The Genome Solver Project: Faculty Training and Student Performance Gains in Bioinformatics

Abstract

Bioinformatics brings together biology, mathematics, statistics, and computer science to analyze biological sequence information. Anyone with a computer, access to the Internet, and basic training in this field can contribute to genomics research. Yet many biology faculty feel they lack training in the use of bioinformatics tools and therefore include little bioinformatics content in their courses. To overcome this challenge, the Genome Solver Project was created to empower undergraduate faculty by offering training and resources for creating hands-on bioinformatics course materials. In this study, we show the results of one survey completed directly after the workshop and a further follow-up survey to gain insight into the impact the workshop had on faculty willingness to include bioinformatics content in their courses and what challenges they still faced. We also measured student performance at five different institutions using a 20-question multiple-choice quiz delivered before and after bioinformatics instruction. Data collected from 640 students at these five schools demonstrated student performance increased, suggesting that bioinformatics training workshops can be an effective means of encouraging faculty to engage in bioinformatics instruction and positively influence student learning.