In silico research as an active learning platform in a molecular biology course

Abstract

Active learning approaches can deepen the students' understanding of major biological and biochemical concepts by integrating course content with practical applications. In order to facilitate the merging of theory and application, a blended course format was developed for a 4th year class on the Structure and Function of the Human Genome. Briefly, a third of the lectures were replaced by online tutorials, called Webquests. The Webquests were constructed such that the students could independently follow both written instructions and instructions given by a series of video tutorials embedded in the Webquests. Each Webquest required the students to do specific tasks researchers in molecular biology would normally do, using specialized but freely available online software such as UCSC and Ensembl genome browsers, IGV genome viewer, Galaxy/cistrome bioinformatics data analysis platform, NCBI GEO platform and more. These tasks consisted of, for example, planning cloning experiments for protein expression or a luciferase assay or using the various software or platforms to view, manipulate and analyze high throughput sequencing data and discuss the functional organization of different gene loci when looking at several functional makers (CpG islands, histone mark, nucleosome mapping, DNase hypersensitivity, FAIRE‐seq and transcription factor binding sites). Students had to write down and explain their problem solving strategies, results and discussion in a laboratory book, as they would in laboratory research. These were also discussed in class, as a research group would discuss group member's results. Course evaluations revealed this practical aspect of the course was appreciated by students and most thought the Webquests were interesting but very demanding and generally put them in the uncomfortable position of not knowing whether their considerable amount of work was good or bad. Therefore, a teaching strategy using immediate and substantial feedback closer to one‐on‐one mentoring seems to be important for this type of course content and activity in order to nurture and guide students even in basic skills such as scientific writing and maximize their learning experience. Using this blended learning strategy allowed the students to put in practice the theoretical knowledge acquired in class in a novel and engaging manner, better reflecting the process of scientific inquiry in a real world environment.Support or Funding InformationThe University of Ottawa Teaching and Learning Support Services (TLSS)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.