Inoculating curiosity in fungal biology for a new generation of students
2016
Ramesh, Marilee A.
How can a new faculty member assigned to teach a course in fungal biology go about designing a course that is both informational and relevant to the 21st century undergraduate? Recent calls for science education reform recommend a shift to more active learning pedagogies that encourage students to learn by solving problems or being actively engaged in the process of experimentation as opposed to the traditional lecture reliant on content delivery. While a valid idea, practically, how can such a shift in instruction be implemented? Consider that most current faculty members were taught through the traditional lecture-laboratory format. While creativity and experience in the classroom enables us to develop as effective instructors, the reality of the demands on faculty rarely provide the time to develop enough novel instructional resources when constructing new courses. Fortunately, we can draw up educational resources to aid us beyond our own experiences via internet. Unfortunately, there is currently no central portal for fungal biology educational resources. While some professional societies and groups have begun to include educational resources, none are comprehensive. Because fungal biology topics have traditionally been taught as mycology or phytopathology or medical mycology, content tends to be partitioned to these specific disciplines. The goal of this review is to consolidate and evaluate teaching resources for fungal biology available through the internet for undergraduate education. This review will provide educators with ideas and tools to train future fungal biologists for 21st century careers.
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