Jim
Kelly Birkbeck College
The ancient Jagiellonian
University (founded in 1364) of the splendid architectural city of Kraków, was
the host of one of the contrasting final morning Microsymposia on the
contemporary topic of Computing and
Teaching. Six speakers delighted the audience with a wide range of topics
on using the Internet for distance learning, virtual courses in crystallography
and a number of different models for delivery of the curriculum. Some key
issues regarding the pace of introducing the new technologies, the role of
government in delivering mass education and the pressures on institutions in
responding to the novel methods of education were raised during the talks.
Y. Epelboin (CNRS, Paris) [1]
in the opening address asked, “What can we learn from actual experience?” and
compared the US experience with the European paradigm. He projected that the
world education market [2] by 2005 would be worth an estimated 90
billion US dollars. Distance learning would open up the accessibility to
virtual documents and libraries facilitating politicians to contain the budget
for education. However, the case was argued that the rich diverse tapestry of
language and traditions that is European culture could not so easily be swayed
by an economic model. Co-operation via Brussels would ensure that the
“Revolution would go marching on...” was the idiosyncratic Gallic rally.
At the heart of G. Chapuis’ talk (Lausanne, Switzerland) was the “nuts & bolts” of implementing interactive web applications of Java applets to provide simulation of some key crystallographic concepts. He listed the ingredients for a virtual course in crystallography concentrating on the tools for simulation & provided a number of real time demonstrations of the Ewald sphere, Laue pattern diagrams & Fourier transforms. The didactic road is long to a complete course on the Internet although within a Java environment using a web browser simulations can be performed, directly independent of the computer platform being used. This time the baton was passed on to the IUCr to promote and establish structured learning modules for potential crystallography students.
C. Sansom (Birkbeck, London)
described at length the Masters level distance learning courses in Structural
Biology offered by Birkbeck College since 1996. She gave an overview profile of
the average student taking the course as mature with demanding professional
careers quipping “that there were no typical students”. The communication links
between students and teachers were maintained using a purpose built Internet
chat room or MUD for short (multi-user Dimension). Much of the material is
written in simple HTML which can be run on a low specification computer, course
material being made available at regular intervals throughout the year. It was
stressed that fees were kept low to encourage wide student participation in the
Advanced certificate on the Principles of Protein Structure (PPS) [4].
The first of two talks on
powder diffraction commenced with A. Le Bail (Université du Maine, France) who
challenged the audience to think “ Where is all the knowledge…?” and reminded
us that distance learning was in its centenary. The dangers of online education
are well-established [5] with the automation of Higher Education
likened to creating “Digital diploma
mills” as the pervasive new information technologies advance. The provision
of a powder diffraction course was inspired by the Birkbeck model and the
speaker emphasised the deliberation in choosing between a synchronous and
asynchronous mode of learning. The course material with pedagogic exercises is
available on Structure Determination by Powder Diffractometry (SDPD) [6]
and can be viewed on the web. Caution was advised that expert systems could
kill the interest of deep learning and that an explosion of software diversity
could pose a nightmare for student & teacher alike.
An anachronistic talk on Crystallographic Autostereograms was given by A. Katrusiak (Poznan, Poland) using handouts for the audience to practice on. A clear reminder of the optics of the eye and its ability to perceive perspective by binocular vision was presented by the speaker. An interesting talk that prompted a member of the audience, R. Shirley (Surrey, England), to remark that confusion over the term stereogram could be avoided if it referred only to that normally used in stereographic projection.
Returning to the topic of
powder diffraction on the Internet J. Cockcroft (Birkbeck, London) stressed
again the need for life-long learning and the proud tradition that Birkbeck has
maintained in teaching during its 178-year history. The compatibility of the
Powder Diffraction on the Web course [7] with both Netscape &
Internet Explorer 3 was mentioned as well as being Java / Java script free. As
it is easy “to get lost in hyperspace” the material makes extensive use of
course navigation buttons on the web pages. With such an undertaking a priori
knowledge cannot be assumed, but full use of colour is made in pictures &
photographs contained in the HTML documents. Awareness of copyright is also an
issue.
The material itself is
organised into three areas; Experimental methods covering basic
crystallography, diffraction & symmetry, data analysis covering both
quantitative & qualitative aspects and a project on Rietveld refinement. On
the topic of programming options it was revealed that the space group diagrams
used in the course were written in Fortran code, a spin off being a
commercially available CD-ROM. The debate over interactive versus downloadable
software was touched upon again. Finally the matter of assignments was mooted
and their role in good housekeeping recorded. They act as an aid to learning,
are complementary to the course material and provide model answers and feedback
to the students in their distance learning environment away from the more
traditional face to face approach that is being challenged more and more in the
21st Century.
[1]
http://www.lmcp.jussieu.fr/~epelboin
[3]
Chapuis G. & Hardaker W., J. Appl. Cryst. (1999) 32, 1164-1168
[4]
http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/pps/index.html
[5]
Noble D. – http://communication.ucsd.edu/dl
[6]
http://sdpd.univ-lemans.fr/course/index.html
[7]
http://pd.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/pd/welcome.htm