Exploring the Value of the Web in an Undergraduate Immunology Program

Abstract

This paper details the development of a third-year subject which has, over a period of four years, evolved to meet the need for cultivating such competencies. The web browser is but one tool in a holistic approach to student learning and is directed primarily at (a) providing students with a framework to conceptualize their learning, (b) facilitating access to information outside traditional “textbook” boundaries, but at the same time maintaining the focus of their efforts. Other tools used to achieve the learning objectives are accessing and critiquing research papers; group discussions and presentations of issues raised in research papers; solutions of laboratory based problems, including development of protocol, organizing laboratory equipment and consumables, conduct of experimental work, subsequent analysis and presentation. All strategies are directed at developing (a) investigative and analytical skills, (b) capacity for critical thinking and communication and defence of such critique, and (c) teamwork.