An Integrated Pedagogical Approach for Effective Teaching of Research Methodology for Biotechnology Engineering

Research Methodology is a systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study, which comprises the body of various techniques. The course assumes significance from the Biotechnology perspective, since the domain is research centric. The objective of the course is to give an insight into the nuances of research methods to facilitate the students in the handling of Mini, Minor, Capstone and REU projects at higher level semesters. The course poses a challenge from the teachinglearning perspective owing to its heterogeneous content of the chapters. In order to address this question of overcoming the challenge of learning the course with heterogeneity and provide meaningful learning, the present study with an integrated approach was practiced for undergraduate students of Biotechnology for enhancing the effectiveness of learning. Various in-classroom activities and online tools were undertaken to give hands-on learning experience. The active learning techniques employed were instrumental in keeping the students engaged while enhancing the effectiveness of learning in a course with diverse contents, which otherwise would have been difficult by conventional rote teaching methods. The exercise resulted in addressing different graduate attributes related to demonstration of competence in mathematical modeling, basic science, comprehend technical literature, use modern engineering tools and understand the philosophy of research methodology, with a decent scale of attainment. It is concluded that an integrated approach with multipronged activities can lead to effective learning. Further scope for the study exists in the form of fine-tuning of activities in terms of better assessment and widening the horizons of the concepts dealt with.