Design and implementation of an asynchronous online course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in computational genomics
Fig 2
Instructor and student contributions over 7-week CURE.
Instructor contributions are labeled as circles, student contributions in triangles. Students began by filling out a pre-assessment to show their baseline level of knowledge on the research topic. Each week, students completed research goals and turned them in as assignments along with a progress report communicating their achievements and challenges. Students were assigned weekly scientific writing prompts and publications to read in a journal club designed to help them slowly build up their final reports in Module 6. Instructors used all of these submissions to select topics for weekly lab meetings conducted using teleconference software and recorded for students that could not attend. Instructors hosted shared research (office) hours throughout the week. Instructors monitored progress on research goals and distributed data generated by individual students at the midpoint of the CURE. Following the completion of the course, students completed a learning assessment which instructors analyzed to see which areas students were able to increase their knowledge in as well as misconceptions and struggles that could be avoided in future CUREs.