This is the continuation of my previous post "my experience at Sussex during Autumn term.
Practicals: Certain courses were laboratory based and I attended the practical sessions. In the autumn term, the Cell & Molecular Biology and Human Physiology courses had three and two practical sessions respectively. The Practicals were conducted in batches of students and since the labs could accommodate only 60 students, each batch normally consisted of 50-60 students. The pre-practical sessions, which were of one hour duration, helped the students to perform practicals in laboratory. Laboratories were always set before the start of the practical sessions by the technicians. There were demonstrators and tutors to conduct regular practicals. The students were required to bring the printout of the procedure of experiments in the lab which was available on Study Direct. As soon as students entered the lab they had to wear their lab coat, hand gloves and goggles without which the students were not allowed for the practical session. The duration of each practical session was three hours. The technicians arranged the required quantity of glass wares, instruments (microscope, pH meter, spectrophotometer, water bath, gel electrophoresis set, stirrer) and chemicals on individual tables to perform the experiment. Wide range of Eppendorf pipettes with disposable tips and minimum quantity of chemicals were used. The students performed the experiments easily without moving here and there in search of chemicals and glass wares or equipments. There were no laboratory journals in any of these courses. Instead of this, students are expected to answer the online quizzes/ tests on practicals.
One of the regular practicals in Cell & Molecular Biology on “Bacterial Growth and Expression of the Escherichia coli Lac Operon” was considered for the assessment (15%) of the course. The students had to submit the data in MS Excel, graph, calculations and answer a few questions. The submission was in week 8 and 9. Similarly one regular practical out of two in Human Physiology was counted for 40% of the assessment of the course. This is called course work and students have to submit in duplicate by using the submission cover sheets designed by the respective school. Tutors are expected to return a copy of the course work to students within 15 working days of the date set for submission with comments. Comments of the tutor are to advise the student in developing their knowledge and abilities in the subject.
Learning: The students studied by using the lecture notes/power point slides, prescribed books, journals, research articles and by attempting online quizzes and tests. The seminars and tutorials helped them in understanding the concepts better since they were conducted in smaller groups of students. In the course “Essential Skills in Biomedical Science” two open book tests were conducted and these tests helped students both in learning and answering the unseen examinations. The model MCQ paper and past question papers were available on Study Direct which helped the students in preparing for the examinations in week 10. The contributory and non-contributory submissions on time made the students study compulsorily. The Peer mentor support in studies and the meetings with academic advisors equally played an important role in the learning process.
Learning: The students studied by using the lecture notes/power point slides, prescribed books, journals, research articles and by attempting online quizzes and tests. The seminars and tutorials helped them in understanding the concepts better since they were conducted in smaller groups of students. In the course “Essential Skills in Biomedical Science” two open book tests were conducted and these tests helped students both in learning and answering the unseen examinations. The model MCQ paper and past question papers were available on Study Direct which helped the students in preparing for the examinations in week 10. The contributory and non-contributory submissions on time made the students study compulsorily. The Peer mentor support in studies and the meetings with academic advisors equally played an important role in the learning process.
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