2024 ASM Conference for Undergraduate Educators

Workshop Pre-registration is required and there are NO slots left, sorry.

Participants will review the ASM fundamental Statements with an emphasis on Scientific Thinking and walk through how to use This Week in Microbiology (TWiM) episodes to illustrate basic principles of microbiology (Structure/Function, Information Flow, Evolution, Metabolism, Systems and Microbial Impact), lab techniques, and scientific thinking. The workshop hosts will walk participants through the process of podcast annotation, where students listen to TWiM episodes and work collaboratively to create an annotation that connects the topics discussed in the podcast to ASM’s 27 fundamental statements, the 6 Vision and Change categories, and the concepts they have learned in class. In addition, we will use papers presented in a podcast episode as the basis to create short figure-reading and science literacy exercises that are aligned to ASM’s curricular guidelines. Workshop participants (and their students) will be invited to contribute to an Open Education Resource as chapter-authors.

For participants in the ASMCUE buddies peer-mentoring program.

Incorporating undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) in the STEM classroom consistently enhances student engagement, which we highlight here, as well as how ULAs in a large enrollment General Microbiology course cultivate student community while also significantly advancing the professional development of our ULAs. In this session, we will explore the practicality of involving ULAs to effectively meet students’ needs and provide guidance without overwhelming the instructor. Simultaneously, we will delve into mentoring ULAs in the art of teaching, fostering a dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship that cultivates student engagement and a sense of belonging for all in academic settings.

Reforming our biology courses to create inclusive and anti-racist classroom environments in the face of significant requirements for students to master biology concepts can seem daunting. What if you could coherently integrate evidence-based inclusivity strategies and anti-racist content to support the teaching of foundational genetics and evolution concepts, in a way that makes sense to a biologist and without further diversity training? The session uses the example and data on student learning from such a reformed introductory biology course for science majors to invite you to explore ways to introduce similar reform in your course, department or instructor professional development.

Roundtable discussion.

Panelists:
Andrea Rediske, Interim Dean, Science, Valencia College
Mary Mawn, Dean of the School of Science, Mathematics and Technology, SUNY Empire State

Come hear more about pathways to leadership in administration, including skill development. Bring lots of questions!

Integrating arts and science is a growing movement, exemplified by STEAM initiatives worldwide. At my mid-sized university, the benefits of STEAM are being realized through a rich collaboration between the departments of Art History and Biology. In this session, you will dive into the three projects we carried out: i) agar art creation in the teaching laboratory and in public agar art workshops, ii) mentored undergraduate research investigating the microbiomes of artwork in our university collection, iii) formation of a learning community focused on art conservation. Participants will brainstorm how they can establish collaborations in their own settings.

Curriculum mapping is an effective method to build or evaluate a curriculum, or program of study. A curriculum map is typically a diagram that illustrates how the courses that students take fulfill a program’s goals and/or intended student learning outcomes. In this session, we will demonstrate how to develop a curriculum map that aligns existing courses to the new ASM guidelines and use different methods to analyze and present the data to a variety of different audiences. Finally, we will discuss the actions to be taken based on analyses of a microbiology undergraduate major’s curriculum map.

W.W. Norton is looking for participants!

Advanced sign-up link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NHZJTBK

Description: W.W. Norton, independent and employee-owned publishers, invites instructors who teach microbiology for healthcare students to help shape the future of clinical applications in the course. We’ll use a jobs-to-be-done framework to better understand how textbooks and other instructional materials can address your and your students’ needs. We’ll also discuss potential solutions. This is not a product showcase; your feedback will directly inform our future plans.
Light snacks and beverages will be served.

Focus group participants will receive a $150 honorarium, contingent on a short pre-workshop assignment and participation in the discussion. We look forward to speaking with you!

Speakers: Heather Seitz (Author), Abigail Kehoe (Biology Editor), Gina Forsythe (Biology Media Editor)

The National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) aims to connect and engage the microbiome research community to unlock new possibilities in microbiome data science. To further this mission, the NMDC has developed extensive outreach, engagement, and educational strategies and activities. The NMDC has recently developed an environmental microbiome science certificate program for undergraduate students interested in microbiome research. The curriculum includes modules to further the students’ technical knowledge as well as their practical and professional skills. This educational effort has already and will continue to incorporate content and feedback from various partnering organizations and groups including the Microbiome Centers Consortium, the NMDC Champions, the American Society for Microbiology, as well as individual microbiome scientists and educators. This educational content is aimed at promoting practical skills to empower the next generation of microbiome researchers.

In this Microbrew I will present a discussion activity for student learning and assessment of the Core Concepts of Biology (Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology, 2009). The activity facilitates both learning and assessment through a dynamic discussion based on articles of individual student choice that engages students with the core principles of biology: evolution, structure and function, information flow, energy and matter transformations, and systems, with addition of ethical considerations and provides opportunities for further discussion and extensions based on student understanding. The discussion activity can be adapted for instructor-led summative assessments and formative classroom interactions. The activity has consistently received positive feedback from students and has been an effective way to connect with students around their interests in biology and stimulate motivation for learning.

A series of “Career Competencies” was developed on campus to help students relate what they are learning to transferable skills needed for employment. Instructors across the curriculum have developed assignments to address these career competencies. While many laboratory courses use technical skills and documentation, students may not sense how they would use them in a career. In the Biotechnology Laboratory, the assignment involves a weekly post addressing these career competencies in relation to documentation or other skills. Some weeks there was a required prompt related to a particularly challenging task such as calculating Specific Activities or keeping their lab notebook. Other weeks were free weeks to sense what they are appreciating. Assessment involved “ungrading” based on how many posts the student wrote over the semester and feedback provided. A quorum of students has better appreciation for documentation and other transferable skills relating to career competencies.

Student retention challenges, particularly for underrepresented groups, often include barriers impacting student self-efficacy, persistence, motivation, and STEM identity. To address these issues and promote student persistence, the MARVEL (Microbiology Achievement through Research and Valuable and Experiential Learning) program was developed as an intervention to address these barriers by fostering community, building confidence, and providing early experiential learning opportunities. Targeted interventions include embedding student participation in research symposia, experiential learning, and professional development-oriented workshops into the curriculum of an introductory microbiology course, while guiding the application and reflection of learning outcomes to students’ career preparation plans. Through participation in MARVEL, student confidence and sense of belonging increased as students saw themselves as part of a vibrant scientific community and able to network with other students, faculty, and staff. With continued participation throughout their academic program, students build a comprehensive portfolio of skills while building connections for future success.

Students can encounter challenges interpreting the abstract ways that biologists represent DNA. We developed two online interactive learning tools to help students develop the visual literacy skills that are necessary for accurately interpreting abstract representations in molecular biology. These tools use animations and gameplay that can help students learn to distinguish between the shapes and symbols that represent nucleotides, genes, and chromosomes. We will discuss scaffolding visual literacy skills into instruction to address common errors in student interpretation of representations in molecular biology. Attendees should bring a laptop to this session if possible.

Access the Interactive DNA Landscape here: https://www.crystaluminski.com/dna-landscape

Play the Twisted Ladder game here (desktop only): https://noscopegreatsword.itch.io/visual-literacy-dna

Program Officers will give a brief introduction to recent funding opportunities, priorities within the Biological Sciences Directorate, and tips on preparing a successful proposal. Come and bring your questions.

In the face of the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, it is essential to establish strong antimicrobial stewardship in clinical settings. The unnecessary use of antibiotics in clinical settings often results from communication breakdown between medical teams and allied health professionals. This disruption in patient-centered care makes it challenging to reduce the development of heightened antimicrobial resistance in clinical cases of patients with bacterial infections. In response to this challenge, the Departments of Clinical Laboratory Science and Physician Assistant at Howard University have collaborated to create an interdisciplinary learning module. This module is designed to effectively identify and treat infectious diseases according to antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) guidelines, using proactive communication, and draws on the knowledge and skill sets of the medical laboratory science and physician assistant disciplines. By utilizing interdisciplinary learning activities, future healthcare professionals will be better equipped to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Understanding fundamental concepts about cell anatomy and physiology is critical for students pursuing degrees in all areas of biology, especially microbiology and all health care professions. Despite the completion of prerequisite general biology courses, many students entering 200-level courses such as microbiology and anatomy and physiology have not yet mastered cell structure and function. Remediation of this topic in upper-level courses is precluded due to time constraints. To address this issue, we have designed flipped activities that ensure remediation if needed as well as demonstration of mastery. Our methods include flipped short video lectures with embedded mastery questions, gamification of identifying cell structures and organelles and naming their functions, and higher-level Bloom’s activities to ensure students have the knowledge they need to be prepared for advanced course work. We will provide a walkthrough that includes timeline, examples, and templates.