Experiences with virtual learning over the past three years

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Experiences with virtual learning over the past
three years
Ewen MacDonald Department of Pharmacology Toxic
ology University of Kuopio Talk to Finnish Pha
rmacology Society
Kuopio 24th October 2003
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Experiences with virtual learning over the past
three years

• Part 1 incorporation of simulations into a
  pharmacology method course
  
• The course is methods in in vitro pharmacology
  for 4th year pharmacy students and consists of
  
• 10 lectures
• 4 wet-lab experiments (nuclear receptors POP
  enzyme assay catecholamine assay by fluorometry
  pA2 values in isolated rat uterus preparation)
  
• 3 computer simulation days (many experiments)
• The entire course is 2 study weeks ( 3 ECTS)

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In vitro pharmacology course

• Simulations are arranged after the lectures but
  before the wet lab exercises
  
• Some simulation exercises exactly follow the old
  laboratory schedules
  
• e.g. determination of pA2 values with the guinea
  pig ileum determination of affinity for
  alpha-2-receptors with vas deferens

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In vitro pharmacology course

• Other simulations are more complicated and would
  be beyond the capabilities of students (or even
  their instructors)
  
• determination of alpha2/alpha1-selectivity ratio
  in vas deferens
  
• determination of unknown compound chosen by the
  programme
  

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Guinea pig ileum preparation

• This simulation was designed in University of
  Strathclyde, Scotland by Dr. Chris Prior.
  
• Later in the course we will do the actual
  experiment using acetylcholine as the agonist
  and atropine as the antagonist
  
• This can be viewed as a practice run for that
  exercise.

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Guinea pig ileum preparation
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Guinea pig ileum preparation
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Guinea pig ileum preparation
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Guinea pig ileum preparation

• Advantages
• Its free of charge (http//www.strath.ac.uk/Depar
  tments/PhysPharm/)
  
• Its simple to use
• Results as traces or in tabular form
• It is an excellent introduction to simulated
  experiments

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Guinea pig ileum preparation

• Disadvantages
• Limited number of choices agonists are either
  acetylcholine or histamine antagonists are
  atropine or mepyramine.
  
• It is not very realistic

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Other virtual preparations used

• Hemi-diaphragm
• Vas deferens
• These are prepared by Dr. Ian Hughes (University
  of Leeds)
  
• They can be purchased for a reasonable charge
  (about 420)
  
• Each preparation is used for 2 three hour sessions

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Other virtual preparations

• The phrenic nerve - hemidiaphragm computer
  simulation
  

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Other virtual preparations
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Other virtual preparations
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Other virtual preparations
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Other virtual preparations

• Advantages
• They are VERY flexible
• There are many drugs which can be examined
• They are realistic (e.g. if student makes a
  mistake, the preparation will die)
  
• They are quite well liked by the students

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Other virtual preparations

• Disadvantages
• They are not so popular as the actual
  preparations
  
• The PIDATA simulations do not let the students
  print out their results in tabular form
  students have to estimate values from screen
  
• Moving back through the trace is clumsy
• They do cost something (though in my opinion they
  are good value for money)

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Information on computer programmessuitable for
pharmacology courseshttp//www.eurca.org
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Web-based teaching
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Web-based teaching

• Course aims
• To teach students how to use the Internet
• To teach a critical approach to web-based
  information
  
• To revise basic pharmacology and toxicology
  through teaching material found on the web
  
• Course is 1 study credit ( 1.5 ECTSs)
• Course consists of 12 exercises

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Pharmacology on the Internet

• Exercises
• Introduction to the Internet
• Searching for information
• Information for experts and the lay public
• The use of Medline
• Patent data bases (Prous Molecule of the
  Month)
  
• Drug Digest (site proposed by student in 2002
  version of the course)
  
• Toxicology revision (US NIH site)

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Pharmacology on the Internet
Exercises 8) New anticancer drugs (drugs in clini
cal trials) 9) Molecule of the month (Bristol sit
e) 10) Unreliable data (Smartdrugs.com deprenyl
for eternal life) 11) Web-surfing (students are
asked to propose a site to be included in the
next years course) 12) Course evaluation pre/p
ost-course opinions anonymous critique
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Pharmacology on the Internet

• Student attitudes positive responses
• This is the most interesting course that I have
  taken so far. I really cant think of any way it
  could be improved
  
• I was initially panicking a bit over how much
  time this course would take, but I was surprised
  how little time I actually needed to do each
  exercise. I thought I would be stuck in front of
  the computer all day and was expecing a more
  difficult course. But this was a pleasant
  surprise!!!

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Pharmacology on the Internet

• Student attitudes constructive criticism
• - Some of the English texts were difficult,
  but by keeping at it, it gets a bit easier
  
• Suggestions for improvements more Finnish
  text!!!
  
• I would have liked to have had more Finnish
  pages, but I suppose I have learned a little more
  English. The exercises with the multiple choice
  questions were fun
• If it were possible to have more Finnish pages it
  would make the course more stimulating

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Web-CT advantages

• Platform is ready, reasonably flexible
• Web-based teaching is the in thing
• It is a way of teaching students the advantages
  and disadvantages of web-based material
  
• Can be corrected anywhere and anytime
• It is fun to do

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Web-CT disadvantages

• It is reasonably time-consuming
• Each year it requires an extensive revision to
  keep it up-to-date
  
• Web-CT is not perfect
• Programming assistance is really essential for
  people who are not computer-literate
  
• What happens when the novelty wears off?