The document discusses the integration of broadcast media into bioscience education, highlighting various examples such as documentaries and news clips that can enhance teaching. It emphasizes multimedia's role in facilitating discussions on scientific and ethical issues through real-world scenarios. Additionally, it introduces the 'Biology on the Box' initiative, which provides resources and recommendations for using television content in academic settings.

1. Using Broadcast Media inTeaching:
An example from the biosciences
Making the Most ofYour ERA Licence
Dr Chris Willmott
Dept of Molecular
and Cell Biology
University of Leicester
cjrw2@le.ac.uk

2. Outline of session
• Examples uses of TV in teaching
• Biology on the Box
• Searching for materials

3. Using TV for University Teaching
Harry and Paul’s Story of the Twos
http://bobnational.net/record/230056

4. Overview
• Multimedia (esp visual media) can be integrated
into teaching in variety of ways
Use of
broadcast clips
Video
production
News
analysis

5. A Child Against All Odds
http://bobnational.net/record/230327
Example uses: (1) Documentary

6. Die Another Day
http://bobnational.net/record/230324
http://bobnational.net/record/220597
Example uses: (2) Scene-setter

7. Example (2): Context and use
• Introduction to Year 2 lecture on Gene Therapy
• Used precisely because it is so wrong
• Set scene for more accurate discussion on the
approach (including another clip, from Horizon)

8. Holby City: “Better The Devil You Know”
http://bobnational.net/record/318451
Example uses: (3a) Discussion

9. • Pete has kidney failure and is being offered the last
opportunity of a transplant, using a kidney from a pig
• What ethical arguments might there be for/against
this operation?
• What scientific concerns might there be about an
operation of this sort?
• If you were Pete’s friend
would you suggest that he
accepts the doctor’s offer?
Why/why not?
Example uses: (3a) Discussion

10. Example (3b): Context and use
• Video from Brainiac: Science abuse
• Used in a Year 1 tutorial on Experimental Design

11. • Students watch short clip describing an experiment to
investigate whether you can smell if someone is afraid
• Having watched the clip, they discuss:
- what was good about the design of the expt?
- what was wrong with the experiment?
http://tinyurl.com/terrorface1
Example (3b): Discussion

12. Brainiac Science Abuse: The Smell of Fear
http://bobnational.net/record/226469
Example uses: (3b) Discussion

13. • watch this short clip describing an experiment to
investigate whether you can smell if someone is afraid
• having watched the clip, consider:
- what was good about the design of the expt?
- what was wrong with the experiment?
http://tinyurl.com/terrorface1
Example (3b): Discussion

14. Good aspects of Brainiac expt?
• included a negative control (no fear, no sport)
• all subjects carried out their activity for same time
• all subjects were “sniffer” by same person
• all subjects were same gender
• …but little else is good

15. What was wrong with this expt?
• only one “sniff-er”
• only three “sweat-ers”
• was not the same person on crane/running/relaxing
• distance nose-to-armpit not same in all cases
• may have been other explanations for the observed
differences, e.g.
• natural body odour differences between the three
• use of deodorant
• eating of smelly foods
• olfactory fatigue/adaptation may have occurred

16. Design a better version
• work with those sitting near you to design a
better experiment looking into whether it is possible
to smell fear
http://tinyurl.com/armpitsniffing1

17. A more scientific approach
Prehn-Kristensen et al (2009), PLoS ONE 4(6): e5987
http://tinyurl.com/anxietypaper

18. The Cell (2): The Chemistry of Life
http://bobnational.net/record/222440
Example uses: (4) Full programme

19. Example (4): Context and use
• Year 1 double lecture session (video lasts 60 mins)
• A beautiful walk through the history of expt that
identified DNA as the molecule of inheritance
• Students provided with a structured worksheet to
aid note-taking during episode

20. Example (4): Full programme
• Difficult to fit full episode into lecture slot?
• Not best use of F2F time?
• BoB raises potential for requiring students to watch
programme before lecture or tutorial
• Flipped classroom
• “Viewing lists” as well as “reading lists” for module

21. Biology on the Box
• Recommendations for TV (and radio) footage that
can used for enriching bioscience teaching
• Primarily designed for use in conjunction with “Box
of Broadcasts” – subscription service
• Programme tips equally valid without BoB, just
harder to get hold of
• A collaborative project
- students as producers
- different institutions

22. BoB
• Fantastic tool, not perfect
• Key weakness = discovery/rediscovery
• Additional resource for sharing best practice
- more metadata & keywords
- scope to describe usage of resource
• Hence launched Biology on the Box

23. Biology on the Box
• Biologyonthebox.wordpress.com
• Started September 2014
• Post of various styles

24. Various styles
Awareness of
digital availability…
… plus notes

25. Various styles
Clip within programme…
… plus structured
activities

26. Various styles
News story
News overview

27. Various styles
Radio
Re-posting

28. Posts by Students AudioVisuals In
the Disciplines
(AVID)

29. Posts by Colleagues

30. Biology on the Box
• Biologyonthebox.wordpress.com
• Started September 2014
• Post of various styles
• Posts by students
• Posts from other academics

31. [Other discipline] on the Box
• Other subject areas starting to develop similar sites
• e.g. Englishonthebox.wordpress.com

33. Acknowledgements
• University of Leicester Teaching Enhancement Fund
• Thanks to authors of blog posts

34. Any Questions?
E-mail: cjrw2@le.ac.uk
Twitter: cjrw
Slideshare: cjrw2
Delicious: chriswillmott
Blogs: www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com
www.biologyonthebox.wordpress.com
www.biosciencecareers.wordpress.com
www.lefthandedbiochemist.wordpress.com