No Lab, No Problem. Biology Classes at CNM Find Creative Ways to Carry On

Biology is a field that demands in-person work. You have to interact with the organisms you’re growing, and you need tools like microscopes and petri dishes to study them. However, when needed, biology classes can be effectively moved online.

That’s what Dr. Patty Wilber found when she led the effort to move Microbiology Lab 2310L online as part of CNM’s COVID-19 response. It was a scramble, sure, but with the help of her fellow instructors, and a hard-working lab tech, class continued almost as normal. 

“The process was a little clunkier than normal, but we found that even online we could follow the exact same line of logic and still effectively teach,” she says. 

For example, the final capstone project in the class asks students to grow two types of bacteria and then correctly identify them using a series of diagnostic tests. As a substitute, students were given two unknown theoretical species and asked to perform each step of the project by drawing and explaining their procedures.

During the project, the students submitted their daily work to their instructor and the instructors sent back photos of what the bacterial growth would have looked like in a normal lab setting. Those photos were available because microbiology lab techs, led by Andi Peterson, were able to enter the labs alone, grow most of the bacteria, and then send out photo catalogs for student use. If Andi wasn’t able to grow something, Patty and her colleagues created PowerPoint drawings instead. 

The COVID-19 closure hit right before the lab’s practical midterm when students normally demonstrate lab skills and answer written questions. To move the test online, Patty used the normal midterm questions and photos of bacteria taken by Andi, and created multiple versions of every question. Then Patty randomized the question delivery so no two students received the same test. 

Luckily, Patty says the COVID-19 pandemic hit after students had already covered the course fundamentals so they had the knowledge base necessary for the midterm and the final project.

“We were lucky,” Patty says.

For the end of the semester, two other lab instructors—Karen Bentz and Corrie Andries— created online labs for the microbiology faculty that took the place of what would have been in-person labs. 

Patty says the microbiology lab will not be offered online during the summer, but will be offered in-person if normal classes resume in the fall. She’ll be glad to be back in a lab setting, but won’t forget the lessons she’s learned while transitioning everything online.

“It’s really great to know that when faced with adversity, instructors got really determined to find and implement creative ways to make online classes a valuable learning experience,” she says.