NIBLSE: A Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education

Dinsdale, Elizabeth A.; Elgin, Sarah C. R.; Grandgenett, Neal; Morgan, William R.; Rosenwald, Anne G.; Tapprich, William; Triplett, Eric W.; Pauley, Mark A.

doi:10.1187/cbe.15-06-0123

Cited by 32 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBLSE, "nibbles"; https://niblse.org), a National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network, is a group of US education and private sector professionals in biology, bioinformatics, and computer science dedicated to making bioinformatics an integral component of instruction in the life sciences nationwide. Our approach involves developing instructional strategies for undergraduates to gain experience in bioinformatics, working to address barriers to the implementation of those strategies, and designing assessment instruments to evaluate the impact on student preparation [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to integration of bioinformatics into undergraduate life sciences education: A national study of US life sciences faculty uncover significant barriers to integrating bioinformatics into undergraduate instruction

et al. 2019

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Bioinformatics, a discipline that combines aspects of biology, statistics, mathematics, and computer science, is becoming increasingly important for biological research. However, bioinformatics instruction is not yet generally integrated into undergraduate life sciences curricula. To understand why we studied how bioinformatics is being included in biology education in the US by conducting a nationwide survey of faculty at two-and four-year institutions. The survey asked several open-ended questions that probed barriers to integration, the answers to which were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. The barrier most frequently reported by the 1,260 respondents was lack of faculty expertise/training, but other deterrents-lack of student interest, overly-full curricula, and lack of student preparationwere also common. Interestingly, the barriers faculty face depended strongly on whether they are members of an underrepresented group and on the Carnegie Classification of their home institution. We were surprised to discover that the cohort of faculty who were awarded their terminal degree most recently reported the most preparation in bioinformatics but teach it at the lowest rate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to integration of bioinformatics into undergraduate life sciences education: A national study of US life sciences faculty uncover significant barriers to integrating bioinformatics into undergraduate instruction

et al. 2019

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“…NIBLSE is supported by an Undergraduate Biology Education Research Coordination Network grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and aims to develop instructional strategies for undergraduates to gain experience in bioinformatics. At the same time, NIBLSE is working to address barriers to the implementation of those strategies (7). The Netherlands-based Global Organisation for Bioinformatics Learning, Education, and Training (GOBLET), is also examining the bioinformatics education landscape (8) but has not specifically addressed barriers to bioinformatics training at the undergraduate level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to Integration of Bioinformatics into Undergraduate Life Sciences Education

Williams

Drew

Galindo‐Gonzalez

et al. 2017

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Bioinformatics, a discipline that combines aspects of biology, statistics, and computer science, is increasingly important for biological research. However, bioinformatics instruction is rarely integrated into life sciences curricula at the undergraduate level. To understand why, the Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBLSE, "nibbles") recently undertook an extensive survey of life sciences faculty in the United States. The survey responses to open-ended questions about barriers to integration were subjected to keyword analysis. The barrier most frequently reported by the ~1,260 respondents was lack of faculty training. Faculty at associate's-granting institutions report the least training in bioinformatics and the least integration of bioinformatics into their teaching. Faculty from underrepresented minority groups (URMs) in STEM reported training barriers at a higher rate than others, although the . CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a

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“…The Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBLSE, pronounced "nibbles") is using an evidence-based approach to expand and promote the integration of bioinformatics skills and knowledge into undergraduate life sciences education (30). NIBLSE is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Undergraduate Biology Education Research Coordination Network (RCN-UBE) that was formed in 2014 to build on and expand the curricular developments mentioned above.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinformatics Core Competencies for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education

Wilson¹,

Hauser

Sierk

et al. 2017

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Bioinformatics is becoming increasingly central to research in the life sciences. However, despite its importance, bioinformatics skills and knowledge are not well integrated in undergraduate biology education. This curricular gap prevents biology students from harnessing the full potential of their education, limiting their career opportunities and slowing genomic research innovation. To advance the integration of bioinformatics into life sciences education, a framework of core bioinformatics competencies is needed. To that end, we here report the results of a survey of life sciences faculty in the United States about teaching bioinformatics to undergraduate life scientists. Responses were received from 1,260 faculty representing institutions in all fifty states with a combined capacity to educate hundreds of thousands of students every year. Results indicate strong, widespread agreement that bioinformatics knowledge and skills are critical for undergraduate life scientists, as well as considerable agreement about which skills are necessary. Perceptions of the importance of some skills varied with the respondent's degree of training, time since degree earned, and/or the Carnegie classification of the respondent's institution. To assess which skills are currently being taught, we analyzed syllabi of courses with bioinformatics content submitted by survey respondents. Finally, we used the survey results, the analysis of syllabi, and our collective research and teaching expertise to develop a set of bioinformatics core competencies for undergraduate life sciences students. These core competencies are intended to serve as a guide for institutions as they work to integrate bioinformatics into their life sciences curricula. Significance StatementBioinformatics, an interdisciplinary field that uses techniques from computer science and mathematics to store, manage, and analyze biological data, is becoming increasingly central to modern biology research. Given the widespread use of bioinformatics and its impacts on societal problem-solving (e.g., in healthcare, agriculture, and natural resources management), there is a growing need for the integration of bioinformatics competencies into undergraduate life sciences education. Here, we present a set of bioinformatics core competencies for undergraduate life scientists developed using the results of a large national survey and the expertise of our working group of bioinformaticians and educators. We also present results from the survey on the importance of bioinformatics skills and the current state of integration of bioinformatics into biology education.

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NIBLSE: A Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education

Cited by 32 publications

References 16 publications

Barriers to integration of bioinformatics into undergraduate life sciences education: A national study of US life sciences faculty uncover significant barriers to integrating bioinformatics into undergraduate instruction

Barriers to integration of bioinformatics into undergraduate life sciences education: A national study of US life sciences faculty uncover significant barriers to integrating bioinformatics into undergraduate instruction

Barriers to Integration of Bioinformatics into Undergraduate Life Sciences Education

Bioinformatics Core Competencies for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education

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