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- Title
Incorporating a Collaborative Web-Based Virtual Laboratory in an Undergraduate Bioinformatics Course.
- Authors
Weisman, David
- Abstract
Face-to-face bioinformatics courses commonly include a weekly, in-person computer lab to facilitate active learning, reinforce conceptual material, and teach practical skills. Similarly, fully-online bioinformatics courses employ hands-on exercises to achieve these outcomes, although students typically perform this work offsite. Combining a face-to-face lecture course with a web-based virtual laboratory presents new opportunities for collaborative learning of the conceptual material, and for fostering peer support of technical bioinformatics questions. To explore this combination, an in-person lecture-only undergraduate bioinformatics course was augmented with a remote web-based laboratory, and tested with a large class. This study hypothesized that the collaborative virtual lab would foster active learning and peer support, and tested this hypothesis by conducting a student survey near the end of the semester. Respondents broadly reported strong benefits from the online laboratory, and strong benefits from peer-provided technical support. In comparison with traditional in-person teaching labs, students preferred the virtual lab by a factor of two. Key aspects of the course architecture and design are described to encourage further experimentation in teaching collaborative online bioinformatics laboratories.
- Subjects
COLLABORATIVE learning; BIOINFORMATICS; MOLECULAR evolution; ONLINE education; ACTIVE learning; EDUCATION
- Publication
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Education, 2010, Vol 38, Issue 1, p4
- ISSN
1470-8175
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/bmb.20368