EOL Education
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Undergraduate Initiative
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Mail:
Encyclopedia of Life
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University
26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Phone: 617.496.6764
Email: education [at] eol.org

Case Study: Harvard course "Biology of the Fungi"

In the fall of 2008, professors Anne Pringle and Donald H. Pfister partnered to teach a course for Harvard College undergraduates called "Biology of the Fungi." The course explores all aspects of fungi - ecology, evolution, and morphology, as well as the diversity of fungi, including mushrooms, smuts, rust, and molds. As a final project, students created a page for a fungus that they wanted to learn more about. They weighed existing sources, chose the most accurate information, and wrote descriptions, resulting in new pages on EOL.

How did creating EOL content fit into the course?

The students in the class created EOL content as a way of tying together the knowledge and skills gained in course lectures, labs, and readings. Several students claimed that they enjoyed this project more than the alternative of writing a research paper.

Hear a student comment:  

 

How do students benefit from this project?

Students benefited by doing a practical review of the scientific literature and trying to balance differing points of view about their species. Because EOL requires certain detailed information, the students had to use creativity and insight to merge information from a variety of sources. Often, they turned to the original species descriptions. All this is excellent practice for what scientists do. Hear student comments:

 

 

What challenges did contributing to the species pages present?

While some students had to look hard for information about their species, others, who had a more common or economically-important species, had the time-consuming task of sifting through and weighing large amounts of information.

In an evaluative focus group at the end of the semester, one student expressed concern that because she was not a fungal expert, her page would not be as accurate or publishable as pages written by experts. The instructors in the course disagreed, saying that the challenge of seeking out and synthesizing information from sources that may not all agree is an essential part of what scientists do on a daily basis • and is great practice for students, whatever career path they choose.

Both students and instructors felt that starting the assignment early in the semester would almost always be a good idea, even if the knowledge gained in their course work through the entire semester would help their research.

Finally, the instructors were concerned about the amount of editing that the student pages required them to do in making all pages consistent in tone and style. While instructors should carefully review their students' work for accuracy, content partners can provide some editing assistance, alleviating this part of the instructor's responsibility. Check with your content partner to find out if their policy includes editing and approving pages. Hear a student and faculty member comment:

 

 

How was student work in "Biology of the Fungi" evaluated?

After students submitted their work in draft form, the instructors reviewed the pages for accuracy on-line and edited student language for consistency. At this time, instructors graded the pages based on the amount of information presented, the consistency and completeness of the presentation, accuracy of information, quality of references, etc. Grades took into account the relative obscurity or prominence of the chosen species. (For example, a few references for an obscure species would have been awarded the same credit as several more references for a common species.) Hear faculty comments about assessment:

 

In the final student grade, EOL pages were given the same weight as had been given in previous years to a 20-page research paper. Most students felt happy with their work on their EOL pages and one expressed that it was a better use of his time than writing a research paper "that no one but me and my professor would ever read."

Feedback about EOL's undergraduate student initiative

A Harvard student speaks about their contributions to EOL:

An instructor sums up her experience of the first year using EOL with students:

Comments from students and faculty in other courses about creating student pages for EOL:

Dr. Volk informed us about the project for our Mycology class. He decided that everyone in the class would choose a polypore as the subject of their EOL page. Dr. Volk suggested D. confragosa to me because he said it would be an interesting one to do. I used information from our class text (cited on my page as Bessette, etc.) For our class, we have been collecting fungus samples. I found an example of D. confragosa in the woods here in La Crosse. I had to key it out and identify it as D. confragosa. Before this class, I had never collected or handled mushrooms before. I think that the project will be very helpful to a lot of people, and it's cool that a class project has turned into something important.

- Melissa Mudt, undergraduate mycology class, University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse

Writing the species accounts led me to discover many very interesting specific facts about these species, of course, and I had convinced myself I could probably recognize them in the field if the occasion arose (this was never proved, unfortunately). But more importantly I learned a good deal about the known diversity of characters and character states that exists in Anurans, so that if I came upon a specimen I could not identify in the field, I would know which characters were important to make a note of that I could later look up and use to identify the species.

- Cindy Liu, undergraduate herpetology class, Harvard University

Hyla heinzsteinitzi is found in Israel. As an Israeli-American, I wanted to learn more about Israeli frogs. I didn't even know they existed, considering the climate.

- Matan Shelomi, Herpetology Student, Harvard University

 

 

Conclusion

So far, thousands of species pages created by students have been incorporated into the Encyclopedia of Life. We urge you to get involved. With 1.8 million species identified by scientists so far, and millions more yet to be discovered, there are plenty of organisms to go around! Join the citizens and scientists from around the world who are making EOL a dynamic and interactive place to learn and share, and give your students a unique opportunity. EOL will help them learn how to think like an expert and make a real contribution to global biodiversity information.

 

For more information:
Email us at education [at] eol.org