Quantitative digital course-based undergraduate research experience in plant biology

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide authentic research while promoting student engagement, persistence in STEM, and skill development. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and growing demand for flexible, scalable educational tools in biology, we developed and implemented a digital CURE (DCURE) adapted from a live-plant manipulative experiment CURE. This DCURE engages students on research in Arabidopsis thaliana, utilizing images of experimental plants and digital platforms. By eliminating the need for during-semester in-lab/course plant cultivation, this module expands equitable access to research experiences, especially for institutions or students without greenhouse or growth chamber infrastructure. Implemented across community colleges and 4-year institutions in both foundational and more advanced biology courses, the DCURE promotes transferable skills in digital literacy, data analysis, and scientific communication. Students participated in authentic scientific processes-collecting and curating data, generating and refining hypotheses, analyzing results, and contributing findings to a public research database. Formal evaluation from over 1,300 students across 5 semesters revealed significant gains in technical proficiency, confidence in data analysis, and conceptual understanding of plant biology. Faculty also reported benefits including enhanced collaboration of students within courses and across institutions, improving instructional design through iterative feedback, and a stronger focus on helping students connect digital methods to biological theory. The DCURE serves as a flexible, accessible, and rigorous model for integrating digital research experiences into undergraduate education. It equips students with the computational and analytical skills essential for a modern biology workforce. This model is adaptable for use in other experimental systems across the life sciences.