CCLI: Integrating Bioinformatics into the Life Sciences

生物科学（61）尽管生物信息学越来越重要，但在生命科学和相关学科的本科课程中普遍缺乏生物信息学概念的整合，而这些概念可以很容易地应用。这个项目正在通过开发、试验和传播一套生物信息学模块来解决这个问题，这些模块可以纳入生物科学、计算机科学和其他学科的课程。每个模块包括大约五个小时的教学，以问题为基础的学习部分和说明性的家庭作业，并解决了生物信息学的基本概念（例如，算法，数据库等）。在奥马哈的内布拉斯加大学，每年大约有300名生物学和计算机科学专业的本科生直接受到这个项目的影响。通过全州会议的研讨会和在线模块的可用性，全州和全国的教育工作者都有机会将这些模块整合到他们的课程中。项目团队包括生物学、计算机科学和生物信息学方面的教师专家，他们曾是美国国立卫生研究院和美国国家科学基金会项目的调查人员，目前正在接受大学的额外支持。该项目的智力价值在于研究者希望通过开发、测试和改进新的本科课程材料，将生物信息学概念整合到其他学科，特别是目前很少存在的生物学中，从而使本科教育中的课程跟上该领域的新发展。为本项目开发的课程模块教学灵活，可以整合到多个学科的许多课程中。作为正式评估过程的一部分，研究人员正在从其他本科生物信息学课程中征求对模块内容的反馈，并进行试点和实地测试。该项目的更广泛影响在于所通过的广泛传播计划。该项目的结果将在一个专门的网站上公布，并作为资源提交给国家科学数字图书馆和国家自然科学图书馆生物科学教育途径。在生物科学本科教育工作者的州和区域会议上，以及在全国范围内通过诸如《细胞生物学教育》和《生物化学与分子生物学教育》等相关科学和教育期刊上的文章进行传播。

Biological Sciences (61)Despite its increasing importance, there is a general lack of integration of bioinformatics concepts into the undergraduate curriculum in the life sciences and related disciplines where they could be readily applied. This project is addressing this problem through development, pilot testing and dissemination of a set of modules in bioinformatics that can be integrated into curricula in the biological sciences, computer science and other disciplines. Each module consists of approximately five hours of instruction with a problem-based learning component and illustrative homework assignment and addresses a fundamental concept in bioinformatics (e.g., algorithms, databases, etc.). At the University of Nebraska at Omaha approximately three hundred biology and computer science undergraduate students per year are directly impacted by this project. Through workshops at state-wide meetings and availability of the modules online, educators throughout the state and nation are being afforded the opportunity to integrate the modules into their curricula. The project team includes faculty experts in biology, computer science and bioinformatics who have been investigators on National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation projects and are receiving additional university support. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the desire of the investigators to keep offerings in undergraduate education current with new developments in the field by developing, testing and refining new undergraduate curriculum materials that integrate bioinformatics concepts into other disciplines, especially biology, where currently few exist. The course modules developed for this project are instructionally flexible and can be integrated into many courses in several disciplines. As part of a formal evaluation process, the investigators are eliciting feedback on the content of the modules from other undergraduate bioinformatics programs, as well as undertaking pilot and field-testing efforts.The broader impacts of this project lie in the broad dissemination plan adopted. The results of the project are being made available on a dedicated web site to be submitted as a resource to both the National Science Digital Library and the NSDL Pathway for Biological Science Education. Dissemination is also taking place at state and regional conferences of undergraduate educators in biological sciences, and nationally through articles in relevant scientific and educational journals such as Cell Biology Education and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.