The removal of animal experimentation and the availability of excellent computer-based simulations demonstrating drug action, has made computer simulated experiments a valuable instructional tool for teaching pharmacology. After ethics committee approval, 172 pharmacology student volunteers participated in the study after giving written informed consent. A multiple-choice pre-test was administered prior to the computer-based teaching sessions using the software EP Dog version E 1.1.0. followed by a questionnaire to gather student perceptions and personal learning outcomes. A post-test was used to assess learning. Students expressed a positive attitude to computer-based learning and were able to perceive the usefulness, ease of use and positive learning outcomes. The post-tes showed a significant increase in knowledge acquired. In conclusion the study shows that computer simulated experiments are a very effective teaching- learning method with the potential to raise teaching standards in pharmacology.
