecturers database (see section 4.5.1)
from unsolicited contacts and to allow the Teaching
Resource users to keep one step ahead of the
students they are teaching. New users are required to
register and usernames and passwords are only
supplied to genuine plant scientists working at
research institutes or Universities.
The issue of password protection will be
reviewed at the end of the pilot year to see if it has
had any affect on the user experience or facilitating
clearing copyright for access to novel teaching
resources.
4.5.3 Plant News and RSS
The user survey highlighted the importance of
providing information on plant science current
issues. In response to this we are developing a ‘Plant
News’ area to inform users on current developments
and breakthroughs in plant science as well as any
plants science being reported in the news.
Furthermore, as highlighted in by JISC the profile of
a resource may be raised by using RSS for
newsfeeds and alerting (JISC, 2005). RSS will be
used to disseminate ‘Plant news’ and also to inform
users about new content and so draw interested users
to the Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource web site and
maintain user interest.
4.5.4 Resource of the Week
Furthermore we will implement a ‘Resource of the
week’ area to highlight teaching material within the
Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource.
4.6 Evaluation
The Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource was launched
in September 2006 and is currently at the pilot stage.
The resource will undergo development and
evaluation over the next year.
User statistics will be used to gather access
information such as,
visitor characteristics, e.g. regional
distributions and institutional affiliations,
visitor technical profiles,
visit characteristics, such as visit referral,
visitor browsing and searching preferences,
materials downloads.
Feedback will be generated both passively
through the website and actively through targeted
questionnaires and interviews with individual users.
This feedback will generate information on content
use by subject, visitor materials type preferences,
visitor scenarios of use, visitor satisfaction and
suggestions for improvement, visitor perceptions of
materials and visitor perceptions of impact.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A system to accommodate deliver of a variety of
teaching materials (jpeg, PowerPoint slides,
streamed video, downloadable video clips, word
documents, links) and a database of University
lecturers has been developed and will be undergoing
evaluation during this its pilot year. The system uses
a MySQL database with PHP web pages and
consists of a user end and an administrator side. The
administrator side has been designed to
accommodate content upload, editing of content
metadata and deleting. The system is scalable and
may be modified to respond to user requirements.
The user survey defined the design and user
interface of the Teaching Resource. Preliminary
feedback suggests the resource has been well
received. The continued feedback from the plant
science community will be essential in fine tuning
the technical requirements of the Teaching
Resource.
However, the technical side of the resource is not
the major challenge to the development of the
Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource. The greatest
challenge has proved to be delivering quality and
relevant content, which can only be achieved by
close collaboration with the plant science
community. Engaging the plant science community
and developing its sense of ownership of the
Teaching Resource will be key to the Resource’s
future.
The laborious nature of clearing copyright has,
unfortunately, resulted in a slow population of the
Teaching Resource by contributions. To overcome
this we are targeting collecting subject specific
content via a ‘Subject Champion’ and are trialling
having the website password protected as a way of
alleviating the worries of some contributors.
Once the Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource has
become established, there may be the potential to
expand the user base by extending the plant science
teaching content to schools level and maybe
providing learning resources directly to
undergraduate students.
We anticipate that through engagement with the
established network of plant science lecturers and
researchers, the Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource
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will grow to become a valuable teaching tool and
will assist plant science lecturers in their task of
inspiring future generations of plant scientists.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all those who have
generously supported this resource with contribution
of materials, time and ideas.
The work of Gatsby Plants is funded by the
Gatsby Charitable Foundation and supported by the
University of Leeds.
REFERENCES
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Chapter c. 48.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_198800
48_en_1.htm
JISC, 2005. Adding value with RSS. e-Resources Fact
File. Version 1.1.
Leeds University Library, Copyright and Licences
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/rights/
Open Society Institute, 2004. A Guide to Institutional
Repository Software. 3
rd
Edition.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/pdf/OSI_Guide_to_I
R_Software_v3.pdf
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LECTURERS - The Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource
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