Student Feedback

I believe that it is a very helpful tool because it helps students grasp it better if they see a graphical/visual demonstration.

 

I am a visual person and grasp the concepts better when I see what is happening. Like many people, I can't always make sense of just reading what is in a book.

 

Using animations to express abstract ideas like drug action at a synapse is extremely helpful. I strongly support using this idea in other pharmacy courses.

 

I like it very much - it helps me visualize what the professors are talking about - especially since we are learning about processes that can't be seen by the naked eye.

 

I thought it was great that I could actually see what was happening and the actual chemical structure of Fluoxetine block the transport protein. I now understand how that drug works and will not forget it. It was easy to learn and was not boring. It would be great to have that feature in every class.

 

I think that animation is a good idea, and seeing a visual is very helpful and it is a good way to keep attention in class, instead of merely listening to a lecture.

 

I thought the animation was extremely useful for the understanding of how Prozac works on a molecular level. I have always thought that visual presentations provide for a greater understanding of the concept. I think I often remember more about a subject when I visualize it, or see how it works verses hearing a professor describe the mechanisms, etc.

 

Yes! Specifically for biology intro courses and biochemistry courses.

 

It is extremely helpful in learning pharmacology and understanding physiological processes. When a drug is presented, it is easier to vision where and how it interacts to cause its response.

 

It makes the class more interesting... something different and it helped put words into motion so to speak.

 

I think using the animation is an excellent idea to use as a teaching tool. It helps you to visualize exactly what happens, in addition to being told what happens.

 

It cannot be used that often because it is time consuming for the professors, but short, one-minute presentations can prove to be very useful.

 

Very helpful, easier to understand the concept

 

I think it a very useful way of showing the mechanism of drug action. It helps to learn a concept by being exposed to all types of media i.e., lecture, visual, and studying.

 

Personally when I see something like the animation I remember the concept longer. I really think more professors should try to use animations to explain their lectures, when applicable.

 

I think animation is a clear and simple way to demonstrate complex topics that don't easily translate to the written or drawn word. Three dimensional systems in the body will greatly benefit from being shown as animations. Mental pictures from a lecture or picture in a text aren't always especially accurate when trying to understand important chemical ideas.

 

It's definitely the best way to show an example. A book cannot show movement, so some of the information is lost in the translation.

 

I think it is an excellent way to help students visualize and emphasize that this is what actually occurs in our body everyday.

 

I thought it was very helpful in understanding the concept of the drug action. The animation was very graphic and put all the information together.

 

I think that it is a great teaching tool. It helped me actually see what's going on instead of only talking about it. it "puts our words into motion"

 

The animation makes a good teaching tool because it helps put a picture to the mechanisms and ideas. You are more likely to remember a process or information if you can see it in your head, and by physically seeing an animation of it, it is easier to recall. Also, the animation is simple: simple ideas get the point across, it's easy to understand and it's easy to remember - a truly excellent job

 

That animation was a good teaching tool, however it only explained Prozac. Teachers should expand them to give the students a better understanding of all material.

 

I think the use of this tool greatly helps to students to grasp the idea of drug action. The 3-D aspects introduce something different that cannot be simply attained through books, note, or handouts.

 

It is helpful to see a picture of what is going on. Its one thing for a professor to talk about it or draw diagrams, but it is much more helpful to see it in 3D as it happens.

 

It's good for those who are visual learners, like myself. Sometimes it's hard for me to visualize and this would help.

 

I think that animation is an invaluable tool. Seeing things in 3 dimensions puts things into perspective. Animation makes processes like the one you explained simpler and easier to understand.

 

I think it was very helpful and at the same time entertaining. Also it wasn't too overwhelming which really helped in driving the point home without been distracted from the concepts.

 

I think the use of animation is an ideal way of bringing the information from the textbooks & lectures into focus. This is especially helpful for those of us who find it difficult, at times impossible, to develop a realistic mental image from black & white text or, at best, a stationary photo. If a picture is worth a thousand words then these types of animations are invaluable. You get more of a grasp on a concept through a 1 ?min. animation than from 2 hours of reading a text. Anything that makes learning more efficient is good.

 

I think that it is a very good teaching tool as long as the animation is not too complex. I think that animation is probably best suited for a science-based class.

 

I think it's great! "Seeing" how something works makes it much more understandable than having it described. Really liked the one last semester too with the agonist, antagonist and partial agonist - they're memorable. As a suggestion for an antagonist, you could have a piece that has more height than the agonist - like a puzzle piece that fits around but is too high really for the puzzle showing it is too bulky (affinity w/o efficacy). Excellent at demonstrating the concepts as is though. Maybe you can do something with back titrations

 

It is very helpful because it helps put all the information we have just learnt into something real, that is actually occurring in the body.

 

I think that animation is an excellent tool in education especially for demonstrating difficult concepts. After watching the animation, I felt it was easier to grasp the concept. Many students are visual learners and will walk away with a much better understanding after seeing an animation than they would with just lecture. I personally think it also helps students remember the material better since I can still visualize the animation in my head.

 

Animation is a very good teaching tool, it gives students a chance to visualize the information that they are receiving from lecture and course notes.

 

You're better to visualize what's actually happening and it makes it easier to remember and explain.

 

Animation would be better for students before their third year when they are tying to learn the basics still. I think as a third year it only helps to reaffirm what we already have in our head.

 

I believe the use of animations could benefit most students in any course.

 

I happen to be a very visual learner, so the animation truly makes concepts concrete in my understanding.

 

The animation tool is a wonderful way of presenting the material. It is no longer sufficient to present material in the form of text and 2d picture.

 

Sometimes even the 3d stationary pictures does no justice to the concept being taught. The animation provides an avenue for students to see complex interactions and theories simplified and allows them more easily grasped. In this day and age, with the predominance of computers, it is beneficial for professors to utilize these strong tools and provide a medium of learning otherwise unable to be seen. Animation in a sense is the new "hands on" tool, which previously could only be done in laboratories and physically using hands. Now, using the computers it is possible for a "new hands" on experience to be had. The instructor may interact with the model and alter it in ways so the idea may be grasped by everyone in the room. The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" is not sufficient to explain what this new form of 3d animation can do.

 

I can see this idea flourishing in the future to be applied to most aspects of the pharmacy curriculum. It would allow often times hard concepts to be explained and grasped more easily. The educational experience of the student would be greatly impacted from such advancements and should definitely be pursued by the faculty of not only this college but of colleges across the country.

 

The animation serves to back up the information gone over in class. It helps the student to visualize what is going on.

 

I think it is very helpful for students to understand a concept otherwise very hard to understand. So, it is very good idea using animation as a teaching tool.

 

Animation is a help in understanding some of the more abstract ideas, such as receptor binding and agonist/antagonist affinity for receptor sites. It's always nice to see something that can help you visualize an important concept. It would have been nice to view the animation in a classroom better suited than Fogarty 214.

 

I think, in most circumstances, if animations could be used they are better understood by most people. I would actually prefer to see more animations enter the classroom, because it is easier to understand how everything comes together.

 

It help the students put the actual words and actions that are described on paper that they read into a real thing that they can see and understand