Learning Microbiology in Daily Life – How Can a Mobile Device Help?

One of the main intended learning outcomes in an introductory microbiology course is to encourage students, who will have acquired little knowledge of basic microbiological concepts, to relate these concepts to everyday life. The challenge is to design teaching and learning activities to engage student learning interactively, with or without planning. An assignment for an introductory microbiology course was designed to support deep learning by capturing and reflecting daily experience of microbiology. This assignment was developed to enhance the engagement of students in the learning of microbiology, with the following objectives: (1) to enhance students’ awareness of the impact of micro-organisms on their daily life and on their surroundings; (2) to develop students’ writing skills to communicate microbiology-related information in simple and concise English; and (3) to cultivate students’ attitude towards discovery. In a four-week period during the teaching semester, students were asked to use their mobile devices to capture photos or video clips of daily activities or observations of their surroundings that were related to microbiology, together with annotations on the perceived connection. Students’ learning progress was tracked throughout the course. After completion of the assignment, the variety of examples collected provides initial evidence of whether students have realized how our daily life is affected by micro-organisms in the environment. Their perception of using a mobile device for learning was also explored and examined to determine whether there was an impact on their attitude towards this type of discovery learning experience and facilitated their perception of the connection between their daily lives and their specific subject discipline.