Category Archives: education
Announcing NCBI’s First Ever BioEd Summit!
An in-person training opportunity for science educators Calling all high school, community college, and undergraduate science educators! NCBI is excited to host our first BioEd Summit on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, MD, from August 5-9, 2024. Join us for a week-long, in-person event where you will collaborate with other educators … Continue reading Announcing NCBI’s First Ever BioEd Summit!
Posted by in education, What's New, Workshop
Highest Education Level by Age
When you’re a kid, most (if not all) of the people you know who are your age are in the same grade as you. Education paths start to diverge towards the end of high school and after.
Posted by in age, education, Statistical Atlas
5 Questions for Jill Roberts, Leah Gillis, Andy Cannons – USF COPH DrPH Concentration Faculty and APHL members
The DrPH Public Health and Clinical Laboratory Science and Practice program at the University of South Florida is uniquely designed to meet the needs of working laboratory professionals and strengthen the pipeline of public health laboratory leaders. We discussed the origins of the program, APHL’s pivotal involvement and its impact on the field with three APHL members who have helped guide it since its inception.
Jill Roberts, PhD, MS, MPH, CPH, is associate professor in the College of Public Health, Global and Planetary Health at the University of South Florida; Leah Gillis, PhD, MS, HCLD(ABB), is adjunct professor in the University of South Florida College of Public Health and chair of the APHL Workforce Development Committee; and Andy Cannons, PhD, HCLD(ABB), is laboratory director, Bureau of Public Health Laboratories – Tampa with the Florida Department of Health, and chair of the APHL Public Health Preparedness and Response Committee.
Q1: Can you tell us about the DrPH Public Health and Clinical Laboratory Science and Practice program?
Jill: The University of South Florida College of Public Health (USF COPH) created the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program to address a growing need for career advancement for experienced, and currently employed, public health employees. It is designed to allow public health leaders to continue their current employment while completing our program. The program expanded to include the laboratory track as it was recognized that pathways for career advancement in public health laboratories were limited. The DrPH program benefits laboratory scientists in that they maintain their current employment while the labs supply the necessary setting for bench research.
Our program is entirely online, except for three short institutes that students attend in the first two years of enrollment. These institutes provide networking and advising, and some courses are completed during five days of attendance.
All of the students in our DrPH program learn core public health leadership skills such as public health practice and scholarly writing. The students in the laboratory concentration will learn laboratory management, microbiology, molecular biology, laboratory safety and bioinformatics. These skills will aid in the development of a doctoral project.
The doctoral project focus can be quite broad but most of students are aiming for the American Board of Bioanalysis High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (ABB HCLD) certification examination and will design bench research projects. Some of our past research includes waterborne pathogens, COVID, Candida auris and PFAS detection.
Q2: How did the program come about?
Leah and Andy: While there wasn’t any hard data, it was pretty evident to some public health laboratory leaders that there was going to be a dearth of laboratory scientists who were both available and qualified to take over public health laboratories in the next 10-20 years. Lab directors were going to retire and there was no plan to replace them. This fear was substantiated when a 2006 Public Health Leadership Institute report clearly identified that there was a severe and continuing shortage of qualified, doctorate-level, public health laboratory scientist-managers available to succeed the currently retiring generation of public health lab directors. Who was going to take over the ships so to speak?
Another document published in 2013 by the APHL Workforce Development Committee—“Developing a Doctoral Program in Public Health Laboratory Science and Practice”—supported the evidence and added some hope. This report summarized the current and possible future shortage of public health laboratory directors and stated that a dedicated doctoral program was urgently needed to ensure a future workforce of public health laboratory leaders. This doctoral degree needed to be available nationwide and be cost-effective and consequently rely on distance learning as a major program strategy. There was no way that staff currently working in a public health lab could afford to take off time to be enrolled at a college to take a doctoral degree for six or seven years! It just wouldn’t be feasible.
So fast-forward to 2015 when, following a survey of possible sites, USF COPH, with its extensive experience and background in distance learning doctoral degrees, was identified as a site for a new doctoral degree. A team of APHL members, all voluntary and led by Dr. Phil Amuso, was stood up to get this degree going. In consultation with USF COPH faculty, the DrPH plan of study was designed that would educate laboratory scientists to become leaders in their field that also met the standards of the university. While some of the coursework was already in place, it was obvious that six new online courses needed to be designed and written that were specific for this new doctoral degree. APHL members were recruited to write the online lectures, which were all ready for when the degree was officially offered and the first cohort was recruited in 2017.
This was quite a terrifying adventure since we did not know if this online DrPH would be acceptable as a doctoral degree for graduates to apply for national certifications such as the ABB HCLD certification or by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a doctoral degree for CLIA directorship. It wasn’t until the first graduate of the program successfully was accepted to take the ABB certification, and passed, that we knew we had gotten it right! And that graduate is now a laboratory director!
Now in 2023, the DrPH has proven to be what we had hoped. It is a way for laboratory scientists, currently working, to earn a doctoral degree that will allow them ultimately to become laboratory directors.
Q3: Why is this program so unique?
Leah and Andy: One aspect of the program that makes it unique is the groundwork provided by the APHL Workforce Development Committee (WDC) almost a decade before the first student cohort was admitted to the program. Early on, the WDC Chairperson, Dr. Jack deBoy, led the effort of committee members and other members of APHL by preparing a workable timeline, developing surveys and writing multiple papers and articles for publication, in addition to advocating to the APHL Board of Directors for approval to continue working to solve the upcoming leadership shortage. The APHL Board of Directors established a Doctoral Program Workgroup with the major goal of contacting the deans of about 40 public health academic programs in the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health to determine the interest, if any, of their respective college or university in partnering with APHL to develop a Public Health Laboratory Science and Practice (PHLSAP) graduate degree program. In short, the effort to solve the approaching public health laboratory leadership dilemma was provided by APHL members for the benefit of current and future APHL members.
A second aspect of the uniqueness of the program relates to its focus during development on the public health laboratory workforce—that is, asking and answering the question—how do we make this degree amenable to public health lab staff? Now, most students seeking the degree are employed in a public health laboratory and an individual student’s selected doctoral project is conducted in a public health laboratory, usually addressing an issue or problem in the diagnosis or detection of a pathogen or chemical that is an emerging threat or is a known threat to the public’s health. And, importantly, the resulting publication of the different student dissertation projects appears in peer-reviewed journals, ultimately increasing the knowledge that is available and shared by all public health laboratories.
The program’s unique design and curriculum development by APHL members in partnership with the USF COPH continues to close the forecasted public health lab director gap identified in 2006. It uses the elective courses developed by APHL member subject matter experts to prepare current public health laboratory staff to sit for a CLIA-approved board examination and, through this pathway, obtain the necessary certification for directing a high complexity laboratory.
Q4: What are graduates doing now?
Jill: Five students have graduated from our first cohort and all five have successfully passed the ABB HCLD examination. Four of those students are public health laboratory professionals serving in director roles including director of agency operations at the San Diego County Public Health Laboratory, director of the Santa Clara County Public Health Laboratory, director of the Tulare County Public Health Laboratory and assistant director of the Orange County Public Health Laboratory. Our program has also attracted laboratory scientists from clinical and industry laboratories in addition to public health. We are proud of our first clinical laboratory professional graduate who recently passed the ABB HCLD exam and is currently serving as the regional director of laboratory operations for PIH Health, Los Angeles.
The first graduate of the second cohort is currently serving as division manager at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and will likely take the HCLD exam soon. Three additional students, all public health laboratory scientists, are expected to graduate in the next few months.
Q5: How can interested candidates learn more and apply?
Jill: I encourage anyone who is interested in our program to reach out to me directly with questions. Our application system, SOPHAS, is now open through November 2023 for our Fall 2024 cohort. We look forward to receiving applications and welcoming our new students!
The post 5 Questions for Jill Roberts, Leah Gillis, Andy Cannons – USF COPH DrPH Concentration Faculty and APHL members appeared first on APHL Blog.
Focusing on the majority of students not affected by affirmative action
For NYT Opinion, Richard Arum and Mitchell L. Stevens, with graphics by Quoctrung Bui, turn their attention to the four-year colleges that accept most applicants, which is most schools:
While the Supreme Court’s decision is a blow to Black and Hispanic students who dream of attending the most competitive universities, improving and better supporting the institutions that serve the lion’s share of students of color will do far more to advance the cause of racial equality in this country than anything that admissions officers can do in Cambridge, Palo Alto and Chapel Hill.
The selective schools get all the attention, but there are a surprising percentage of programs that accept just about everyone. The beeswarm bubbles fill to the edge of the screen to highlight the point.
Posted by in affirmative action, education, New York Times, Statistical Visualization
My Absent Career 2
Since my mother worked, I would stop at the local library on my way home. I had until she got home about an hour and…
The post My Absent Career 2 appeared first on Evolving Thoughts.
Posted by in education, Philosophy, Religion
Higher education for all?
I discuss a recent editorial in Science that advocates expanding university education in order to prepare students for jobs.
I believe that the primary goal of a university education is to teach students how to think (critical thinking). This goal is usually achieved within the context of an in-depth study in a particular field such as history, English literature, geology, or biochemistry. The best way of achieving that goal is called student-centered learning. It involves, among other things, classes that focus on discussion and debate under the guidance of an experienced teacher.
Universities and colleges also have job preparation programs such as business management, medicine, computer technology, and, to a lesser extent, engineering. These programs may, or may not, teach critical thinking (usually not).
About 85% of students who enter high school will graduate. About 63% of high school graduates go to college or university. The current college graduation rate is 65% (within six years). What this means is that for every 100 students that begin high school roughly 35 will graduate from college.
Now let's look at an editorial written by Marcia McNutt, President of the United States National Academy of Sciences. The editorial appears in the Nov. 11 issue of Science [Higher education for all]. She begins by emphasizing the importance of a college degree in terms of new jobs and the wealth of nations.
Currently, 75% of new jobs require a college degree. Yet in the US and Europe, only 40% of young adults attend a 2-year or 4-year college—a percentage that has either not budged or only modestly risen in more than two decades— despite a college education being one of the proven ways to lift the socioeconomic status of underprivileged populations and boost the wealth of nations.
There's no question that well-educated graduates will contribute to society in many ways but there is a question about what "well-educated" really means. Is it teaching specific jobs skills or is it teaching students how to think? I vote for teaching critical thinking and not for job training. I think that creating productive citizens who can fill a variety of different jobs is a side-benefit of preparing them to cope with a complex society that requires critical thinking. I don't think my view is exactly the same as Marcia McNutt's because she emphasizes training as a main goal of college education.
Universities, without building additional facilities, could expand universal and life-long access to higher education by promoting more courses online and at satellite community-college campuses.
Statements like that raise two issues that don't get enough attention. The first one concerns the number of students who should graduate from college in an ideal world. What is that number and at what stage should it be enhanced? Should here be more high school graduates going to college? If so, does that require lowering the bar for admission or is the cost of college the main impediment? Is there a higher percentage of students entering college in countries with free, or very low, tuition? Should there be more students graduating? If so, one easy way to do that is to make university courses easier. Is that what we want?
The question that's never asked is what percentage of the population is smart enough to get a college degree? Is it much higher than 40%?
The second issue concerns the quality of education. The model that I suggested above is not consistent with online courses and there's a substantial number of papers in the pedagogical literature showing the student centered education doesn't work very well online. Does that mean that we should adopt a different way of teaching in order to make college education more accessible? If so, at what cost?
McNutt gives us an example of the kind of change she envisages.
At Colorado College, students complete a lab science course in only 4 weeks, attending lectures in the morning and labs in the afternoon. This success suggests that US universities could offer 2-week short courses that include concentrated, hands-on learning and teamwork in the lab and the field for students who already mastered the basics through online lectures. Such an approach is more common in European institutions of higher education and would allow even those with full-time employment elsewhere to advance their skills during vacations or employer-supported sabbaticals for the purpose of improving the skills of the workforce. Opportunities abound for partnerships with industry for life-long learning. The availability of science training in this format could also be a boon for teachers seeking to fill gaps in their science understanding.
This is clearly a form of college education that focuses on job skills and even goes as far as suggesting that industry could be a "partner" in education. (As an aside, it's interesting that government employers, schools, and nonprofits are never asked to be partners in education even though they hire a substantial number of college graduates.)
Do you agree that the USA should be expanding the number of students who graduate from college and do you agree that the goal is to give them the skills needed to get a job?
Celebrating 1 Year of NCBI Virtual Outreach Events
We launched the NCBI Virtual Outreach Event series in the fall of 2021 to expand our online outreach to a worldwide audience of people who use NCBI resources for biological/biomedical research, science education, and clinical applications. Our virtual outreach events include interactive workshops, webinars, and codeathons. In the past year, we have hosted 34 virtual … Continue reading Celebrating 1 Year of NCBI Virtual Outreach Events
Posted by in codeathon, education, NCBI Education, training, webinars, What's New, Workshop
‘Our deepest apology’: Journal retracts 30 likely paper mill articles after investigation published by Retraction Watch
A journal has retracted 30 papers that “could be linked to a criminal paper mill.” The move comes six and a half months after Retraction Watch published an investigation into the operation. The investigation, by Brian Perron of the University of Michigan, high school student Oliver Hiltz-Perron, and Bryan Victor of Wayne State University, identified … Continue reading ‘Our deepest apology’: Journal retracts 30 likely paper mill articles after investigation published by Retraction Watch
Student surveillance and online proctoring
To combat cheating during online exams, many schools have utilized services that try to detect unusual behavior through webcam video. As with most automated surveillance systems, there are some issues. For The Washington Post, Drew Harwell looks into the social implications of student surveillance:
Fear of setting off the systems’ alarms has led students to contort themselves in unsettling ways. Students with dark skin have shined bright lights at their face, worrying the systems wouldn’t recognize them. Other students have resorted to throwing up in trash cans.
Some law students who took New York’s first online bar exam last month, a 90-minute test proctored by the company ExamSoft, said they had urinated in their chairs because they weren’t allowed to leave their computers, according to a survey by two New York state lawmakers pushing to change the rules for licensing new attorneys during the pandemic.
Oh.
Tags: education, privacy, surveillance, testing, Washington Post
Posted by in Data Sharing, education, privacy, surveillance, testing, Washington Post
Undergraduate education in biology: no vision, no change
I was looking at the Vision and Change document the other day and it made me realize that very little has changed in undergraduate education. I really shouldn't be surprised since I reached the same conclusion in 2015—six years after the recommendations were published [Vision and Change] [Why can't we teach properly?].
The main recommendations of Vision and Change are that undergraduate education should adopt the proven methods of student-centered education and should focus on core concepts rather than memorization of facts. Although there has been some progress, it's safe to say that neither of these goals have been achieved in the vast majority of biology classes, including biochemistry and molecular biology classes.
Things are getting even worse in this time of COVID-19 because more and more classes are being taught online and there seems to be general agreement that this is okay. It is not okay. Online didactic lectures go against everything in the Vision and Change document. It may be possible to develop online courses that practice student-centered, concept teaching that emphasizes critical thinking but I've seen very few attempts.
Here are a couple of quotations from Vision and Change that should stimulate your thinking.
Traditionally, introductory biology [and biochemistry] courses have been offered as three lectures a week, with, perhaps, an accompanying two- or three-hour laboratory. This approach relies on lectures and a textbook to convey knowledge to the student and then tests the student's acquisition of that knowledge with midterm and final exams. Although many traditional biology courses include laboratories to provide students with hands-on experiences, too often these "experiences" are not much more than guided exercises in which finding the right answer is stressed while providing students with explicit instructions telling them what to do and when to do it."Appreciating the scientific process can be even more important than knowing scientific facts. People often encounter claims that something is scientifically known. If they understand how science generates and assesses evidence bearing on these claims, they possess analytical methods and critical thinking skills that are relevant to a wide variety of facts and concepts and can be used in a wide variety of contexts.”
National Science Foundation, Science and Technology Indicators, 2008
If you are a student and this sounds like your courses, then you should demand better. If you are an instructor and this sounds like one of your courses then you should be ashamed; get some vision and change [The Student-Centered Classroom].
Although the definition of student-centered learning may vary from professor to professor, faculty generally agree that student-centered classrooms tend to be interactive, inquiry-driven, cooperative, collaborative, and relevant. Three critical components are consistent throughout the literature, providing guidelines that faculty can apply when developing a course. Student-centered courses and curricula take into account student knowledge and experience at the start of a course and articulate clear learning outcomes in shaping instructional design. Then they provide opportunities for students to examine and discuss their understanding of the concepts presented, offering frequent and varied feedback as part of the learing process. As a result, student-centered science classrooms and assignments typically involve high levels of student-student and student-faculty interaction; connect the course subject matter to topics students find relevant; minimize didactic presentations; reflect diverse views of scientific inquiry, including data presentation, argumentation, and peer review; provide ongoing feedback to both the student and professor about the student's learning progress; and explicitly address learning how to learn.
This is a critical time for science education since science is under attack all over the world. We need to make sure that university students are prepared to deal with scientific claims and counter-claims for the rest of their lives after they leave university. This means that they have to be skilled at critical thinking and that's a skill that can only be taught in a student-centered classroom where students can practice argumentation and learn the importance of evidence. Memorizing the enzymes of the Krebs Cycle will not help them understand climate change or why they should wear a mask in the middle of a pandemic.
Posted by in education, Science Education