Microbiology courseware was designed using the Codon Learning platform, and the effectiveness in improving students' self-regulated learning was evaluated. The Codon Learning platform, developed by a team of science educators and researchers, features evidence-based strategies to encourage student self-regulated learning, including metacognition, spaced practice, and self-testing. The questions and topics are structured around transparent, lesson-level learning objectives. Codon Learning offers courseware content developed, authored, and reviewed by experts in the field. However, Codon authored courseware for microbiology is not yet available. This project took advantage of the flexibility of the Codon platform to create customized microbiology courseware to encourage students’ self-regulated learning through iterative rounds of formative assessment and immediate feedback. Using backward course design, the instructor (KY) organized the microbiology custom Codon content around 14 topics covering 55 lesson-level learning objectives (LOs). Many of the LOs for this course were based on the ASM Curriculum Guidelines. Formative assessments, such as homework assignments, were then aligned to the LOs. Codon Learning’s education support team provided guidance for courseware development, and collected and analyzed data measuring student engagement and performance in the platform. Student attitudes about using the Codon platform for their microbiology course were measured using an end-of-semester survey. Thirty-four students engaged with formative assessments in the platform outside of class, with a 99% completion rate on eleven homework assignments spaced throughout the semester. When surveyed, 58% of the students agreed that the platform helped them to study more efficiently and 71% agreed that Codon encouraged them to return to topics they were struggling with. This indicated that the Codon platform courseware encouraged students’ self-regulated learning. Moreover, the Codon platform provided the framework to create custom microbiology courseware linking course topics to lesson-level learning objectives.
