Use of a Smartphone-Based App in an Online Behavioral Neuroscience Lab Course

Course-based research can promote the development of scientific skills and improve understanding of the scientific method. However, these types of inquiry-based research experiences can be challenging to implement with online courses. I therefore designed a course-based undergraduate research experience suitable for an asynchronous online lab course in Biopsychology. Students in two online courses in Behavioral Neuroscience proposed and completed a study using a smartphone-based app that measures heart rate variability (HRV). Students developed background context on HRV as an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity. Then, students proposed an experiment to examine the effectiveness of a stress reduction intervention. Students measured HRV and subjective mood and stress before and after the intervention. Students summarized their project outcomes in a presentation. Student feedback regarding their engagement throughout the project was positive. In terms of student learning, students increased their agreement with statements reflecting mastery of one course learning outcome from the start to the end of the course. They also reported that the research project, including use of the HRV measurement app, was on average very important in learning about each of the learning outcomes. This project allows students in asynchronous online biopsychology courses to benefit from inquiry-based research.