Creating Instructional Pedagogy for Emerging Areas in the Chemical and Life Sciences Through the Use of a Content Management System (Learning Technology)

A cross-constituency instructional team adopted an open-source content management system to facilitate students' scholarship and writing skills. The target group was a senior-level undergraduate class studying emerging areas in the chemical and life sciences. We envisioned an environment that would generate opportunities for students to gain ownership in these emerging areas and examine possible implications for their future careers. The use of a content management system facilitated the work of student teams by providing wiki pages where collective writing could be performed. The bibliographic tools allowed them to combine separate sets of references into a single shared item. Students' knowledge gain was observed and assessed.