Teaching

Dr. Cox teaches several courses at Murray State: Essentials of Chemistry and Biochemistry (CHE 111), Basic Biochemistry (CHE 330), Fundamentals of Biochemistry I (CHE 530), Fundamentals of Biochemistry II (CHE 540), and Molecular Pharmacology (CHE 550).  When needed, he also teaches Organic Chemistry II (CHE 320).

Dr. Cox is always trying to develop new ways of teaching and designing courses to improve student learning, engagement, and success.  Here are some examples.

Module Mayhem (CHE 111):  Canvas is the LMS at MSU and a variety of information and files can be placed in modules.  In CHE 111. there is a module for every day the class meets (every weekday).  Students always know what is going on in class or lab for a given day. After most class days, there is a short post-lecture quiz and the module for that day will contain the link to the quiz, along with the reading assignment, lecture notes and supplementary material that are relevant to the quizzes. This highly structured approach can help students in introductory chemistry courses be prepared for class, stay on top of assignments, and never be in doubt about where to find needed material and resources.

Biochemistry in Context (CHE 530/CHE 540):  By their nature, biochemistry courses are heavy in content and providing important context can be challenging (but necessary!).  In the biochemistry courses, students complete assignments that provide important context about numerous topics covered in the courses.  Examples include writing assignments (for the general public) about adderall, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Parkinson's disease, the blue Fugates of Kentucky, Warburg effect, and the role of fructose in obesity.

Amazing Race (CHE 540): Sometimes you just have to mix it up!  In this exercise, students form teams and are given a series of questions to answer.  In a nod to the TV show, Amazing Race, students are given step #1 questions and work as a team to answer the questions.  They provide answers orally to Dr. Cox and if the answers are satisfactory, the team gets the next set of questions to answer.  The first team to come to Dr. Cox's office and correctly answer the questions for the last step (usually six or seven steps) is declared a winner and team members get a plastic medal.  

Patient Encounters (CHE 550): Typically, students in this class are future physicians and will eventually interact with patients in a variety of settings.  Also, the number of drugs to treat diseases and disorders are expanding. One example of this activity is where students investigate the use, pharmacology, and mechanism of action of newer medications for the treatment of migraines (gepants, monoclononal antibodies, and ditans).  Students pretend they are practicing physicians and have a patient suffering from migraine headaches.  They have a simulated patient encounter where they explain to the "patient" which drug will be prescribed and its benefits and side effects. The fake patient is someone the students have never met and have experienced migraine headaches.

Medical Certificate Program (CHE 550):  Since students in this class are typically aspiring physicians, activities have been designed such that they can earn a "medical certificate" in a variety of areas at Murray State University School of Medicine (not real!).  To earn a certificate, students must investigate an important health-related topic (such as diabesity or antibiotic pharmacology) and sit in front of an evaluation panel and answer a series of questions.  The panel consists of experts in field.  For example, pharmacists with Pharm.D. degrees (from Baptist Health Paducah) served on the antibiotic pharmacology panel and asked students a variety of questions related to cases studies involving the prescription of antibiotics.

The educational activities described above will not be published, but Dr. Cox does have a record of scholarship in teaching and learning. He has interests in many areas including technology in teaching, molecular visualization, and the design of unique student-centered learning activities and experiences.  Below are some of the publications in these areas. A great deal of this work was funded via grants from Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and initiative grants to MSU from the National Science Foundation (CCLI program) and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Undergraduate Biomedical Sciences Education Program). Dr. Cox is proud that many of the papers below have authors that were undergraduate students at the time of publication.

Whittington, C., Pellock, S. J., Cunningham, R. and Cox, J. R. “Combining Content and Elements of Communication into an Upper-Level Biochemistry Course” Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2014, 42, 136-141.

Mittendorf, I. and Cox, J. R. “Around the Beta-Turn: An Activity To Improve the Communication and Listening Skills of Biochemistry Students” J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 1476-1478.

Jones, B. W. and Cox, J. R. “External Representations in the Teaching and Learning of Introductory Chemistry” Creative Education 2011, 2(5), 461-465.

Cox, J. R. “Lessons from Room 10” The Teaching Professor 2011, 25(5), page 6.

Cox, J. R.  “Enhancing Student Interactions with the Instructor and Content Using Pen-Based Technology, YouTube Videos, and Virtual Conferencing”. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2011, 39, 4-9.

Cox, J. R. “Is it Live or is it Professor X” The Teaching Professor. 2008, 22(9), page 2.

Derting, T. and Cox, J. R. “Using a Tablet PC to Enhance Student Engagement and Learning in an Introductory Organic Chemistry Course” J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1638-1643.

Rogers, J. W. and Cox, J. R. “Integrating a Single Tablet PC in Chemistry, Engineering and Physics Courses” J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 2008, 37, 34-39. 

Lyles, H., Robertson, B., Mangino, M. and Cox, J. R. “Audio Podcasting in a Tablet PC-Enhanced Biochemistry Course” Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2007, 35, 456-461.

Kohorst, K. and Cox, J. R. “Virtual Office Hours Using a Tablet PC:  E-lluminating Biochemistry in an Online Environment” Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2007, 35, 193-197.

Cox, J. R. “Developing an Alternate Assessment Exercise for an Introductory Chemistry Course” The Teaching Professor. 2006, 20(9), 5.

Cox, J. R. “Screen Capture on the Fly:  Combining Molecular Visualization and a Tablet PC in the Biochemistry Classroom” Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2006, 34, 12-16.

Cox, J. R. and Rogers, J. W. “Enter: The (Well-Designed) Lecture” The Teaching Professor. 2005, 19(5), 1/6.

Keller, H. and Cox, J. R. “The Proteomics Stock Market Project:  A Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Biochemistry and Business Education”.  J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 519-522.

Cox, J. R. “Protein Data Bank Education Corner:  Using Visualization Tools”, Spring 2004 (No. 22), Protein Data Bank Newsletter, p. 6-7 (Invited Article).

Honey, D. W. and Cox J. R. “Lesson Plan for Protein Exploration in a Large Biochemistry Class” Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2003, 31, 356-362.

Cox, A. L. and Cox, J. R. “Determining Oxidation-Reduction on a Simple Number Line”.  J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 965-967.

Canning, D. R. and Cox, J. R. “Teaching the Structural Nature of Biological Molecules: Molecular Visualization in the Classroom and in the Hands of Students” Chem. Educ. Res. Prac. 2001, 2, 109-122.

Peterson, R. R. and Cox, J. R. “Integrating Computational Chemistry into a Project-Oriented Biochemistry Laboratory Experience: A New Twist on the Lysozyme Experiment” J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 1551-1555.

Cox, J. R. “Teaching Noncovalent Interactions in the Biochemistry Curriculum Through Molecular Visualization: The Search for pi Interactions” J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1424-1428.