Submission Number: BLA-4-323-143

Abstract Number: 1

UTILIZATION OF DAGE/SONY DIGITAL IMAGES, COURSEINFO, AND SMART BOARD IT TO DELIVER MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY FOR UNDERGRADUATES.

Blake Whitaker* and Lynn Hannum

Lewiston-Auburn College, University of Southern Maine, Lewiston, Maine, USA. ¹

Abstract:
While a textbook remains the fundamental reference source for many college-level science courses, the availability of digital and Web-based sources of information is making paper-based resources cumbersome. We have gradually integrated a series of digital information technology resources into our sophomore level medical microbiology course over the past three years. This course is designed to serve Natural & Applied Science majors which include pre-medical, pre-veterinary, and pre-allied health students along with a large cohort of nursing students. The first step in this process was to make class notes and sample examinations available at the course Website. The Website is restricted by password to the instructors and only those students enrolled in the course. We next added illustrations from the required course text plus limited materials produced at Lewiston-Auburn College. This year we have moved to supporting the Website with the CourseInfoTM software package that allows for class and individual student restricted access to information such as grades, E-mail addresses, a conference board, and a "chat" room. The CourseInfoTM software package allows for tracking of the usage of each feature. We have now added Dage/Sony captured digital images from the laboratory materials to the Website to enhance the laboratory component of the course. Finally, class meetings are conducted using the Web site as a source for class notes that are projected on the SMART BoardTM. SMART BoardTM technology transforms the usual whiteboard into a touch sensitive screen that not only facilitates navigation of the Website but also provides the option to capture annotations made to the course notes/illustrations during the class meeting. In this manner, all students have access to the class notes as they were produced during the lecture. This feature has been extremely useful in preserving detailed classroom explanations of items such as cell structure, biochemical pathways, chemotherapeutic strategies, and mechanisms of pathogenesis. With all these IT resources in place, our medical microbiology course has become very fluid and dynamic in terms of content and presentation. Student reaction to the course is assessed by regular and supplemental student surveys. Student response has been overwhelmingly positive and a performance gap reflected in a bimodal grade distribution has been minimized. .

Keywords: microbiology, Website, digital resources, CourseInfo

This abstract is being presented at: 8:00 AM in session:
EDUCATIONAL/MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS