Identifying Factors That Influence Student Perceptions of Stress in Biology Courses with Online Learning Modalities.

Students in higher education encounter many factors both inside (academic) and outside (nonacademic) classrooms that can influence their perceptions of stress in their biology courses. These can include course learning modalities, coursework, grades, as well as time management outside of class. It is unknown what stressors are perceived by students enrolled in biology courses-especially in online learning modalities. Therefore, our mixed method study aims to investigate the extent to which online course modalities influence students' perception of stress, as well as identify academic and nonacademic factors that influence students' perceptions of stress in biology courses. Student survey data (n = 240) was collected in the Fall 2020 semester while many courses were held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our qualitative and quantitative analyses indicated three major findings: First, 70% of students specifically indicated that online-learning modalities increased their stress levels. Our second major finding is that 70% of students indicated the size of class workloads-work both in and out of class-is too much, which especially impacts students with caretaking and work responsibilities. Finally, over 85% of students indicated that exams were a major source of stress, specifically, a third of the students reported the time to complete the exam and exam material as sources of stress. This work is the first to identify stressors in online biology courses, and these analyses will inform future pedagogy, curriculum, and policies to mitigate students' stress as instructors continue to explore online learning pedagogy.

Student-Authored Scientist Spotlights: Investigating the Impacts of Engaging Undergraduates as Developers of Inclusive Curriculum through a Service-Learning Course.

Scientist Spotlights-curricular materials that employ the personal and professional stories of scientists from diverse backgrounds-have previously been shown to positively influence undergraduate students' relatability to and perceptions of scientists. We hypothesized that engaging students in authoring Scientist Spotlights might produce curricular materials of similar impact, as well as provide a mechanism for student involvement as partners in science education reform. To test this idea and investigate the impact of student-authored Scientist Spotlights, we developed a service-learning course in which teams of biology students partnered with an instructor to develop and implement Scientist Spotlights in a biology course. Results revealed that exposure to three or four student-authored Scientist Spotlights significantly shifted peers' perceptions of scientists in all partner courses. Interestingly, student-authored Scientist Spotlights shifted peers' relatability to scientists similarly among both white students and students of color. Further, student authors themselves showed increases in their relatability to scientists. Finally, a department-wide survey demonstrated significant differences in students' perceptions of scientist representation between courses with and without student-authored Spotlights. Results suggest that engaging students as authors of inclusive curricular materials and partners in reform is a promising approach to promoting inclusion and addressing representation in science.