Ireland, Visualizing Human Biology, 4th edition Class Test Summary

CLASS TEST SUMMARY

BACKGROUND Over the Fall 2012 term, instructors and students participated in a class test of one or more forthcoming chapters from the 4th edition of Ireland, Visualizing Human Biology and provided feedback on that chapter through a web-based survey. In total, 14 instructors and 396 students from 15 institutions participated in both the class tests and the evaluation survey, and most instructors tested Chapter 7: The Nervous System (86%) with their classes. Class test participants included both two- and four-year institutions: American Public University System Cuyahoga Community College Florida State College at Jacksonville Fresno City College Greenville Technical College Gulf Coast State College Minneapolis Community & Technical College Monroe Community College

Mount San Jacinto College Nova Southeastern University St. Norbert College Skyline Community College Southern Illinois University Edwardsville University of Wisconsin Green Bay Winona State University

Positive Response to Visualizing Human Biology The Ireland, Visualizing Human Biology test chapter was well-received by both instructors and students:

Large majorities of instructors and students were highly satisfied with the test chapters: 86% of instructors and 73% of students were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’



Ireland greatly met instructors’ needs: 71% of instructors indicated that the Ireland text met their needs in teaching the course to ‘a great extent’



Students were quite positive toward the test chapter: 83% of instructors described their students’ reaction to the test chapter as being ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’

Additionally, many students indicated engaging with the test chapter to a considerable extent—nearly half (47%) indicated that they read the test chapter in its entirety, while another 21% read and/or skimmed parts of the chapter. When asked what they liked best about Visualizing Human Biology, students praised Ireland’s writing style, organization, and the synergy between the text and visuals: “I liked the way it was written. To me it was more as if there was a conversation between you and someone else rather than a lecture like the other book. This one kept my interests better with that. Like a friend teaching me something new.” —Sean Townsend, Student, American Public University System “The material was explained in a way that I could understand and retain the info and the illustrations were EXCELLENT!” —Nicole Dixon, Student, Monroe Community College “I loved the book’s use of visual examples. All the pictures used in the chapter were clearly labeled and very detailed so it was easy to relate the reading to the images. The graphs and figures that came with each chapter also helped to show the overall functionality of each system and gave a good graphic example of what the chapter just explained.” —Thomas Guttenberg, Student, St. Norbert College “I actually liked some of the illustrations better in the sample chapter. They were often put side by side with different scenarios. I was able to better understand how some functions worked in that way.” —Nancy Hine, Student, Monroe Community College

“Layout was excellent, text very readable, continuous use of examples/stories to engage the students’ interests, very nice figures.” —David Bailey, Faculty, St. Norbert College “I like the text flow, the tight relationship between the text material and the illustrations. I particularly like the vocabulary boxes that were inserted adjacent to the text where the terms were introduced. It allowed the text to flow without the cumbersome definition of terms within the paragraphs.” —John Foster, Faculty, Gulf Coast State College “Very readable format, pictures and graphics caught students’ attention. Very personally relevant to their own lives.” —Roy Mason, Faculty, Mount San Jacinto College

High Satisfaction with Ireland’s Key Features Ireland’s many features met with high approval among instructors and students alike. Across the board, instructors were extremely satisfied with the all of the 17 features they evaluated, with over 70% giving every one of these features ratings of ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’--in fact, the percentage of satisfied instructors actually exceeded 90% for about half of the features (8 of the 17). Additionally, a significant percentage of instructors gave Ireland’s key features the highest possible rating of ‘very satisfied’, particularly in rating the features shown here:

Instructors are Very Satisfied with Ireland’s Key Features 100%

100%

100% 93%

93%

93%

93% 86%

75% 57%

64%

50%

57%

62%

64%

50%

43%

36%

43%

36%

31%

29%

36%

Chapter Summary with Visuals

Process Diagrams

Critical and Creative Thinking Questions

Concept Check Questions at the end of each chapter

Self Test Questions with Visuals

Health Wellness and Disease Box

Learning Objectives at the beginning of each section

50%

25%

0%

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

% Top 2 Box Score

Half or more of instructors were “very satisfied” with Ireland’s key features

CLASS TEST SUMMARY

Instructors also remarked on these same themes, praising the extent to which the text and illustrations worked together and the effectiveness of the features and visuals:

“I LOVE the pictures and the definitions of the words to the side of the page. Overall, this was pretty exciting to read.” —Amy Juenger, Student, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville “It was very easy to understand the material. I absorbed the information quickly. Also, the diagrams, figures, and pictures were great. I was impressed by their detail and helpfulness.” —Loren Dueck, Student, Fresno City College “I really enjoyed the outline and planner at the beginning of the chapter. It helped me to recognize key points faster and I can only imagine it would help with studying in the future.” —Aaron Lathrop, Student, American Public University System “I appreciated the way the chapter was organized with helpful concepts, summaries, visuals, and the planner. It seemed a little more organized and helpful than the last book.” —Jamie Dalton, Student, American Public University System

More Prefer Ireland than Their Current Textbook Class test participants currently use a variety of human biology textbooks, with many instructors assigning Mader (36%), Goodenough (21%), and Johnson (21%) in their courses. Both instructors and students are generally satisfied with the currently assigned text, with 79% of instructors and 73% of students rating themselves as ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their current textbook. When asked to compare texts, significantly more instructors and students preferred Ireland over their current textbook. Though satisfied with their current text, Ireland was widely considered to be better: the overall test chapter in Ireland was preferred at a rate of about 8:1 among instructors and a rate of about 5:1 among students, and the preference for Ireland is even more marked when comparing the texts in terms of their illustrations/visuals, questions/exercises, design and layout, and examples.

More Instructors and Students Prefer Ireland Over Their Current Text Instructors

Students

100%

75%

71% 57%

50%

71% 57%

56% 43%

60%

57%

52%

43%

50%

45%

25% 14% 0%

3%

Examples

5% Design and Layout

3% Questions/Exercises

Overall Chapter

Writing Style

Examples

Design and Layout

Questions/Exercises

Illustrations/Visuals

Ireland is better/much better

4%

Illustrations/Visuals

0%

0%

7%

Current text is better/much better

3% Writing Style

14% 7% 6% Overall Chapter

CLASS TEST SUMMARY

Instructors were not alone in rating these aspects of the text highly—many students also gave high praise for the features of Visualizing Human Biology in their survey comments:

“It not only helped me understand the nervous system better, but it was easy to understand and it provided supplementals, i.e. figures/graphs, that made it easier for me to understand and learn the material.” —Victoria Godoy, Student, Mount San Jacinto College “I understood the chapter we were assigned from Visualizing Human Biology better than any other chapter. It was due to the text and configuration of visual learning.” —Joe Martin, Student, St. Norbert College “The sample was easier to comprehend. The illustrations were very helpful and allowed me to understand the information better.” —Rashita Adams, Student, American Public University System “This sample chapter to me seemed easier to read and follow, because I am more of a visual learner and the colors and pictures kept me interested and wanting to read more.” —Shyanne Martinez, Student, Fresno City College “The level at which it was written was very easy to understand […]. The visual illustrations and the models were very well detailed and clearly labeled. I enjoyed the overall layout of the chapter better than my current text because it doesn’t overwhelm the reader, [it’s] clear and to the point which makes it easier to understand and retain.” —Cynthia Andrade, Student, Fresno City College

Ireland is Worth Recommending Based on the chapter that they tested, both instructors and students are highly likely to recommend use of Ireland, Visualizing Human Biology for future use in their courses. Nearly two-thirds of instructors (64%) indicated that they would be ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to adopt or strongly advocate for adopting Ireland for use in their course, and nearly three-quarters of students (74%) would be ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend Ireland to their instructors for use in future Human Biology courses. In addition, when asked what they would tell their friends about Visualizing Human Biology if they were going to be using it in a future course, many of the students participating in the class test stated that they would not only recommend Ireland to their friends—they would also urge them to actually read it: “It’s amazing! Not only do you understand it, there are diagrams and pictures to help you understand things from a different point of view. They also include many interesting perspectives like their sections ‘What a scientist sees’ and ‘I Wonder.’” —Nancy Yang, Student, Fresno City College “[I would tell my friends] to study and have fun with the book as it was very easy to read and understand and grasps your attention. It also allows you to test your knowledge of the chapter, which is great.” —Aaron Carter Martinez, Student, American Public University System “Read the chapters because they are interesting and make learning fun.” —Felicia Lee, Student, Cuyahoga Community College “I would tell my friends that this book is worth the money. I would also tell them that they will want to keep for the future instead of selling it back. This book is informative and gives details with great Illustrations.” —Anastacia Parker, Student, Monroe Community College “It is easy to understand, great visuals, definitions for important terms are easy to find, and it provides the reader with much more information about what happens in ‘real life’ with the body other than simply just discussing the anatomy and physiology of the human body.” —Ana Carbajal, Student, American Public University System “I would tell them that it’s not wordy and boring, [and that] the diagrams and examples make the text easier to read. The visual aides are also helpful.” —Alex Marquez, Student, Fresno City College “It is a great book for understanding and visualizing the material.” —Jasmine Foster, Student, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

For more information, please visit: www.wiley.com/visualizing/ireland

CLASS TEST SUMMARY

When comparing Visualizing Human Biology to their current textbook, many students described how Ireland better complemented their learning style and enabled them to better understand the material: