Delivery of a bespoke parasitology subject in an alternative online realm: lessons and lasting innovations
Daniel T. W. Clarke A * , Abdul Jabbar B and Karena L Waller AA Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, 792 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia.
B Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, 250 Princes Highway, Werribee, Vic. 3030, Australia.
Daniel Clarke is a Senior Lecturer in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. His previous research concentrated on the investigation of host–microbe interactions, particularly in terms of enhancing the immune response to better combat disease. Daniel now focuses on improving teaching practice to provide exceptional learning experiences for students. |
Abdul Jabbar is a Professor of Veterinary Parasitology at The University of Melbourne. His research interests are molecular and diagnostic parasitology, particularly epidemiology and virulence typing of parasitic infections. Besides research, Abdul is enthusiastic about improving parasitology teaching for veterinary and microbiology students, including the development of interactive digital teaching tools. |
Karena Waller is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Deputy Program Director of the Bachelor of Biomedicine at The University of Melbourne. Following 15 years in local and international malaria research, Karena now makes significant contributions to the teaching and learning of microbiology and immunology to Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Biomedicine students. |
Microbiology Australia 44(3) 136-139 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA23040
Submitted: 29 July 2023 Accepted: 3 August 2023 Published: 29 August 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the ASM. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
In the second semester of 2020, despite the need to pivot to online learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our academic teaching team commenced the delivery of a brand-new, bespoke parasitology subject to third year Bachelor of Biomedicine and Bachelor of Science students at The University of Melbourne. This purposefully designed subject, ‘Medical Microbiology: Parasitology’, was developed in collaboration with internationally renowned parasitologists and global health researchers to take a broad, multi-disciplinary approach to student learning and introduced students to the exciting, complex and diverse world of medically important parasites, including key examples of protists, helminths and arthropods. We also attempted to enhance the student experience during the online delivery of lectures, practical classes and active learning sessions by implementing synchronous and asynchronous approaches to increase engagement. This included weekly newsletters, in-class interactions by Zoom chat and polling platforms, moderated discussion boards, online drop-in sessions, authentic learning workshops and formative feedback quizzes. Although some engagement methods were not as successful as we had hoped, others proved to be instrumental in increasing supportive learning, as indicated by student attendance at online sessions, and the general sentiments observed from various student feedback mechanisms. Consequently, these strategies will continue to be incorporated as we shape the subsequent iterations of this, and other subjects, in a post-COVID world.
Keywords: constructivism, curriculum design, education-based teaching, innovation, multi-disciplinary, online learning, parasitology, student engagement, undergraduate education.
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