Abstract Detail

Teaching Section

Jacquemart, Anne-Laure [1], Binard, Fabian [2].

Learning plant determination for undergraduate students: new web tools for European flora.

In order to understand plant systematic vocabulary and be able to identify plants using keys, we developed a new web tool for undergraduate students at UCL, Belgium.  Students of various backgrounds (agronomy, biology and pharmacy) as well as other people will be able to learn how to identify a flowering plant at their own using a multimedia platform. The web site is public till January 27, 2014. Please have a look at www.biologievegetale.be. The platform is divided into two parts. The first part is composed of exercises enabling users to acquire the basic knowledge of plant systematics and terms. The second part comprises a tool enabling users to identify plants in the field using a smartphone or a tablet. The part dedicated determination exercises, provides a series of pictures of different European (Belgian) species. The user picks a picture and can identify the species with a dichotomous key in which all the vocabulary terms are explained with hypertext links. With repetitions of the learning track, users adopt the vocabulary required in plant systematics. Species description includes ecology, pharmacology, history and many other elements. The second part of the website allows the user “student” to identify a species in the field, as in a conventional Flora while combining many other benefits. Thanks to the responsive web design, it ‘ll be no longer necessary to carry heavy books in the field; the user can practice with its smartphone or tablet. Moreover, users have access to much more information and photos than in a conventional Flora. The ease to travel between taxonomic levels (families/genera/species) is appreciated by both experts and beginners. But one of the major issues is that it is a participatory website: any user can add information that is then validated by scientific references. In this way, the website is a meeting point between the scientists and the general public and ensures the content is up-to-date. We present both conventional and APG classification for all families and genera.

Related Links:
plant determination

1 - Université catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Croix du Sud 2 box L7.05.14, Unit , Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium
2 - Université catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Croix du Sud 2 box L7.05.14, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium

Keywords:
plant identification
systematics
web tools
active learning.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Eyrie/Boise Centre
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PTE004
Abstract ID:311
Candidate for Awards:None