MedChemBlog: An Innovative Distance Learning Experience for Teaching Medicinal Chemistry

Abstract

A qualified teaching method is hard to achieve without traditional classroom lessons. For learning purposes, students need to interact and influence each other, like being part of an osmotic process. They need to learn in a stimulating environment, developing the ability to manage conflicts and to compare opinions. How can this be possible during a pandemic? In an innovative distance learning experiment, students have been involved in significant changes to traditional teaching methods, forced to reinvent themselves and give up face-to-face interactions. General Medicinal Chemistry and Medicinal and Toxicological Chemistry I courses at Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro (UMG) accepted the pandemic call for challenge by renewing their teaching approach, trying to re-establish the sense of community jeopardized by distance learning. Students have been involved in the creation of a multimedia tool, called "MedChemBlog", an innovative distance learning experiment. The aim was to improve the understanding of the chemical structures and drug molecular mechanisms of action, in a unique constructive fashion provided by scientific websites and databases, e.g., Protein Data Bank, DrugBank, and PubChem. In this way, students have been involved in the creation of the course's blog, their "MedChemBlog", revealed as a collector of "food for thought" for present and future students.

PLATA: Design of an Online Platform for Chemistry Undergraduate Fully Automated Assignments

“…The significance of homework for learning chemistry has been established in both traditional and flipped classrooms, emphasizing the importance of practice in the learning process. − At Facultad de Química at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, student enrollment has largely increased in the past semesters, welcoming more than 1,650 students per year. Even though students are enrolled in one of the 6 college majors offered by the Facultad de Química (Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biological Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Food Chemistry, Metallurgical Chemical Engineering, and Materials and Chemical Engineering), first-year students have several common courses, such as General Chemistry I and II.…”

“…In science courses, the use of open educational resources (OER) and virtual learning environments (VLE), particularly those based on Moodle , has already proven to be an interesting and valuable instrument for educators. In general, the implementation of OER and VLE has been shown to enhance students’ performance in final term exams, reduce the number of drop-off students, foster great awareness on their learning process, and promote self-sustained learning. ,− Importantly, open educational resources, especially those on chemistry topics, are not readily available in Spanish. The development of automated chemistry assignments in contrast to mathematics or physics homework, is substantially more intricate, especially when teachers aim to avoid multiple-choice questions. ,− While mathematics or physics homework can be programmed by varying only numerical values, resulting in a practically infinite database in a short time, chemistry needs to consider the vast yet finite universe of existing molecules, compounds, and reactions along with the imposed restrictions.…”

Research on the reform of the modularized curriculum of “Cultivation Technology of Northern Taoist Medicinal Herbs” in the context of the new version of GAP

“…As a core course for the cultivation and processing of medicinal plants, the traditional teaching methods (e.g., lecture, demonstration, single-skill operation, visit, etc.) can not adapt to the current situation of the industry and the development of the needs of the industry, so it is particularly important to train the students for the post competence of the industry and enterprises under the new situation of the development of the production industry of the herbs [17][18].…”

Engaging Students through Active Learning Strategies in a Medicinal Chemistry Course

“…13,5 In addition, work by Singhal has shown that use of advanced Zoom features in a virtual medicinal chemistry course during the pandemic facilitated effective student interactions while work by Panzarella et al has shown that use of a blog can be an effective tool in teaching medicinal chemistry during the pandemic. 14,15 As a result, we revamped the teaching strategy for medicinal chemistry in the Fall 2022 semester by incorporation of active learning sessions in the classroom. The overall goal of this study was to determine student perceptions of the effectiveness of active learning strategies in this medicinal chemistry classroom and to obtain feedback on the helpful features and the associated challenges associated with its implementation.…”

“…Student engagement is an important component of an effective teaching strategy and promotes attainment of learning outcomes. ,, Previous studies have shown that active learning has a positive influence in student engagement in an introductory biology as well as a biochemistry course. , In addition, work by Singhal has shown that use of advanced Zoom features in a virtual medicinal chemistry course during the pandemic facilitated effective student interactions while work by Panzarella et al has shown that use of a blog can be an effective tool in teaching medicinal chemistry during the pandemic. , …”