A New Learning Environment in the Biotech Lab Technician Program

This case features Jeanette Mowery's "Protein Bioseparations" course, which is part of Madison Area Technical College (MATC)'s Biotechnology Laboratory Technician Program. It also features Jeanette's colleagues, their efforts to use instructional technology in their classrooms, their comments on the problems that this technology can solve, their goals for student learning that they wish to achieve by using it, and the implementation issues associated with it.

The Bricoleurs
Throughout the LT² case studies, we refer to the creators of new learning environments as bricoleurs.^a It's a French term that roughly means "handyman." We use it to describe a person who is adept at finding (sometimes disparate) resources that can be used to achieve this person's goals, particularly as they pertain to creating learning environments that encourage student participation and interaction. In this case study, the bricoleurs are Jeanette Mowery, Lisa Seidman, and Becky Pearlman.

Jeanette Mowery, MATC Protein Purification Instructor. Jeanette is the featured instructor in this case study. When asked about her experience with the Protein Lab software, she stated,
With the Protein Lab software, my students can separate a protein and have a result, in an hour or less, by clicking. They can do the whole protein purification process. In order to give them that kind of experience in the wet lab, I would have to have a course that lasted forty hours a week, for two years, and I'd still have a hard time doing it. But because you can run a procedure by clicking, it really sends the message home to them of what the protein purification process is actually like.


Lisa Seidman, Instructor in the MATC Biotechnology Laboratory Technician Program. Lisa discovered and was the first to implement Andrew Booth's Protein Lab software that is featured in this case study. She received her Ph.D. in 1984 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1987 Lisa and colleagues began a two-year Biotechnology Program to prepare students for entry level positions in emerging biotechnology companies. Since then, she has worked on a variety of courses and projects to help students succeed in biotechnology laboratory careers. She is the author of a textbook "Basic Laboratory Methods for Biotechnology."


Becky Pearlman, Instructor in the MATC Biotechnology Laboratory Technician Program. Becky is now a lecturer in the Biology Department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While at MATC she taught several courses including Molecular Biology and Protein Purification. Her professional interests include improvement of biology education, along with research in plant genetics and emerging infectious disease.

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a. 'Bricoleur' is a French term meaning, roughly, 'handyman.' A bricoleur is adept at finding, or simply recognizing in their environment, resources that can be used to build something they believe is important and then combining these resources in a way that achieves their goals.