Edinburgh University software helping laboratory animals in Asia

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E-learning helps save thousands of animals each year

 

Publisher: Ian Morgan

Published: 23/11/2006 - 12:15:11 PM [image: print version] Printable

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[image: Animals are used in teaching]

Animals are used in teaching

 

Hundreds of thousands of animals are saved each year from use in education

thanks to computer simulations created by Professor of e-learning at

Edinburgh University, David Dewhurst.

 

The development of his software programs has been funded by the Lord Dowding

Fund for the past 20 years as his computer programmes replace the use of

animals in university science teaching.

 

Professor Dewhurst said: " LDF is currently helping us develop programmes to

enable teachers all over the world to design their own courses using our

online tools. The LDF grant is enabling us to produce different language

programs and upgrade existing tools. In addition, LDF is funding the

promotion of the simulations to spread the word. "

 

Last year Professor David Dewhurst was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize

for Higher and Further Education, the academic equivalent of a Queen's Award

for Industry, one of the highest honours in his profession.

 

Professor Dewhurst collected the award this year from The Queen at

Buckingham Palace in recognition of his ability in e-learning.

 

More recently he delivered his inaugural lecture in Edinburgh as Professor

of e-learning. His programs have been taken up in over 300 institutions

worldwide.

 

Jan Creamer, chief executive of LDF and ADI, said: " The LDF is proud of

Professor Dewhurst's achievements in making effective computer-based

learning alternatives available to universities everywhere. His software

programs have saved the lives of so many animals who would otherwise have

been needlessly sacrificed. "

 

A recent lecture tour in Brazil by Professor Dewhurst resulted in the

Brazilian Pharmacology Society obtaining funding to distribute the programs

free of charge to Brazilian universities.

 

In July this year, Professor Dewhurst held an LDF workshop in Beijing, China

at the International Pharmacology meeting, IUPHAR, attended by over 100

Chinese university lecturers. The theme was the use of alternatives to

replace animal experiments in teaching pharmacology.

 

In December, Professor Dewhurst will be holding a similar workshop on

computer-based alternatives during the Indian Pharmacology Society meeting

in Jaipur for higher education professionals in India.

 

Over the last twenty years the mainstay of technology-supported teaching and

learning in the biomedical sciences has been interactive multimedia

computer-assisted learning (CAL) programs designed to support specific areas

of the curriculum.

 

In pharmacology and physiology a number of these programs have been aimed at

laboratory teaching of these subjects which typically use animals or animal

tissues.

 

In such cases the CAL programs provide an alternative to the educational use

of animals and are very much consistent with the 3Rs and replacement in

particular.

 

In the UK, in common with most countries in the world, animals are used in

teaching, mainly in tertiary institutions and in biomedical disciplines such

as pharmacology, physiology.

 

Although, where official figures are available, the number of animals used

for educational purposes is small i.e. less then 1% of the total used for

research. This still means that education accounts for the use of many

thousands of animals each year much of which, it could be argued, is

unnecessary.

 

A number of studies have been conducted to investigate how effective these

new approaches are in achieving learning outcomes compared to the more

traditional laboratory practical class approach which used animals. In the

majority of cases these studies demonstrate that the computer-based

alternatives are able to achieve many of the learning objectives of

practical classes which traditionally use animals.