Hello fellow educators!
We all know the challenge of distance learning microbiology: ensuring students don’t just "check the boxes" on their Carolina Biological kits, but actually synthesize what they’ve learned. To wrap up each semester in my online microbiology course, I’ve moved away from a standard final and toward a "Virtual Microbiology Conference".
The goal is to take those at-home results and treat them with the same gravity as a professional research project. Here is how it works:
The Activity: The Virtual Microbiology Conference
Instead of a final report, students select their most successful (or most interesting) lab investigation from the semester to present to their peers on a discussion board.
The Professional Requirements:
-
Conference-Style Slides: Students build a deck covering the full scientific arc: Introduction/Background, Hypotheses, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
-
The "So What?" Factor: I require a section on Broader Application, specifically asking how the findings relate to their future career fields (nursing, public health, etc.).
-
Audio Voiceover: To mimic a live talk, students must embed an audio narration, practicing the "soft skills" of scientific communication.
-
The Peer Review: Using the discussion board, students act as conference attendees by asking questions, providing feedback, and discussing data discrepancies.
Why It Works
It shifts the mindset from student to researcher. By the time they finish, they aren't just saying "bacteria grew on my agar on my agar plate"; they are presenting data in a format they will actually encounter at professional conferences or in their careers. It’s also a great way for them to see the variety of results their classmates got from the same Carolina kits!
Thank you for sharing this—what an insightful and practical approach to strengthening online microbiology learning!
Your Virtual Microbiology Conference is an excellent way to shift students from simply completing kit procedures to truly thinking like researchers. The conference‑style slides, career‑connected application section, and audio narration all build real‑world scientific communication skills that are often hard to cultivate in distance learning.
I also love the peer‑review component—it mirrors authentic scientific dialogue and helps students see the range of outcomes their classmates experienced with the same Carolina kits.
This is a thoughtful, high‑impact strategy that I know will be incredibly helpful to fellow educators looking to elevate end‑of‑semester assessments. Thank you for sharing such a valuable and inspiring idea!
