Patrick Culbert

Research Interests

• Drivers of spatial patterns of biodiversity
• Quantification of agricultural intensification
• Land-use change
• Agricultural land-use legacies

Teaching Interests

• Flipped classroom
• Blended learning
• Experiential learning
• Learning theory
• Instructional theory

Projects

Augmented Forests: Supplementing Forestry Field Instruction with Virtual Field Instruction and Dynamic Adaptive Quizzing to Build Skills and Knowledge Planning
April, 2017

The ability to identify indicator plant species is a critical skill for forestry students. In FRST 201 – Forest Ecology, students learn to identify 70 key plant species and the soil moisture and soil nutrient conditions that they indicate. This knowledge is requisite for subsequent courses in the forestry curriculum. The identification and characteristics of these plants is taught in the field, but dramatically increasing enrollment and language challenges (with an increasing number of ESL students) makes it more challenging for students to see, examine, and learn the plants in the field. We seek to improve student plant identification skills and knowledge by supplementing field instruction with engaging web-based resources to support student self-study of these plants and their characteristics. We will produce professional videos showing these plants and their characteristics, and we will develop a web-based, dynamic quizzing system to allow students to practice their skills and test their knowledge. These resources support significant self-study outside of field instruction.

Reducing language-related extraneous cognitive load for non-native English-speaking students in the Faculty of Forestry Current
January, 2017

International students comprise 35% of the undergraduate student body in the Faculty of Forestry, and language issues are a serious barrier to learning for non-native English speakers. Using a Cognitive Load Theory framework, we will test various principles of multimedia learning in creating videos for a blended-learning environment to improve learning for non-native English speakers while still supporting native speakers.