Welcome to the UF online Microbiology Laboratory
Dr. Oli’s Microbiology Online Lab Manual
The pressbook offers a comprehensive guide to microbiology activities and lab skills, catering to diverse learning environments. It includes virtual and online modules that allow students to engage with microbiology concepts from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, it provides detailed instructions for at-home experiments, ensuring hands-on experience even outside the traditional lab setting. For those who can access a lab, the pressbook outlines in-person activities that enhance practical skills and deepen understanding. This versatile resource is designed to support learners in mastering microbiology, regardless of their location or access to facilities.
In this course, you will learn techniques used in microbiology labs and you will realize how microbes affect all aspects of our lives, every day. Many of you will be familiar with some of the topics covered in the lab exercises, but hands-on experience is invaluable to really understand many of the techniques taught. Your TAs and I will work closely with you to ensure that you have a good grasp of the topics and methods covered.
We have incorporated several projects and student-initiated activities into the syllabus as to provide you with a variety of learning experiences. Our ultimate goal is for you to complete the semester with the feeling that microbes are important in every aspect of our lives – and with the notion that you have learned some skills you can use for the rest of your life and your careers!
I would like to emphasize that we are here to help you. If you have questions or need assistance please email me directly (moli@ufl.edu)
Disclaimer: During the semester we may have to make adjustments to the modules, protocols, syllabus, grading, deadlines or protocols. This is done for the benefit of the students to improve learning and adapting to the current situation.
Regardless if you take the lab online or in person, the microbiology lab is divided into 4 main sections:
- Teaching and learning skills and tools
- Learn and apply skills used for diagnostic microbiology
- Understand how microbes play a major role in global issues and in your personal life
- Show us what you learned: exams
This lab manual contains all the info you need. You will be added to a canvas shell that will have your assignments, discussions, deadlines and grades. I will communicate with your through the announcements in the canvas shell.
Enjoy your semester taking microbiology lab online. Hope you learn skills to work in a lab and real-life applications!
About your Course Coordinator: Who is Dr. Oli?
With a multitude of experiences as a researcher, inventor, author, parent, and globe-trotter Dr. Oli engages with her students in a very effective and unique way. Oli, a native Bavarian (Southern Germany), has been teaching in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida since 2011.
Dr. Oli is a creative and passionate “out-of-the-box thinking teacher and empathetic mentor. Student engagement is a priority for her. Whether it is teaching computer-based technology, making fermented milk products, or hiking in the Alps during her study abroad, Dr. Oli incorporates many effective and notable teaching styles in and out of the classroom that requires participants to acquire 21st-century competency skills. Her passion is to challenge students to get outside their comfort zone through experiential learning, critical thinking, and internationalizing learner experiences. One of her main goals as an mentor and is to provide a holistic approach that focuses not only on a student’s academic successes but also on their physical and mental well-being.
Dr. Oli is passionate about disseminating the importance of microbiology in everyday life as well as on a global scale. She will convince anyone that Microbiology is vital to appreciate and understand personal well-being as well as to find solutions for global challenges. She is a true role model and compassionate mentor for students from all walks of life and just tends to do things a little ……unconventionally!
Dr. Oli received her BSc from the University of Edinburgh, her MS from Mississippi State University (Microbiology), and her Ph.D. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Molecular Parasitology).
