15:	Computer-assisted personalized approach for on-line plant physiology examinations.

Authors:	Nadler, Kenneth, D.(A)
Affiliations:	(A): Michigan State University, Botany and Plant Pathology
Presenter:	Nadler, Kenneth D., nadler@pilot.msu.edu

We extended CAPA, a networked teaching tool that implements a Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach from homework sets (Artus & Nadler 1999 Plant Physiol. 119:1-10) to on-line examinations in our undergraduate plant physiology course. Each student received an exam printout with (1)common essay questions to be answered in class, and (2)a CAPA ID# giving each access, via computer terminal, to their individualized set of qualitative/conceptual CAPA questions. Students may answer the latter part on-line during any one hour period in the next 21 hours. Answers may be entered multiple times; on-line feedback is available. These features encourage and allow all students in a diverse population to succeed. Students perform significantly better on the on-line (CAPA) part of exams than on the accompanying essays. We present summaries of data on student performance on exams and homework, and correlate these with performance on other components of this course.