2024 ASM Conference for Undergraduate Educators

As a part of the ImmunoReach network, an interdisciplinary group that aims to foster immune literacy beyond immunology courses, we developed a QUBES open-source role-playing activity called ‘When tests disagree, how do I know if I have COVID-19?’. This activity was designed to address Vision and Change (V&C) core concepts and enable students to practice core competencies in a real-world scenario. As a jigsaw activity, students engage in a case study, select a specialty (epidemiologist, infectious disease doctor, or immunologist) to interpret SARS-CoV-2 tests (PCR, antigen, and antibody), and communicate the results to a patient. The activity and V&C-aligned assessment materials are ready-to-use, adaptable and relevant to a variety of course types. The activity was implemented in varied course and institutional settings, including introductory or upper-level microbiology- or immunology-themed courses at four institutions (a 2-year college, two 4-year colleges, and an R1 institution; two of the four instructors were not the original developers of the activity). We hypothesized that the activity would improve student learning of two V&C core concepts, Information Flow and Structure and Function. We measured student learning using a 15-question multiple-choice pre/post quiz (pre, n=170; post, n=164). There was a significant pre-to-post improvement with a mean total score increase of 1.733 (SE=0.278; p