Improving Microbiology Education: Lessons from the MCI Implementation

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Tonight I watched another JMBE Live! session. Danielle Condry spoke about the Microbiology Concept Inventory and how they applied it. Jonathan Nguyen joined Condry. They explained the concept inventory used as a two-tiered questionnaire with questions and an opportunity for learners to share their reasoning. Concept inventories are focused, Condry noted, and began with the force concept inventory in physics. Concept inventories can be taken as pre/post and have several advantages. Concept inventories can be easy to implement and analyze. However, Condry did note there was at least one study that identified bias in who answered different questions on a concept inventory. The Microbiology Concept Inventory (MCI) was used by Condry and Nguyen in several courses over numerous years. In 2020, the team shifted to an online (Qualtrics) MCI. All students were graded on completion, not accuracy. Condry shared that their department identified challenges in MCI scores: MCI scores were lower after taking microbiology courses in their program. Thus, they made a series of improvement. Nguyen explained the statistical analyses they conducted. Nguyen noted that there was some evidence of bias, but more data/analyses were needed. They used a Cohen D effect size and identified differences. Nguyen explained that they observed significant differences between first-year and senior students. The team is now analyzing the rationale portion of the MCI. Two students were first authors! One question asked was whether students remember the MCI after taking it at several times during their academic progression. Condry noted that students don’t report remembering. Rachel Horak spoke about the creation of the MCI and how it took multiple institutions. The MCI has to be administered all together.

How can the MCI be used to improve programs and courses? AI-generated image.