CRISPR in the Classroom Network: Professional Development and Mentoring Activities

CRISPR in the Classroom Network: Professional Development and Mentoring Activities

Need: Over the last decade, use of CRISPR-Cas gene editing techniques has become so common that there is a need to include instruction on this method in the undergraduate curriculum. Instructors who completed their training prior to the emergence of the CRISPR-Cas gene editing methods benefit from support and training to increase the rate of introduction of this technique into the courses they teach. Introducing new curriculum into lab courses, requires an input of time and materials to test the protocols and for the instructor to be confident before rolling the activity out with a class. Participants in the network’s workshops receive a starter kit to help them launch CRISPR lessons in their own lab courses, lowering the barriers to implementation.

Guiding Question: To what extent does providing training opportunities in CRISPR-Cas gene editing result in introduction of the topic in undergraduate classrooms and teaching lab courses?

Outcomes: To date, the network has offered two workshops under the current grant, providing training to 45 participants at 31 colleges and universities in the U.S. Participants from community colleges and both public and private colleges and universities attended. Mentoring and other A QUBES Hub page provides long-term access to the network’s resources.

Broader Impacts:
By providing a freely available online repository (via QUBES) of successful CRISPR-Cas9 pedagogical resources, national CRISPR-Cas9 instructor training, and geographically distributed workshops/meetings/conferences, this network will allow for resources developed and shared by its members to be used by science instructors of all undergraduate institution types across the United States.

Coauthors

Donna Pattison, University of Houston, Houston, TX; Michael Wolyniak, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden Sydney, VA; Tiffany Hoage, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI; Dawn Carter, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY; Nicholas Ruppel, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA; Jay Pieczynski, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL; Sara Olson, Pomona College, Claremont, CA; Maria Santisteban, University of North Carolina-Pembroke, Pembroke, NC; Latanya Hammonds-Odie, Georgia-Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA; Charcacia Sanders, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX; Kavita Mittapalli, MN Associates, Inc., Fairfax, VA; Anil Challa, University of Alabama at Birmingham