Anju Relan, PhD
School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

ABSTRACT:

The UCLA School of Medicine, UCLA has embarked on expanding its web based curriculum to incorporate goals and objectives related to the development of clinical skills. Several projects were funded internally to create online case learning environments. Over the last one year, the Instructional Design and Technology Unit, charged with the design and development of web based curriculum, has been actively generating simulated online cases for different types of learning outcomes. This effort has resulted in a suite of complex, interactive learning environments in various specialties. Most cases are in active use by students.

During this development process, the Unit designers and developers have grappled with a host of choices related to interface and instructional design, with resulting impact on cognition. Several of these issues will be discussed, including:

1) What is the impact of "rich" versus "lean" cases? Do richly annotated cases necessarily result in greater achievement?
2) What kind of feedback is warranted given the objectives of cases? Is immediate feedback more effective than delayed feedback? Is visual feedback more effective than a narrative?
3) What is the role of interactive multimedia in cases?
4) How can case simulations be more adaptive to the needs of learners?
5) What are the technical issues and costs related to development and dissemination?
6) What are effective ways of evaluating case based learning? These questions will be discussed in the context of case developments that have occurred at the School of Medicine, UCLA.

Participants will be able to: a) discuss the pros and cons of presenting cases simulations on the Web; b) learn from each other about issues involved in developing complex cases; and c) discuss attributes of case development (feedback, interactivity, evaluation) that strengthen cognition among students.

Anju Relan, PhD
60-051 Center for Health Sciences
School of Medicine, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Phone: 310-206-0572
Fax: 310-267-0320
Email: arelan@ucla.edu