Gwendowlyn S. Knapp spoke about “Reading of Original Microbiology and Virology Literature Using the Online Platform Perusall” at ASMCUE 2022. This was a ten-minute recorded session. Knapp is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Illinois College. Knapp began by talking about milestones in “the Golden Age of Microbiology” and the cool experiments people have performed. However, reading primary literature can be overwhelming for new microbiology students. Knapp shared an example of a dense figure with multiple panels from their own manuscript. Knapp spoke about wanting students to appreciate the process. Perusall is the tool that Knapp uses because it is available on their campus and has rich analytics. The first article that Knapp does is van Leeuwenhoek’s “little Animals” 1676 article! Knapp explained that there is a translation. I would love to do this! Students read the article and learn about the early studies on morphology of colonies and microbes! Students were also doing similar experiments and observations in the teaching lab. Students in Knapp’s class responded to each other and then reflected on the readings and experience. In a virology course, Knapp reads the article on the cultivation of the Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus. Students identified some ethical issues and started a thread. Students commented in their individual reflections on learning from their peers. Students were shocked that there were only six references in that 1946 study. Knapp now wants to expand into additional lessons of ethics and diversity/equity/inclusion. This was such a fun example of using social annotation to learn from the texts AND peers. I’ll have to follow Knapp’s work now.
