Teaching the Bean Beetle Microbiome CURE in an Online Format

 

Lawrence S. Blumer, Anna J. Zelaya, Christopher W. Beck, Nicole M. Gerardo and Sinead N. Younge

Advances in Biology Laboratory Education, 2022, Volume 42

https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v42.art19

Supplemental Materials: https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v42.sup19

Abstract

Most course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are designed as immersive, in-class research activities. The bean beetle microbiome CURE is no different in this regard. However, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, sudden conversion from face-to-face instruction to hybrid and completely online instruction provided the opportunity to consider how best to teach a CURE online and to determine the aspects of experimentation that can be addressed without in-person instruction. Across four consecutive semesters, one of us (LSB) taught the bean beetle microbiome CURE to first-semester biology majors face-to-face, in hybrid format (face-to-face for half a semester and online for half a semester), and then fully online. This presentation and discussion focused on the process of converting this CURE from in-person to online and considered the aspects of experimentation that can be retained and those that are lost when in an online format. This conversion process, applicable to any CURE, requires careful consideration of critical learning outcomes we seek from laboratory activities, and thus has the capacity to influence how we teach in any format in the future

Keywords:  online learning, course-based undergraduate research experience, biological experimentation

Virtual ABLE (ViABLE) (2021)