Shachak Aviv, Ophir Ron, Rubin Eitan
Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.
Cell Biol Educ. 2005 Fall;4(3):199-206. doi: 10.1187/cbe.04-11-0055.
The need to support bioinformatics training has been widely recognized by scientists, industry, and government institutions. However, the discussion of instructional methods for teaching bioinformatics is only beginning. Here we report on a systematic attempt to design two bioinformatics workshops for graduate biology students on the basis of Gagne's Conditions of Learning instructional design theory. This theory, although first published in the early 1970s, is still fundamental in instructional design and instructional technology. First, top-level as well as prerequisite learning objectives for a microarray analysis workshop and a primer design workshop were defined. Then a hierarchy of objectives for each workshop was created. Hands-on tutorials were designed to meet these objectives. Finally, events of learning proposed by Gagne's theory were incorporated into the hands-on tutorials. The resultant manuals were tested on a small number of trainees, revised, and applied in 1-day bioinformatics workshops. Based on this experience and on observations made during the workshops, we conclude that Gagne's Conditions of Learning instructional design theory provides a useful framework for developing bioinformatics training, but may not be optimal as a method for teaching it.
支持生物信息学培训的必要性已得到科学家、行业和政府机构的广泛认可。然而，关于生物信息学教学方法的讨论才刚刚开始。在此，我们报告一项基于加涅的学习条件教学设计理论，为生物学专业研究生设计两个生物信息学工作坊的系统尝试。该理论虽于20世纪70年代初首次发表，但在教学设计和教学技术中仍具有基础性。首先，定义了微阵列分析工作坊和引物设计工作坊的顶级以及先决学习目标。然后为每个工作坊创建了目标层次结构。设计了实践教程以实现这些目标。最后，将加涅理论提出的学习事件纳入实践教程。所得手册在少数受训者身上进行了测试、修订，并应用于为期一天的生物信息学工作坊。基于这一经验以及在工作坊期间的观察，我们得出结论，加涅的学习条件教学设计理论为开展生物信息学培训提供了一个有用的框架，但作为教学方法可能并非最佳。
