Changing the way we think about teaching and learning, fostering world-wide collaborations, building exciting new relationships, and tapping into unexplored connections through leading-edge digital technology—all are happening right now, a result of the visionary thinking of two researchers and a dedicated librarian.

Biochemist Venkat Gopalan, and molecular geneticist Amanda Simcox, are no strangers to collaboration, outreach, and innovative teaching methods. Starting with a program to actively recruit under-represented minorities for summer research at OSU to jointly presenting research programs to students abroad, their latest joint venture, funded by a grant from OSU Continuing Education, is a course they call “Frontiers in Life Sciences Research.”

This is no exaggeration—as Simcox said to the class, “The science we are covering will transform biology.”  That science revolves around functional genomics, next-generation sequencing, genetic engineering, proteomics, and personal genomics—all rich topics for questions, involving not just biology, but ethics and the law.

But what makes this unique are the students—Ohio State undergrads and their counterparts from Anna and Osmania universities, located in Madras and Hyderabad, india—and the format—video teleconferencing, made possible by the Learning Collaboration Studio at Ohio State’s Science and Engineering Library.

Every Saturday morning for five weeks this spring, approximately 45 students from both countries had the opportunity to learn, interact, and connect with each other via three large screen Plasma TV’s, Carmen (OSU Library) access and the power of the Internet.

The two hour, 20-minute sessions on these Saturday mornings—in Columbus; it is late evening in India—have focused on lectures about the latest advances in genomics (Simcox); proteomics (Gopalan), followed by discussion and a variety  of challenges on topics not being covered in any other course.

Their ultimate goal is to enhance the students’ education, Gopalan told me. “We hope this course will be a forerunner for similar initiatives and students will get a broader education that exploits the technological advances and the fantastic infrastructure available at Ohio State. We have the possibility of harnessing incredible collective potential—think about having a course cross-listed across different continents!”

Class content was expanded and enriched by Philosophy Professor Dan Farrell who discussed issues of ethics and morality, then asked questions using real case-studies to engender a lively debate on bioethics.

For many of the students on both sides of the world the real value of the class was its interactive nature and the exchange of ideas and culture, not just during class, but in email chats between paired students.

Another striking difference in this class, was the real input that students had into the content and its flow. As Simcox said in her blog, “I was reminded today about how the ‘lecture plan’ has nothing to do with the ‘what I would like to know plan.’ What I wanted to skim, the group wanted to explore. Believe me when I say this is not a complaint but rather a plug for exchange and group discussion.”

I want to insert myself into the story here…I was so intrigued by this course, that I attended two sessions; most of session four, so that I could hear Dan Farrell’s lecture and student reactions. Farrell was quite a hit with the students, especially those from India, who seemed deeply appreciative of the new perspectives he had asked them to ponder.

For session five, I came early and stayed until leftover food was being thrust at departing students. I could not miss the students’ project presentations—really outstanding-- and the thoughtful Q&A’s that followed, nor could I forgo witnessing the camaraderie among all participants and the sense of watching something really new and different. And, of course, I came and stayed for the food.

The food--a wonderful vegetarian feast prepared by Mandy Simcox. This made me sorry that I had missed all those other lunches, especially the one that librarian, grant-writer, and master logistician Ruth Sesco had made chocolate cake for!

I had such a great talk with one of the students named Jeremy Henderson that I never did get around to talking to any of the other students, for which I am sorry. But the conversation I had with Jeremy was so energizing, that I am not that sorry! I have to say that all around me I could hear students, along with Mandy, Venkat, and Dan talking, laughing, and debating ideas…and thinking…this is the way to teach, and to learn. Jeremy, who is graduating this quarter and going to graduate school in biochemistry at Duke, thought the best thing about the class was the opportunity to have a real, cultural exchange…I suspect that most of the students would agree.

Meanwhile, Simcox has been blogging about the experience. To read her blog, go to:  http://geneticsandgenomicsaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/

 

*Article used with permission of Sandi Rutkowski, Director of Communications, BMPS; article taken from Ohio State Synergy, 2009; written by Sandi Rutkowski.