Abstract:

Two subjects, namely “Tissue and Cell Cultures” and “Molecular Biology of Cancer” both included in the Biochemistry Degree by the Universities of Sevilla and Málaga, are involved in the present project.

The contents of each of the mentioned subjects, although complementary in some aspects, are carried out with different depth. In particular, mammalian cell culture techniques are the main objective in the first of them, and they are widely used for the research in the molecular biology of cancer and the mechanisms that operate in cancer cells, topics that constitute the second subject.

In both of them, students are trained on the main and basic techniques in cell cultures, by means of practical laboratory exercises. Nevertheless, there are more specific techniques that could complement the knowledge that students achieve. So, the subjects can be considered as part of a Net where some contents could be shared so that students could improve their knowledge.

The present work tries to promote that students learn by themselves. With this aim, the students have been involved in the production of didactic materials that will be used by the teachers who teach the subjects that integrate the Net. In this way, a group of students from “Tissue and Cell Cultures” have produced an online seminar, or webinar, using Blackboard Collaborate. Blackboard Collaborate is a tool that let the creation of virtual rooms, where sessions can be recorded and converted into a video format. The result is a webinar created by students, which will be used as a didactic material for students of” Molecular Biology of Cancer”.

With this activity we have tested the utility of the Blackboard Collaborate tool for the purpose explained above, and we have obtained audiovisual material for educational aims. Additionally, students have worked general competences related to collaborative work in groups, references search, analysis and synthesis, critical reflection and achieving conclusions.

The activity assessment has been carried out in several ways. Firstly, teachers integrating the Net, have evaluated the webinar produced by students to check its quality regarding both, form and contents. Then, in order to test the understanding of contents by the students who made the webinar, a face-to-face session took place, where the teachers asked students and a discussion about the contents was established. The results showed that students achieved good knowledge on the topics treated in the webinar. The preparation of the seminar in order to teach another group of students could have contributed to this result. Nevertheless, we consider that it would be suitable to test another online tool with the aim of obtain better technical results. Finally, the webinar will be used in the next term by the students of "Molecular Biology of Cancer" and the results will be discussed.

Keywords:

Online learning, Blackboard Collaborate, audiovisual material.