Shamoon-Pour Michel, Light Caitlin J, Fegley Megan
First-year Research Immersion Program, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2022 Apr 6;23(1). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00225-21. eCollection 2022 Apr.
Two major COVID-19 pandemic challenges presented for in-person instruction included adhering to social distancing guidelines and accommodating remote learners who were temporarily isolated or permanently participating from afar. At Binghamton University, our First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program was challenged with providing students with a wet lab course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), an intense hands-on experience that emphasized student teamwork, lab protocol development, iteration, troubleshooting, and other elements of the scientific process that could not be replicated in a fully remote environment. We developed an innovative technology approach to maximize all students' connection to the lab research experience, utilizing dedicated mobile devices (iPod Touch) and video conferencing software (Zoom) to synchronously connect remote learners to in-person learners, peer mentors, and instructors in our FRI research labs. In this way, despite limited lab capacities and fluctuating remote learning populations, we were able to connect remote learners to their peers and mentors in real-time and give them responsibilities that allowed them to be engaged and feel like meaningful participants in the research process. Although our students reported a preference for in-person labs, they noted that this hybrid model was better than other traditionally employed remote-learning lab options. We believe that the lessons learned here can be applied to improve access to research in all situations and allow us to be prepared for other catastrophic disruptions to the educational system.
新冠疫情大流行给面对面教学带来了两大挑战，一是要遵守社交距离准则，二是要接纳那些暂时隔离或长期远程参与学习的学生。在宾厄姆顿大学，我们的一年级研究沉浸式（FRI）项目面临着一项挑战，即要为学生提供基于湿实验室课程的本科研究体验（CURE），这是一种高强度的实践体验，强调学生团队合作、实验方案制定、反复试验、故障排除以及科学过程中的其他要素，而这些在完全远程的环境中是无法复制的。我们开发了一种创新的技术方法，利用专用移动设备（iPod Touch）和视频会议软件（Zoom），将远程学习者与我们FRI研究实验室中的面对面学习者、同伴导师和教师同步连接起来，以最大限度地让所有学生都能参与实验室研究体验。通过这种方式，尽管实验室容量有限且远程学习人数波动不定，我们仍能够实时将远程学习者与他们的同伴和导师联系起来，并赋予他们相应的职责，使他们能够参与其中，并在研究过程中感觉自己是有意义的参与者。尽管我们的学生表示更喜欢面对面的实验室，但他们指出这种混合模式比其他传统的远程学习实验室选项更好。我们相信，这里学到的经验教训可以应用于改善所有情况下的研究机会，并让我们为教育系统面临的其他灾难性干扰做好准备。
