Project Overview

Connecting Minds is a collaborative project between medical and pharmacology students at Coventry University (UK) and bio-medicine students at the University of Seville (Spain). The project provides undergraduate students at both universities with the opportunity to engage in a series of online interactions, so they can discuss current practices and trends in the field of neurobiology while learning to work effectively and appropriately in distributed and culturally diverse scientific teams. After undertaking a number of preparatory activities, students will need to work in mixed groups on experimental designs to study the effects of psychoactive substances using in-vitro pharmacological techniques.

OIL Outcomes

This project aims to help students:
● Raise their awareness of their own culture and its perspectives and practices in comparison with other cultures and their perspectives and practices.
● Develop the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively and appropriately in intercultural teams.
● Develop the ability to work effectively and appropriately in virtual teams.
● Gain an insight into international approaches to teaching in neurosciences.
● Learn how to design and experiment to investigate the effects of psychoactive substances.

OIL Activities

Week 1 – Getting to know each other
Week 2 – On the notion of culture(s)
Week 3 – Working in virtual teams
Week 4& 5 – Subject research and poster production
Week 6- Virtual conference
Week 7- Reflective account

OIL Output

Students are required to produce one collaborative poster per mixed student group.

Reflective feedback to be included in the students skills portfolio which is assessed.

 

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