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The Microbiology and Cell Science program at the University of Florida compressed two standard 16-week lab courses into five-day versions of the course, which are referred to as bootcamp labs. The bootcamp labs have the same objectives, activities, and assessments as their traditional counterparts. Development of the bootcamp labs was part of a larger effort to increase access to the major, and more broadly STEM, by offering a 2+2 hybrid online transfer program. The results of this mixed-methods study include a direct comparison between bootcamp and traditional lab format as an approach for delivery of a face-to-face lab course. The bootcamp lab cohort has a greater diversity of students, with more women and underrepresented minorities in STEM than the traditional semester-long cohorts. Students in the bootcamp labs have comparable grade outcomes and learning gains to students in traditional lab format. Regression analysis identified GPA, but not lab format, as the most significant predictor of success for students enrolled in lab courses. Qualitative results suggest that the bootcamp format may be a better way than traditional formats to teach microbiology lab. In summary, the results demonstrate that a bootcamp version of a face-to-face microbiology course is just as effective as the traditional semester-long version. This work has broader implications as it supports the bootcamp lab approach as a model in STEM education for increasing access and for overcoming a major barrier to online STEM programs: face-to-face delivery of key lab courses.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2026
The perceived importance of active learning techniques in online STEM courses
It is widely acknowledged that active learning strategies increase engagement and long-term retention, while reducing attrition and frustration of students with less academic preparation and self-efficacy. Promoting active learning methods in STEM has been a long-term project in higher education. This study examines the perceptions of active learning techniques in online STEM education, leveraging a large, diverse sample (N = 727) across four STEM fields. The post-pandemic context of the study offers unique insights into how students and faculty perceive the effectiveness of various active learning methods in a rapidly changing educational environment. For eight of the nine methods studied, more than half of students and faculty found each active learning strategy to be helpful for online learning achievement. On average, both students and faculty found active learning methods to be modestly more important in online courses than face-to-face courses. A novel finding that was striking was that by a wide margin, both students and faculty perceived requiring activities more helpful than offering them on an optional basis. This implies that active learning methods become a meaningful portion of the course grade. However, faculty and students disagree on how heavily such activities should contribute to course grades. On average, students believe about half of their grade (52%) should comprise active learning activities, whereas faculty report that 32% of grades in their courses come from formative active learning assessments. The implications of activity-based STEM learning in online courses are discussed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2225206
- PAR ID:
- 10659047
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Computers and education open
- ISSN:
- 2666-5573
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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