Cross-Institutional Blended Learning in Medicinal Chemistry
by Michael Bertucci
What happens when you put six organic chemists in a room and give them a video camera? This past summer, assistant professor Michael Bertucci and five other chemistry professors from other LVAIC (Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges) institutions collaborated on developing a hybrid course in medicinal chemistry. Blended or hybrid learning is a pedagogical technique that is emerging nationally in both secondary and higher education. It combines technology with traditional classroom methods, allowing students to engage with online videos, simulations, activities, etc. to introduce or augment content presented by the instructor. Funded by a grant from the Teagle Foundation to encourage cross-institutional blended learning, the team of six prepared and recorded a series of online modules (or video lectures) on a variety of topics, individually or as a duo, depending on their area of expertise. In total, 27 modules were created covering topics ranging from the drug development process to status reports in pharmaceutical interventions for cancer, infectious disease (i.e. – bacterial infections and viruses), and Alzheimer’s disease.
After the contributions from Moravian, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Lafayette, DeSales, and Cedar Crest were compiled at the end of the summer, Bertucci employed the expertise of all six professors in a new course at Moravian entitled Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. The course was taught using a “flipped classroom” approach, in which students viewed one of the pre-recorded modules outside of class and participated in a variety of related guided activities in class to encourage active learning and student engagement. The result: a look into the chemistry behind how pharmaceuticals are designed, how they work, and the diseases and conditions for which new treatments urgently need to be discovered. Junior Robert Hillman recounts one of his favorite in-class activities relating to a module on NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), in which each student was assigned a different NSAID to research and then present to the class: “I thought that was the most interesting activity. I got to see the receptors [for the NSAIDs] and it reinforced the theory we learned regarding their mechanism of action.”
As a result of collaboration, similar courses are being developed or reimagined at the other LVAIC institutions. Though all the courses will take on a slightly different form, students who enroll in the blended learning class can expect to have six organic chemists from across the Lehigh Valley to be teaching them.
The LVAIC Medicinal Chemistry Team: (from left to right) Dr. David Husic (Lafayette), Dr. Ned Heindel (Lehigh), Dr. Sherri Young (Muhlenberg), Dr. Marianne Staretz (Cedar Crest), Dr. Francis Mayville (DeSales), and Dr. Michael Bertucci (Moravian)