Designing and Developing Online Materials for Molecular Biology: Building Online Programs for Science

A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is internships in research laboratories. However, the number of available research laboratories severely limits access by most students. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the design and development process of the online learning materials. This case study looks at the roles of the instructional designer, multimedia specialist, and research faculty who were the subject matter experts. The experiences of the design teams are shared in an effort to gain insight on how the collaborative efforts of the project group led to a successful deployment of the online learning materials.