TABLE CONTENTS

Nematology Education in Europe: A Joint Effort
Smol, N. (1) & W. Decraemer (1,2)
(1) Department of Biology, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium; (2) Royal Belgian Institute of Natural
Sciences, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
In the past Nematology education and training in Europe started as several independent
efforts in different countries, such as the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. These
trainings had different goals, frequencies, duration, timing and type of participants.
The current nematology education is characterized by on the one hand short training sessions,
such as in the Netherlands and on the other hand by a university MSc programme at Ghent
University in Belgium. The latter has evolved from a 1-year MSc programme into a 2-year
MSc programme at Ghent University as well as into a 2-year European MSc course providing
mobility of the students between partner Universities and Research Institutes located in
different European countries. In this way new possibilities for cooperation and strengthening
ties between nematologists are created.
Future perspectives are partnerships in education with Universities all over the world,
including increased mobility for students between these partners.
Integrating Multifocial Microscopy Images of Nematodes into Nematology
Training and Education
Mundo-Ocampo, M., P. De Ley, M. Yoder, I. Tandingan De Ley & J. Baldwin
Department of Nematology, University of California, Riverside CA 92521, United States
Growth of nematology as a discipline is severely constrained by the relatively small numbers
of students and young researchers interested in entering the field. Important causes for this
lack of enthusiasm include the long hours behind the microscope traditionally needed to
obtain a meaningful understanding of nematode anatomy, diversity, diagnostics and
systematics. This in turn is largely due to the challenges of learning how to operate the
microscope, as well as to the limited effectiveness of traditional monographs and
identification keys as teaching tools. Based on our own experience as both trainees and
trainers in nematode microscopy, we believe a more efficient approach requires a broad menu
of teaching and self-teaching tools tailored to individual skill levels, prior experience and
future goals of each nematology trainee. Because the learning curve is traditionally both steep
and protracted, experts are often severely constrained in the kinds and amounts of personal
knowledge they can transmit to trainees, while trainees are usually ill-equipped to receive and
assimilate the information given by experts. Multimedia technology and online resources can
mitigate and remedy many of these constraints, provided they are both robust and versatile,
capable of helping trainees with differing needs and prior experience through a variety of
computer platforms. We present some tools, prototypes and ideas developed in the course of
our ongoing research and teaching, all of which are based at last partly on presenting trainees
with multifocal image series that present nematode specimens and structures as they appear
under the microscope. We outline a larger framework for experimentally testing and
improving effectiveness of such tools, as well as potential strategies for improving and
expanding them in wiki-like fashion by enabling addition and updating of information via
internet tools such as email, ftp servers and dedicated websites.
5 th International Congress of Nematology, 2008 70