Multimedia Resources as a Complementary tool of Teaching and Learning. Case Study of a Game Designed to Teach Immunology Contents.

Abstract

In 2003 the University of Porto recognized the potential of internet based learning systems and in that year started a project to implement the use of learning management systems (LMS) in classes based on a blended-learning model. The implementation of this project at universities large as the University of Porto (U.Porto) was a complex process that necessarily involved a large number of actors, so it was necessary for the University to define new ways to resolve their constraints. One of the strategies defined was through the Unit for New Technologies in Education (GATIUP) gives direct support to the teachers who wants to use e-learning platforms and also support the development of relevant educational multimedia contents to be used in the courses. In the last years the number of teachers at U.Porto interested in multimedia contents with educational purposes grew, and the number of requests that arrive at the unit increased. To demonstrate the importance of this type of resources we intend to shortly present here one of ours recent works: a game based on basic immunology learning contents. In this paper we intent to provide a brief description of what is one of the biggest concerns of today's University of Porto, the support of use and development of educational multimedia resources. We intend in a few words present a successful example of an Immunology course that uses multimedia contents - specifically games conceptualized by students - to support learning.