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Dr. Melissa Harrington, Biology, Morehouse
stated, "I found the Teaching with Technology class extremely valuable,
and this experience will take my teaching into new directions. I
was really impressed with the workshop on case-based learning and
I plan to develop and incorporate cases into the two classes in
which I currently teach Ð a junior/senior level Principles of Neurobiology
course for biology majors, and a Mind and Brain class open to all
majors."
During the class she developed a case on eyewitness
memory and put it on the web in a Blackboard site. To do the case
study, the students will begin by developing a position paper for
a role-playing exercise that will get them started researching the
topic. They will then take an eyewitness memory test that is available
on-line at the web site of Dr. Gary Wells, an expert on eyewitness
memory. During the lab sections of the class, the students will
perform two memory experiments in which they induce the formation
of false memories in their test-subject colleagues. The rate of
false memory formation will be measured and documented, and the
results written up in a lab report. Finally, the students will perform
a memory experiment on their own by comparing their own memories
of a childhood event with the recollections of their relatives for
that same event.
The way the case is set up now, the students read
the case on the web at the course Blackboard site, and then complete
four exercises over four weeks. The instructions for the exercises,
and relevant web site links are all available on the Blackboard
site. The lab experiments, in-class discussion and role-playing
debate complement these out-of-class exercises. In addition, lecture
topics for the weeks during the case study will focus on the cellular
and molecular basis of learning and memory, so that the required
content of the class is not short-changed. This case could be used
in both the majors neurobiology and the non-majors "Mind and Brain"
courses with the level of the lectures targeted to the level of
the students.
She will pilot the case study using BlackBoard, but
will develop a stand-alone website with site management tools that
allow students to submit their work on-line to be read by other
students. "I would also like to set up the case so that students
would not be able access to the next exercise until they had submitted
their work for the previous exercise. I would welcome an opportunity
to take another class focused on developing that type of system."
states Melissa. Since Dr. Preetha Ram and Dr. Paul Lennard have
taken two different approaches to this kind of structured case approach,
we may be able to assist.
Melissa is planning on developing another case study
on addictive Drugs this summer. This case will also involve role-playing
exercises where students take on the roles of various stake-holders,
e.g. law enforcement, community activist, drug-treatment expert,
etc. Lecture topics during the case study would focus on neuronal
signaling and the mechanism of action of psychoactive drugs. Associated
student labs might include experiments involving nicotine and caffeine
and using mice as subjects. Melissa's ambitious plans for the future
include developing one new case study per year in order to create
a virtual library of cases that can be disseminated.
"This teaching with technology class has been
one of the most valuable experiences for improving my teaching I
have ever had. It will change the way I teach for years to come."
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