IMPLEMENTING LECTURE TOOLS IN PHA 621-

THE PRINCIPLES OF DRUG ACTION:

A Summary of an Analytics & Technologies Grant

M.T. Piascik

Professor and Director of Education

Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional

Sciences

Background

NHLBI and AHA funded academic scientist

for 30 years

Took on a greater role in teaching in 2008

with little experience in educational

technology

THE KEY INSTRUCTORS

Robert Hadley, Pharmacokinetics Hollie Swanson, Course Co-Director,

Student Presentations

STUDENT POPULATION of

PHA 621 Average course size is 8-12 students

In addition to graduate students from Nutritional Sciences and Pharmacology, we routinely enroll students from such diverse areas as:

Anatomy and Neurobiology

Biomedical Engineering

Pharmacy

Physiology

Psychology

Toxicology

CONTENT

Course discusses factors governing drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion and how these processes ultimately determine the action of drugs-Pharmacokinetics

Discusses the interaction of drugs with pharmacologic receptors and the coupling of these receptors to intracellular signaling cascades-Pharmacodynamics

CONTENT

Student can use these concepts to gain a

better understanding of the therapeutic

action of drugs.

Information is intended to be integrated

with other disciplines, including anatomy,

biochemistry, physiology, psychology and molecular biology.

WHY LECTURE TOOLS?

Allows students to work through problems to reinforce pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic principles.

Allows instructors to quickly assess student comprehension with assessment questions embedded within the lecture.

Allows students to ask questions and request clarification of vital points as the lecture progresses.

CHALLENGES to

IMPLEMENTATION

The inertia of attempting something new

The challenges to a “technodummy” to

learn new software.

Bottom-line: If you can use PowerPoint

and/or Turning Point, you can use Lecture

Tools

IMPLEMENTATION

There has always been a major emphasis

on active learning and student

participation in PHA 621.

In 2013 we decided to incorporate the

Lecture Tools platform to facilitate the

delivery of PHA 621 content.

IMPLEMENTATION

how to from the podium side

In creating your presentation, decide where and

how to use LectureTools to create an interactive

presentation.

The platform allows for a variety of assessment

types.

In addition, the instructor control panel allows

viewing of student questions submitted during

the lecture.

Student responses can be accessed for grading

IMPLEMENTATION

how to from the podium side

Create a lecture presentation in Power

Point

Import into LectureTools

Students can access LectureTools via

Blackboard

LectureTools does not play well with

Internet Explorer

IMPLEMENTATION

how to from the podium side

Actual presentation was projected in the

classroom.

Instructor-control panel displaying student

responses and questions was viewed on a

separate computer screen.

Viewing of student responses can be done

by the individual instructor, another

instructor or teaching assistant.

IMPLEMENTATION

from the student side

Students were given a tutorial by members

of the College of Medicine IT staff

Each student was expected to make a

formal presentation on a given receptor or

signaling system and the interaction of

drugs with these systems.

IMPLEMENTATION

from the student side

Gives the student experience in

researching a topic in-depth, preparing

and then delivering a presentation of

significant (30-40 min) length.

Knowledge of the Lecture Tools platform

will enhance the graduate students’

professional development by introducing

them to a novel pedagogical tool.

VERSATILITY OF ASSESSMENT

TYPES

in LECTURE TOOLS

EXAMPLES

of

ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT-student comments

ASSESSMENT-From Lecture

Tools

ASSESSMENT-student comments 1. In many classes, I don’t like to ask or answer

questions. With Lecture Tools, I had an opportunity to participate. It also allowed for different types of questions to be asked. Perhaps its use could be improved by limiting the time on questions.

2. I liked it, but it required questions to be typed. It had a number of good options and allowed you to put your lecture on your iPad and draw on it. I could also see using it for seminars.

3. I liked it, but the length of time that it took for the students to address the questions was too long.

LESSONS LEARNED

Student response time is highly dependent

on the speed of the internet connection

Planning is critical

Editing of slides in Lecture Tools is difficult

NEXT YEAR

Expand Lecture Tools to be a larger component of PHA 621. This will include:

A more knowledgeable approach to the deployment of Lecture Tools

Blending it’s use with online lectures

Helping other faculty to develop Lecture Tools based presentations

Expand into other departmental courses including those to medical and dental students.

THANK YOU !

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF

STUDENT ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT

student comments

It was difficult for me to obtain or bring a

Lecture Tools-compatible digital device to

this class.

5/9 Strongly Disagree

4/9 Disagree

ASSESSMENT-student comments

ASSESSMENT-student comments

ASSESSMENT-student

comments

Overall, what effect has in-class use of a

digital device had on learning in this class?

3/9 strongly positive

5/9 positive

1/9 neutral or no effect

ASSESSMENT-student

comments

4. I didn’t like it, it wasted too much time.

Every presenter should have an allowed

maximum number of questions.

5. I liked it better than clickers. The

students seemed more focused. It would

be good if we could use animations on it.

ASSESSMENT-student

comments

6. I liked it. It would be especially useful in larger

classes to help keep us engaged and to make

sure that everyone is on the same page. It

seemed to be glitchy with some questions.

7. The slide size it small as is the printable

version. Is there a recording option?

8. I liked LectureTools especially the note taking

part. There did seem to be technical glitches.