The use of alternatives to animal tests in higher education David Dewhurst College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine University of Edinburgh

BSc, PhD Physiology/pharmacology with extensive teaching Developer of Computer-based alternatives - Sheffield BioScience Programs www/sheffbp.co.uk Director of Learning Technology - Medicine & Vet Med Professor of e-Learning

Context Animal use for educational purposes across Europe is falling but is still significant and an underestimate. In UK 2005 number was 1,618 (0.056% of total) Primary users: UG pharmacology + other bio/medical sciences

Aims of UG courses in pharmacology [physiol] Produce graduates who: have specialist pharmacological knowledge, have a range of generic and specialist pharmacological [laboratory] skills, have generic transferable skills, life-long learners are equipped to work in pharmaceutical industry [11% BSc in UK], research/further training [36% BSc in UK] are equipped to benefit from other graduate work opportunities [18% BSc in UK] Hollingsworth & Markham (2006) BEE-J, 8, First Employment of British Pharmacology Graduates

Designing a curriculum to achieve this Many stakeholders exert influences on shape and content of curriculum University - educational provider, own the IP Teachers - producers and primary change agents develop and deliver the curriculum decide learning objectives and assessments they are the change agents who need to be persuaded most educated in traditional courses -resistant to change Students - consumers (pay fees) Employers - consumers of graduates External bodies - e.g. Pharmacology Societies, General Medical Council - regulators

Learning objectives of labs Teaching and/or practicing: laboratory skills – generic and specific new knowledge (reinforcing existing) experimental design data-handling skills oral/written communication skills working in teams promoting staff-student interaction

Good: only vehicle for effective teaching & learning of lab skills, animal handling skills and surgical skills Promote interactive and active learning Promote teacher-student interaction ALL FACTUAL KNOWLEDGE IS KNOWN Traditional Animal Labs - good and bad Bad: – use animals – heavy on staff and student time – expensive - require technical support, equipment, consumables, specialist accommodation – sometimes negative learning experience - ‘failed’ experiments. Learning objectives may well be different for different student groups

What non-animal models are there? computer programs - typically simulate animal preparations/experiments video and interactive video mannekins, models, simulators, virtual reality human self-experimentation non-animal experiments (e.g. using plant tissues, post-mortem material, cultured cells) Ethically sourced cadavers Clinical practice (veterinary treatment of [sick] animals)

Multimedia Simulations - Frog Sciatic Nerve

Effects of neuromuscular drugs - cat NM junction

Effects of drugs on the human eye

Animations

High quality images

Which T&L objectives can non-animal models achieve? – knowledge acquisition – data handling skills – experimental design skills – communication skills – team working and staff-student interaction – practical laboratory skills [some] – art of doing experiments, thinking ‘on your feet’, animal handling-skills [some] – INNOVATION = BETTER TEACHING

Evidence that they work? Numerous studies* knowledge gain is equivalent costs are less better support for weaker students good acceptance by students BUT: different learning objectives are achieved Tutors must decide the PRIMARY learning objectives - may be different for different students. *Knight A. (2207) The effectiveness of humane teaching methods in veterinary education. ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 2007;24(2):

Use of non-animal models as replacements for animal experiments to better prepare students to debrief students as a fallback to enable additional data to be collected

Are alternatives widely used? may not precisely fit with course objectives staff resistance need initial resource input to implement e.g. develop support materials lack of academic time/skills to implement them Evidence is yes but could be better

Convincing teachers Encourage teachers to re-examine learning objectives for different student groups Provide evidence of successful use - empirical, qualitative, economic Publish exemplar good practice use cases Increase awareness and outreach activities - organisations, websites [EURCA], databases [NORINA] Use sustainable development methods which avoid technological redundancy [ReCAL]

Summary There are sound pedagogical reasons why non- animal models can be cost effective alternatives in UG teaching A wide range of ‘proven’ non-animal models already exist Teachers are the curriculum ‘change agents’ Efforts should be focussed on convincing teachers –Awareness raising –Publishing evidence –Assistance with integration of alternatives into mainstream teaching

David Dewhurst … thank you

Sheffield BioScience Programs Established 1989 Currently > 40 titles mostly in physiology and pharmacology –Simulations of experiments - alternatives –Interactive tutorials ‘Experimental Design’; ‘Medicines - the discovery process’ –Human and Clinical simulations Created by teams of content experts, educationalists, programmers Mostly available as cross-platform applications

SBP Alternatives Frog Sciatic nerve Frog Gastrocnemius muscle Frog Heart Cat Nictitating Membrane Cat neuromuscular junction Rat intestinal transport Rabbit Langendorff Heart Guinea Pig Airways Rabbit skin - inflammation Rat - colonic motility Guinea Pig Ileum Human eye - autonomic pharmacol Rat Blood Pressure Rat Mitochondria Frog Skin Squid Axon Experimental Design

New developments - ReCAL Currently we can deliver on CD-ROM: –original program which will run in Adobe Flash; –all of the learning objects for a particular program; –an IMS compliant ‘Content Package’ - VLE. Teachers control content creation = local editing and sustainability expand the number of LOs in the repository by ‘processing’ further CAL programs, develop appropriate business model offering: –online (Internet) access; –teacher access to the online repository of all LOs; –teacher access to the online authoring system (Labyrinth).