BioBook is an online biology learning resource. Unlike static print textbooks, concepts are organized hierarchically as branches and leaves of a tree. Each Branch or Leaf connects to all required supporting materials.
Launched in 2013, BioBook was built around the 2011 Vision and Change model for biology education. It supports active learning by organizing concepts in a hierarchical tree structure that reinforces interrelationships between topics. Students develop thinking process skills that help them succeed beyond just introductory biology. Informal self-assessment is built in, as concepts are introduced using guide questions rather than an outline of factual statements. When students complete one Leaf or Branch, they should be able to answer the opening guide question.
BioBook is part of a larger digital OER-oriented approach to teaching and learning biology that gives control back to students and teachers. The contents of BioBook are open-source and directly editable, so teachers can modify BioBook to fit how they teach & their students’ specific needs.
In Spring 2020 we migrated BioBook out of its hosted wiki-based platform into Instructure Canvas as the primary support platform. This move lets us share BioBook with users free of charge.
Development of BioBook was funded by:
- WFU intramural programs:
- Summer TechExploration Program
- URECA Summer Undergraduate Research grants
- Gates Foundation/Next Generation Learning Challenges Wave 1 grant
- Arthur Vining Davis Foundation grant
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