GlaxoSmithKline to use Monash’s virtual program
An avatar in Pharmatopia
In a first for Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, major drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed an agreement to use the faculty’s unique virtual learning space, Pharmatopia.
GlaxoSmithKline will utilise Pharmatopia globally for staff development and training, acknowledging the strength of the faculty’s teaching practices.
Marian Costelloe, Faculty Manager, said the agreement recognises the faculty’s commitment to job-ready science degrees and the quality of its innovative education offerings.
“This is a major coup for the faculty, as it acknowledges the tremendous efforts of our teaching agenda, demonstrating Monash University as a leading institution in pharmacy and pharmaceutical science education.”
Pharmatopia is an online virtual world used for teaching. It was developed using a shared practice model involving ten leading pharmacy schools from around the world and hosts a variety of online teaching tools.
“Rapid changes facing the pharmacy profession led to a comprehensive review of the Bachelor of Pharmacy and the way aspects of the course are taught.”
“We are confident that our teaching agenda is current with what is transposed in the workforce and this new agreement reflects this,” said Ms Costelloe.
The faculty has developed six unique training modules, which GSK will use for training worldwide. One of these modules is a virtual dispensing laboratory.
The virtual tableting laboratory was initially designed to allow Monash students to demonstrate their understanding of the role of different ingredients in determining a tablet's properties, including how hard it is or how fast it disintegrates.
Students (via their avatars) enter the tableting laboratory where they are asked to put on a white coat, safety glasses and a hairnet before proceeding into the main lab. Inside the lab itself, which they access via an airlock, students select ingredients, move to a mixer and then go to a tablet press (both are exact replicates of commercial machines) to make their tablets.
The mixer and tablet press are 3D animated to show how these machines actually work, and students have a 360° view so that they can see what happens from every angle. At the end of the virtual tablet making, students move to the testing room, which replicates world standard testing equipment.
For further information about Pharmatopia and the virtual tableting laboratory visit www.pharm.monash.edu