Expectations and Interest in Distance Education in Biochemistry Classes

A brief review about the tools and methods used in biochemical education, published in scientific journals and congresses abstracts, shows a wide distribution of different resources used to support biochemical classes. Lab activities, problem based learning (PBL) approach, educational software and the Internet are some of these resources. The Internet has been quickly introduced to the classrooms and provides a wide research area to be explored in different fields of knowledge, such as Biochemical Education. This work focuses on the expectations and the motivation in a Distance Education (DE) course and on advantages and disadvantages considered before and after taking part in a distance discipline. The data were collected from a survey available on our Biochemical Education Website, answered by people interested in Biochemical Education courses from many Brazilian states. Some of the advantages quoted before the course, are: flexibility in time and place to access the discipline, possibility to access new information, use of new technology. The quoted disadvantages emphasize technical problems and the lack of interaction among the participants. The afterward evaluation showed that the strategies used aiming at improving interaction were efficient. DE was considered a good learning system for deepening knowledge by people with different profiles. The evaluation is considered the most sensitive point of this kind of educational system and must be carefully analyzed. In fact, the evaluation of the impact of new technologies in learning processes is one of the biggest challenges for educators nowadays. The last challenge for educators and evaluators involved on online learning projects is using the Internet as better interaction tool and measuring its efficiency.

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