Join us on May 30th at 4pm EASTERN TIME for a Convo with Dr. Peggy Brickman.

Biology education researchers seek to improve biology education, particularly at the introductory level, yet there is little documentation about what is actually happening in introductory biology. Dr. Brickman will share findings from a project that sought to characterize the landscape of learning expectations for introductory biology at a diverse range of U.S. universities. They analyzed more than 1,100 course-level learning outcomes and more than 200 introductory biology syllabi to characterize student learning expectations. This syllabi analysis yielded insights about instructional design decisions for introductory biology. The Codon team will demonstrate how Biology for Real Life, an introductory biology course for nonmajors, takes an issues-based approach, emphasizing competencies and socially relevant issues.

Dr. Peggy Brickman is a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in Plant Biology at the University of Georgia, where she has instructed almost 30,000 introductory biology students over the past 25 years, usually in sections of general education courses with more than 300 students. In addition to developing curriculum to enhance science literacy, she researches methods to enhance collaborative learning in college classrooms and labs. Over the past decade, she has mentored graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty as a National Academies Speaker and Facilitator. She is a course director at Codon Learning, developing curriculum for nonmajors biology alongside Dr. Cara Gormally.