The Rhodes upper level biology course titled Molecular Biology is an advanced undergraduate course In molecular genetics, covering topics related to the mechanisms and regulation of the production of DNA, RNA and proteins. Historically, many of the top, highly motivated students who have taken the course have done quite well. However, due to the difficult and often abstract nature of the subject, many students of more moderate ability have struggled in this course more than in many other upper level biology courses. Thus, the distribution of grades has often been bimodal. It is my hypothesis that by integrating lectures, notes, and textbook into a cohesive and accessible set of course materials, students who would make lower grades in a traditional format will benefit from an integrated format and perform better on exams. My experience in this course is that students do better when I help them organize their sources of information to make studying more effective. Instructional technology can now organize these sources for them.

Technologically, the time is right for the development of this integrated set of course materials. As detailed below, I have already set up web pages with course notes and laboratory exercises; I have obtained digital image files of the figures used in the textbook; I have developed computer animations of some of the more dynamic processes, and Rhodes is renovating classrooms to facilitate computer-generated lecture materials. What remains is to link all these in a single format and serve them via the internet for easy access by students and use in the classroom.

Since my testing format is consistent from year to year, I should be able to assess the outcome of the project by comparing class grade distributions for the past two semesters the course was taught with the next two semesters. I will also develop a survey instrument to assess student perceptions of the benefits of the course materials. Finally, all course materials will be available on the internet for other ACS member institutions to use. Upon completion of the initial phase of the project, I will contact the professors of molecular biology at other ACS institutions and invite their comments, criticisms and collaborations.

BACKGROUND
I have been involved in five projects to date involving teaching/learning technology: 1) animation of processes in Molecular Biology (with Rhodes Faculty Development Endowment and Rotational Grant support), 2) development of an image analysis facility (with National Science Foundation and Rhodes matching fund support), 3) organization of a Senior Seminar course involving technology in presentations, 4) use of the internet in a research oriented Molecular Biology Laboratory, and 5) development of a web site devoted to lecture and laboratory notes on Molecular Biology.

1) Animation of processes in molecular biology - In this project, I sought to develop an animation of a dynamic process which is usually taught with a series of static diagrams. The central processes of molecular biology, replication of DNA, production and RNA from the DNA, and production of proteins from the RNA message, are most easily learned by students if they can see animated models of the active processes rather than viewing "slice of time" diagrams. I have used the animations I created in several courses and received positive feedback from students and faculty. Currently, they run as a stand-alone, interactive package and have not been adapted for use on the internet.

2) Development of an image analysis facility - I was the initiator and co-author of a National Science Foundation instrumentation grant to develop a state-of-the-art image analysis facility in the biology department. We now have the capability to capture, analyze, edit and present images from a variety of microscope, video and other sources. This facility has seen growing use over the last few years in many of our introductory and upper level courses.

3) Organization of a Senior Seminar course involving technology in presentations - Many virologists have contributed information on the internet on specific viruses, viral diseases, and issues ranging from pictures of viruses and virus-infected cells to introductory and advanced lecture notes to essays directed to a lay audience. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have sites with current epidemiological information, and lay sites devoted to issues on HIV and emerging infectious diseases like Ebola have proliferated. To take advantage of these resources yet to integrate them into a cohesive unit for instruction, and to give our own students experience in developing internet resources, I organized a unique Senior Seminar on Viruses: Risks and Benefits to Society. In this course, students created introductory lectures and notes on Virology and Immunology; explored specific viruses causing emerging, and historically and economically significant infections; and discussed the view of viruses presented in popular and science fiction books and film. Their oral presentations were facilitated by electronic visual aids and their written presentations have been created for publishing on the internet.

4) Use of the internet in a research oriented Molecular Biology Laboratory - Molecular Biology students have worked in the laboratory using a discovery/research-based laboratory approach. For this project, students selected unknown copies of genes from a library of plant genes, determined the DNA sequence of those unknown genes and tried to determine what genes they are by comparing the genes' DNA sequences to the world's databases of sequence information. The Molecular Resource Center at UT Memphis provided their automated DNA sequencing facility for this project, free of charge. Students isolated the DNA and delivered it to UT. About two weeks later, when we toured UT's facilities, they provided us with a computer disk with the DNA sequence information. Back at Rhodes, via the internet, students submitted their sequences to the supercomputers at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Within as little as a few minutes, after comparing the students sequences to the billions in the database, the supercomputers replied as to what genes they matched. They then analyzed the matches using specialized software. This way, the class was able to identify genes in the plant matching other plant or animal genes which had never been identified in that plant before and also identify previously uncharacterized genes. Combining discovery with technology helped generate more enthusiasm for the laboratory-based portion of the course.

5) Development of a web site devoted to lecture and laboratory notes on Molecular Biology - During the fall of 1997, I developed a web site (http://glindquester.biology.rhodes.edu/molbiol/) serving lecture notes, study guides, sample test questions, and laboratory exercises. The site was developed to provide ready access to course materials in a coherent, graphical layout.

Overview
I propose to use the experience gained and materials produced in my previous work to provide a technologically integrated set of instructional materials for students of Molecular Biology during the Fall 1998 semester. It will be used and assessed during the semester of its development, refined during the Summer of 1999, and used and assessed again during the Fall 1999 semester.

The Molecular Biology web site developed in 1997 primarily contains text from lecture notes. It has no images of the figures or tables used in class, no links to interact resources with further information, no internal links to directly connect lecture topics, and no animations of dynamic processes. Furthermore, class presentations rely on black-and-white, photocopied transparencies of figures from the textbook. The project proposed herein will lead to a web site with all of the missing features and to a set of computer-generated and displayed lecture materials taking advantage of new, technologically facile classrooms currently being constructed at Rhodes.

Methods
Development
This project will require no technological assistance or institutional support other than that which has already been or which is routinely provided. As the foundation, I will use the web pages with lecture notes that I have already developed. I have downloaded image files (in TIFF format) for the figures in the textbook, Genes VI (Benjamin Lewin, Oxford Press) from the publishers web site. I will convert the images into a format and size appropriate for internet display (GIF and/or JPEG) using Photoshop and other image processing software and insert them into the lecture notes in appropriate locations. I will have to create some figures myself using Photoshop and/or Illustrator (a drawing program). Next, I will convert animations I have already created to appropriate formats for internet display, and I anticipate creating some new, simple animations to model other processes. I will also prepare computer-displayed slide presentations for lectures using these images and animations with PowerPoint software. Finally, I will search the internet for new resources in Molecular Biology and compile resources I am already familiar with (such as for dimensional molecular imaging and DNA sequence analysis), provide links to these sites in the lecture notes, and develop exercises using some of these sites to reinforce lecture topics.

The course materials for the first few weeks of the Fall, 1998 class will be developed during the summer. Within my normal workload in the fall, albeit requiring an increased pace of activity, I will be able to work about two weeks ahead of upcoming lectures. Thus, the course materials will be developed during the first semester of use. This will be possible due to the facts that most parts of the project are available now and that I have extensive experience with the software necessary to complete the project. Further refinements will be completed in the interim between Fall, 1998 and Fall, 1999 semesters and the materials will be used again in Fall, 1999.

Assessment
The rationale behind this project is that the typical bimodal distribution of grades in the molecular biology course will be disrupted and students at the lower end of the scale will come to understand the material better and score better on the exams. This prediction is easily testable by comparing grade distributions in the course over the past semesters with grades in the first two semesters of using the integrated course materials. The reasoning behind the anticipated improved student performance is primarily one of organization. Students will have access to lecture notes and figures prior to lectures. Most of the figures used will be consistent between lectures, notes and text. With lecture notes readily available, students will know before hand what the emphasis will be on and be able to focus more on listening, comprehending and interacting in class rather than on taking verbatim notes. They should come to class familiar in general terms with a topic and prepared to pay special attention to areas which were not clear upon their initial reading. With a clearer understanding early on, their study time should be more effective and they should score better on the exams. If this project is successful, my fervent hope is to have the students rely more heavily on these course materials for the presentation of information and devote more class time to critical discussions and problems using the information.

Since every class of students is somewhat different in terms of ability, I will attempt to normalize the comparisons based on grade point averages and/or SAT/ACT scores with the assistance of Bill Berg, Rhodes' Director of Planning and Institutional Analysis. Finally, I will also seek or devise an appropriate instrument to assess student perceptions of the course materials as an aid to learning.

Dissemination
The course material for Molecular Biology as taught at Rhodes is applicable to similar courses taught at most of the ACS member institutions. I will endeavor to contact professors of these courses and inform them of my project. I will request that they review the course materials, available on the internet, beginning in the Spring of 1999 and comment on their usefulness in their courses. I will be willing to transfer any materials to their local servers and assist in editing to meet their specific needs, should they desire to use them.