The ImmunoReach RCN has been very active! Tonight I watched their ASMCUE 2022 microbrew entitled: ImmunoReach: An interactive approach to understanding T-cell receptor diversity. Claudette Davis from LaGuardia Community College – CUNY and Timothy Paustian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison presented. Davis is a (newly) Associate Professor and spoke about the students at LaGuardia. They have small class sizes with 22-24 students. They also discuss lymphatic and immune systems! At Wisconsin the classes are much larger with 200-300 students. The topics discussed include innate immune system, adaptive immunity, cell-mediated and antibody-immunity. The question the presenters had was: Do students understand the diversity of T-cell receptors? Davis started the lesson by giving a short lecture on T-cell receptors. Paustian had an amazing video of T-cell receptors that Davis shared. It included a diagram and 3D protein structure. David played the video for their class and then used clay or play dough. Students open a wheel picker app to pick selections from a series of VDJ codes. Davis used the Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class Tool (ASPECT) that measures the value. of the activity, personal effort, and instructor contribution. The second part of the survey has questions about the student experience with the activity while the third part has questions about the confidence with the material. I am intrigued by ASPECT and wonder if we can use it.
