Abstract:

The Southern Illinois Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program (SI Bridges) is a partnership among Southern Illinois University Carbondale, John A. Logan College, and Shawnee Community College that is designed to provide research training and professional development for community college students in our rural, economically and educationally depressed region. Students develop academic skills, engage in authentic research, and are supported in a multitiered network of mentors to successfully complete the baccalaureate degree and join the workforce in biomedical and behavioral science. To meet program objectives during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a 12-week summer remote learning module that progressively built on research skills by tasking students to complete a bioinformatic-based research project. Teams of 4 or 5 students were mentored by graduate assistants who were supervised by a research education specialist. The research experience entailed a variety of group and individualized interactive activities, scientific-based courses, and training in the use of bioinformatics software such as BLAST, Sequence alignment, MEGA6, and Pymol. The virtual learning environment was successful in cultivating research skills such as data analysis, critical thinking, and problem-solving, and soft skills, including communication, enhanced work ethic, responsibility, creativity, and teamwork. The transition to remote learning had challenges for the students that include lack of sufficient internet bandwidth, learning new conferencing technology, and inexperience in computers, which limited remote learning. These challenges were overcome by constant web-based communications between students and graduate mentors, individualized flexibility in learning, weekly checklists, supportive online discussions, and professional development activities.

Keywords:

Bioinformatics, virtual learning, COVID-19, research training.