RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 BioSkills Guide: Development and National Validation of a Tool for Interpreting the Vision and Change Core Competencies
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.01.11.902882
DO 10.1101/2020.01.11.902882
A1 Alexa W Clemmons
A1 Jerry Timbrook
A1 Jon C Herron
A1 Alison J Crowe
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/07/2020.01.11.902882.abstract
AB To excel in modern STEM careers, biology majors need a range of transferrable skills, yet competency development is often a relatively underdeveloped facet of the undergraduate curriculum. Here, we have elaborated the Vision and Change core competency framework into a resource called the BioSkills Guide, a set of measurable learning outcomes that can be more readily interpreted and implemented by faculty. College biology educators representing over 250 institutions, including 73 community colleges, contributed to the development and validation of the guide. Our grassroots approach during the development phase engaged over 200 educators over the course of five iterative rounds of review and revision. We then gathered evidence of the BioSkills Guide’s content validity using a national survey of over 400 educators. Across the 77 outcomes in the final draft, rates of respondent support for outcomes were high (74.3% - 99.6%). Our national sample included college biology educators across a range of course levels, subdisciplines of biology, and institution types. We envision the BioSkills Guide supporting a variety of applications in undergraduate biology, including backward design of individual lessons and courses, competency assessment development, curriculum mapping and planning, and resource development for less well-defined competencies.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.