A Blended Approach to Improve the Teaching of Metabolism to Undergraduate Medical and Related Curricula – the Establishment of an E-learning Resource

Abstract

Metabolism is an important basic science topic taught in the early part of the curriculum of many professional healthcare undergraduate programs. The intended major objectives of teaching are to enable students to see how knowledge of metabolism could help understanding clinical cases, and secondly the acquisition of the ability to communicate the relevant knowledge to patients, for the purpose of patient self-care. The aim of this project is to investigate how the above teaching objectives could be better realised with the use of e-learning technologies. An audiovisual approach is adopted to facilitate comprehension of abstract ideas of metabolic processes. Short videos amply illustrated with thought provoking artworks and animations are produced. These videos form a resource platform to support deep learning processes as triggered by problem-based tutorials and flipped classrooms. The construction of these videos has enabled the testing of an interesting idea whether the teaching and learning of metabolism by students of various programs across the university could take place in a common setting. Students will then have the opportunities to discuss with each other to discover the significance of this basic science subject in different perspectives (as clinical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and basic scientists).

Deliverables