Biology seminar taught in "virtual classroom"

Without ever leaving campus, Vanderbilt students can engage in a weekly seminar with top researchers and biology students across the country.

Without ever leaving campus, Vanderbilt students can engage in a weekly seminar with top researchers and biology students across the country.

The upper-level biology course, entitled "Comparative Social Evolution," is a collaborative project put together by Vanderbilt's Dr. Patrick Abbot, Columbia University's Dr. Dustin Rubenstein, University of California, Berekeley's Dr. Eileen Lacy, and Arizona State University's Dr. Jennifer Fewell. These four instructors are part of an NSF-funded working group at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center at Duke University.

While scheduling a convenient time for a course can often be a challenge, the professors involved in the seminar faced a more unusual concern - each participating school is located in a different time zone.

Abbot explained the origin of the professors' creative approach to designing the seminar.

"We were talking about how productive it would be to stay in touch and how we could collaborate more effectively if we use more than email. Out of this grew the idea of bringing our undergraduates together, either through some social networking site or Skype, and if we could be in our virtual classrooms together," he said.

The use of webcams and a software program similar to Skype allows for all four institutions to see and hear one another for two hours each week. Students from different universities may also have the opportunity to collaborate on projects with one another later in the semester.

Abbot explained that some of the main goals of the seminar are to address the "active nature of learning" and to "close a gap between a world of learning and research."

"The benefit for students is the opportunity to be exposed to the leading thinkers in a given field," said Abbot. "As you're discussing an idea or debating a topic presented by an expert at say, Berkeley, there's nothing that prevents us from asking that scholar. You can ask a question in real time."

The eight Vanderbilt students in the seminar are close to evenly divided regarding their reasons for taking the class. While some enrolled in order to complete the major, others chose to take it because of their interest in the topic, or to better prepare for careers and graduate school.

"I have never taken a seminar before, but I can only guess that this course will provide a better learning experience because of the interactions with new students and professors," said senior Alexandra Hettena. "This is especially useful because I plan to continue my studies and I am looking to broaden my opportunities by learning about what goes on at other schools' ecology and animal behavior departments."

The networking potential of the course also interested senior Jessica Aviles.

"The Skype aspect is interesting, but what appealed to me more was the idea that we would be working on a group project with people from other universities and compiling our findings into a database that will be used by other people," she said. "It's great to have a science class where you don't just memorize information and throw it back at the professor, but rather are engaged in practical uses for the things you are doing."

The benefits of the seminar don't apply only to students, however.

"It's also a good idea for the researchers," said Abbot. "It exposes them to wonderful Vanderbilt students."