NOVA Faculty Work to Launch NAS-2
There’s a new course being offered at NOVA starting in fall 2022! NAS-2, Foundations of Life Sciences. This course has been formed as part of Transfer4Virginia initiatives to improve transferrability of community college courses. Starting in fall 2022, students must first demonstrate mastery of basic biological and chemical principles before they will be allowed to enroll in BIO-141. Students have three options for achieving this mastery: pass BIO-101 with a grade of C or higher (variety of modalities, 4 credits), pass NAS-2 (2 credits, NAS-2), or take a placement exam and pass with a grade of 75% or higher. The goal of these options is to promote greater student success in BIO-141 by ensuring that students have a strong working knowledge of basic Biology concepts. Dr. Heidi Wangerin, biology faculty at Loudoun Campus, working extensively with a small college-wide committee, has developed both lab and lecture components of the new NAS-2 course and the placement test. Heidi has also developed an online, self-paced CANVAS course (called a MOOC, Massive Open Online Course) for students to use asynchronously to review material before taking the placement exam.
https://www.nvcc.edu/academics/divisions/health-sciences/
The new course, NAS-2, is a seven-week, low-cost, in-person two-credit course. It will be offered twice within each semester. NAS-2 focuses on basic biological concepts including basic chemistry, biomolecules, cells and heredity. Students will use a carefully curated OER textbook deployed through CANVAS at no cost to them. As a lab-centered class, campuses have developed thoughtful curriculum-based labs to provide students with hands-on experience with microscopes, chemistry, cells and heredity.
Before students take the placement test, they will be automatically enrolled in a self-paced CANVAS course. This on-line class is entirely self-driven. It will guide students through objective-driven units via CANVAS, using no-cost OER materials. Students will then judge when they are ready to take the Placement Test. They must pass with a grade greater than 75% to enroll in BIO-141. The placement test will be deployed by the campus testing centers. Students who score less than 75% on the placement test must gain proficiency by enrolling in BIO-101 (a transferrable lab-based science course, 4 credits, offered in dynamic session amongst others), NAS-2, or in the MOOC. Heidi and a select group of faculty have worked tirelessly to be ready to deploy NAS-2 and the MOOC starting in summer 2022.
Thanks to the tremendous efforts of a small number of extremely dedicated faculty, NOVA is ready for the upcoming Tranfer4Virginia changes to BIO-141! Now we need your help to make this transition run smoothly. If students have questions about whether to take NAS-2 or not, please direct them to College Counseling and to any of the committee members who have worked so hard to make the placement test, NAS-2 and the MOOC come to Life.
Submitted by:
Gillian Backus, LO-NAS, GBackus@nvcc.edu