1. Context  Learning Problem: Many students are under-prepared for freshman biology courses. They have difficulty using their biology textbook and performing well on exams due to poor reading skills. They also have negative perceptions/attitudes towards biology due to a lack of confidence in their reading ability.  Target: 150 Biology majors in a Freshman Seminar class (focused student success and the transition to college)  Solving this problem impacts student success as measured by:  Gains in reading comprehension  Changes in Attitudes, Motivation, and Perception  Retention in the Major  Overall GPA  Performance in Introductory Biology

2. Research Question  Does reading annotation improve student performance and attitudes about biology?  Design:  Select 2-4 topics of = difficulty  Divide the class by lab section, and annotate using traditional methods in 3 sections, and digitally on iPad with the other 3 sections assess  With second topic, flip flop so that each group uses iPad and traditional annotation assess

3. Why is this Interesting?  I am interested in Student Success and how students learn!  We are piloting our freshman seminar and would like information that what we are doing impacts student learning, motivation, perception, and attitudes (and retention)  Understanding the role technology plays in education is of interest to me, the Dept., the college, and the University

4. Alignment  Collected data will measure:  Gains in reading comprehension (quantitative reading comprehension assessment)  Changes in Attitudes, Motivation, and Perception (qualitative survey)  Retention in the Major  Overall GPA  Performance in Introductory Biology (embedded exam questions)  Impact of technology on above items (statistical analysis of data)