Experimental Design eLearning Collection

The British Pharmacological Society supports in vivo education and training and recognises the need to close skills gaps across the sector.

Our free eLearning resources on the topic of experimental design serve as a useful learning and teaching tool for anyone needing to analyse literature and/or data generated from studies involving research animals. We produced these resources with the help of our member experts and other leading organisations in the sector, including NC3Rs. The are ideal for undergraduates on any biosciences degree.

Modules

The modules cover a series of topics with more topics under development. Those currently available include:

• Types of experiment - perfect for those who are required to design experiments and want to ensure that they are capable of achieving the research’s objectives. Gain a deeper understanding of how the objectives of an experiment can impact its design through this informative guide.
• Blinding - aimed at anyone who needs to analyse literature and/or data generated from studies involving research animals. Blinding (or masking) is the process where those involved in a study are kept unaware of group assignment. This resource explains why it is an integral part of good experimental design .
• Experimental unit - provides valuable insight into the significance of identifying the “experimental unit” for designing and analysing experiments. This content is crucial for anyone who needs to analyse literature or data from any experiment, with examples that are particularly relevant to in vivo research animals and/or in vitro tissues.

Browse all of the Experiment design modules.

How to use the modules

We recognise that educators have limited time to create their own teaching content. Therefore, these free resources can be used as blended learning tools to compliment degree modules without excessively increasing students’ or educators’ time burden.

Each resource contains the following content which can be used in part or in full:​

• an animation video introducing core concepts
• a series of formative multiple-choice questions
• ​additional learning tasks such as a literature review

How do I access these resources?

The resources are available in a special Experimental Design section of the BPS Assessment (BPSA) website. These modules are not listed in the main area of the BPSA site and so can only be accessed using the direct link: https://portal.bpsassessment.com/experimental-design/

These products are free. To access them, please complete the checkout (you won’t be charged) and you will be sent an email with your login credentials to access your free products.

We advise that you access these resources via the Google Chrome browser.

We would appreciate any feedback on the content, please get in touch at education@bps.ac.uk.

These eLearning resources are the latest of a number of of important projects that the BPS has supported in vivo education and training. Other projects include:

• Hosting and evaluating the Integrative Pharmacology Fund
• Development of a curriclum for the use of research animals
• Educator support through the Research Animal Sciences Education Scheme