Your Liaison Michele Tennant: Teaching

Creator/Instructor for Credit-bearing courses:

• IDH2930 – (Un)Common Read: “A Primatologist's Story”, 1 credit, Fall semesters, 2021 -

             Offered through the Honors College, this course features the books “High Moon over the Amazon: My Quest to Understand the Monkeys of the Night” and "For the Love of Lemurs". Themes of biodiversity and conservation, women in STEM, non-traditional careers, and other issues are covered . Course creator and instructor.

• BOT4935/ZOO4926 – Global Biodiversity and Culture: Integrating Conservation and Human Well-being; 3 credits, spring semesters 2019 -

              The course examines intersections among biodiversity, conservation, culture and human well-being in 4 biodiversity hotspots: Madagascar, Ecuador (Choco and Amazon), India (Western Ghats), and the US Southern Coastal Plain. The course is a combination of reading and discussion, on site lectures, and lectures by experts from the hotspots (via Zoom). Co-creator/co-instructor.

• GMS5909 – Finding Biomedical Research Information and Communicating Science, 1 credit, Fall semesters, 2016 -

               Offered through the College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, this course covers the theory behind search strategies, next generation searching tools, data management and sharing, ethics of information use and reuse, communicating research for impact, and related topics. Co-creator/co-instructor.

• IDH2930 – (Un)Common Read: “Madagascar: The Eighth Continent”, 1 credit, Fall semesters, 2016 -

              This class offered through the Honors Program featurs the book “Madagascar: The Eighth Continent”, which described the scientific endeavors of four researchers – herpetologist, palynologist, archeologist, and primatologist, weaving into the narrative Malagasy culture and history. The importance of field research in an ever more molecular world is also explored. Course developer and instructor.

• ZOO4956 – Madagascar- Biodiversity and Conservation in a Developing Country, 6 credits, Summers A or B, 2016 -

              This four-week course taught in Madagascar covers biodiversity, conservation, and sustainability, and the role that culture, economic, geography and other factors play toward success and failure in these endeavors. Co-developer and co-instructor.

• IDH2930 – (Un)Common Read: “Thank You, Madagascar”, 1 credit, Spring semesters, 2016 -

             Offered through the Honors College, this course features the book “Thank You, Madagascar”, the diaries of primatologist Alison Jolly. Themes of biodiversity and conservation, culture, economics, sustainability and how these affect one another are woven throughout the book. Course creator and instructor.

• MCB4934 - Application of Bioinformatics to Biomedical Research and Discovery, 2014-15

              Offered through the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science (CALS), this credit-bearing human genomics resource course supported the Undergraduate Minor in Bioinformatics. Co-creator and co-instructor.

• GMS6014 - Applications of Bioinformatics to Genetics, yearly 2003 - 2017

              My sessions in this course offered through the College of Medicine taught best practices in using tools such as GenBank, Structures, Entrez Gene, and PubMed. Co-creator and co-instructor.

Course-integrated Instruction:

• PCB3063 - General Genetics, yearly 1996 - 2018

In this undergraduate level course offered through the Department of Biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, I was responsible for the creation, instructional support, and grading of a multi-part term project. Each student is assigned a specific genetic disorder to research throughout the semester, culminating in a sole-authored term paper (1996-2008) or a team-created poster presentation (2009 - 2018).  Students are introduced to numerous authoritative genetics and bioinformatics resources from the National Center for Biotechnology Information and elsewhere, including GenBank, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, Structures, Entrez Gene, PubMed and GeneReviews. I provide two two-hour lectures/hands on sessions (multiple sessions each) in support of the project, office hours, and host the annual student poster presentations.

University of Florida, College of Education, Graduate Committees (outside member)

• Alex Hodges, June 2018 -
• Leigh Powell, June 2018 -
• Tim Miller, June 2018 - Apr. 2019; Dissertation title: Student experiences learning psychomotor skills in a blended doctor of physical therapy program. 
• Meredith Bergeron, Apr. 2016 – June 2018; Dissertation title: Exploring faculty members' concerns with online teaching and the support needed to address concerns. 
• Susan Anderson, Apr. 2016 - Oct. 2017; Dissertation title: School library makerspace design and implementation in a large, midwestern school district: a design case dissertation. 
• Christine Rogers, May 2014 – Aug. 2015; Dissertation title: Exploring relationship between sixth-grader's online information seeking effectiveness, epistemic metacognition, and prior knowledge in a science classroom. 
• Kristin Heathcock, May 2012 - August 2013; Dissertation title:  Just-in-case or just-in-time? An examination of the timing and duration of an online embedded librarian in an online English course with an embedded librarian. 
• Mary Edwards, Feb. 2011 - Dec. 2011; Dissertation title:Online embedded librarian case study: a descriptive evaluation.