Vision Statement
To engage, challenge, and nurture faculty in appropriate uses of educational technologies so they can prepare students for leadership in an information society.
The ITS Showcase
Each month we highlight an example of how technology is being used for teaching and learning at Seattle Pacific University. This month we highlight our work with Benjamin McFarland, Assistant Prof, Biochemistry
Animated Biochemical Sequence
The goal for this project was to add a dynamic dimension that would help students understand the biochemical sequence of events underlying what makes neurons work. Professor Ben McFarland provided a static figure and a description of a complex sequence of about five events, and Dominic Williamson, ITS Senior Graphic Designer, created a Flash animation with artistic renderings of each step. The existing figure was very complex, full of text, and didn't really convey the "wave" of ions washing in and out of the neuron that is the conceptual key to how it works. The animation effectively provides exactly this sense of what happens, without several paragraphs of words. A picture > 1000 words. McFarland will introduce this animation to his Winter Quarter 2009 course and test student retention of the concept on the unit tests.
Benjamin McFarland, Assistant Prof, Biochemistry
"I'm very happy with how chemical symbols, colors, and cartoon figures of proteins interact to show a complex mechanism very clearly. This is exactly what I had in mind, and I'm excited to show it to students."
To watch a video that introduces our team and provides details of our services, please see the 'about ITS' page.
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