Online Portfolio: An Alternative to a Research Paper as a Final Assessment.

Research papers are a common end-of-semester assessment for senior-level seminars. The mid-semester switch to remote learning due to COVID-19 provided an opportunity to rethink this model and offer an alternative final assessment using a multipart online portfolio that addresses the learning goals of the course and the objectives of research paper-based final assessments. The smaller weekly tasks coupled with ongoing peer feedback reduced student stress and allowed for creativity and community building.

Highlighting Diversity in Neuroscience through Course Content.

Slides showcasing research of one or two neuroscientists from diverse backgrounds were added to weekly, learning assistant-led sections in a large (~80 person) primarily lecture course required for neuroscience majors. Students appreciated the slides, and survey data suggests that the slides increased the sense of belonging for both underrepresented and not underrepresented students.

An Instructor's Guide to (Some of) the Most Amazing Papers in Neuroscience.

Although textbooks are still assigned in many undergraduate science courses, it is now not uncommon, even in some of the earliest courses in the curriculum, to supplement texts with primary source readings from the scientific literature. Not only does reading these articles help students develop an understanding of specific course content, it also helps foster an ability to engage with the discipline the way its practitioners do. One challenge with this approach, however, is that it can be difficult for instructors to select appropriate readings on topics outside of their areas of expertise as would be required in a survey course, for example.

ERIN: A Portal to Resources for Higher Education in Neuroscience.

ERIN, Educational Resources in Neuroscience, is the Society for Neuroscience's web portal to selected, high-quality materials for higher education. A Board of Editors approves resources after describing them and classifying them by topic, subtopic, media type, author, and appropriate educational level. Some resources are also accompanied by reviews and ratings from faculty who have used the resource.

Thalamic activity that drives visual cortical plasticity.

Manipulations of activity in one retina can profoundly affect binocular connections in the visual cortex. Retinal activity is relayed to the cortex by the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN). We compared the qualities and amount of activity in the dLGN following monocular eyelid closure and monocular retinal inactivation in awake mice.