Sharingthe Vision

Dr Chris Willmott Dept of Biochemistry, University of Leicester

cjrw2@le.ac.uk

Sharing the vision: exploiting Web 2.0 technologies in promoting the use of

multimedia in bioethics education

BUFVC Learning on Screen 2008

University ofLeicester

Central thesis • There is huge pedagogic value in the use of video

• Video clips can be used: - to help scene-setting - as discussion starters, and/or - to convey factual information

• Video material can be obtained freely and legally for use in education, provided you know what you are looking for

• Colleagues may require specialist help to locate and utilise suitable material

• Web 2.0 technologies are ideal for sharing this specialist knowledge

Outline of presentation • The value of TRILT in identifying useful material

• The added value of Bioethicsbytes in the specific area of bioethics education

Stem cell research

South Park: “Kenny Dies” (Paramount Comedy Channel, 16th Jan 2006)

This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

TRILT –

2 great serviceswww.trilt.ac.uk offers:

• A weekly e-mail alert warning you of any programmes coming up in the next two weeks that match your keywords

• A searchable database of transmission history covering broadcasts since 1995, in which all programmes are given an ID code

• The latter can frequently be used to identify recordings available through the back-up service (inc all terrestrial TV since June 1998)

TRILT entry: Kenny dies

Xenotransplantation

Holby City: “Better The Devil You Know” (BBC1, 6th September 2006)

This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

Xenotransplantation• The clip shown is an excellent vehicle for introducing discussion of both the ethical objections people might have regarding this operation, and the scientific difficulties that would be involved

• The TRILT entry for this programme states: “Abra returns to Holby and clashes with Ric over the treatment of a terminally ill patient, when Abra decides to offer the patient an illegal transplant. Chrissie thinks she’s cracked it with Sam”

• How would someone else recognise the potential in this clip?

Specialist help: Bioethicsbytes• It is unrealistic to expect a general-purpose service to include sufficient annotation to satisfy all nuances of discipline-specific usage

• We have developed Bioethicsbytes as an alternative means to share recommendations regarding bioethics-related footage

www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

BioethicsBytes: Holby

example

http://bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com/2006/09/08/xenotransplantation-holby-city/

Advantages of using blog

service • Wordpress is one of the two main blog platforms

• You don’t need to know any HTML

• Range of “off the shelf” style sheets

• Built in facility to search by categories, tags and reader-selected keyword

• Built in statistics and tracking

• High visibility in Google searches

• It’s free!

www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

BioethicsBytes

BioethicsBytes: variety of posts • Reviews and recommendations about:

- Films - TV series (documentaries and fiction) - Books - Radio - Podcasts - News

• Extended commentaries

• Guides to streamed media

www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

BioethicsBytes: TV Documentary

TV Documentary

This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

A Child Against All Odds BBC1, November 14th 2006

BioethicsBytes: Extended Comm.

Obtaining footage • BioethicsBytes recommends but does not supply off-air recordings

• BUFVC members can usually obtain material via the back-up service

- Most universities are members - Most schools are not

• Availability of on-line video?

www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

Online video availability? • The BBC iPlayer is an exciting development, but of little use here due to short availability window

• Streamed news footage?

BioethicsBytes: Streamed News

Online video availability? • The BBC iPlayer is an exciting development, but of little use here due to short availability window

• Streamed news footage?

• Newsfilm Online – live from May 2008?

Online video availability? • The BBC iPlayer is an exciting development, but of little use here due to short availability window

• Streamed news footage?

• Newsfilm Online – live from May 2008?

• YouTube, Google Video, etc? - provenance of material posted there? - is it ok to recommend it if you didn’t post it? - is it ok to embed it if you didn’t post it?

• Bespoke videos?

Conclusions • TRILT is an excellent database and alert service

• Additional subject-specific information can aid colleagues in knowing about useful clips

• Bioethicsbytes is providing this service wrt bioethics

• Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, RSS feeds, etc) are ideal tools for this function

• This approach could easily be adapted for other disciplines

www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

Acknowledgements • Bonnie Green and David Willis

• GENIE (the Genetics Education CETL) and the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme

• Audio-Visual Services, UoL

www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.comdel.icio.us/chriswillmott/bioethics