DNA video from MIT Biology

MIT Biology and Open Learning Team Recognized for DNA Video

LISA EICHEL

A DNA structure animation created for the MITx course 7.28.1x Molecular Biology: DNA Replication and Repair won the BioCommunications Association Medical Education Award for Motion Video and a Citation of Merit in the Motion Media: Video category at the 2015 BioImages visual media competition

The annual competition honors still, graphic, and motion media projects that focus on life sciences and medicine.

MITx Biology Digital Learning Fellow Sera Thornton and Office of Digital Learning Science Visualization Specialist Betsy Skrip collaborated on the deep dive video, which marries 2D and 3D representations to present a cohesive picture of DNA structure. The video reinforces the key structural and functional characteristics of DNA and illustrates some often difficult-to-visualize perspectives, such as how the flattened view of the structure is derived from the helix and how the major and minor grooves coil in 3D space. 

You can check out the video below:

While initially produced as part of the 7.28.1x MOOC for MITx on edX (offered again starting August 4), the team purposely designed the video to be able to stand alone from the full course so that it could be used by a diverse audience of biology students - from high school to graduate level, and on and off the MIT campus.

On the MIT campus, students enrolled in Professor Steve Bell and Professor Wendy Gilbert’s 7.28/7.58 (Molecular Biology) are utilizing this video, along with other videos and online assessment questions developed for 7.28.1x, as supplementary materials to enhance their classroom learning. The MITx Biology team also plans to circulate the clip more widely so that it can benefit a broader scope of science educators and learners. Already, Skrip’s former professor at The College of New Rochelle has made the video a requirement in their undergraduate Molecular Biology course.

ODL has brought together under one umbrella a group of people with diverse skill sets.--Sera Thornton

“ODL has brought together under one umbrella a group of people with diverse skill sets,” describes Dr. Thornton. “We’ve really taken advantage of that in this collaboration, and it’s allowed us not only to learn from each other, but also to create exactly the teaching tool we envisioned – a video that is both beautiful and biologically accurate.”

Skrip and Thornton worked closely together on both the scripting and the animation. MIT student Ceri Riley narrated the video, Julian Samal refined the sound, and Professor Steve Bell and MITx Digital Learning Lab members Mary Ellen Wiltrout and Nathaniel Schafheimer assisted with script editing and feedback. MITx Media Specialist Caitlin Stier provided additional support for the entire 7.28x course.

Want to learn more about DNA and molecular biology? 7.28.1x starts August 4. 

Register now at www.edx.org.  

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