Virtual School of Natural Sciences
The
Virtual School of Natural Sciences is a school
under the aegis of the GNA and has a
member on its Council. The VSNS is actively formulating its policy
for the courses that it will sponsor, and its guidelines for making
the initial choice.
We have almost carte blanche in the subject matter, style, and
motivation of the VSNS courses. You are welcome to read and
discuss the guidelines we are draftin, so that I'll confine myself
to why PPS fits well under the VSNS umbrella:
it's a multidisciplinary subject and Internet can be a better way
of bringing disciplines together than conventional universities.
it will be the first multimedia course on the Net. Protein
structure is particularly well suited to graphics and animation.
PPS will promote the use of low-cost technology as a standard tool
for high-quality education.
biology (especially molecular and structural biology) has
shown how important the Internet is for scientific work and deserves
to be among the pioneers in education.
there is a high degree of international collaboration in protein
structural research, such as the use of synchrotrons and the
development of databases.
Co-sponsors
VSNS is not 'trying to go it alone' and is keen to collaborate with
existing RL institutions, such as Birkbeck.
pmr for pps