BIOL401: Advanced Cell Biology (Instructor of Record)

(Instructor of Record, 42 students, with one grading assistant)

Upper-division majors cell biology course focused on reading the primary literature. Course based on an active-learning “flipped classroom” model, with lecture videos delivered outside of class and class time spent working on group quizzes. in biweekly assignments students read primary literature and analyzed each figure in-depth, producing a structured summary of questions, methods and conclusions for each figure. Students additionally created “methods cartoons” to visually represent the step-by-step procedures that went into the experiments for one particular figure in each paper.

Course was based on existing materials from previous instructor, but due to the COVID19 pandemic the class was taught synchronously online, which required substantial revision of all materials, including new assignments, video lectures, and in-class quizzes. Due to the pandemic I completely changed the final assignment to a reflection with opportunities for students to reflect on the most challenging aspects of the course and re-try the most difficult problems for additional credit.