Abstract:

Engaging students in courseware development has been on the agenda for higher education. Owing to the present COVID-19 pandemic, students learning invertebrate diversity might not have a chance to study the collection of specimens in our lab in person. In view of complaints received over the years regarding how painful it could be reading lab manuals alone, four student co-creators were recruited to develop a website that may help students learn invertebrate diversity better.

A website was put up with student-written texts, information about selected invertebrate members, annotated images showing our collection of invertebrate specimens, concept-check questions and links to other useful webpages. Users’ satisfaction survey and focus group study were carried out. Over 85% of the responding visitors indicated that the site had facilitated their learnings.

Student co-creators had treasured the experience through which their subject knowledge was enhanced and their generic skills, brushed up. They also appreciated the opportunity to think from both the users’ point of view as well as that of an educator throughout the process.

Keywords:

Students as partners, invertebrate diversity, website development.