Tools for Identifying Biodiversity:

Progress and Problems

Pier Luigi Nimis and Rgine Vignes Lebbe (eds.)
Tools for Identifying Biodiversity:
Progress and Problems
Pier Luigi Nimis and Rgine Vignes Lebbe (eds.)
Proceedings of the International Congress
Paris, September 20-22, 2010
Musum national dHistoire naturelle Grand Amphithtre
9 7 8 8 8 8 3 0 3 2 9 5 0
All content is copyrighted by the individual authors of the contributions and licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License (CC by-sa 3.0).
EUT 2010.
Information in this book does not represent the opinion of the European Community and
the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of it.
ISBN 978-88-8303-295-0
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i
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Nicolas Bailly (Philippines)
Daniel Barthlmy (France)
Frank Bisby (United Kingdom)
Walter Berendsohn (Germany)
Gudmundur Gudmundsson (Iceland)
Gregor Hagedorn (Germany)
Bill Hominick (United Kingdom)
Christian Kittl (Austria)
Maurizio Casiraghi (Italy)
Noel Conruyt (La Runion, France)
Martin Grube (Austria)
Massimo Labra (Italy)
Karol Marhold (Slovak Republic)
Anastasia Miliou (Greece)
Andrea M. Mulrenin (Austria)
Pier Luigi Nimis (Italy)
Bob Press (United Kingdom)
Dave Roberts (United Kingdom)
Peter Schalk (Netherlands)
Edwin van Spronsen (Netherlands)
Rgine Vignes Lebbe (France)
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Coordinators:
Pier Luigi Nimis
Rgine Vignes Lebbe
Members:
La Bled
Florian Causse
Vanessa Demanoff
Zoulika Labghiel
Visotheary Rivire-Ung
Stefano Martellos
Rodolfo Riccamboni
Maxime Venin
iii
FOREWORD
The correct identification of organisms is fundamental not only for the
assessment and the conservation of biodiversity, but also in agriculture, forestry,
the food and pharmaceutical industries, forensic biology, and in the broad field
of formal and informal education at all levels. However, since the first Meeting
of the Systematics Association on Biological identification with computers, in
1973, few scientific events have been dedicated to this subject. Furthermore,
taxonomists, workers in biodiversity informatics, and the large community of
users are rarely all gathered together.
Since the 1990s, the number of projects developing information repositories
has greatly increased: Fishbase, GBIF, Species 2000, OBIS, EuroMed-
PlantBase, Fauna Europaea, EoL etc. to cite only some of them. Until now,
identification tools were poorly represented in such systems. This is already
changing, and Fishbase is a good example illustrating the need to include
identification facilities with biodiversity databases, and to adapt the keys to
different types of users. International conferences on biodiversity research,
tools and methods using ICT, are becoming more and more numerous. In the
last decades, important advances have taken place in the ways identification is
carried out, from molecular and biochemical methods of rapid identification to the
development of interactive identification systems based on morpho-anatomical
data. The effort to propose and to popularize identification tools using all types
of biological characters (sequences, morphology, images, sounds etc.) must be
continued.
The event Tools for identifying biodiversity: progress and problems
offers an opportunity to provide an overview of recent advances in this field.
It aims at stimulating integration of existing methods and systems, fostering
communication amongst different research groups, and laying the foundations
for integrated projects in the next decade. The congress was organised jointly
by three large European projects dedicated to biodiversity and/or biological
identification: KeyToNature, EDIT (European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy),
and STERNA (Semantic Web-based Thematic European Reference Network
Application).
v
The scientific program of the congress was subdivided into four sessions:
Interactive identification tools based on morpho-anatomical data
Molecular and biochemical methods for the identification of organisms
Identification and education
Industrial and practical applications of the new identification tools: case-
studies and markets
In this book, the reader will find short presentations of current and upcoming
projects (EDIT, KeyToNature, STERNA, Species 2000, Fishbase, BHL, ViBRANT,
etc.), plus a large panel of short articles on software, taxonomic applications,
use of e-keys in the educational field, and practical applications. Single-access
keys are now available on most recent electronic devices; the collaborative
and semantic web opens new ways to develop and to share applications; the
automatic processing of molecular data and images is now based on validated
systems; identification tools appear as an efficient support for environmental
education and training; the monitoring of invasive and protected species and
the study of climate change require intensive identifications of specimens, which
opens new markets for identification research.
Pier Luigi Nimis, Rgine Vignes Lebbe
Trieste Paris, September 2010
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Devising the EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy ............................................... 1
Walter G. Berendsohn
Descriptive Data in the EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy .............................. 7
Maxime Venin, Agnes Kirchhoff, Hlne Fradin, Anton Gntsch, Niels Hoffmann,
Andreas Kohlbecker, Elise Kuntzelmann,na Maiocco, Andreas Mller,
Rgine Vignes Lebbe, Walter G. Berendsohn
An online authoring and publishing platform for field guides
and identification tools .................................................................................... 13
Gregor Hagedorn, Gisela Weber, Andreas Plank, Mircea Giurgiu, Andrei Homodi,
Cornelia Veja, Gerd Schmidt, Pencho Mihnev, Manol Roujinov, Dagmar Triebel,
Robert A. Morris, Bernhard Zelazny, Edwin van Spronsen, Peter Schalk,
Christian Kittl, Robert Brandner, Stefano Martellos, Pier Luigi Nimis
A search tool for the digital biodiversity resources of KeyToNature ............... 19
Mircea Giurgiu, Andrei Homodi, Cornelia Veja, Gregor Hagedorn, Pier Luigi Nimis
Developing Web-based Search Portals on Birds
for Different Target Groups ............................................................................. 25
Renate Steinmann, Andreas Strasser, Andrea Mulrenin, Amy Trayler, Sander Pieterse,
Ivan Teage, Michael De Giovanni, John J. Borg, Noel Zammit
Simple Identification Tools in FishBase .......................................................... 31
Nicolas Bailly, Rodolfo Reyes Jr., Rachel Atanacio, Rainer Froese
The Catalogue of Life: towards an integrative taxonomic backbone
for biodiversity ................................................................................................ 37
Frank A. Bisby, Yuri R. Roskov
BHL-EUROPE: Biodiversity Heritage Library for Europe ............................... 43
Jana Hoffmann, Henning Scholz
A Pan-European Species-directories Infrastructure (PESI) ............................ 49
Yde de Jong
ViBRANTVirtual Biodiversity Research and Access Network
for Taxonomy .................................................................................................. 53
Dave Roberts, Vince Smith
Identifications in BioPortals ........................................................................ 55
Wouter Addink, Edwin van Spronsen, Peter H. Schalk
Types of identification keys............................................................................. 59
Gregor Hagedorn, Gerhard Rambold, Stefano Martellos
Learning, Identifying, Sharing ......................................................................... 65
Philippe A. Martin, Nol Conruyt, David Grosser
viii
Identification with iterative nearest neighbors using domain knowledge ........ 71
David Grosser, Nol Conruyt, Henri Ralambondrainy
A MediaWiki implementation of single-access keys ....................................... 77
Gregor Hagedorn, Bob Press, Sonia Hetzner, Andreas Plank, Gisela Weber,
Sabine von Mering, Stefano Martellos, Pier Luigi Nimis
Simple matrix keys from Excel spreadsheets ................................................. 83
Gregor Hagedorn, Mircea Giurgiu, Andrei Homodi
Wiki keys on mobile devices........................................................................... 89
Gisela Weber, Gregor Hagedorn
A Wiki-based Key to Garden and Village Birds .............................................. 95
Tomi Trilar
Wiki-keys for the ferns of the Flora of Equatorial Guinea ............................... 99
Francisco Cabezas, Carlos Aedo, Patricia Barber, Manuel De la Estrella, Maximiliano Fero,
Mauricio Velayos
MyKey: a server-side software to create customized decision trees ............ 107
David Grard, Rgine Vignes Lebbe
Xper: managing descriptive data from their collection to e-monographs .... 113
Visotheary Ung, Florian Causse, Rgine Vignes Lebbe
FRIDA 3.0 Multi-authored digital identification keys in the Web ................... 115
Stefano Martellos
Flora Bellissima, an expert software to discover botany
and identify plants......................................................................................... 121
Thierry Pernot, Daniel Mathieu
Modifiable digital identification keys ............................................................ 127
Edwin van Spronsen, Stefano Martellos, Dennis Seijts, Peter Schalk, Pier Luigi Nimis
The Open Key Player: A new approach for online interaction
and user-tracking in identification keys......................................................... 133
Mircea Giurgiu, Andrei Homodi, Edwin van Spronsen, Stefano Martellos, Pier Luigi Nimis
Improvement of identification keys by user-tracking..................................... 137
Gerd Schmidt, Mircea Giurgiu, Snia Hetzner, Fred Neumann
ARIES: an expert system supporting legislative tasks.
Identifying animal materials using the Linnaeus II software ........................ 145
Leo W.D. van Raamsdonk
An integrated system for producing user-specific keys on demand:
an application to Italian lichens..................................................................... 151
Juri Nascimbene, Stefano Martellos, Pier Luigi Nimis
Flora Italiana Digitale:
an interactive identification tool for the Flora of Italy .................................... 157
Riccardo Guarino, Sabina Addamiano, Marco La Rosa,
Sandro Pignatti
ix
eFlora and DialGraph, tools for enhancing identification processes
in plants ........................................................................................................ 163
Fernando Snchez Laulh, Cecilio Cano Calonge, Antonio Jimnez Montao
A catalogue of bird bones: an exercise in semantic web practice ................ 171
Gudmundur Gudmundsson, Seth D. Brewington, Thomas H. McGovern, Aevar Petersen
Anthos.es: 10 years showing Spanish plant diversity information
in the Internet................................................................................................ 177
Leopoldo Medina, Carlos Aedo
An interactive tool for the identification of airborne and food fungi ............... 183
Giovanna Cristina Varese, Antonella Anastasi, Samuele Voyron, Valeria Filipello Marchisio
The Estonian eFlora ..................................................................................... 189
Tiina Randlane, Malle Leht, Andres Saag
Keys to plants and lichens on smartphones: Estonian examples ................ 195
Andres Saag, Tiina Randlane, Malle Leht
IIKC: An Interactive Identification Key for female Culicoides
(Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the West Palearctic region ....................... 201
Bruno Mathieu, Catherine Ctre-Sossah, Claire Garros, David Chavernac,
Thomas Balenghien, Rgine Vignes Lebbe, Visotheary Ung, Ermanno Candolfi,
Jean-Claude Delcolle
Indochinese bamboos: biodiversity informatics to assist the identification
of vernacular taxa....................................................................................... 207
My Hanh Diep Thi, Rgine Vignes Lebbe, Ha Phuong Nguyen, Bich Loan Nguyen Thi
Identification tools as part of Feedsafety research: the case of ragwort ...... 213
Leo W.D. van Raamsdonk, Patrick Mulder, Michel Uiterwijk
Two identification tools applied on Mascarenes corals genera (Xper
2
)
and species (IKBS) ....................................................................................... 217
Yannick Geynet, Nol Conruyt, David Grosser, Grard Faure, David Caron
Interactive, illustrated, plant identification keys: an example
for the Portuguese flora ................................................................................ 219
Maria Helena Abreu Silva, Rosa Maria Ferreira Pinho, Lsia Graciete, Martins Pereira Lopes,
Paulo Cardoso da Silveira
The ORCHIS software used to identify 100 orchids species of Lao PDR .... 221
Pierre Bonnet, Andr Schuiteman, Boukhaykhone Svengsuksa, Daniel Barthlmy,
Vichith Lamxay, Soulivanh Lanorsavanh, Khamfa Chanthavongsa, Pierre Grard
A collaborative and distributed identification tool for plants ......................... 223
Philippe Laroche
Alternative 2D and 3D Form Characterization Approaches
to the Automated Identification of Biological Species ................................... 225
Norman MacLeod



x
VeSTIS: A Versatile Semi-Automatic Taxon Identification System
from Digital Images....................................................................................... 231
Nikos Nikolaou, Pantelis Sampaziotis, Marilena Aplikioti, Andreas Drakos,
Ioannis Kirmitzoglou, Marina Argyrou, Nikos Papamarkos, Vasilis J. Promponas
Iterative Search with Local Visual Features for Computer Assisted Plant
Identification ................................................................................................. 237
Wajih Ouertani, Pierre Bonnet, Michel Crucianu, Nozha Boujemaa, Daniel Barthlmy
Image data banks and geometric morphometrics ....................................... 243
Anna Loy, Dennis E. Slice
Outline analysis for identifying Limodorum species from seeds ................... 249
Sara Magrini, Sergio Buono, Emanuele Gransinigh, Massimiliano Rempicci, Silvano Onofri,
Anna Scoppola
Geometric morphometrics as a tool to resolve taxonomic problems:
the case of Ophioglossum species (ferns) ................................................... 251
Sara Magrini, Anna Scoppola
Geometric morphometric analysis as a tool to explore covariation
between shape and other quantitative leaf traits in European white oaks ... 257
Vincenzo Viscosi, Anna Loy, Paola Fortini
Landmark based morphometric variation in Common dolphin
(Delphinus delphis L.,1758) .......................................................................... 263
Paola Nicolosi, Anna Loy
DNA barcoding: theoretical aspects and practical applications .................... 269
Maurizio Casiraghi, Massimo Labra, Emanuele Ferri, Andrea Galimberti, Fabrizio De Mattia
Strength and Limitations of DNA Barcode
under the Multidimensional Species Perspective ......................................... 275
Valerio Sbordoni
DNA Barcoding and Phylogeny of Patellids from Asturias
(Northern Spain) ........................................................................................... 281
Yaisel Juan Borrell, Fernando Romano, Emilia Vzquez, Gloria Blanco, Jose Antonio
Snchez Prado
Molecular Identification of Italian Mouse-eared Bats
(genus Myotis) .............................................................................................. 289
Andrea Galimberti, Adriano Martinoli, Danilo Russo, Mauro Mucedda, Maurizio Casiraghi
Identifying algal symbionts in lichen symbioses ........................................... 295
Martin Grube, Lucia Muggia
Identification of polymorphic species within groups of morphologically
conservative taxa: combining morphological and molecular techniques ...... 301
Kim Larsen, Elsa Froufe
Coffee species and varietal identification ..................................................... 307
Patrizia Tornincasa, Michela Furlan, Alberto Pallavicini, Giorgio Graziosi
xi
Mislabelling in megrims: implications for conservation ................................. 315
Victor Crego-Prieto, Daniel Campo, Juliana Perez, Eva Garcia-Vazquez
Seeds in subtribe Orchidinae (Orchidaceae):
the best morphological tool to support molecular analyses .......................... 323
Roberto Gamarra, Emma Ortez, Ernesto Sanz, Iris Esparza, Pablo Galn
Lentils biodiversity: the characterization of two local landraces ................... 327
Vincenzo Viscosi, Manuela Ialicicco, Mariapina Rocco, Dalila Trupiano, Simona Arena,
Donato Chiatante, Andrea Scaloni, Gabriella Stefania Scippa
A model study for tardigrade identification.................................................... 333
Roberto Bertolani, Lorena Rebecchi, Michele Cesari
DNA Barcoding of Philippine plants .............................................................. 341
Esperanza Maribel G. Agoo
Molecular and ecophysiological characterisation of the Tunisian bee:
Apis mellifera intermissa ........................................................................ 343
Mohamed Chouchene, Naima Barbouche, Lionel Garnery, Michel Baylac
Biological identifications through mitochondrial and nuclear molecular
markers: the case of commercially important crabs from Indian EEZ .......... 345
Sherine Sonia Cubelio, K. K. Bineesh, K. Raj, Suraj Tewari, Achamveettil Gopalakrishnan,
Valaparambil Saidumohammad Basheer, Wazir Singh Lakra
Barcoding Fauna Bavarica Capturing Central European
Animal Diversity ............................................................................................ 347
Lars Hendrich, Michael Balke, Gerhard Haszprunar, Axel Hausmann, Paul Hebert,
Stefan Schmidt
Molecular techniques for identifying North Sea fauna .................................. 349
Thomas Knebelsberger, Sandra Ditzler, Silke Laakmann, Inga Mohrbeck,
Michael J. Raupach
DNA Bank Network connecting biological collections and sequence
databases by long-term DNA storage with online accession........................ 351
Matthias Geiger, Nicolas Straube
Mitochondrial DNA sequences for forensic identification of the endangered
whale shark, Rhincodon typus (Smith, 1828): A Case study ........................ 353
Kavungal Abdulkhadar Sajeela, Chandran Rakhee, Janardanan Nair Rekha,
Achamveettil Gopalakrishnan, Valaparambil Saidumohammad Basheer, Joe Kizhakkudan
Shoba, Kizhakkudan Joe, Wazir Singh Lakra
An assignment-based e-learning course on the use
of KeyToNature e-keys ................................................................................. 355
Pencho Mihnev, Nadezhda Raycheva
User needs for interactive identification tools to organisms
employed in the EU-Project KeyToNature ................................................... 361
Astrid Tarkus, Emanuel Maxl, Christian Kittl
Teaching biodiversity with online identification tools from KeyToNature:
a comparative study ..................................................................................... 367
Felicia Boar, Adelhaida Kerekes
xii
Digital Tools in the Botanical Garden of Madrid ............................................ 373
Marina Ferrer, Esther Garca
Use of KeyToNature Identification Tools in the Schools of Slovenia ............ 379
Irena Kodele Krana
New key-tools for pollen identification in research and education ................ 383
Jade Dupont, Nathalie Combourieu Nebout, Jean-Pierre Cazet, Florian Causse,
Rgine Vignes Lebbe
The UK urban tree survey ............................................................................ 389
Bob Press
Tree School A new Innovation for Science and Education ........................ 395
Della Hopkins, Karen James
Engaging Schools in Cutting Edge Science:
From the Educators Perspective ................................................................. 401
Adrian Richardson, Della Hopkins
Educational or emotional languages?
An interactive experiment with the Lucanian flora (S-Italy) .......................... 405
Riccardo Guarino, Patrizia Menegoni, Sandro Pignatti
Online sharing educational content on biodiversity topics: a case study
from organic agriculture and agroecology .................................................... 411
Nikos Palavitsinis, Nikos Manouselis, Kostas Kastrantas, John Stoitsis, Xenofon Tsilibaris
JSTOR Plant Science ................................................................................... 417
Michael Sean Gallagher
ecoBalade: Towards a workflow for Citizen Science Nature Trails .............. 419
Julie Chabalier, Khaled Talbi, Patrick Peters, Amandine Sahl, Olivier Coullet,
Olivier Assunao, Olivier Rovellotti
Electronic data recording tools and identifying species
in the field ..................................................................................................... 421
Alexander Kroupa, Anke Hoffmann, Juan Carlos Monje,

Christoph L. Huser
Cost Assessment of the Field Measurement of Biodiversity:
a Farm-scale Case Study ............................................................................. 423
Stefano Targetti, Davide Viaggi, David Cuming
Markets for biodiversity information products: real or imaginary? ................ 429
Bill Hominick, Peter Schalk
A Basic Business Model for Commercial Application
of Identification Tools .................................................................................... 437
Christian Kittl, Peter Schalk, Nicola Dorigo Salamon, Stefano Martellos
Keys to Nature: A test on the iPhone market ................................................ 445
Rodolfo Riccamboni, Alessio Mereu, Chiara Boscarol
AUTHOR INDEX ................................................................................................. 451
355
An assignment-based
e-learning course on the use of
KeyToNature e-keys
Pencho Mihnev, Nadezhda Raycheva
Abstract This article conceptualises a common approach to train teachers
and university lecturers in integrating the use of e-keys produced by the
EU-funded project KeyToNature in the design, development, and delivery
of e-learning modules within their school practice. The approach is based
on setting and administering learning scenarios developed around real
practice assignments that have at their core the identifcation of organisms
and end up with the creation of meaningful biodiversity information products,
rooted in concrete environmental contexts. The learning products may even
include the creation of specifc sub-keys from the initially used e-keys. The
paper briefy describes the application and the real testing of the approach
in an experimental teacher training course conducted in Bulgaria within the
KeyToNature project.
Index Terms active learning, assignment, biodiversity, e-keys, e-learning
course, identifcation tools, learning design, teacher training.

1 introduction
T
he KeyToNature project shares a big variety of electronic identification
tools and instruments for their handling in different modes and on different
hardware and software platforms. Using and integrating these tools within
different learning scenarios and contexts is a concrete task of the teachers. Some
or all stages of the applied learning scenarios and the resulting final products are
often not digitised, which has obvious negative effects. Another consideration
related to the digitisation is the use of different e-tools not pertaining to a united
system. This complicates the organisation of learning, leads to efficiency issues,
and may lower the re-usage potential of the achieved results.

P. Mihnev is with BIKAM Ltd., 46, Oborishte str., Sofa 1505, Bulgaria. E-mail: pmihnev@gmail.
com N. Raycheva is with the Department for In-Service Teacher Training, Sofa University St.
Kl. Ohridski, 224, Tzar Boris III bld., Sofa, Bulgaria. E-mail: raycheva.n@gmail.com.
Nimis P. L., Vignes Lebbe R. (eds.)
Tools for Identifying Biodiversity: Progress and Problems pp. 355-360.
ISBN 978-88-8303-295-0. EUT, 2010.
356
2 the uSe of a learning management SyStem aS a learning
platform for the creation of effective ScenarioS
The identification process is a means to an end, not the end itself. An
implication about learning by using identification tools is that the identification
needs to be integrated in wider contexts of meaningful learning scenarios.
Designing good scenarios requires good pedagogical skills, knowledge of the
subject matter, adequate technological skills, and the availability of technological
facilities for implementation. A scenario should also reflect the active learning
and motivational findings researched and described by learning and motivation
theories, e.g. [1], [2], and [3].
The identification process is per se an active learning. The keys themselves
become more complex, integrating add-ons that facilitate re-usage and complex
learning activities.
In order to maximise the positive effects of the e-keys, one can use the support
of e-learning platforms. A newer and richer concept about the use of e-learning
platforms is that activities and not the content are in the core of an e-learning
platform.
This concept directly corresponds both to the active learning methods and to
the creation of contexts which exploit positive motivation factors.
Another feature of all widespread e-learning platforms is the inter-linkage of all
resources, activities, communication, organisation, and assessment tools within
the platform. This enables more complex learning events and activities to be
organised and conducted as a learning whole.
The authors have designed an experimental curriculum for teacher training to
develop and use e-learning modules for students having as their core activity
identification processes based on the use of e-keys. The Moodle learning
management system (e-learning platform) was chosen for the concrete course
design.
The main teacher training target group consisted of biology teachers that have
average ICT-skills, are able to work with e-keys, but are not trained to work with
any e-learning platform.
We have chosen to use only a few, but very important and powerful e-tools of the
platform (resources and activities) that can add real value in the implementation
of meaningful learning scenarios for the use of e-keys.
3 the teacher training curriculum the courSe Study
programme
The teacher training course curriculum consisted of two main parts: the first
part puts the teacher in a student role to alter her/his viewpoint in experiencing
learning. The second part trains teachers on how to construct and conduct an
e-Learning course.
The first part is based on Assignment 1:
As a trainee in the first part of this course you - preferably in a team of 2 to 3
persons - should:
357
Produce an electronic Profile of a tree, following a predefined structure,
by using the information previously entered for that purpose by your
team in the e-learning platform.
Publish and present in an attractive and appealing way your electronic
Profile of a tree by using the tools and instruments of the e-learning
platform.
Edit and complement the identification key with collected and/or
personally developed material.
This assignment consists of activities in two different environments: in the field
and in the classroom.
Activities in the filed include tree identification with the e-key and observation
of the characteristics that are used to identify it. Activities in the classroom
include working on the structure of a tree profile and editing a e-key. The tree
profile describes the following information:
1. Name of the tree: Latin, Bulgarian; 2. Classification (levels of detail: on
learners own judgment); 3 Photos (minimum 3 taken by the learner, and 2 from
the e-key) - they should present a natural view of tree, leaf - margin, upper
and lower surface, flower and fruit; 4. Description (following a worksheet); 5.
Importance for mankind; 6. Do you know that (interesting facts/information
about the species); 7. Additional information personal comments (personal
opinion); 8. References and resources used.
The second part is based on the Assignment: Develop your own e-module on
identification for your specific case (subject, grade, and students).
The curriculum, structured in chapters and activities, can be reviewed in the
folder Materials of [4].
4 the courSe
An experimental course was conducted on July 8
th
and 9
th
2010 at the
Department of Information and In-Service Teacher Training of the Sofia
University. The Department campus includes a small park in front of the buildings
where the field work was carried out.
Twelve participants took part in the course 8 Biology school teachers, 2
Biology trainers from a training centre, 1 university lecturer in Botany, 1 Science
expert from a Regional Educational Inspectorate. The course was held by the
authors of this article.
The entry level of the course participants with respect to their ICT knowledge
and skills was as follows:
1. All participants were able to work with the e-keys of KeyToNature;
2. No participant worked previously with the Open Key Editor
1
;
3. All participants had an average skill level for working with ICT, namely:
Windows, e-mail, Internet, MS Word, MS PowerPoint;
4. Only one participant worked previously with an e-learning platform - Moodle

The Open Key Editor is a software developed within KeyToNature. It permits to edit already existing
keys or sub-keys extracted from them, by changing the text, adding images, adding new species,
changing the structure of the e-key, and even creating new e-keys from scratch.
358
- without using it after the training.
The aim of the course was to test the developed curriculum and to receive
feedback on effectiveness and efficiency of the course.
The twelve participants were grouped into 5 permanent groups; the work was
conducted by each group as a whole.
In broad terms, the course time frame was set in the following way:
1. First half of the first day work in the field: trees identification, gathering
additional information (taking photos, observing the environment, taking notes),
and filling-in the terrain part of Worksheet 1 (profile of the tree);
2. Second half of the first day work as an user of the Moodle platform
and of the e-learning course: collecting the requested additional information
from Internet and from the e-key, entering the collected data in the interactive
geographic map of Moodle and in the prepared course multimedia database;
working with the Open Key Editor and developing a sub-key.
Homework: development of a short PowerPoint presentation about the profile
of the identified tree.
3. First half of the second day Design of e-learning modules in Moodle:
e-Course setting, student enrollment, work with selected resources (labels,
folders, hyperlinked text, access to different study materials); developing an
e-course programme/syllabus.
4. Second half of the second day work with selected activities in Moodle:
setting up interactive geographic maps, developing a database, developing an
assignment, setting up a glossary. Starting the design of each trainees own
e-learning module.
Homework: Full design and preparation of the e-learning module, ready for
use by students.
It was very encouraging to see that all groups managed to perform well the
required activities and to develop the products envisaged in the course.
The results of the work of each group from the course can be seen in the
Bikams KeyToNature Moodle platform [4]. Photos from the teacher training
course can be seen at the web-address provided in [5].
5 evaluation of the teacher training courSe
5.1 colleS - conStructiviSt on-line learning environment Survey
We used COLLES [6] as one of the two survey instruments to evaluate the
course. COLLES comprises 24 statements grouped into six scales. The six
groups are Relevance, Reflection, Interactivity, Tutor Support, Peer Support,
and Interpretation. The concrete survey questions grouped by categories can
be reviewed at [7]. Graph charts with all survey results can be viewed at [4].
Important feedback from the teachers answers was that:
1. In terms of the question categories the course scores higher than the middle
value of occurrence in the scale (Sometimes).
2. The highest, almost maximal, score in the survey is assigned to the course
relevance category. According to J. Cole and H. Foster [8], p. 192, the Relevance
359
category is the most important with respect to the assessment of the course
design.
5.2 free-form opinion Survey
In the second, free-form opinion survey, participants were asked about the
strong and weak sides of the course and its methodology.
The articulated strong sides were:
1. The power of the e-learning platform to offer electronic means that unite into
a learning whole and serve the overall learning process.
2. The power of attractivity to students of the final products created within (or
with the support of) the e-learning platform.
The most often mentioned weak sides were related to:
1. The eventual lack of sufficient hardware for the implementation of e-learning
scenarios - laptops for field work, the availability of computer labs.
2. About the course delivery the very short duration of the course only 2
days. The participants didnt know that the course was intentionally compressed
to last only two days in order to test the possibility of achieving the main goals
in such a short training time.
6 Summary and concluSionS
The e-course proved to be a success, especially having in mind the intentionally
imposed extreme constraints (unskilled trainees to work with e-platform, and
short duration of the course).
The use of an activity-based e-learning platform as Moodle maximises the
learners motivation, effectiveness, and efficiency of both students learning and
teacher preparation. The teachers have to be trained accordingly, preferably
initially through a simple, not overwhelming training that utilises only some, yet
powerful, learning activities in the e-learning platform.
Two other important implications are that our curriculum & learning design
approach proved to be:
1. e-key independent. It can be used with any interactive identification key,
irrespective of the organisms it identifies.
2. e-learning platform independent, providing that the corresponding platform
has a set of functionalities/instruments that can realise appropriate learning
activities.
Furthermore, the opportunity to mix/blend the course could be considered, to
organise its delivery partly face-to-face, partly by distance.
The course was prepared in levels, in a modular way. This article has discussed
only the first, initial level of the curriculum, which was also tested with teachers
in the course. The next two course levels are meant to update and upgrade
the knowledge and skills of the teachers, to fully employ the functionalities and
instruments of the platform.
As a next step in learning design and delivery inquiries, it will be interesting
to test the delivery of an entirely distance-online course, following the outlined
curriculum.
360
acknowledgement
This work has been supported by the KeyToNature project, ECP-2006-EDU-410019,
in the frame of the eContentplus Programme.
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