Transforming Conservation Biology Education: Sriyani Wickramasinghe's Journey with CourseNetworking

This a profile image of Sriyani Wickramasinghe

Meet Sriyani Wickramasinghe

Meet Sriyani Wickramasinghe, a conservation biology professor who has been with the Department of Biological Science at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Rajarata University of Sri Lanka since 2000. Sriyani has over two decades of experience teaching vertebrate variety, with a focus on the Aves class, to first-year students. Her teaching experience also includes teaching Principles of Ecology to second-year students and Concepts of Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Pollution to third-year students.


Embracing CN: A Journey of Innovation and Engagement

Sriyani's adoption of CourseNetworking (CN) came in 2019, introduced by her colleague, Professor Ajith Rajapaksha, a long-time CN user who has been a faculty of multiple institutions around the world. Sriyani embraced CN in her teaching methodologies for the Principles of Ecology course, catering to second-year students. Despite a slight learning curve, Sriyani immediately found CN to be highly interactive, fostering student engagement. “Students engaged with the activities with great interest and performed well, contributing to an enriched teaching and learning experience,” Sriyani said. So far, Sriyani has taught a couple of dozen courses on CN and she has also taken several courses CN created for faculty users.


Harnessing CN's Features for Enhanced Learning

Sriyani's utilization of CN extends across all her courses, employing activity sheets for each lesson and organizing lesson sequences for every topic. Preparing for each class involves developing relevant assignments, quizzes, and discussion prompts on CN, facilitating seamless learning experiences. She used CN LMS to deliver her courses as well as motivate her students to reflect on what they have learned through CN ePortfolio. CN LMS platform helped her to monitor student progress and engagement effectively, “The grade book, roster, and reflection features were particularly noteworthy. I also appreciate the overall appearance of CN,” according to Sriyani. As part of the CN LMS, gamification tools like badges and Anar Seeds helped her significantly when incentivizing and maximizing her students' learning engagement. “Recognizing and appreciating students' achievements through the issuance of badges has proven to be a motivational strategy, encouraging others to strive for their goals", she shared. Those badges served as tangible rewards for completing specific tasks or achieving milestones, providing students with a sense of accomplishment and recognition. They can also help track progress and provide a visual representation of skills or competencies gained throughout the courses or the entire program. The usage of Anar Seeds enhanced student engagement by introducing elements of competition and challenge, motivating learners to actively participate and strive for higher scores. Moreover, the cooperative competition nature of gamification fostered a sense of camaraderie among students, encouraging collaboration and peer-to-peer learning.

Recognizing and appreciating students' achievements through the issuance of badges has proven to be a motivational strategy, encouraging others to strive for their goals. The incorporation of Anar Seeds and badges has successfully motivated students to actively participate.

Sriyani Wickramasinghe

This is a small profile image of Sriyani Wickramasinghe  next to Nishadi’s quote

The Transformative Power of CN: A Comparative Advantage Over Other LMS

Comparing CN with other Learning Management Systems (LMS), Sriyani highlights its user-friendly interface and learner engagement features as standout characteristics. While her experience with Moodle lacked attractiveness and faced challenges in student reflections and grade book usability, CN offers an engaging appearance, transparent discussions, and a user-friendly grade book. On top of that, CN also possesses strengths in recognizing students’ achievements, promoting goal setting and self-directed learning, and offering various analytics to gauge learner engagement, enhancing the overall experience for both students and faculty.


Best Practices and Recommendations

Sriyani's journey with CN has been marked by the adoption of valuable practices to engage students in online learning. “The use of CN LMS Task tool helped organize lesson sequences which greatly contributes to a structured and effective teaching approach,” Sriyani said. Implementing peer review through posts and reflections, recognizing achievements through badges, and incorporating gamification elements like the Anar Seeds have proven to be effective in optimizing learning experiences and outcomes. With the use of the CN platform, she was able to successfully implement social pedagogies and real-world activities (such as students writing stories on conservation of endangered species) to develop students' creativity and thinking abilities.

Sriyani suggests offering more customization options for user profiles/ePortfolio and course layouts to tailor the learning experience. Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of receiving demonstrations and training from the CN team to maximize platform utilization and effectiveness.

One of Sriyani’s courses on CN This is a screenshot of Sriyani Wickramasinghe's  profile

Conclusion: A Journey of Innovation and Collaboration

Sriyani Wickramasinghe's journey with CN exemplifies the transformative power of innovative teaching methodologies. Through her commitment to engaging students and embracing technology, Sriyani has not only enhanced the learning experience but also inspired a culture of creativity and collaboration at Rajarata University. As she continues to leverage CN's features, Sriyani remains dedicated to empowering students and fostering a community of lifelong learners in the realm of conservation biology.

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