What do students look for in complementary biochemistry courses ?

The rigorous selection of contents to be included in a Biochemistry course both attends the
interest of each specific undergraduation course and excludes many subjects of general
interest. The great number of enrollment in non-obligatory courses dealing with subjects not
deeply treated in most introductory Biochemistry course suggests the concern of the students
in improving their knowledge in the field [1]. During the Biochemistry of Nutrition distance
education course in 2000 and 2003, we collected studentsreports about their interest on the
course and their satisfaction with the developed activities. For this purpose we made several
courses evaluation (during and at the end of each course). The detailed analysis of these data
let us to verify studentsexpectations related to the Biochemistry contents according to their
graduate courses. From this analysis, it was possible to conclude that even though students
from different courses have specific interests in biochemistry contents, the aspect that
promoted more satisfaction in Biochemistry of Nutrition distance education course was the
participantsinteraction and the exchange of information even superficially considered among
students with different knowledge background. Nevertheless, courses about specific contents
should be offered to a more restrict public, with restrictive pre-requisite so that deepening
discussions can be held.

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