Bridging the gap between online and on campus – ASU Now

November 15, 2021

Karen Amos waited excitedly next to her research poster during this year's School of Life Sciences BioSci Southwest Symposium. In the Memorial Union on Arizona State University's Tempe campus, guests gathered around her poster about embryonic stem cells and listened to her explain her project, asking questions about her findings and research techniques.

But Amos wasnt on campus she was in Tennessee. The BioSci Southwest Symposium was hosted by the School of Life Sciences, a joint effort between its Graduate Programs and Undergraduate Research Program. The event included more than 40 poster presentations and 11 lightning talks by students to display their research conducted in ASU labs.

For the first time, the regional symposium was held as a hybrid event, utilizing innovative techniques to open the doors to both on-campus and online participants.

Theres a lot of really good science ideas that are stuck behind a computer screen, said Amos, who is a senior studying biochemistry through ASU Online.

Ive never had this type of opportunity before. We now have the opportunity for face-to-face research, which has been unheard of to online students.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to produce rapid accelerations in technology, and disciplines across ASU have been swift to adapt these tools to better serve the educational needs of students. The fusion of traditional, in-person event formatting with innovative virtual platforms has allowed online students to participate in an interactive research conference, an opportunity they have never had before.

On Oct. 29, the annual BioSci Southwest Symposium was held in the Arizona Ballroom of the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus. The event included more than 40 poster presentations and 11 lightning talks by students to display their research conducted in ASU labs.

The symposium is hosted by the School of Life Sciences, a joint effort between its Graduate Programs and Undergraduate Research Program. The event gives students the opportunity to display their work in the community and practice their presenting skills to a broader audience.

Paula Baker, School of Life Sciences senior program coordinator,organized the symposium and ensured the event ran smoothly and efficiently.

Many of our online students are nontraditional in the sense that they might have families, full-time jobs, etc. Hybrid events allow them to connect in real time while decreasing barriers to attendance, Baker said.

Student researchers who were unable to attend in person sent their poster ahead of time to be printed and put on display in the ballroom. Next to their poster was a laptop, or tripod with a tablet computer, and a microphone. Guests walking through the presentations could plug their headphones into the device and engage in a live conversation with the online presenter.

The symposium also gave students the space to network with other researchers and ASU faculty members.

The event included a lecture by keynote speaker Judy L. Cannon, a researcher and associate professor from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.Cannon studies immune responses, and she discussed the movement of immune cells and how it helps clear infections like the flu and COVID-19. She also shared her career path and offered advice for students who want to pursue a career in scientific research.

Following Cannons remarks, each student, or team of students, presented their poster, summarizing the research they conducted. Guests walked around the ballroom, observing various fields of research.

The symposium included one hour of lightning talks that were given between poster presentations. Eleven presenters gave five-minute slideshow presentations of their research in front of all the in-person and virtual attendees.

To allow greater access to each project, the poster presentations were divided into two sessions. Presenters each prepared both a virtual and physical poster. During the first session, half the groups presented in the ballroom, while half presented virtually through a platform called GatherTown.

GatherTown is a website for interactive virtual spaces. Individuals who attended the symposium virtually were able to log in to GatherTown and hear students present their research. By using the arrow keys on a keyboard, attendees could move an avatar across the screen to walk around a virtual, 2D symposium. As their avatar passed tables with the presenters name on them, the presenter was notified and their Zoom video feed automatically opened to begin presenting to the attendee.

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Bridging the gap between online and on campus - ASU Now