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Individual Formative Assessment Modules for Medical Education

Rumi ChunaraHarvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology

The Fourth Annual Conference of Learning International Networks Consortium

Oct. 29, 2007

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Acknowledgements

• Dr. Elazer Edelman (HST)

• Sarah Henrickson, Iahn Cajigas (HST)

• Rebecca Scholl (Olin College)

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Technology in Medicine

• medicine: extremely large knowledge base. • simulation: provides a venue to rehearse potentially high-

stress/high-speed/high-risk situations• patient interaction can be rehearsed• patient interaction can be delivered (telemedicine)• superior patient-care

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Technology and Education:Technology in Education, Educational Technology

Technology in Medical Education:

Educational Technology (all domains):

-automate and increase speed of data processing-engage learners and introduce variety into traditional didactic methods -bring learning outside of traditional contextOLPC.com

simulations of high-speed, difficult to reproduce situations

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sim

.com

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Thought Experiment

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The Gutenberg Method

• combines learning resources• integrates learning

materials• can be automated• students feel involved in

instruction process**

Frank L. Lambert. Effective teaching of organic chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 40(4):173–174, 1963.

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Pedagogy Flow

Lecture

Problem set

Exam

Baseline

Lecture with Individualized feedback

Exam

HST Modules

Online tutorial

Online tutorial

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HST 090: Cardiovascular Pathophysiology

• diverse audience

• course content: basic science and clinical concepts

• foundational topics which students report difficulty in mastering early on in course

• course already incorporates problem sets to encourage preparation before lectures

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Module Purposes

• direct reading

• feedback for lecturer about student understanding

• engage students on a complicated topic

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Module Implementation• open source• : high-level Python Web framework that

encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design of dynamic websites

• problem based (wealth of resources on topic are already available: textbooks, lecture notes, internet sources) – still include individualized, formative feedback

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Design Process

• Questions:– should be challenging, but straightforward to

implement in online format– possible formats considered:

• multiple choice (text, graphical)• short answer (match text)• long answer (look for key words)• graphical answering (create drawings)

• analogies useful for understanding and extending concepts to enforce the basic underlying facts

• require thought on multiple layers of concepts

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Capillary Filtration Module

Ubiquitous physiological principle:

• Urine formation• Pulmonary congestion• Edema

( ) ( )[ ]2121 ππ −−−= PPK

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Cardiovascular Physiology Module

pressure-volume relationships in the cardiac cycle

cvphysiology.com

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Effect of Module-based Teaching on Learning Objectives

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Appealing to a Diverse Audience: Learning Tool Preference

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Module Design (I)

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Module Design (II)

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Future Outlook

• Dissemination

• Implement, refine and examine module

• Entire course modular structure

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Proposal for Distance Education Model