North Carolina State University
Students and professors in NCSU's Biotechnology program use Lucidchart to easily create diagrams that capture the complex ideas taught in Metagenomics and Bioethics classes.
Key benefits
- CREATE
- Dr. Goller's students rely on Lucidchart to easily create mind maps and flowcharts to explain complex ideas taught in his Metagenomics and Bioethics classes.
- COLLABORATE
- Students are able to collaborate in real time on the diagrams they create without slowing their overall workflow process.
- INTEGRATE
- Lucidchart's G Suite integration fits into the biotechnology program's existing ecosystem.
SIZE: Large (2501+ employees)
North Carolina State University has more than 34,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff. The university is known for its leadership in education and research and globally recognized for its science, technology, engineering and mathematics leadership.
Professors at North Carolina State University were searching for ways to encourage students to think carefully about the ethical dilemmas involved in biotechnology processes. They needed a user-friendly diagramming solution to supplement the biotechnology program, and it was essential that this tool allow for collaboration. Since the program already used Google services, professors hoped to find a solution that could integrate with G Suite.
Their search concluded when they found Lucidchart.
Carlos Goller, a Teaching Postdoctoral Associate at NCSU, explains:
“I was looking for a resource that would allow students to easily create quality mind maps and flow charts in a collaborative environment. Lucidchart ties in to our G Suite system at NCSU and was easy to use.”
Intrigued by the possibilities, Dr. Goller chose to use Lucidchart’s free education accounts for two of his classes: Metagenomics and Bioethics. Each class had different diagramming needs. Bioethics students are required to make mind maps that succinctly presented the complex factors inherent in biotechnology ethics. Lucidchart turned out to be an excellent fit, since it offers time-saving features such as keyboard shortcuts, auto-layout options, and text import and export. Students in Metagenomics need to create flowcharts demonstrating which bioinformatics processes are used to analyze relevant sequencing data—a challenging assignment made possible by Lucidchart’s drag-and-drop technology and flowchart shape library.
In both of his classes, Dr. Goller hoped for a creative collaboration process that didn’t slow down his students’ workflow. Lucidchart made such a process possible, allowing students to work on the same documents simultaneously and communicate about processes in real time.
Students appreciate the product for its intuitive nature and proven usefulness. One student even described it as changing his overall views on the value of diagramming.
“It actually did help me look at the big picture of the procedure and see the workflow overall. I have trouble summarizing things and the flow chart forced me to try to do that. […] I used to have flow charts grouped in the same level of organizational hell as Venn diagrams, but I honestly have been convinced otherwise.”
Dr. Goller's students are constantly learning new and challenging topics, but Lucidchart helps them simplify the complex, one flowchart at a time.