Exploring the Impact of Online Education on Scientific Presentation Skills in Women Neuroscience Students

Pedagogical shifts to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted learning outcomes for STEM students. Many courses have remained online after the pandemic, making it essential to assess the effectiveness of these practices on student skill development. While prior research has examined engagement, confidence, and self-efficacy, less is known about how online learning affects oral scientific communication skills. This study analyzed 23 undergraduate women enrolled in an upper-level neuroscience course at a women's liberal arts college during Fall 2020. Using a pre/post format, we assessed students' growth across three areas: (1) reading and analyzing primary neuroscience articles, (2) designing neuroscience-based experiments, and (3) developing and delivering oral scientific presentations. Assessments included weekly written article analyses and two oral presentations, evaluated with a rubric that measured experimental design, presentation slide quality, and oral communication. Results demonstrated significant improvement in students' ability to critique scientific literature and construct professional presentation slides. In contrast, rubric scores for oral presentation performance showed no statistically significant gains, though this may reflect a ceiling effect, as most students scored at or near the rubric maximum in the pre-assessment. Taken together, these findings suggest that online learning environments can effectively support analytical and written aspects of science communication, while further refinement of assessment tools is needed to determine their impact on oral communication growth.