The ImmunoSkills Guide: Competencies for undergraduate immunology curricula

PLoS One. 2024 Nov 11;19(11):e0313339. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313339. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Immune literacy garnered significant attention in recent years due to the threat posed by emerging infectious diseases. The pace of immunological discoveries and their relevance to society are substantial yet coordinated educational efforts have been rare. This motivated us to create a task force of educators to reflect on pedagogical approaches to teaching immunology and to draft, develop, and evaluate key competencies for undergraduate immunology education. The research questions addressed include: 1) Which competencies are considered important by educators? 2) Are the illustrative skills clear, accurate and well aligned with the core competencies listed in the Vision and Change report?; 3) What are the concerns of immunology educators about competencies and skills? We collected data on the draft competencies using surveys, focus groups, and interviews. The iterative revision phase followed the community review phase before finalizing the framework. Here, we report a hierarchical learning framework, with six core competencies, twenty illustrative skills, and companion immunology-specific example learning outcomes. Predominant themes from interviews and focus groups, which informed revisions of this framework are shared. With the growing need for immunology education across the sciences, the ImmunoSkills Guide and accompanying discussion can be used as a resource for educators, administrators and policymakers.

MeSH terms

  • Allergy and Immunology* / education
  • Curriculum*
  • Education, Medical, Undergraduate / methods
  • Focus Groups
  • Humans
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

The funding for this publication was provided through the National Science Foundation’s RCN UBE award (#2316260) awarded to S.P., R.T. and L.B.J, and through the Judith Strong Foundation at Minnesota State University Moorhead awarded to S.P. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.