Video-Based Bioinformatics Tutorials Developed as an Open Educational Resource to Improve Students’ Understanding and Practice in Data Science Analyses

• Zareen Amtul ^[1] ; Kelvin Vuu ^[1] ; Mark Lubrick ^[1] ; Arham A. Aziz ^[2] ; Mohammed A. S. Khan ^[3]
  1. [1] University of Windsor

     University of Windsor

     Canadá

     
  2. [2] Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School, Canadá
  3. [3] Brigham and Women Hospital, United States

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• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 101, Nº 8, 2024, págs. 3506-3513
• Idioma: inglés
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  • With the development of digital pedagogical resources, courses, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in the use of video-based learning (VBL) and teaching as one of the primary methods of instruction. Additionally, in recent years, bioinformatics has surfaced as an integral discipline in life sciences, where scientists are able to manipulate and analyze large sets of data. As a result, the need for digitally enhanced undergraduate and graduate teaching of basic bioinformatics skill sets of an applied nature has become increasingly high. Here, we designed and implemented a set of video-based bioinformatics tutorials as an open educational resource to be taught in an online synchronous, asynchronous, as well as HyFlex setting. These tutorials were designed to identify a ligand against unknown amino acid and nucleotide sequences to unveil their context in diverse species. This was achieved by navigating online bioinformatic databases, performing multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic analyses, protein structure prediction/comparison, and docking. In the end, students also completed a survey questionnaire outlining their experience with the VBL. By the end of the term, VBL enabled the students to learn and apply bioinformatic concepts and tools to predict the protein structure from an unknown sequence and dock it with the ligands. Students rated VBL as one of the most powerful learning mediums out of many used as part of the module. Bioinformatic videos, besides capturing and distributing the bioinformatic information, also provided an invigorating environment where students better learned, understood, and retained the content.