PROPOSAL ON SELF-LEARNING IN THE MASTER’S DEGREE ON HUMAN NUTRITION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA

Students taking this Master’s Degree are characterized as proceeding from diverse first degrees, and therefore they have different knowledge levels and viewpoints regarding the field of nutrition.

Aims: Our aim is to promote self-learning skills among the students taking this Master’s Degree, to enable them to work both independently and as part of a team, and to develop a critical sense together with information seeking and analysis skills. At the same time, we initiate students in the world of basic and applied research in this field, to introduce them to the process of transferring the results obtained from basic research to the area of applied nutrition.

Methods: In order to meet the above-stated goals, we have selected two courses that will be taught at the outset of this Master’s Degree. The first one presents an introduction to experimental nutrition, in which experimentation with laboratory animals is the main element. In this course, we perform tests on laboratory animals, with new or technologically transformed foodstuffs. The second course involves the evaluation of the nutritional status of human populations, and is basically a course in applied nutrition. In this course, we learn how to determine the nutritional status of a human population, or how such a status is altered by the introduction of new foodstuffs into the habitual diet. For each of these courses, different teaching materials have been selected, including a significant proportion of multimedia materials. The students are provided with material containing information on the subjects to be studied and facilitating the learning process. In addition, it contains links to different web sites of interest, related to the subject. We also exhibit the work carried out by students and encourage them to participate in forums and chats. A rotation system is applied so that students take part in various research projects being developed in each of the above areas.

Results: Firstly, the use of these materials, under the supervision of the teachers responsible for the courses, enables us to gain an improved understanding of nutrition and to set up teams with different specializations. The exact nature of such specialization is normally determined by the type of first degree possessed by the students involved. Secondly, the joint work carried out by this multidisciplinary team contributes to a generalized enhancement of the students’ knowledge in this field. Thirdly, the exchange of information among the students means that they acquire a clear-sighted and broad-based view of what is involved in a basic or applied research study, together with the importance of working as part of a team. The acquisition of this knowledge enables students to design small experiments in experimental nutrition, such as using laboratory animals to determine the effects of the use of alternative proteins on animal health, and subsequently to examine the possibility of applying the results obtained to the field of human nutrition, either recommending or warning against the use of such substances. Finally, should the results obtained be positive, the team discusses how this knowledge might be transferred to the manufacturing sector.