The development of online learning promises to make the Internet an increasingly important vehicle for the dissemination of health information to both health-care providers (health professionals) and health-care consumers (the general public).

Developers of educational technology face numerous options in the preparation and presentation of their work. Does illustration enhance comprehension and learning, and, if so, how? Which kinds of visual media are most effective, and in what contexts? It is our goal to seek answers to these questions, through a rigorous feedback process from two target audiences:

1. Surgical oncologists learning sentinel node biopsy for treatment of breast cancer; and 2. Women at high risk for developing breast cancer. One anticipated outcome will be a conceptual classification of visual media; relating the form in which visual media are presented (static, animated, schematic, interactive, level of interactivity, among others) to the content that they are meant to express (spatial relationships, temporal relationships, structure-function relationships, relationships of scale, etc.).

This study is funded by Bell University Laboratories

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

in this session will share in innovative approaches to the development and evaluation of media-based communication tools that address the needs of distinct audiences.

Nicholas Woolridge and Linda Wilson-Pauwels
Division of Biomedical Communications, Dept. of Surgery
Rm. 2356, 1 King's College Circle,
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
m5s 1a8
Phone: 416-978-5357
Fax: 416-978-6891
Email: l.wilson.pauwels@utoronto.ca
Website: http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/ivis/

CO-AUTHORS:
Jodie Jenkinson
Meaghan Brierley
Stan Hamstra
David McCready
monica schraefel
Mike Wiley
Patricia Stewart
Dept. of Surgery
Rm. 2356, 1 King's College Circle,
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
m5s 1a8
Phone: 416-978-1714
Fax: same
Email: j.jenkinson@utoronto.ca
Website: http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/ivis/