AT&T Fellows Final Report: S.P. Srivivas

AT&T Fellows Final Reports

March 2005

Name	S. P. Srinivas
Title	Associate Professor
Department	School of Optometry
Campus	IUB
Project Title	Resources for Problem Based Learning in Pharmacology
Project Goal	To develop case studies suitable for PBL in Systemic and Ocular Pharmacology To develop power point slides and pharmacokinetics simulator for teaching Systemic and Ocular Pharmacology.
Type of Technology Used in the Project	Power Point Presentation, C Programming, Java Programming.

Executive Summary of Results

We have developed course material to teach systemic and ocular pharmacology to students of optometry. The material consists of power point slides and case studies for PBL. We also developed computer programs to simulate pharmacokinetics in C and Java. The same technology was also used to develop computer aided quizzes. These resources have used been used for the past two years with substantial success. The development of the Power Point slides and multiple choice questions were especially appreciated by the students. Twelve students also took part in preliminary PBL case studies. The department has also instituted a PBL course in its new curriculum.

Need for the Project

Problem Based Learning (PBL) promotes “active learning” through direct interaction with a peer group and the study material. This form of learning is known to facilitate acquisition of skills in oral communication, critical thinking, cooperative problem-solving, and real-time thinking amongst the students. In a clinical setting, into which students enter immediately following their courses in systemic/ocular pharmacology, these skills are absolutely essential. Our objective was to develop resources to set up PBL classes to run in parallel with traditional classroom lectures.

Use of Technology

A large number of Power Point slides for the lectures were developed and routinely handed out to students in the form of CD or hardcopy. Several slides were devoted to describing clinical vignettes. Pharmacokinetics simulators were used to illustrate compartmental modeling for systemic and topic drug administration.

Instructional Design Plan

The development of resources for PBL and classroom lectures has helped me in enhancing the depth of the material being presented in the classroom. With extensive coverage on important topics such as adverse drug reactions, glaucoma, and glucocorticoids, I believe that the students can take up professional licensing examinations with much more confidence.

I secured substantial help from the computer support center within the department.

The material is being made available to everyone interested. I believe that my lecture plans and slides are easily reproducible for other subject areas, especially systemic and ocular physiology.

Potential to Impact Student Learning

Resources that have been developed are focused on high-yield topics relevant for professional licensing examinations. Unlike typical textbooks, the material goes to the heart of the subject matter quickly and is easily updated. Students can also easily reorganize the matter and can see the slides as shown during the lectures. I could give many review lectures easily. Likewise, students could also review the slides very rapidly for their mid-term and final examinations.

PBL case studies developed so far will also be put to use in the revised curriculum.

Assessment Plan

Since the development of the resources for the lecture in the form of power point slides and case studies, I have been successful in obtaining very positive remarks from students and my peers. Performance of students in their professional examinations has also improved.

Plan for Colleague Development

I believe that the resources developed during this project can be duplicated for systemic and ocular physiology. I am developing the latter for teaching opportunities in the graduate program for vision sciences.

Final Comments on Project Results

I could easily accomplish specific aim #2. Specific aim #1 is relatively incomplete and requires significantly more time. However, it appears possible to eventually achieve goals of specific aim #1 as a new PBL-based course on Systems Approach to Biomedical Sciences has been introduced into the optometry curriculum.

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