HEAL: A national multimedia repository

HEAL: A National Multimedia Repository

Sharon Dennis, M.S., Sebastian Uijtdehaage, PhD, and Chris Candler, M.D.

University of Utah, UCLA, University of Oklahoma

ABSTRACT:

The Health Education Assets Library (HEAL) is a national repository of multimedia instructional materials designed to support all levels of health sciences education. HEAL is part of the larger National Science Digital Library (NSDL) supported by the National Science Foundation, and will be hosted by the National Library of Medicine. Health sciences educators will have access to a user-friendly database of health sciences multimedia freely available for use in a variety of educational settings. Contributors to the database will be offered easy-to-use mechanisms for uploading and cataloging multimedia.

The software architecture of HEAL has been designed as an n-tiered,distributed database system that will facilitate the discovery, exchange,and implementation of digital multimedia. HEAL utilizes the IMS Learning Resource Meta-Data Specification to allow export and import of metadata that can interface with other course management systems. The current HEAL prototype will be demonstrated, along with a descriptionof future plans for HEAL and ways for health sciences educators to participate in the development of this resource.

More information about the HEAL project can be found at

http://bas.medsch.ucla.edu/nsdl

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

The current trend is that educators develop their own collections of digital multimedia. The irony of this trend is that in spite of emerging Internet technologies that make searching and sharing of digital media easier than ever, an extraordinary amount of effort is being expended on duplicating these collections. Furthermore, these collections employ a variety of technologies that hinder interoperability. It would be easierto share such digital multimedia if a standard metadata scheme were collaboratively developed and disseminated among medical educators. Those attending this session will learn about HEAL, an NSF funded project to create a national repository of multimedia instructional materials for health science educators.

Sharon E. Dennis

Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library

University of Utah

10 North 1900 East

Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA

Phone: 801-585-3928

Fax: 801-581-3632

Email: sdennis@lib.med.utah.edu

CO-AUTHORS:

Sebastian Uijtdehaage, PhD

Chris Candler, MD

UCLA School of Medicine

Los Angeles, CA USA

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Oklahoma City, OK USA

Phone: 310/794-9009

405/271-9333

Email: bas@ucla.edu

chris-candler@ouhsc.edu