Visionlearning - DLESE Scope Statement

This document provides information about the scope and policy of the Visionlearning resource. Additionally, review criteria are described for the purpose of showing compliance with the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education's (DLESE's) Reviewed Collection criteria.

Information about the collection

Visionlearning offers concise, focused learning modules that integrate interactive exercises, news stories, biographies and other key resources to provide an introduction to interdisciplinary science. Content areas include biology, chemistry, earth science, astronomy, physics, and a general science category that covers concepts such as the scientific method and using graphs. The target audience for these modules is introductory undergraduate students, but many of our modules are used by high school students as well. Visionlearning targets interdisciplinary science courses by offering teachers a system that allows them to use any of our learning modules in any prescribed order.

Module authors are science educators at the high school and college level with advanced degrees in their disciplines. Authors work with a discipline-specific editor who ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and accurate, and that the links are appropriate and scientifically sound. Additionally, authors work directly with graphics editors and animators to create graphics that are simple, well-designed, and scientifically accurate. When a Visionlearning editor is unable to judge the scientific accuracy of a module, a peer reviewer is sought.

Modules are specifically designed to leverage the dynamic nature of the Web. Within lessons, pop-up glossary terms allow students to look up unfamiliar words. Terms defined in the glossary are highlighted in red and become underlined on mouse-over; clicking on these terms produces a pop-up glossary definition. Interactive animations are included with many lessons to allow learners to manipulate variables and experiment with outcomes, emphasizing the process of scientific discovery. Included with each module is a short, interactive quiz that tests students on the concepts covered. Students can immediately see their score, which is saved for teachers to view. All of the modules are offered in Spanish as well as English. Modules also offer categorized links to current news articles, personal biographies, interactive exercises, and research articles. Authors select links that do not require subscriptions and are likely to remain available relatively permanently.

In the MyClassroom area, teachers who register on the site (for free) can combine any number of the modules in any order to create a unique learning environment for their class. The interdisciplinary nature of the content available through Visionlearning allows teachers in a wide variety of courses to take advantage of the site. Teachers can also extensively customize modules in the MyClassroom area, adding notes, hyperlinks, and homework assignments. Students register for their teacher's MyClassroom in order to receive announcements and take quizzes.

An extensive Help section provides focused information about the site for teachers and students. Additionally, help documents address the use of technology in the classroom and how to use histories and biographies in the classroom.

All areas of Visionlearning are accessible within any web browser. Animations are constructed in Flash. A few small QuickTime videos are also used on the site. Printable versions of the modules are available in PDF format for a fee. The Flash plug-in ships with all current browser versions and all three plug-ins are considered industry standards and are available on the web for free download. Links to the download sites for these plug-ins are provided in the Help section of the Visionlearning site.

The design of the Visionlearning site is based on extensive testing and evaluation from users. Information on the pedagogical evaluation of these materials has been published in the peer reviewed literature (J. College Science Teaching 23(1):12-15; J. Chemical Education 78(12):1709). Student and teacher feedback has proven to be an invaluable resource in the growth of the Visionlearning site. Additionally, the project has hired an outside evaluator to address pedagogical effectiveness of the site and a design consultant to address the ease of navigation.

Visionlearning is a National Science Foundation-funded project directed by Dr. Anthony Carpi, associate professor of environmental toxicology at John Jay College of the City University of New York. Editorial staff members include Dr. Alfred Rosenberger, an anthropologist and professor at Brooklyn College, and Anne Egger, a geologist and instructor at San Juan College in Farmington, NM. The history, staff, and philosophy of the Visionlearning project are all extensively documented in the "About Us" section of the Visionlearning website (http://www.visionlearning.com/about_us.php).

Collection policy

Visionlearning modules are created to provide a broad range of topics which can be integrated into an interdisciplinary science classroom. Topics are generated based on the National Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/); the ultimate goal of the project is to overcome the deficiencies of traditional textbooks by targeting the development of materials to meet the science content standards. This includes addressing the Science as Inquiry, History and Nature of Science, and Science in Personal and Social Perspectives standards.

Categorized links are used to integrate history, research and topical perspectives into all modules. Module links are carefully selected for relevance, persistence, and scientific rigor. Wherever possible, links are provided to peer-reviewed journals and sites and/or government scientific organizations.

Terms of use

A complete document containing all of the terms of use is available on the Visionlearning website: http://www.visionlearning.com/docs/terms.php

Visionlearning owns the copyright to all of the content available on the site, including (but not limited to) text, graphics, electronic art, animations, audio, and video. A small number of photographs and images are used with permission. Unauthorized reproduction, duplication, copying, selling, or use for any commercial purposes is prohibited by copyright law. Visionlearning provides many links to sites operated by independent site owners. These links are provided as a convenience to the user and do not imply endorsement by Visionlearning or permission by the site owners.

Instructors who use the MyClassroom area agree to access and use Visionlearning only for lawful purposes. Any material, information, communications, text, graphics, links, electronic art, animations, audio, video, photos, or other data that users link to or otherwise make available in their MyClassroom page that is not hosted on the Visionlearning web site is and remains the sole property of the user or his/her licensors. Instructors requesting a MyClassroom navigation will be asked for certain personally identifying information. In requesting a MyClassroom page, the requestor gives express permission to Visionlearning to post personally identifying information such as email addresses to publicly accessible pages in the MyClassroom area. The instructor may choose to deny public access to their MyClassroom site if they wish. Visionlearning will make all attempts to notify the user of information that will be accessible to the public. No student email addresses are visible to any other user, nor are classroom locations visible beyond the name of the school and the city in which that school is located.

Users are encouraged to link to the Visionlearning site. However, no individual or entity may explicitly or implicitly claim or suggest authorship or ownership over material copyrighted by Visionlearning without the express, written permission of Visionlearning. This includes loading any Visionlearning pages in a frames-based or other display environment that places advertising or a commercial logo or name alongside of any Visionlearning content, names, logos, graphics or other material.

Visionlearning Metadata

All metadata is copyrighted by Visionlearning. Visionlearning gives DLESE the right to alter metadata for use in DLESE systems and services.

Quality assurance

Metadata records are drawn from the Visionlearning database. The records are generated automatically, but each XML document is read for errors by either the project director or the earth sciences editor.

Persistence Plan

As of February 2004, Visionlearning is entering the third year of a three-year Educational Materials Development grant from the National Science Foundation (Division of Undergraduate Education). The number of modules continues to grow. Additional funding is being sought through several granting foundations; the ultimate goal, however, is to make the project self-sustaining, possibly through the use of a registration fee for use of some of the classroom management tools, like the MyClassroom system and quizzing functions. Though the higher functionality of the site may require a registration fee, modules themselves will always be available free through the library.

DLESE Reviewed Collection criteria

DLESE requires its reviewed collections to meet several criteria. These are:

Scientific accuracy
Importance or significance
Pedagogical effectiveness
Well-documented
Ease of use for students and faculty,
Power to inspire or motivate students,
Robustness/sustainability as a digital resource

Several of these are addresses above, but they will be summarized here.

Scientific Accuracy

Visionlearning employs authors and editors to create materials who are scientists and science educators at the high school and college level and who have advanced degrees in their disciplines. Authors are the primary creators of Visionlearning materials. Editors review lessons and materials for coherence and scientific accuracy. When a Visionlearning editor is unable to judge the scientific accuracy of a module, a peer reviewer is sought.

In order for a module to be published on the Visionlearning website, the editor-in-chief (the project director) reviews modules after they have been approved by both the module author and the discipline editor. (This process is built in to the Visionlearning database.) Because the editor-in-chief is not directly involved in module creation, his review is like an external review and final approval of module content. The editor-in-chief holds an advanced degree and has expertise in environmental toxicology, which gives him a broad, interdisciplinary background in the multiple content areas represented in Visionlearning.

Importance or significance

Visionlearning addresses fundamental topics in the major science disciplines as they are outlined in the National Science Education Standards. As such, the project targets scientific subjects of the broadest possible importance. The customizable nature of the site allows teachers to combine topics as they see fit for their particular class.

Pedagogical effectiveness

In classroom studies, students using the Visionlearning modules have scored higher on a standardized quiz than students using a traditional textbook. In addition, students consistently give the Visionlearning materials higher satisfaction ratings than traditional books.

For detailed results, please see the research articles available at the following links:

Improvements in Undergradate Science Education Using Web-Based Modules (http://web.visionlearning.com/pdf/VL_JCE_2001.pdf)
The Visionlearning Project: An Evaluation of the Design and Effectiveness (http://web.visionlearning.com/pdf/VL_JCST_2003.pdf)

In a survey conducted in December of 2003, 28 out of 35 teachers rated Visionlearning materials "better" or "much better" than other textbooks or classroom resources they have used. Seventeen out of 35 teachers responded that they used Visionlearning content and animations "often" in the classroom, though only 6 respondents use Visionlearning as the core required readings for their classes (others use it as supplementary reading).

Well-documented

Each Visionlearning module adheres to a similar pattern, though leeway is allowed for different authors’ writing styles. Modules begin with an introduction that draws readers in, discusses the history of a scientific concept, and draws connections to relevant issues and ideas. Terms are defined in a pop-up glossary. Users can link to information about the author and NSES.

Additionally, the history and staff of the Visionlearning project itself is extensively documented on the site. Users can access other users' comments and FAQs, the terms of use, and copyright information. Targeted help documents are available for teachers and students.

Ease of use

Teachers and students alike have commented on the ease of use of the website (many comments about the resource can be found at http://www.visionlearning.com/comments.php). Teachers find the MyClassroom system intuitive and easy to set up and use. Students have little trouble registering, joining classrooms, taking quizzes, or understanding module layout. One teacher commented, "I was completely wowed - not only by the beautiful design and gobs of information, but also by the less-noticeable construction considerations that made it easier for students to use the site, print its pages, and connect to other online resources. It was so obvious to me that students would love to learn using this tool and it would strengthen those cognitive links that hyperlinking has been believed to influence."

In a survey conducted in December 2003, 27 teachers (out of 35) responded that the Visionlearning site has helped them to become more comfortable with using technology in the classroom. All teachers found the site either very easy or easy to navigate-no respondents found the site difficult or very difficult to navigate.

Student motivation

Comments from students obtained through evaluations indicate that most students were highly motivated to use the Visionlearning resources. Many students found the web materials more useful than a traditional textbook; others were inspired to visit links and explore information further than they might have without the site. Specific comments from students follow:

"...I think that the Web site is an excellent idea. It should replace the [text]book [that was required for this course]! I have the book, but I don't have a computer. However, I have visited the Web site more times than I have opened the book."

"The Web site is a great supplement to the class. I'd rather have the Web site than a traditional textbook. The links, experiments, & animations made for a better understanding of the course material."

"I like how the site is self-explanatory and how it goes into detail about each lesson or topic, and also how all the vocabulary words are bolded to stand out to the reader. I also like the right side column that gives you additional links to check out in order to show you how the topics fit into everyday life. I really like the experiment links because this helps me learn better."

"The Web site was useful because if you didn't fully understand what you read, you could go back to the animations which made everything clearer."

Robustness as a digital resource

The design of Visionlearning modules has been developed through extensive testing and in compliance with general web design best practices. Standard navigational protocols are followed. As mentioned earlier, the resource is accessible through any web browser and links are provided to necessary, industry-standard plug-ins (available free for download). Links are carefully chosen to sites that are most likely to remain available for as long as possible without requiring registration or subscription. The entire site is database-driven, allowing for easy (and continuous) expansion both in available content and in users numbers.