Anywhere, Anytime
Biology Class Extends
Learning Beyond the
Classroom Walls
Australia
Educator Profile
Andrew Douch teaches biology to 11th
and 12th graders at the Wanganui Park
Secondary College in Shepparton,
Victoria, Australia.
douch.andrew.a@edumail.vic.gov.au
Situation
With formal standardized exams
required of all students, much classroom
time was spent on lecture and
memorization. Students rarely found
time to complete the extensive
homework required outside of class.
Solution
Andrew Douch began podcasting his
lectures so that class time could be used
more effectively on interactive activities.
Benefits
 Students were able to listen to lectures
at times convenient for them.
 Students and teachers became more
engaged in the learning process.
 Test scores improved dramatically.
“The tools that I’m using are things that
students already use and enjoy. So you
don’t have to work very hard to
encourage students to use them.”
— Andrew Douch » Wanganui Park Secondary College, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia.
Biology students in Shepparton, Victoria can access lectures
and connect with one another on their own schedules using
familiar smartphone and Internet technology. They
download weekly podcasts from their
teacher, make their own podcasts to
Australia
explain the products of their research,
share ideas on class topics on a
Microsoft® SharePoint® discussion
board, participate in online quizzes,
and interact with each other and the teacher using MSN®
Instant Messaging. By freeing up class time for interactive
activities, the classroom becomes more dynamic and
engaging, students and teachers are energized, and test
scores continue to rise.
Learn more about Innovative Teachers at www. http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/IT_home.aspx
Technology Solutions
 Microsoft SharePoint® services
 Zune digital media player
 MSN Instant Messaging
Situation
Like most teachers, Andrew Douch sees biology students constantly pressed
for time. Douch teaches grades 11 and 12 at Wanganui Park Secondary
College in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. “I’ve always wanted to help students
learn as well as possible,” he says, but he identifies two major barriers to
effective learning. “Firstly, the curriculum is so crowded.” The urgency to
prepare students for their Victoria Certificate of Education exams puts pressure
on teachers to cover the course too quickly. This often means that the best
teaching techniques, such as role plays, debates, practical exercises, and other
valuable learning activities, are often shelved in favor of ‘chalk and talk’
lectures. “You have to cover everything, but you do it fairly shallowly just to get
through it,” says Douch. This shallow coverage of the course often leads to
boredom, disengagement and superficial understanding.
“The second thing,” notes Douch about learning obstacles, “is that students are
very busy.” Social and sporting commitments and part-time jobs leave little
time for study. “Because we can’t do everything in the classroom, we’re
expecting them to do it at home as homework, and they just don’t have the
time to do everything that is required of them,” says Douch. This frequently
leads to frustration and stress for both the teachers and the students.
Meanwhile, between frantic hours of studying, athletics, work, and social
activities students have blocks of downtime—otherwise unproductive time
spent commuting and other routine activities.
Douch began to wonder whether students might want to use some of this
available time to cover traditional classroom material so that class time could
be more interesting and engaging.
Solution
With the support of the Innovative Teachers Network from Microsoft, Andrew
Douch developed and implemented a multi-faceted strategy to educate and
engage his students using tools and technology that they already embraced.
Douch started by recording his biology lectures as podcasts so that students
could download them to their digital media players, a Zune® or other MP3
player, and listen at their own pace. By moving the lecture component of the
subject out of the classroom, Douch increased time in the class for the
personal interaction that helps students thrive.
“It is not about the technology,” he says, “but about the enhanced human
relationships that are possible because of the advantages the technology
provides.” To his surprise, “Douchy’s Biology Podcast” proved so popular that
it is now downloaded by more than 3,000 students across Australia and
around the world. Some students even create their own podcasts and video
podcasts to share their responses and make available to their peers the
research they have done.
Learn more about Innovative Teachers at www. http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/IT_home.aspx
Douch also recognized the need for structure and organization in a distributed
learning environment. To meet that need, he established a SharePoint Web
site where instructional resources could be distributed, class calendars posted
and updated, and links to relevant Internet sites shared among class members.
Successes
 Students performed 12 percent better
than expected on the standardized
Victoria Certificate of Education exam.
 Biology Podcast downloaded by over
3,000 students worldwide.
 Increased time for interactive activities
during class.
The SharePoint site serves an additional function for learning. It provides a
discussion board where students can post questions or comments and receive
responses from peers, former students serving as mentors, and from teachers.
With the site, artificial borders that define the time, location, and pedagogical
roles of the classroom are crossed so that students can assume more active
roles in their education and in the education of others.
Finally, recognizing that most students already use MSN Instant Messaging for
communicating with their friends, Douch implemented MSN Chat for students
to ask for additional help and for group study sessions.
“The tools that I’m using—mobile phones, MP3 players, MSN—these are
things that students already use and enjoy,” says Douch. “So you don’t have to
work very hard to encourage students to use them.”
That is consistent with the approach Microsoft supports with its Innovative
Teachers Forum, a program designed to recognize and share excellence in
teaching. As David Walddon, Partners in Learning Program Manager for
Microsoft explains, “The Innovative Teachers Forum is about building
communities of practice, collaborating, and accessing quality content. It isn’t
about technology—it’s about good teaching and learning practices, and how
technology can support that.”
Learn more about Innovative Teachers at www. http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/IT_home.aspx
“It’s not about the
technology, but
about the enhanced
human relationships
that are possible
because of the
advantages the
technology provides.”
Andrew Douch » Wanganui Park Secondary
College, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia.
Benefits
By using familiar technology in new ways to support student learning, Douch
can now spend class time exploring the most challenging material and
pursuing lines of inquiry of special interest to his students. In other words, he
is using classroom hours for teaching in direct, personal ways, not just
distributing required information to prepare students for standardized tests.
Douch also finds that he has more time to prepare for an interesting and
engaging class hour when he does not have to answer the same student
questions over and over again. If his students miss a key concept, they can
replay the part of the podcast that covers the material they are unsure of. If
they still have questions, they can ask on the discussion board, where the
answer will be available to other students who might have similar concerns.
The technology platform Douch employs makes it possible for teachers from
different schools to collaborate, network, share material, and learn from one
another. This is professionally enriching in addition to being highly efficient.
In fact, the networked community of teachers has even included virtual guest
lecturers such as Nobel Prize winning biologist Peter Doherty, who
contributed a podcast as part of Douch’s curriculum.
But the real benefits accrue to Andrew Douch’s students, and to students
around the world who listen to his podcasts and participate in the ongoing
discussions.
Engagement and participation
Because Douch tapped into technology that his students already use and
enjoy—social networking through SharePoint services, MP3 players like
Zune, cell phones—they embraced his innovative use of those tools and
extended their enthusiasm to the subject matter they help convey. “There
has been a significant leap in student engagement,” Douch contends. “I’m
seeing students with a passion for learning that I just haven’t seen in the
past 16 years. There are always students who are keen and enjoy school, but
the level of enthusiasm for learning is something that I just never really
expected. That’s been really exciting.”
His students share that excitement year after year. “I have never been in such
an environment,” says one. “Being a part of something as spectactular as last
year has changed me in a very positive way. My complete outlook on life has
changed and for that I thank you.” Another tells Douch that “the way the
class has grown into a hard working bunch of people who are prepared to
put themselves on the line for the greater good is so cool. You should be so
proud.”
Learn more about Innovative Teachers at www. http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/IT_home.aspx
“In biology, I
learned more than
proteins and DNA,
cool as that was. I
learned what it
means to be
engaged with
educated people
who love learning.”
Former Student » Wanganui Park Secondary
College, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia.
Not only does the virtual classroom allow the students enrolled in Douch’s
biology class to master course material at the time, place, and method of
their choosing. It also opens the process to students who otherwise would
not have been able to engage at all. That includes students from remote
areas of Australia, those whose parents have relocated to other countries,
students who for physical or medical reasons are unable to attend class, and
even students who have graduated but who stay engaged in online
discussions as mentors and advisors. One student who has never met
Andrew Douch in person nonetheless wrote to him, “You will always be my
favorite and by far the most inspirational teacher of all time.”
Mastering the material
Because students are so engaged and because core information is available
and accessible to them in familiar and convenient ways, the students’ scores
on standardized tests have risen significantly. On the standardized Victoria
Certificate of Education exam, “My students performed 12 percent better
than was predicted for them” based on previous achievement tests, says
Douch. “Not only that, every student in the class performed higher than was
predicted.” How much higher? On the final examination, half the class
received an A or an A plus. The average grade Victoria-wide is a normalized
C. “Our students are performing significantly better as a result of this way of
learning,” Douch concludes.
Best of all, the learning continues even after the examination is over. “In
biology, I learned more than proteins and DNA, cool as that was,” notes one
former student. “I learned what it means to be engaged with educated
people who love learning, and there is no reason why that should be over
just because I have completed the exam. Assessment measures learning. It is
not the reason for it.”
Learn more about Innovative Teachers at www. http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/IT_home.aspx
For more information
To learn more about the Microsoft
Partners in Learning program or to find
out how you can join the Innovative
Teachers Network, go to
http://www.microsoft.com/industry/publics
ector/government/programs/PiL.mspx
To see a video interview with Andrew
Douch talking about his project, go to
http://www.live-e.tv/video-prilog/etv-2312-2008/microsoft-pil-2008-anywhereanytime-biology-class-australia
Future of the program
More than 250 teachers and administrators gathered at the Fourth Annual
Innovative Teachers Forum in Hong Kong to share and celebrate the most
successful uses of technology in education. In recognizing Andrew Douch, the
judges acknowledged not only what he has done for his students, but the
ways in which his innovations are being incorporated by others.
At his own school, a dance class now podcasts a track that has been
choreographed so that students can practice whenever they have time. An
astronomy teacher’s podcast guides students through the night sky—an
activity not possible during normal school hours. English teachers podcast a
round-table literature discussion, providing depth and complexity to the
material. SharePoint sites are common platforms for exchange, and MP3
players and cell phones, once banned, are now recognized as tools of
learning.
Douch also provides consultation, presentations, and workshops for other
teachers throughout Australia who want to emulate the success of the
“Douchy Biology Podcast.” As a result of his efforts, other schools have begun
adapting and implementing podcasts, SharePoint services, and even MSN
Chat into their curriculum.
Douch’s approach is similar to Microsoft’s as described by Ralph Young, Vice
President for the World Wide Public Sector: “Our role is both as a leader and
facilitator to ensure that the right conversation is being had to apply
technology to the learning process. There are no better people to engage
with than teachers who are doing just that.”
©2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, MSN, SharePoint, and Zune are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Learn more about Innovative Teachers at www. http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/IT_home.aspx