Rachel Boulay | University of Hawaii (original) (raw)
Papers by Rachel Boulay
CBE—Life Sciences Education, 2018
A common challenge in the evaluation of K–12 science education is identifying valid scales that a... more A common challenge in the evaluation of K–12 science education is identifying valid scales that are an appropriate fit for both a student’s age and the educational outcomes of interest. Though many new scales have been validated in recent years, there is much to learn about the appropriate educational contexts and audiences for these measures. This study investigated two such scales, the DEVISE Self-Efficacy for Science scale and the Career Interest Questionnaire (CIQ), within the context of two related health sciences projects. Consistent patterns were found in the reliability of each scale across three age groups (middle school, high school, early college) and within the context of each project. As expected, self-efficacy and career interest, as measured through these scales, were found to be correlated. The pattern of results for CIQ scores was also similar to that reported in other literature. This study provides examples of how practitioners can validate established measures fo...
To attract students to careers in science, the best curriculum will not matter if highly trained ... more To attract students to careers in science, the best curriculum will not matter if highly trained and qualified teachers are not in charge of that task. A workshop series designed to train science teachers in the latest advancements in science and stimulate learning amongst teachers, ...
International Journal, 2011
The TCC Worldwide Online Conference was launched in 1996 as an alternative to a traditional face-... more The TCC Worldwide Online Conference was launched in 1996 as an alternative to a traditional face-to-face conference. Travel costs to and from Hawaii and travel time to the middle of the Pacific Ocean would prohibit many from attending a technology conference. As advances in ICT improved the quality of the virtual conference experience and as travel budgets continued to shrink, the number of participants attending TCC increased five-fold over 15 years. The concern by TCC was to maintain a high level of satisfaction with the ...
To improve student learning and success in a science field while at university, it is important t... more To improve student learning and success in a science field while at university, it is important that students begin their studies with good basic science knowledge. Thus, it is important for high school science teachers to be teaching current scientific methods. To update their skills high school teachers need to participate in professional development programs to update their own knowledge of current science research and techniques used in labs. Towards this goal, the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii developed a professional development program for high school science teachers. In 2012, eight high school science teachers attended the program for eight week days over a two week period. This study is a report of the teachers’ experiences within the program. Specifically, this paper reports on the results of the teachers’ evaluation of the online materials and their perspectives of real world application of the learned material are investigated. The data set in this study includes all eight teachers’ pre-survey responses and final survey data.
... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, polici... more ... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, policing and censorship (Linden Research, 2007). ... Most often it is used to represent a real environment such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Extension School's moot court (Nolan, 2007) and ...
Education Conference Papers, 2009
... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, polici... more ... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, policing and censorship (Linden Research, 2007). ... Most often it is used to represent a real environment such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Extension School's moot court (Nolan, 2007) and ...
ASCILITE ... annual conference / Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, 2010
Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of education... more Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of educational training. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. As a way of addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper further explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a group of advanced biology teachers who embark on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Teachers were positive in reporting about the many areas they gained instruction in although some feedback suggested that the initial online materials over-emphasised abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems or local context of most ...
A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is participation in act... more A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is participation in active research laboratories. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a science teacher who embarks on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Feedback suggested that the initial online materials over-emphasized abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems and local context of most interest to teachers and students. The implications for improving blended learning experiences from this specific case are suggested.
International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society, 2013
Recent advances in internet technology have transformed how we gather and share information in to... more Recent advances in internet technology have transformed how we gather and share information in today's world and have provided us with a platform to access educational resources and related information on the Internet. Every day, new technologies are developed that are changing the when and where we access that information. The capabilities of new technologies have allowed society to access information and learn virtually anywhere. As technical ingenuity continues to generate new technologies and paths of communication, we must look for opportunities to collaborate, share and extend our educational resources in higher education. Distributing Open Educational Resources (OER) in the form of freely licensed materials is necessary in order to laterally influence current advances in learning technologies. Online resources are being used in a variety of contexts to supplement instruction and training at higher education institutions. The aim of this Open Educational Resource project was to design and develop a blended learning instructional program to assist online users in developing familiarity with laboratory techniques prior to conducting molecular biology research in an authentic laboratory setting. This paper will look at the background of OER, describe the online materials that the Center for Cardiovascular Research (CCR) developed for open use, and discuss the outcomes and implications for use.
International Journal of Design Education, 2013
The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine developed a professional development ... more The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine developed a professional development program and virtual learning materials to assist high school science teachers become familiar with laboratory techniques prior to engaging in authentic molecular biology research. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluative overview of the program with emphasis on the virtual materials that were designed to employ a blended learning approach to augment offline classroom learning. The virtual learning materials provide a unique sphere for scientific learning in which skills can be reproduced in an offline environment. Twelve high school science teachers participated in the training program and were given full access to the online materials. After participation in the program, teachers filled out a final survey and completed a final written reflective statement as a form of evaluating the program and online materials. Thematic analysis was used to code participants' responses. Results showed that teachers recounted meeting the scientists as a valuable experience, teachers were grateful to learn real-world application of current research, and teachers described the importance of learning skills to prepare students to succeed in higher education. Additionally, results showed teacher's intent to use the virtual learning materials as homework tools and in classroom lessons.
The international journal of design education, 2013
A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is internships in resea... more A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is internships in research laboratories. However, the number of available research laboratories severely limits access by most students. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the design and development process of the online learning materials. This case study looks at the roles of the instructional designer, multimedia specialist, and research faculty who were the subject matter experts. The experiences of the design teams are shared in an effort to gain insight on how the collaborative efforts of the project group led to a successful deployment of the online learning materials.
The international journal of design education, 2013
Professional development for science teachers can be benefited through active learning in science... more Professional development for science teachers can be benefited through active learning in science laboratories. However, how online training materials can be used to complement traditional laboratory training is less understood. This paper explores the design of online training modules to teach molecular biology and user perception of those modules that were part of an intensive molecular biology "boot camp" targeting high school biology teachers in the State of Hawaii. The John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii had an opportunity to design and develop professional development that prepares science teachers with an introduction of skills, techniques, and applications for their students to conduct medical research in a laboratory setting. A group of 29 experienced teachers shared their opinions of the online materials and reported on how they used the online materials in their learning process or teaching.
International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society, 2013
Commitment to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) pipeline is slowly declining desp... more Commitment to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) pipeline is slowly declining despite the need for professionals in the medical field. Addressing this, the John A. Burns School of Medicine developed a summer teacher-training program with a supplemental technology-learning component to improve science teachers' knowledge and skills of Molecular Biology. Subsequently, students' skills, techniques, and application of molecular biology are impacted. Science teachers require training that will prepare them for educating future professionals and foster interest in the medical field. After participation in the program and full access to the virtual material, twelve high school science teachers completed a final written reflective statement to evaluate their experiences. Using thematic analysis, knowledge and classroom application were investigated in this study. Results were two-fold: teachers identified difference areas of gained knowledge from the teacher-training program and teachers' reporting various benefits in relation to curricula development after participating in the program. It is concluded that participation in the program and access to the virtual material will impact the science community by updating teacher knowledge and positively influencing students' experience with science.
editlib.org
Distance learning and many of its tools are not new, but their adoption and current use are diffe... more Distance learning and many of its tools are not new, but their adoption and current use are different among unique contexts. An interdisciplinary team of researchers including professionals from Medicine and Educational Technology disciplines conducted an exploratory study ...
Journal of Virtual Worlds …, Jan 1, 2010
This paper presents the basics of the constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis method... more This paper presents the basics of the constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis methods to research in virtual worlds. Our data sources include video recordings of in-world class interactions; artifacts and documents such as students' blog, and asynchronous ...
… and Research ICICTE …, Jan 1, 2011
Boulay, Rachel, Parisky, Alex, Campbell, Chris and Leong, Peter (2011). A case study involving an... more Boulay, Rachel, Parisky, Alex, Campbell, Chris and Leong, Peter (2011). A case study involving an internship in biomedical science. In:, Proceedings of ICICTE 2011. Education and Technology: Innovation and Research ICICTE 2011, Rhodes, Greece,(). 7-9 July ...
Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of education... more Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of educational training. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. As a way of addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper further explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a group of advanced biology teachers who embark on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Teachers were positive in reporting about the many areas they gained instruction in although some feedback suggested that the initial online materials overemphasised abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems or local context of most interest to teachers and students. The experiences of the teachers are shared in an effort to gain insight on how teachers perceive their participation in the study.
Journal of Visualized …, Jan 1, 2011
In UTMD, bioactive molecules, such as negatively charged plasmid DNA vectors encoding a gene of i... more In UTMD, bioactive molecules, such as negatively charged plasmid DNA vectors encoding a gene of interest, are added to the cationic shells of lipid microbubble contrast agents. In mice these vector-carrying microbubbles can be administered intravenously or directly to the left ventricle of the heart. In larger animals they can also be infused through an intracoronary catheter. The subsequent delivery from the circulation to a target organ occurs by acoustic cavitation at a resonant frequency of the microbubbles. It seems likely that the mechanical energy generated by the microbubble destruction results in transient pore formation in or between the endothelial cells of the microvasculature of the targeted region. As a result of this sonoporation effect, the transfection efficiency into and across the endothelial cells is enhanced, and transgene-encoding vectors are deposited into the surrounding tissue. Plasmid DNA remaining in the circulation is rapidly degraded by nucleases in the blood, which further reduces the likelihood of delivery to non-sonicated tissues and leads to highly specific target-organ transfection.
CBE—Life Sciences Education, 2018
A common challenge in the evaluation of K–12 science education is identifying valid scales that a... more A common challenge in the evaluation of K–12 science education is identifying valid scales that are an appropriate fit for both a student’s age and the educational outcomes of interest. Though many new scales have been validated in recent years, there is much to learn about the appropriate educational contexts and audiences for these measures. This study investigated two such scales, the DEVISE Self-Efficacy for Science scale and the Career Interest Questionnaire (CIQ), within the context of two related health sciences projects. Consistent patterns were found in the reliability of each scale across three age groups (middle school, high school, early college) and within the context of each project. As expected, self-efficacy and career interest, as measured through these scales, were found to be correlated. The pattern of results for CIQ scores was also similar to that reported in other literature. This study provides examples of how practitioners can validate established measures fo...
To attract students to careers in science, the best curriculum will not matter if highly trained ... more To attract students to careers in science, the best curriculum will not matter if highly trained and qualified teachers are not in charge of that task. A workshop series designed to train science teachers in the latest advancements in science and stimulate learning amongst teachers, ...
International Journal, 2011
The TCC Worldwide Online Conference was launched in 1996 as an alternative to a traditional face-... more The TCC Worldwide Online Conference was launched in 1996 as an alternative to a traditional face-to-face conference. Travel costs to and from Hawaii and travel time to the middle of the Pacific Ocean would prohibit many from attending a technology conference. As advances in ICT improved the quality of the virtual conference experience and as travel budgets continued to shrink, the number of participants attending TCC increased five-fold over 15 years. The concern by TCC was to maintain a high level of satisfaction with the ...
To improve student learning and success in a science field while at university, it is important t... more To improve student learning and success in a science field while at university, it is important that students begin their studies with good basic science knowledge. Thus, it is important for high school science teachers to be teaching current scientific methods. To update their skills high school teachers need to participate in professional development programs to update their own knowledge of current science research and techniques used in labs. Towards this goal, the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii developed a professional development program for high school science teachers. In 2012, eight high school science teachers attended the program for eight week days over a two week period. This study is a report of the teachers’ experiences within the program. Specifically, this paper reports on the results of the teachers’ evaluation of the online materials and their perspectives of real world application of the learned material are investigated. The data set in this study includes all eight teachers’ pre-survey responses and final survey data.
... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, polici... more ... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, policing and censorship (Linden Research, 2007). ... Most often it is used to represent a real environment such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Extension School's moot court (Nolan, 2007) and ...
Education Conference Papers, 2009
... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, polici... more ... They provide users with a range of administrative support including technical support, policing and censorship (Linden Research, 2007). ... Most often it is used to represent a real environment such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Extension School's moot court (Nolan, 2007) and ...
ASCILITE ... annual conference / Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, 2010
Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of education... more Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of educational training. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. As a way of addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper further explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a group of advanced biology teachers who embark on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Teachers were positive in reporting about the many areas they gained instruction in although some feedback suggested that the initial online materials over-emphasised abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems or local context of most ...
A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is participation in act... more A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is participation in active research laboratories. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a science teacher who embarks on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Feedback suggested that the initial online materials over-emphasized abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems and local context of most interest to teachers and students. The implications for improving blended learning experiences from this specific case are suggested.
International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society, 2013
Recent advances in internet technology have transformed how we gather and share information in to... more Recent advances in internet technology have transformed how we gather and share information in today's world and have provided us with a platform to access educational resources and related information on the Internet. Every day, new technologies are developed that are changing the when and where we access that information. The capabilities of new technologies have allowed society to access information and learn virtually anywhere. As technical ingenuity continues to generate new technologies and paths of communication, we must look for opportunities to collaborate, share and extend our educational resources in higher education. Distributing Open Educational Resources (OER) in the form of freely licensed materials is necessary in order to laterally influence current advances in learning technologies. Online resources are being used in a variety of contexts to supplement instruction and training at higher education institutions. The aim of this Open Educational Resource project was to design and develop a blended learning instructional program to assist online users in developing familiarity with laboratory techniques prior to conducting molecular biology research in an authentic laboratory setting. This paper will look at the background of OER, describe the online materials that the Center for Cardiovascular Research (CCR) developed for open use, and discuss the outcomes and implications for use.
International Journal of Design Education, 2013
The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine developed a professional development ... more The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine developed a professional development program and virtual learning materials to assist high school science teachers become familiar with laboratory techniques prior to engaging in authentic molecular biology research. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluative overview of the program with emphasis on the virtual materials that were designed to employ a blended learning approach to augment offline classroom learning. The virtual learning materials provide a unique sphere for scientific learning in which skills can be reproduced in an offline environment. Twelve high school science teachers participated in the training program and were given full access to the online materials. After participation in the program, teachers filled out a final survey and completed a final written reflective statement as a form of evaluating the program and online materials. Thematic analysis was used to code participants' responses. Results showed that teachers recounted meeting the scientists as a valuable experience, teachers were grateful to learn real-world application of current research, and teachers described the importance of learning skills to prepare students to succeed in higher education. Additionally, results showed teacher's intent to use the virtual learning materials as homework tools and in classroom lessons.
The international journal of design education, 2013
A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is internships in resea... more A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is internships in research laboratories. However, the number of available research laboratories severely limits access by most students. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the design and development process of the online learning materials. This case study looks at the roles of the instructional designer, multimedia specialist, and research faculty who were the subject matter experts. The experiences of the design teams are shared in an effort to gain insight on how the collaborative efforts of the project group led to a successful deployment of the online learning materials.
The international journal of design education, 2013
Professional development for science teachers can be benefited through active learning in science... more Professional development for science teachers can be benefited through active learning in science laboratories. However, how online training materials can be used to complement traditional laboratory training is less understood. This paper explores the design of online training modules to teach molecular biology and user perception of those modules that were part of an intensive molecular biology "boot camp" targeting high school biology teachers in the State of Hawaii. The John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii had an opportunity to design and develop professional development that prepares science teachers with an introduction of skills, techniques, and applications for their students to conduct medical research in a laboratory setting. A group of 29 experienced teachers shared their opinions of the online materials and reported on how they used the online materials in their learning process or teaching.
International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society, 2013
Commitment to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) pipeline is slowly declining desp... more Commitment to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) pipeline is slowly declining despite the need for professionals in the medical field. Addressing this, the John A. Burns School of Medicine developed a summer teacher-training program with a supplemental technology-learning component to improve science teachers' knowledge and skills of Molecular Biology. Subsequently, students' skills, techniques, and application of molecular biology are impacted. Science teachers require training that will prepare them for educating future professionals and foster interest in the medical field. After participation in the program and full access to the virtual material, twelve high school science teachers completed a final written reflective statement to evaluate their experiences. Using thematic analysis, knowledge and classroom application were investigated in this study. Results were two-fold: teachers identified difference areas of gained knowledge from the teacher-training program and teachers' reporting various benefits in relation to curricula development after participating in the program. It is concluded that participation in the program and access to the virtual material will impact the science community by updating teacher knowledge and positively influencing students' experience with science.
editlib.org
Distance learning and many of its tools are not new, but their adoption and current use are diffe... more Distance learning and many of its tools are not new, but their adoption and current use are different among unique contexts. An interdisciplinary team of researchers including professionals from Medicine and Educational Technology disciplines conducted an exploratory study ...
Journal of Virtual Worlds …, Jan 1, 2010
This paper presents the basics of the constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis method... more This paper presents the basics of the constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis methods to research in virtual worlds. Our data sources include video recordings of in-world class interactions; artifacts and documents such as students' blog, and asynchronous ...
… and Research ICICTE …, Jan 1, 2011
Boulay, Rachel, Parisky, Alex, Campbell, Chris and Leong, Peter (2011). A case study involving an... more Boulay, Rachel, Parisky, Alex, Campbell, Chris and Leong, Peter (2011). A case study involving an internship in biomedical science. In:, Proceedings of ICICTE 2011. Education and Technology: Innovation and Research ICICTE 2011, Rhodes, Greece,(). 7-9 July ...
Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of education... more Molecular biology often uses participation in active research laboratories as a form of educational training. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. As a way of addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper further explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a group of advanced biology teachers who embark on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Teachers were positive in reporting about the many areas they gained instruction in although some feedback suggested that the initial online materials overemphasised abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems or local context of most interest to teachers and students. The experiences of the teachers are shared in an effort to gain insight on how teachers perceive their participation in the study.
Journal of Visualized …, Jan 1, 2011
In UTMD, bioactive molecules, such as negatively charged plasmid DNA vectors encoding a gene of i... more In UTMD, bioactive molecules, such as negatively charged plasmid DNA vectors encoding a gene of interest, are added to the cationic shells of lipid microbubble contrast agents. In mice these vector-carrying microbubbles can be administered intravenously or directly to the left ventricle of the heart. In larger animals they can also be infused through an intracoronary catheter. The subsequent delivery from the circulation to a target organ occurs by acoustic cavitation at a resonant frequency of the microbubbles. It seems likely that the mechanical energy generated by the microbubble destruction results in transient pore formation in or between the endothelial cells of the microvasculature of the targeted region. As a result of this sonoporation effect, the transfection efficiency into and across the endothelial cells is enhanced, and transgene-encoding vectors are deposited into the surrounding tissue. Plasmid DNA remaining in the circulation is rapidly degraded by nucleases in the blood, which further reduces the likelihood of delivery to non-sonicated tissues and leads to highly specific target-organ transfection.