"The Tale of Tommy's Testing": Weaving New Knowledge into an Old Shell
Sharon Levy, MD,
John Knight, MD
Harvard Medical School, Children's
Hospital, Boston
Abstract:
Recent changes in the health care
delivery system, including both shorter hospital stays and briefer clinic
visits for children, have challenged traditional pediatric clinical teaching
methods. The field of Developmental and
Behavioral Pediatrics has been particularly affected by these time limits as it
relies heavily on observation and individual precepting by faculty. To address the need to teach residents
within these time limitations faculty at The Children’s Hospital of Boston
wrote, pilot-tested and evaluated twenty-nine case-based educational modules on
child growth, development, behavior and adolescent health. The materials have been highly rated by both
teachers and students, and, when used in pre-clinic conferences, the
case-teaching method has been shown to be effective in increasing residents'
knowledge.
The Children’s Hospital faculty and
project PI are now collaborating with the Knowledge Weavers project at the
University of Utah to convert one written case-based exercise into a fully
interactive, multi-media, WWW-based tutorial. This pilot case, "The Tale
of Tommy's Testing", teaches how to diagnose and treat children with
learning disorders. After attending the
SOL/CHES Symposium in 1999, one author (JK) identified the EnviroDx shell (http://library.med.utah.edu/envirodx),
originally developed at the MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine, as ideally suited
for purposes of teaching about child development and behavior. A collaboration
between this project and the Knowledge Weaver's group has led to revisions of
the authoring shell to better accommodate developmental cases. Additional materials have been added to make
the experience more learner-centered (i.e., learners can choose how deeply to
delve into certain aspects of the case).
The computerized venue is ideal for this purpose, and facilitates use of
The project investigators will conduct a
pilot test of the interactive case and knowledge and skills assessments soon
after completion. Based on feedback from the pilot they will make revisions and
then conduct a quasi-randomized trial to determine if there are different
responses among pediatric residents exposed to the interactive computer module
versus the case discussion module.
In a future project, the investigators, in collaboration with the Knowledge Weavers, are planning to convert several more cases to the interactive format. Ultimately, an authoring shell will be created that allows case writers to insert content directly into the interactive format.
Benefit in Attending
Session:
The presenters will discuss and demonstrate the conversion of cases prepared as small group tutorials to fully interactive, learner driven, multimedia computer modules, and the adaptation of a case writing shell developed primarily for environmental cases to better suit developmental cases. The demonstration will emphasize the flexible learner driven design that allows one computer module to suit the needs of learners from multiple disciplines and at different levels. Presenters will also discuss future directions, including the planning phase of a quasi-randomized trial to compare the learners experience with the computer module as compared to the more standard precepted format.
PRIMARY AUTHOR'S
INFORMATION
Sharon Levy, MD
Children's Hospital, Boston
Division of General Pediatrics
Hunnewell Ground
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Telephone Number: 617-355-2137
Fax Number: 617-355-4208
E-mail Address: LEVY_S@A1.TCH.Harvard.Edu
CO-AUTHORS'
INFORMATION
Carolyn Frazer, MD
S. Jean Emans, MD
Sharon Dennis, MS
Valerie Craigle, BS
John Knight, MD
Address(es):
CF, JK, JE:
Children's Hospital, Boston
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
SD, VC:
Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences
Library
University of Utah
10 North 1900 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-5890
Telephone Number(s):
CF: 617-355-6369
JE: 617-355-6369
SD: 801-585-3928
VC: 801-581-5263
JK: 617-355-5433
Fax Number(s):
CF: 617-355-4208
JE: 617-232-1851
SD and VC: 801-581-3632
JK: 617-355-7940
E-mail Address(es):