At N.C. Community College, Biotech is Booming
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The North Carolina Community College System BioNetwork gears training programs specifically for emerging biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. But it couldn’t happen without the BioEducation Center at Gaston College.
The BioEd Center started in 2004, develops curriculum and devises effective methods for delivering classes to distance learners enrolled in NCCCS BioNetwork’s numerous certificate, two-year degree and university-transfer programs across the state. It also holds specialty workshops and customizes professional development courses for area business and industry.
The BioEd Center has already developed a number of courses for which about half of learning takes place online, says Vernon Shoaf, manager of the BioNetwork BioEd Center. The hybrid courses allow students to listen to lectures and see labs performed via streaming video before they come into the classroom.
“It standardizes the information and reduces the amount of time students have to spend on site,” he says.
Similarly, a distance-education model using video-conferencing for biotech labs allows students across the state to take the same class at the same time.
Working with a pharmaceutical company, the BioEd Center has also developed a 3-D simulation program that familiarizes students with working on a pharmaceutical production line without the real-life risks.
The BioEd Center created the Good Manufacturing Practices program especially for Web learning to help meet area workforce development needs. It has also conducted workshops for high school teachers and community college faculty to prepare students for biotechnology fields.
Story by Carol Cowan
