The Genome Consortium on Active Teaching using Next Generation Sequencing

Genomics and bioinformatics are dynamic fields that provide opportunities to form student-scientist partnerships at small liberal arts colleges.  Empowering undergraduate faculty with access to state-of-the-art technology and with tools to implement curricular changes is a difficult and evolving challenge.  This challenge has been successfully addressed in the last decade by the Genome Consortium on Active Teaching (GCAT), a grass-roots consortium of undergraduate educators.  GCAT provided undergraduates access to microarray technology, and has impacted over 300 faculty and 24,000 undergraduates.  A major driving factor that enticed a diverse group of faculty to adjust their teaching strategies was the academic freedom associated with integrating their own research questions into an active teaching approach.  A new network of educators (GCAT-SEEK) was formed in July, 2011 to enable undergraduate access to Next-Generation sequencing and functional genomics using the GCAT organizational model.  The consortium now involves over 100 faculty, postdocs, and students from over 80 institutions throughout the country.  Major interest areas include genomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics.  GCAT-SEEK aims to engage students in inquiry-based learning that is grounded in the key concepts and competencies of modern biology, and are connected to learning objectives and assessments.  In our first year we have identified three bottlenecks that make it difficult to seamlessly integrate next-generation sequencing into undergraduate courses and research experiences.  Challenges include experimental design for the faculty member who is a novice with respect to the technology, bioinformatics training of faculty, and identification of appropriate and effective pedagogical and assessment tools.