Peer Review

Online Microbiology Tutorials

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This site contains six modules that are either multi-page online articles/texts (mad cow disease, smallpox, yellow fever, blood cells ) or interactive quizzes (complement, virus replication). The site also contains many links to other virology sites and links to images and videos of viruses.
Type of Material:: Tutorials
Technical Requirements:: HTML; some Quicktime movie links
Target Student Population:: Undergraduate students in introductory microbiology or health-related classes; selected modules may be appropriate for students in introductory virology courses.

Rating:

Strengths:

Quality of Content = (5) (4) = 4.5

Well designed with accurate material
Content is current and linked to relevant articles and governmental resources
The self-paced quizzes are a good review of mastery of the content written
in easy to understand language
The text modules work students through the history and evidence used to
understand viruses, an approach that is missing in most texts

Concerns:

The online text modules are minimally interactive
The grey background lacks aesthetic appeal - could be more attractive for
students

Rating:

Strengths:

Potential Effectiveness as Teaching Tool = (5) (4) = 4.5

Good use of real historical and current data, diagrams, images and animations
to illustrate difficult concepts
Links to online lecture notes will help students learn about virus replication
Interactive and thought provoking questions are asked of the students in
the tutorial

Concerns:

Long pages of text such as in the Mad Cow module are difficult for reading
on the web

Rating:

Strengths:

Usability = (5) (4) = 4.5

Easy to navigate and quick, with few defective links or bugs but some of
the links are to pages that distract from the flow

Concerns:

In the complement module, choosing one of the pathways does not allow access
to the other
In the Blood cell module, navigation back to the initial photo is difficult

Features of Excellence

Well organized and very easy to use
Good historical presentation of yellow fever and s mallpox virus studies
The virus replication tutorials are clearly presented and can provide a resource for students to check their understanding

Recommendation

Instructors might selectively assign modules based either on supplementing a text with historical information or use of quizzes to for students to test their knowledge.

Overall rating = (5) (4) = 4.5