NEW WAYS TO TEACH NEUROSCIENCE - INTEGRATING 2 TEACHING STYLES WITH 2INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

This report describes an experiment in reaching neuroscience that inte grates two teaching styles and two educational technologies: (I) Two-w ay digitally compressed televideo, used for lecture/discussion simulta neously with on-site and remote students; (2) Asynchronous computer co nferencing, used to complement the class periods with student interact ions and teacher feedback; (3) Team (collaborative) learning, conducte d in the conferencing environment; (4) Assignment activities, both for individuals and learning teams. Each week, each student in a learning team submitted in the on-li,le conference two insightful questions (Q ), based on the lecture and readings. The student then tried to provid e a good answer (A) for each question. Then, each group member critiqu ed and ranked the Q&As from each other member of the group, with the a im of identifying a candidate 'Best Q&A of the Week', which the group members subsequently refined and submitted for a group grade. Students gave high ratings to the course in general and to the team learning, conferencing, and assignment activities. The experience improved the t eacher's attitude and enthusiasm for teaching.