Instructor Insights

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Instructor Insights

7.341 The Microbiome and Drug Delivery: Cross-species Communication in Health and Disease is an undergraduate seminar course developed by MIT instructors/postdocs under the supervision of Professor Bob Horvitz (MIT Koch Professor and 2002 Nobel Laureate in Medicine). The instructors were responsible for developing the whole course syllabus, homework, midterm, and final evaluations as well as teaching all the class sessions independently.

In the following video, Drs. Ali Beyzavi and Miguel Jimenez describe various aspects of how they taught the course.

A woman and two men are talking in a lab.

An Interview with Ali Beyzavi and Miguel Jimenez on Teaching the Microbiome and Drug Delivery

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Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

Requirements Satisfied

Unrestricted elective credits Unrestricted elective credits

Offered

Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are offered nearly every semester and are on various topics. This was the first time this specific topic was offered.

The Classroom

  • Students sitting around a table in a seminar room.

    Room 1 of 1

    Seminar

    A seminar room with chairs grouped around a single large table, with screens and whiteboard on the walls.

 

Assessment

Grade Breakdown

The course is graded as "pass" or "fail." A passing grade is given to students who attend the class, participate in discussions, and complete both assignments in a satisfactory manner.

Student Information

Less than 10 students took this course when it was taught in Spring 2018.

Breakdown by Year

Primarily seniors

Breakdown by Major

Primarily Biology majors

Typical Student Background

The course targeted students not only from the biology department but also from the engineering departments; the goal was to have a class that could read and discuss papers dealing with both drug delivery and the biology of the microbiome and signaling between cells.

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 6 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

In Class

2 hours per week
  • Met once per week for 2 hours per session; 14 sessions total; mandatory attendance
  • In the first part of each week’s class, students discussed and evaluated the papers that comprised the readings for the week.
  • At the end of each class, the instructors gave a short introduction to the papers for the following week.
 

Out of Class

4 hours per week

Each week, students read two papers from the primary research literature and critically evaluated these papers focusing on experimental design, control experiments, methods and interpretation of the data.

 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
2 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
3 No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
4 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Field trip scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
5 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
6 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
7 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled and written assignment due. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
8 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
9 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
10 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
11 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
12 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
13 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
14 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Seminar scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
15 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. Student presentations scheduled. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT.
16 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when seminars are held. Seminar
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when written assignment is due. Written assignment due
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when student presentations are scheduled. Student presentations
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when field trip are scheduled. Field trip