A blended learning approach to teaching biomedical diagnostics

Developed by the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) in response to the needs of the Irish Diagnostics Industry, the M.Sc. Biomedical Diagnostics programme is a unique multi-disciplinary graduate training programme merging academic training modules with industry insight and analysis. The programme is a one-year, full-time course that has been running since 2006. Students come from a variety of backgrounds and first complete an introductory module in the basic sciences underpinning diagnostics, before moving on to more advanced modules in immunology and genetics. One of the modules includes a Nanobiotechnology course video-conferenced live from Cornell University.To add further flexibility into the delivery of the programme, a blended learning approach is being introduced by the inclusion of other e-learning technologies. This new flexible learning environment is intended for students who wish to complete the course part-time and for industry personnel who wish to upskill through stand-alone modules. Full-time students can also take the modules to revise material and update their skills. The change to a blended learning delivery format is being designed and developed by the BDI in collaboration with Oscail and the Learning Innovation Unit at DCU.This presentation describes the motivation for this change and the preliminary work carried out to develop the on-line versions of the modules using the e-learning technologies Moodle and Camtasia. It concludes with an evaluation of the process.