Which is more important for universities and colleges-Teaching or Research?

In universities here, research is the main criterion for appointment as well as promotion and  good researchers generally pay less attention to teaching. However, I feel one cannot remain abreast with recent developments in the field without being involved in research and the teaching will be very dogmatic. Also, only researchers can infuse a spirit of enquiry and innovation in their students.So, there is a need to balance the 2, not their separation. Quality of teaching must be an equal, if not more important, criterion for grading and promotion of teachers. What do you say?

The Telegraph - | Nation | Education boost by MCI

New proposals from MCI have eased norms for new medical colleges to give boost to medical education.
1. Only 10 acre land is required
2. Binary campus allowed where hospital is situated within 5 Kms from teaching block having preclinical departments like pharmacology.
3. Lesser no. of beds required in hospital
4. Govt. can open medical colleges associated with district hospitals
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation | Education boost by MCI

A Guide to the Alternatives to Animal Experimentation

Authors: Dr Syed Ziaur Rahman, MD, Dr Mohd Tariq Salman, MD
Publisher: Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences
1st Edition: 2009, ISBN 978-81-906070-8-7

We teach animal experimentation in all science disciplines. However, since it is now not possible to sacrifice and demonstrate the effects of drugs on animals in large numbers due to ethical considerations; we in medical colleges in India are either shifting or planning to move to alternatives of these experiments. Simulations of many conventional experiments through CAL are now available. "A Guide to the Alternatives to Animal Experimentation” helps students to handle these softwares and see the effects of drugs. This is a remarkable achievement as there is still no such specific guide available in India as far as I know. In the guide, softwares including ExPharm have all been explained very well.While the book by InterNICHE entitled "From guinea pig to computer mouse" is an excellent one meant for faculty and research scientists, this particular guide by Dr Rahman (and myself as co-author) is basically aimed at undergraduate students in pharmacology to help them use the freely available downloadable softwares such as ExPharm, Ep_Dog, Organ Bath Simulation and ReMe independently and learn the effects of drugs. When the students are themselves able handle the softwares (with an instructor nearby to troubleshoot), learning becomes so easy and interesting.

To get a copy please contact me.

Web 2.0 tools for Teaching

For teachers who are net-savvy, want to be on the cuttiong edge of new teaching methodologies and collaborative learning and are enthisiastic about developing their teaching skills in a new and dramatic way, this blog gines a description of Web 2.0 websites and webtools which have potential for use college and university teaching.
http://web20teach.blogspot.com/

Effective teaching: Make your teaching more interesting and enjoyable

Students usually learn best when they're motivated. Although you can't make someone learn, you can create an environment that supports and encourages learning success. Use an effective teaching style that allows people to participate in their learning. Find ways to emphasize the benefits of learning new skills, and make learning relevant to people's jobs. Encourage them to take control of their own learning, and allow them to set their own objectives. The more you develop motivation to learn, the more successful you'll probably be. Start today to recognize the value of learning, and see the many learning opportunities around you!

As well as increasing the motivation to learn, there are many ways to make your teaching sessions more interesting and enjoyable. These ideas can be used for formal lessons, or for spontaneous learning opportunities that present themselves.

You can help the learning process by doing the following:

• Use pre-instruction questions - These can get students to think about why they should be learning this new skill, as well as to appreciate the benefits of learning.
  

• Use conceptual models - These are often a useful way for helping students to store and retrieve information. Mental models (which can be in the form of diagrams and charts) are often helpful for learning the details of a lesson.
  

• Vary the learning material - This will help you deal with the different ways in which people learn. You can vary your material for different learning styles as follows:
  
  

  • Visual Learners - Charts, graphs, or images are useful for representing the information being conveyed, as well as information in books or reports.
    

  • Auditory Learners - Lectures, presentations, and group discussions help auditory learners 'talk through' what's being presented.
    

  • Kinesthetic Learners - These learners like hands-on practice that's either real or simulated.
    

  We all have our own preferred learning styles. If you provide as many different learning experiences as sensibly possible, you'll be more likely to connect with each learner.

• Group students together - Encourage learning and understanding by having students work together while learning the same skills. By helping one another, they can all reinforce what they're learning. Everyone in the group will then benefit from the strengths of the individual members.
  

• Provide opportunities for reflection and thinking - Learning journals are a popular and effective way for people to write down their thoughts about how the learning process itself has been helpful to their overall development.
  

• Actively review the lesson at the end - What progress did the students make, and what difficulties did they encounter? By revisiting the lesson, you have an opportunity to learn from the experience yourself - and hopefully figure out how to improve the content or approach next time. Reviews also give students opportunities to analyze their performance, and increase their commitment to continuous learning.
  

• Use all of your emotional intelligence and communication skills - This means establishing a connection with students, listening actively, using empathy where appropriate, being patient, and showing genuine interest in the students and in your teaching. Your attitude toward learning has a huge impact on the learners' attitudes, so make sure you're a good role model for continuous, active learning.

Effective teaching: Motivating students to learn

A useful model for motivating students is ARCS, which stands for 'Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.' This was developed by John Keller in 1983, and it's been used and validated by teachers and trainers across a wide range of learning environments - from universities to the military.

Here are the basic components of the ARCS model:

• Attention - Capture learners' attention at the start of the session, and maintain it throughout.
  
  

  • Ask learners questions to make them think about why they should learn the skill.
    

  • Use role-playing or other activities to show the importance of learning the skill.
    

  • Use specific examples, and ask learners to offer their own solutions, to stimulate their interest further.
    

• Relevance - Explain to learners how important the lesson is, and how it could benefit them.
  
  

  • Describe the benefits.
    

  • Relate the lesson to their current jobs and experiences. The learning materials, assignments, and projects should be applicable to their work, and to specific situations they face in their daily jobs.
    

  • Develop a connection between learning the skill and developing their careers. Discuss issues like increased satisfaction, better job, and increased patient satisfaction.
    

• Confidence - Tell learners what is expected of them.
  
  

  • Set clear objectives for the session, and check in regularly with learners to make sure they're not falling behind.
    

  • Design projects and lessons so that learners experience small successes along the way, before they completely master the skill.
    

  • Give learners enough time to practice skills, so that they'll be successful when they apply these skills to the job.
    

  • Make sure you're teaching at the right level. Learners can lack motivation if something is too difficult - or too easy.
    

  • Allow learners to have input into their learning by helping them create their own learning goals.
    

• Satisfaction - Reinforce successes and motivation.
  
  

  • Give lots of feedback. Make sure it's specific, timely, and relates to how learners can put the skill into practice on the job.
    

  • Recognize learners' successes. Appreciate often, and find ways to reward achievements.
    

  • Look at ways to increase motivation. Find out what learners are interested in and passionate about. And find ways to get learners to motivate one another as well.

  Source: MindTools
  

MEDICAL POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURE NOTES FREE DOWNLOAD

medicalppt.blogspot.com contains more than thousand Presentations and lecture notes in most fields of medicine. If you are going to prepare a seminar you can compare with multiple similar presentations given here, some times if you are busy you can use these slides as such without any modification or with slight modification.

There is multiple Presentations for each topic.The numbers in bracket indicate availability of other presentations for the same topic. Please give the authors the credit they deserve and do not change the author's name if you download the lecture. All the files uploaded here are collected from various websites.

A number of Pharmacology ppt presentations are available which can be accessed at http://medicalppt.blogspot.com/search/label/PHARMACOLOGY

Free online cources- Open CourseWare Consortium

An OpenCourseWare site...

• is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses.
• is available for use and adaptation under an open license.
• does not typically provide certification or access to instructors.

An OpenCourseWare is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware.

The Goals of the Consortium

• Extend the reach and impact of opencourseware by encouraging the adoption and adaptation of open educational materials around the world.
• Foster the development of additional opencourseware projects.
• Ensure the long-term sustainability of opencourseware projects by identifying ways to improve effectiveness and reduce costs

Find course materials by browsing individual OpenCourseWare sites or by searching across all courses. Unless otherwise noted, the links below are to English-language versions of the sites. Visit the following link http://www.ocwconsortium.org/use/use-dynamic.html

Some Myth related to learning -- their scientific basis??

Myth 1: You remember 10% of what you read, 20% of what you hear, 30% of what you see and 90% of what you do.

The findings can be traced to one D.G. Treichler, an employee of Mobil Oil Company, who put forth these figures in 1967.

However, the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science has laid claim to the figures, saying they are based on research in the early sixties and bizarrely adding that ‘we no longer have - nor can we find - the original research that supports the numbers’.

Though, there are many arguments against these figures, one that is most obvious is that all the percentages are perfectly round. What research into human behaviour ever resulted in four different round numbers?

Myth 2: In communication, only 7% of the meaning is conveyed through the speaker’s words, 55% through his facial expressions and the rest 38% through tone of voice.

The findings are attributed to research done by Mehrabian but, in reality, they are just a distorted version of what Mehrabian himself has to say on his website. He expresses the results of his research in the form of an equation:

Total liking = 7% verbal liking + 38% vocal liking + 55% facial liking

He explains that “this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e. like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable.”

Myth 3: We use 10% of our brain

Scientists have tried for years to change this misconception. They have clearly stated that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains. In fact it is very hard to say what using just 10% of your brain means.

It strains credulity to think that God would have permitted squandering of resources on a scale necessary to build and maintain such a massively underutilized organ.

Secondly, losing far less than 90 percent of the brain to accident or disease has catastrophic consequences. Various medical tests reveal that there does not seem to be any area of the brain that can be destroyed without leaving the patient with some kind of functional deficit.

Likewise, electrical stimulation of points in the brain during neurosurgery has failed so far to uncover any dormant areas where no percept, emotion or movement is elicited by applying these tiny currents.

Interactive Clinical Pharmacology

Given below is the link of an awesome site, having a number of simulations which helps in a clear understanding of the concepts of general pharmacology and its clinical implications in an interesting and interactive manner - a perfect tool for teaching general pharmacology to undergraduate students. Please visit it and give your comments.

http://www.icp.org.nz/index.htm

Developed in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Christchurch Hospital / School of Medicine, New Zealand

Purpose The site has been designed to increase understanding of important and sometimes difficult concepts and principles in Clinical Pharmacology. It is not intended to be comprehensive for all aspects of Clinical Pharmacology teaching. It has been developed using Macromedia Flash to enable user interaction.
Intended Users
	The site is for any student or practitioner requiring Clinical Pharmacology knowledge, e.g. undergraduate and post-graduate students in medicine, pharmacy and pharmacology. A basic understanding of physiology and pharmacology is assumed.
	Book
Much of the material in the site is based on a companion book which can be used with this site: Instant Clinical Pharmacology by Evan J Begg, Blackwell Publishing 2003, ISBN 1-4051-0275-6. Intellectual Property and Authorised Uses The Intellectual Property for ICP resides with the developers listed above. The site is free for personal use. Anyone wishing to use the site, or any part thereof, for commercial, educational or other non-personal use must gain permission from the developers.

Free Pharmacology books

1) Katzung and Trevor's Pharmacology 6th Edition (Examination & Board Review Series (Appleton & Lange)) y Anthony J. Trevor, Bertram G. Katzung, Susan B. Masters DJVU Format 11.6 MB  http://rapidshare.com/files/62688325...th_Ed.rar.html
or http://mihd.net/d3mp9u
2) Basic & Clinical Pharmacology (KATZUNG) 10TH EDITION
http://www.mediafire.com/?0v9b3qdtdrj
3) Medical Pharmacology at a Glance. Blackwell Publishing Professional. Michael
http://mihd.net/osnqg1
4) Goodman & gillman's Pharmacological basis of Therapeutics. By Laurence Brunton, John Lazo, Keith Parker, Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
http://mihd.net/7o6fsm 
or http://rapidshare. com/files/ 487702...lman.chm. html.
5) Drug Facts And Comparisons 2007

http://rapidshare.com/files/611017/drug_facts_2007.rar
or http://mihd.net/e56rtu
 6) Pharmacology Recall
http://rapidshare.com/files/25851134...ll-bloodDR.rar
or http://mihd.net/cyo4hr
7) Poisoning & Drug Overdose, 5/e 2006. By Kent R. Olson. Publisher: McGraw-Hill Medica
http://rapidshare.com/files/46887221...ia.info__.html
or http://mihd.net/d9lfxv0/__b93144e__v...ia.info__.html
or http://rapidshare.com/files/11643675...ia.info__.html
or http://mihd.net/i4yxowc/__8b3144e__v...ia.info__.html
8) A to Z Drug Facts , 4th ed
http://rapidshare.com/files/43741319...Drug_Facts.rar 
or http://mihd.net/7ts8mc
9) The Goodman and Gilman Manual of Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2007
By Laurence Brunton, Donald Blumenthal, Iain Buxton, Keith Parker. Publisher: McGraw-Hill
 Professional
http://rapidshare.com/files/95128154/H027.rar
or http://www.filefactory.com/file/9dad...ia.info__.html
or http://mihd.net/05vj78b/__6b3144e__v...ia.info__.html 

Effective teaching and learning-The theory of multiple intelligences

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on IQ testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes several different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:
• Linguistic intelligence (word smart)

• Logical-mathematical intelligence (number/reasoning smart)

• Spatial intelligence (picture smart)

• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (body smart)

• Musical intelligence (music smart)

• Interpersonal intelligence (people smart)

• Intrapersonal intelligence (self smart)

• Naturalist intelligence (nature smart)

Let’s look at the eight intelligences and how training or learning methods can be matched against them.
Linguistic intelligence (word smart): Reference reading material, reference books, well scripted program handbooks.
Logical-mathematical intelligence (number/reasoning smart) Case studies, problem solving models & techniques, inventory/ questionnaire/ response form/ instrument evaluation & analysis.
Spatial intelligence (picture smart): Use of graphs, charts, pictures and diagrams.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (body smart): Role plays, projects, structured training games/activities.
Musical intelligence (music smart): Music with learning deliverable lyrics. Participants create musical learning summaries using popular tunes, leveraging nursery rhymes to advanced learning songs & anthems.
Interpersonal intelligence (people smart): Team exercises that need the identification and use of the varied resources of team members.
Intrapersonal intelligence (self smart): Presentations by participants on processed learning, role-reversals. Participants study and deliver (teach) selected modules in the program itself, participants are asked to create learning models/modules
Naturalist intelligence (nature smart): Learning from real world experiences, interpretations and guiding principles that emerge from such experiences.

Simulation softwares for teaching Pharmacology

A number of simulation softwares are available for teacing of pharmacology to students at the following sites:

WINSIM, University of Strathclyde
http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/PhysPharm/

Sheffield BioScience Programs http://www.sheffbp.co.uk 

Pharma-CAL-ogy British Pharmacological Society www.bps.ac.uk 
http://www.bps.ac.uk/site/cms/contentCategoryView.asp?category=240

Biosoft www.biosoft.com

InterNiche www.interniche.org

AVAR database www.avar.org

EuRCA database www.eurca.org

NORINA database http://oslovet.veths.no/NORINA/

CoAcS http://www.coacs.com/software/bespoke_software/default.htm 
http://www.coacs.com/software/published_titles/pharmacology_menu.htm

IAUPHAR http://www.iuphar.org/sections/teaching/t_resources.html

IndPharNet www.indphar.org

Pharmacology Simulations

The Strathclyde Pharmacology Simulations package is a suite of programs simulating pharmacological experiments on isolated tissues or whole animals. A range of drugs in varying concentrations can be applied and the effects observed. The programs will run under Windows 95 or later.

Available at http://spider.science.strath.ac.uk/sipbs/page.php?show=software_sims

Simulations
Virtual Cat	Installation File (v2.5.6; Jul 05)
Virtual Rat	Installation File (v3.3.3; Jan 09)
Virtual Twitch	Installation File (v2.1.8; Jul 05)
Virtual NMJ	Installation File (v2.1.8; Jul 05)
Virtual Organ Bath	Installation file (v1.3; Sep 07)
Virtual Nerve	Installation File (V1.1.1 13/8/8)

ExPharm (Pharmacology experiment software)

The software is aimed at helping the UGs understand, remember and recall drug actions. The package contains four programs :

1. Rabbit - Effects drugs on the rabbit eye
2. Heart - Effects of drugs on the frog heart
3. Ileum - Bioassay of histamine on the guinea-pig ileum
4. Oesophagus - Effects of drugs on the frog oesophagus

The above programs can simulate drug actions. The user can conduct experiments and collect data. Each program can be run in two modes (a) Tutorial mode (b) Examination mode
Drugs can be chosen (from a list drugs available) and administered. The effect is displayed in animated sequences for realistic simulation. All programs are menu driven and user friendly. The entire package is mouse operable and the need to use key board is minimal.

In tutorial mode, drugs administered are known whereas unknown drugs are given in examination mode. The student has to identify the unknown drug(s). Examination mode which available only in ver E1.00 can be used for conducting examinations.

ExPharm will be helpful for UGs doing a course in Pharmacology. The software can be used for Medical and Dental UGs and also for the students of paramedical courses such as nursing, pharmacy, medical laboratory technology and physiotherapy.
This software is NOT a DEMO package. It has fully functional and usable modules.Installation :
Download all nine files into a single directory in your hard disk. Run 'setup.exe' to install the software.
You can download and use version T1.00 and use it without any restrictions.
To download go to http://ampiweb.org/indphar/epwin.htm