‘Students-as-partners’ scheme enhances postgraduate students’ employability skills while addressing gaps in bioinformatics education

Abstract

Teaching bioinformatics is a longstanding challenge for educators who need to demonstrate to students how skills developed in the classroom may be applied to real world research. This study employed an action research methodology which utilised student–staff partnership and peer-learning. It was centred on the experiences of peer-facilitators, students who had previously taken a postgraduate bioinformatics module, and had applied knowledge and skills gained from it to their own research. It aimed to demonstrate to peer-receivers, current students, how bioinformatics could be used in their own research while developing peer-facilitators’ teaching and mentoring skills. This student-centred approach was well received by the peer-receivers, who claimed to have gained improved understanding of bioinformatics and its relevance to research. Equally, peer-facilitators also developed a better understanding of the subject and appreciated that the activity was a rare and invaluable opportunity to develop their teaching and mentoring skills, enhancing their employability.

The effect of student-centered teaching and problem-based learning on academic achievement in science

“…The results of the second hypothesis indicated that there is a medium positive correlation between problem-based learning and academic achievements referring to experimental group (r = 0.487), as well as to control group (r = 0.315). The result was consistent with previously reported works, who argued that there is a significant positive relationship between problem-based learning and academic achievement (Grabau and Ma, 2017;Odom and Bell, 2015;Post et al, 2006;Stecker, Fuchs and Fuchs, 2005;Philip et al, 2008;Kitchen et al, 2007;Harris, 2009;Coca, 2012;Mello et al, 2017;Moutinho, Moura and Vasconcelos, 2017;Casanoves, 2017;Andersson and Reimers, 2009). In conclusion the second hypothesis "there is a positive linear correlation between problem-based learning and academic achievements in science" is been supported.…”

“…The contemporary problem-based learning methodology and cooperative learning support teaching and learning as well as increasing interest in science teaching (Harris, 2009;Coca, 2012). Student-staff partnership and peer-learning as well as model-based learning improved understanding of bioinformatics and its relevance to research, developed a better understanding of the subject, and influenced restructuring students' mental models in addition to the development of meaningful learning to teach the "seismic effects on soils and buildings" (Mello et al, 2017;Moutinho, Moura and Vasconcelos (2017). Casanoves (2017) showed that scientific reasoning and evidence-based decision-making to solve the given enigmas which is learner-centered approach to improve students' knowledge of genetics.…”

Training undergraduate research assistants with an outcome-oriented and skill-based mentoring strategy

“…The mentoring relationship between the students and faculty has shown multiple direct benefits, as suggested elsewhere (Gee & Popper, 2017;Gee, 2019). We particularly agree with Marshall and coworkers, and find that the students achieved a greater degree of self-awareness and career development as they understood their potential as researchers and their specific research areas better (Marshall et al, 2021;Mello et al, 2017). In this project and in other mentoring activities since, we have found evidence for the claims of Morales and coworkers that research mentoring can overcome challenges for diverse student groups (for example gender, culture, ethnicity) by giving them a common objective that unifies (Morales et al, 2021).…”

A structured reflective process supports student awareness of employability skills development in a science placement module

“…Furthermore, the reflective process structured by the Online Reflective Log assessment was key to raising students' awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, supporting life-long learning. The benefits of using reflective logs to support students' development of employability skills have already been established [29]. More recently, Hill and collaborators [30] showed that science students reported 'unfamiliarity of thinking beyond knowledge attainment in order to identify and reflect on skill-related experiences'.…”