Building a Dmu E-Biology Resource for Health Sciences’ Students

Pena-Fernandez, A.; Sgamma, Tiziana; Young, Chris; Randles, Michael J.; Águila, C. del; Hurtado, Catalina Jiménez; Evans, Mark D.; Potiwat, N.; Izquierdo, F.; Peña, Marta; Coope, Jonathan; Armstrong, Michael; Bhambra, Avninder S.

doi:10.21125/iceri.2017.0498

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Surprisingly, some participants indicated again the necessity of enhancing the support in the foundation knowledge of microbiology and parasitology delivered in this module despite the significant changes implemented in the syllabus (Table 1). To try to resolve this and to facilitate transition from school/college to university, we will create a series of e-learning units on the foundations of these scientific disciplines that will be covered between the DMU e-Parasitology [4] and the future DMU e-Biology [5] websites.…”

Section: Figure 1 Student Satisfaction (%) For Basic Microbiology Pementioning

confidence: 99%

Additional Curriculum Modifications for Enhancing the Teaching of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases at an English University

Pena-Fernandez¹,

Agudo²,

Peña³

2018

EDULEARN Proceedings

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Our teaching innovation group is committed to increasing and enhancing the teaching of parasitology, as recent surveys show an alarming decrease in the teaching of this subject in human health degrees despite recent outbreaks threatening public health in Europe that have involved emerging parasites. Since 2016/17, we have started to perform a series of curriculum modifications in the BSc Biomedical Science (BMS) programme at De Montfort University (DMU, UK), following the subject-specific threshold standards described by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, 2015) [1]. These modifications targeted specifically two modules from this Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) accredited programme: Basic Microbiology for Biomedical Science (level 4) and Medical Microbiology (level 6). We performed detailed analysis and evaluation of the impact of these preliminary changes on our students, which have been described in Peña-Fernández et al. (2017) [2]. Briefly, students highlighted high levels of engagement in both modules. The most notable improvement was detected in the Basic Microbiology module that showed an increase of 44% in the students' satisfaction from 20% in 2015/16 to 64% in 2016/17; and a reduction in the dissatisfaction from 20% to 7.4% in Medical Microbiology. We have performed further curriculum modifications following students' feedback and current pedagogic research undertaken by our international teaching innovation group. Thus, we have tackled and introduced new lectures in our Basic Microbiology level 4 module to describe better the differences between bacteria and the characteristics of parasites and viruses. A new lecture about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been included following the detection of a lack of knowledge of preventative measures (HIV chemoprophylaxis including pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis and HIV screening) and transmission (risk behaviours) in a novel training session offered to second year BMedSci Medical Science students in 2016/17. Finally, we have introduced a new workshop session in which students completed a virtual clinical case study from the novel teaching and learning resource DMU e-Parasitology (these resources are publicly available at: http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/learn /case-studies.htm). Two workshops have been created and introduced in these two BMS modules and we have followed previous successful experiences creating and introducing novel research-led workshops in human health undergraduate degrees. Finally, we are also creating an on-line resource for the teaching and learning of HIV in collaboration with the University of San Pablo CEU (Spain), which will be accessible on the DMU website by the end of 2018. A more detailed description of the curriculum modifications implemented in this academic course 2017/18 are provided in this paper in conjunction with an analysis of students' impressions that will be collected in the final module level feedback for each module through the online resource Blackboard.

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Section: Figure 1 Student Satisfaction (%) For Basic Microbiology Pementioning

confidence: 99%

Additional Curriculum Modifications for Enhancing the Teaching of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases at an English University

Pena-Fernandez¹,

Agudo²,

Peña³

2018

EDULEARN Proceedings

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“…The DMU e-Biology package has the same sections/modules as the DMU e-Parasitology, which aim to provide the user with a holistic experience in the study and learning of general biology, basic chemistry and microbiology, cell and histology and biochemistry. A preliminary description of the future DMU e-Biology and the methods and resources that we are following for its development are described in Peña-Fernández et al (2017) [11]. The sections that are closest to completion are the theoretical module ( Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Libraries of Tissue and Clinical Samples: Potential Role of a 3-D Microscope

Izquierdo¹,

Acosta²,

Magnet³

et al. 2019

INTED2019 Proceedings

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“…BSc Biomedical Science (BMS) and BMedSci Medical Science (BMedSci), we are leading an international innovation teaching project started to develop a complete package for teaching and learning biology, named DMU e-Biology. This project started in the summer of 2017, and a preliminary description of the methods and scaffolding used has been previously described by our team in Peña-Fernández et al (2017) [3]. Here, briefly, DMU e-Biology is designed to enhance learning and underpin the fundamental concepts of biology and related sciences, by covering the specifications for AS and A level (AQA, 2017 [4]) as well as the basic biology concepts delivered in our clinical science programmes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Table 1. Core content of the theoretical units of the future DMU e-Biology (adapted from Peña-Fernández et al, 2017 [3]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Histology Resources for Promoting Blended Learning

Pena-Fernandez¹,

Ramos²,

Young³

et al. 2018

ICERI2018 Proceedings

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Human health courses at universities are facing different challenges to provide students with real laboratory experiences due to the combination of large course cohorts with a shortage of academic staff, resources and time. Future health professionals are encouraged to have a complete understanding of human anatomy and histology as well as to have some pathology and diagnostic skills including the necessary skills to use a microscope. However, students often find learning histology challenging as they usually need to learn how to use a microscope in a limited time during a practical timetabled with several peers, in which they are also required to undertake other activities such as tissue embedding, cutting and staining. To address these factors, different web-based resources have been made available to enhance learning of anatomy and histology, however they are directed to medical students so their use by non-medical students (e.g. pharmacy, biomedical science, nursing, etc.) is limited due to their complexity. As a result, De Montfort University (DMU, UK) is leading an international project to develop an on-line package for teaching and learning biology, named DMU e-Biology, which will cover not only the foundation but also the latest scientific knowledge on human biology. This novel resource is also equipped with a Virtual Microscope and a Virtual Laboratory. The Virtual Laboratory will present different subsections with a range of units regarding biomedical techniques and equipment, which will be developed following previous successful experience from the team. Units will be highly engaging and will contain short videos of academics and/or technicians working hands-on with equipment and/or techniques to bring the laboratory to the student's house. Videos will be enhanced with audio and subtitles in English and the user will be able to complete a series of voluntary self-assessments throughout each unit to enhance engagement and provide the user with tools to evaluate their acquisition of knowledge. A subsection will cover all the elements to perform routine histological techniques in a biomedical laboratory, including the use and practicalities of the microtome, how to perform paraffin embedding and tissue sampling, and common staining techniques such as haematoxylin & eosin (H&E) and periodic acid-Schiff stain (PAS). The histology section will be publicly available from the DMU website in late 2018 here http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/ebiology/ biologyLaboratory_units.htm.Additionally, this resource is supported by a virtual microscope in which the user will be able to explore a library of virtual histological slides from different human tissues and organs; the virtual microscope will transfer the practicalities of a microscope to study human histology. These resources will be tested with first year BSc Biomedical Science and BMedSci Medical Science students enrolled in the module Basic Anatomy and Physiology at DMU by implementing blended learning, i.e. a pedagogy that integrates e-learning resources and mate...

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Building a Dmu E-Biology Resource for Health Sciences’ Students

Cited by 3 publications

References 4 publications

Additional Curriculum Modifications for Enhancing the Teaching of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases at an English University

Additional Curriculum Modifications for Enhancing the Teaching of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases at an English University

Virtual Libraries of Tissue and Clinical Samples: Potential Role of a 3-D Microscope

Histology Resources for Promoting Blended Learning

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