• Department of Microbiology and Immunology
   

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to spend my time contributing to the teaching environments in various courses. While in a lab setting, my main objective is to develop competence in practical lab skills (lab safety and aseptic technique) while introducing a variety of lab techniques commonly used in the field of Microbiology. An accomplishment with the lab course MICB 322 has been the creation of an extensive online component which fully prepares the students for their time in the lab. This preparation ensures that students are focused on the lab tasks and get the most out of their time in the lab each week. The resources within the online component include videos, background theory, quizzes and worksheets. The online component also serves as a space for the collection and dissemination of student generated lab data. This has served as an efficient mechanism to support the presentation and analysis of class data.

I have expanded on a previously established project in BIOL 346 that encourages Post-Doctoral Fellows to gain teaching experience as part of their professional development. Each fellow is mentored through the development and delivery of a series of class sessions based on their research interests. Sessions that involve the use of novel ideas or new technologies are highly encouraged as the goal of this experience is to provide fellows with a supportive and collaborative environment to explore different methods of teaching while the students enjoy the benefits of learning current topics from an expert in a particular field. BIOL 346 has also provided me with the opportunity to refine the delivery of science concepts to students that have a limited science background. I have developed assignments that apply science concepts to real world examples such as making a sourdough starter to see and understand the microbial processes that are involved.

I also have an interest in developing the application of clarity and conciseness to student writing. To promote this, I have introduced written assessments in MICB 201, 202, 322 and BIOL 346. This has provided students with an alternative to the multiple-choice format of assessment and the opportunity to expand on their thought processes to demonstrate learning in their own authentic fashion.