Alternative Assessment Strategy and Its Impact on Student Comprehension in an Undergraduate Microbiology Course

Abstract

Medical Microbiology is a content-intensive course that requires a large time commitment from the students. Students are typically biology or prenursing majors, including students headed for professional schools, such as medical school and pharmacy school. This group is somewhat diverse in terms of background science coursework, so it can be difficult to teach in a way that benefits all the students. Numerous changes have been implemented in our microbiology curriculum to address the different abilities of our students by altering assessment and teaching strategies. It was hypothesized that changing the assessment strategy from the traditional scheme of two or three exams and one final to a new model of seven or eight shorter exams would have a positive impact on student comprehension and retention. The quantity of material taught or expected of the students to learn did not change, but there was definitely an impact on them. Although 30.0% of students routinely did not pass microbiology in previous semesters, the new method of assessment resulted in only 9.63% not completing the semester successfully, as determined by earning a grade of C or better. There is some evidence from conversations and interviews with students that indicates a positive impact of this methodology on student attitude. Implementation of these changes in other courses and their current effectiveness will be examined in the future, with an eye towards more broadly applicable successful teaching techniques in the sciences, especially for nonmajors.

Assessing Global Awareness in Associate Level Microbiology: Adapting Case Studies and the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics To Examine the Global Challenges of Mosquito Borne Disease

“…Attrition from college STEM majors generally occurs in the first two years. The attrition rates in college STEM majors are 48% for baccalaureate degree programs and 69% for associate degree programs nationally (Chen & Soldner, 2013); and in one study, attrition for advanced microbiology majors was 30% if students stayed past the first couple of years (Margulies & Ghent, 2005). At our college, we average nearly 50% attrition in science classes.…”

Promoting Active Learning and Student Engagement in Two Different Graduate Courses for Veterinary and Animal Sciences: Cases From Mexico and Denmark

“…Medical microbiology courses are usually intensive courses that require a great deal of commitment from the students and can be difficult to teach in a way that benefits all of them, the curricula that students should take goes beyond memorization and expect students to analyze and synthesize the new knowledge acquired (11). A report prepared by an educational working group of the American Society for Microbiology identified general concepts in microbiology that students should understand like evolution of microorganisms such as bacteria, as well as their structure and their role as virulence factors, metabolism, as well as the impact of these microorganisms on public health (11,12). With these approaches, major changes have been made in the curriculum within the field of microbiology, with the purpose of improving the understanding of the theoretical part by students, their daily work and throughout the semester and the containment of knowledge of microbiology beyond the time required in class (11).…”

“…A report prepared by an educational working group of the American Society for Microbiology identified general concepts in microbiology that students should understand like evolution of microorganisms such as bacteria, as well as their structure and their role as virulence factors, metabolism, as well as the impact of these microorganisms on public health (11,12). With these approaches, major changes have been made in the curriculum within the field of microbiology, with the purpose of improving the understanding of the theoretical part by students, their daily work and throughout the semester and the containment of knowledge of microbiology beyond the time required in class (11).…”