Abstract
Online instruction poses several challenges including creating opportunities for students to interact and get to know each other. I will discuss an adaptable online discussion format that has students explore the real‐world implications of biochemistry and molecular biology to provide course context to what they are learning and allow students to build the classroom community. The discussion format utilizes current events and elements of students' daily lives. First, students explore instructor provided information on a topic, and then reflecting on what else they would like to learn by identifying possible search terms. Then students locate information related to the topic and write their post to communicate what they have learned. This format allows students to explore and share their interests leading to a large diversity of connected topics. Students then read and comment on others posts and develop an understanding of other students’ interests. Student response to discussion format has been overwhelmingly positive in a variety of classes including biochemistry, molecular genetics, and a senior seminar course. Survey results in biochemistry indicate that students appreciated “understanding other’s points of view” and “connecting…learning to actual research going on.” Students reported in a Likert scale survey items that the discussion format increased interest and interaction with peers.
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