Subverting the GeneticsCurriculum

DNA fingerprintin

g in the News!

Personal genomics

in the News!

Blah blah blah...meiotic pairing and crossing over in a

translocation heterozygote... restriction fragment length

polymorphisms...blah blah blah

5 min 45 min

Blah blah blah...dosage compensation in Drosophila... mapping genes using a three-

factor testcross...blah blah blah

5 min 45 min

We’re teaching

the wrong stuff!

But thisis what David

Suzukitaught.

But we’re training future

geneticists.

But we’re teaching critical

thinking and problem-solving.

Back home at UBC...

This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Useful GeneticsProfessor Rosie Redfield

The University of British Columbia

My goals for Useful Genetics:

• Maximize the real value of the genetics students learn (value to students, beyond the university)

• No suitable textbook exists, so the course must be self-contained• Minimize amount of background knowledge needed. • Students should be able to explain what they’ve learned to

others.

• Design as a replacement for existing second-year introductory genetics courses

As a Coursera course:

• Open-book assessments– all require thinking about the material

Video lecturesPractice quizzes Discussion forumsReadings etc.

Graded quizzesPeer-explains (Coursera system)

Online exams

Course components

What about 5’-5’ end-joining?

Is this all the ends?

Aren’t there really 7 ways?

Can broken ends be joined

to unbroken ones?

Can they be joined upside

down?

Genetics for LifeA for-credit alternative to Fundamentals of Genetics

Must fill the same role in the curriculum:

• have the same prerequisites

• be acceptable as a prerequisite for the same courses.

Relationship of Genetics for Life to Fundamentals of Genetics

Plan:

• First teach as special section of Fundamentals of Genetics (demonstrate that it meets all important goals)

•Work with teaching fellow to ensure sufficient overlap of learning objectives and material taught

• Then set up next year as an independent course

A new genetics option for 2nd-year biology students

Standard ‘Fundamentals of Genetics’ sections (BIOL 234-101, 102 and 201):

• face-to-face lectures & tutorial• focus on preparation for research

New Genetics for Life section of BIOL 234:

Available Fall 2014 (register for BIOL 234-103)• short online video lectures• face-to-face tutorial (2 hr, evening available) • focus on roles of genetics in our lives.• based on the UBC MOOC Useful Genetics• satisfies all Biology Program requirements• info at http://blogs.ubc.ca/geneticsforlife

The courses will run simultaneously:

Useful Genetics students

Video lecturesPractice quizzes Discussion forumsReadings etc.

Graded quizzesPeer-explains (Coursera system)

Online exams

UBC Genetics for Life students

Face-to-face tutorials(weekly, 2 hr)

Graded quizzesPeer-explains(Calibrated Peer Review)

Paper exams

Biology Program

UBC:• The Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology (Coursera support)

• The Flexible Learning Initiative• The Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund

(course conversion support)

Thanks to:

Useful Genetics students