Tonight I watched the ten-minute recorded ASMCUE 2022 session entitled “Using Interactive Discussions to Foster Scientific Literacy Skills.” Dr. Elise Mosser from Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Drexel designed this course for undergraduate and graduate students. The MIIM 541 Bacteria and Bacterial Infections emphasizes the evaluation and interpretation of primary and review articles about bacterial pathogenesis. Students, Mosser mentioned, struggle with interpretation. Thus, they had several goals with the creation of a discussion forum activity to foster peer interaction and collaboration as well as professor to student interaction. They also wanted students to ask scientific questions. Using their Learning Management System and the online section of the course, students reviewed learning objectives for the week and were required to first make a discussion post. They use Blackboard. Only after the learners free write and post about their learning objectives do participants gain access to the materials for that week. Students then spend the week discussing questions and submit a reflection based on the questions they addressed at the beginning and end of the week. In the flipped classroom, students begin by responding to a question online before coming to class. In class, there are student-led question discussions. Just like the online students, there are further discussions and a reflection. Mosser mentioned that they are running two modules simultaneously. Another advantage is the ability to provide feedback based on the responses to the questions. Mosser mentioned that to make the activity successful, they suggest:
- Creating a safe learning community to post questions
- Use the LMS with adaptive release
- Apply a detailed rubric
- State clear expectations
- Provide tailored and prompt feedback
This approach is relatively simple. I appreciate how they tried it in both online and hybrid sections. I wonder how detailed is the feedback that instructors provide. Do they use the same articles or change every semester?
