Development of ‘virtual lab’ to teach basic principles of pharmacology
Abstract: Pharmacology is an experimental science that uses a wide range of techniques to provide important skills in the analysis of research data relevant to the study of the effects of drugs on humans and model systems. The aim of this project was to transform relatively dry subject matter into an engaging online presentation by creating ‘virtual lab’ to teach basic principles of pharmacology and give students some familiarity with laboratory studies. The ‘virtual lab’ introduces students to use of an organ bath during the study of the effects of drugs within isolated animal tissues and covers basic concepts needed to understand the interactions between drugs and their target receptors. This computer-based teaching session is designed to work with PCs and Macs and provides immediate feedback and promote active student learning experience. Articulate eLearning software tools have been used to put together the content of online workshop material for the simulation experiments.