Case studies are often used in microbiology courses for students to study and identify the etiologic agent of a disease.  I have used short cases anecdotally in my microbiology classes primarily to give examples of symptoms and hopefully increase interest in the topic.  I have wanted to use cases in more depth especially since taking Edu 091.  However, I have had a difficult time finding written cases, or compilations of information that fit my particular plan for use.  My proposal is to write several epidemiology cases in order to investigate the biological principles and the social, political and economic factors involved in historic epidemics; the 1918 Influenza pandemic, and HIV and current and reemerging diseases; bird flu and mumps.  The reality of today is that there are so many issues regarding disease investigation, treatment, etc. other than what is often simplistically presented due to time constraints.  I feel that students should be more aware of the actual issues and climate in which they will find themselves if they pursue a career in the health sciences (which is the goal of many of them).  And, those that don’t pursue that type of career will have a better ability to analyze and make decisions about what they read in the popular press.  I will write the cases and present them over the course of the entire semester during different units of study in two Microbiology classes, one class will have a class discussion of the case, the other class will not.  My objective is to increase the use of critical thinking skills in a very content heavy course and to present content information in a new way-through the presentation of cases.  For example, when studying the epidemiology of HIV during a unit on immunology, students will be introduced to terms such as antibody titers, serological testing, etc.  I hope that by reading these terms in context will help them construct knowledge in a more active way than hearing definitions strictly in a traditional lecture format.  I will also look at how much the class discussion increases analytical skills and content knowledge. 

My objective is to increase the use of critical thinking skills in a very content heavy course and to present content information in a new way, through the presentation of cases, in order to increase acquisition and retention of content.

The evaluation methods that I will use will include two types of assessment.  At the beginning of a unit in which a case will be presented I will give a pre-test on biological vocabulary and course content information.  After the case study I will give a post-test on the same content and additionally I will give a short essay assignment on analysis of the case regarding the biological principles, and the social, political, and economic factors involved in the case.  The benchmarks I will use for success in individual classes will be that 75% of the students have a 40% increase in the post-test content knowledge and the 75% pass the essay assessment.  These figures are somewhat arbitrary but I have seen this type of increase in other assessments I have done.  And, it is often difficult to predict what students will already know prior to the pre-test.  I will also compare scores on both assessments between the two classes to assess the efficacy of the class discussion component.

This project is a direct result of my taking Edu 091, Case Studies in College Teaching.  I was really inspired to try to incorporate case studies in a new way in my classes.  I was inspired to increase the interactivity of my classes, present content information in a new way, and include more critical analysis of information.  I learned so many useful techniques in guiding class discussion based on case studies that I felt I was ready to do this.  My only stumbling block was finding cases—which don’t really exist in the manner I want them to!  So I will write my own cases-another skill learned from writing my own case during Edu091.  In addition, the ITL’s website and archive of previous projects is a great source of inspiration and teaching and learning tool that I used.  Cindy Stephen’s recently did a project on case studies in her class and it was nice to be able to read through her work in the planning stages of this proposal.  So yet another benefit of the ITL program!

I really hope to learn how to effectively incorporate case studies into my classes.  I think that they can be fun and informative and a great addition if done well.  I hope that I will learn how to use case studies to increase content retention and analytical exercises in my class with the emphasis on doing it in an efficient way.  I hope that this will also be a stepping stone to incorporating an online discussion board component to my classes-which was my original goal.  I hope to be able to add one more tool to enhance learning and also to use some slightly different methods of assessment in my classroom.  Over time, I hope to develop a battery of cases that I can use and that might apply to other related courses I teach.