Teaching Development Grants
Completed TDG Projects

IT in the Curriculum and E-learning

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).

Principal Investigator

Dr. N.S. Wong, School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of MedicineContact

Project level

Programme-level project

Project Completion

September 2016

Deliverables

Currently a total of 15 short videos are produced on the area of lipid metabolism.

  1. Rationalizing lipid metabolism: identification of core issues Download
  2. The design of lipid metabolism has much to do with the solubility of lipids! Download
  3. To dissolve or not to dissolve: favorable versus unfavorable interactions Download
  4. What does it take to disperse lipid molecules in a water medium?
  5. Benefiting from the “character” of lipids: the reserving of energy
  6. Benefiting from the “character” of lipids: the gaining of a physical form
  7. Lipids are continuously needed by cells
  8. The complexity involved in the utilization of lipids
  9. Getting triacylglycerol (TG) from external sources
  10. The extraction and disassembly of dietary triacylglycerol molecules
  11. Packaging dietary triacylglycerol for the purpose of transport and delivery Download
  12. Unloading the triacylglycerol cargo
  13. From triacylglycerol to cholesterol Download
  14. Triacylglycerol and cholesterol need each other
  15. Using cholesterol safely: how?