Health Education Assets Library (HEAL) Adds New Functionality and Content

Sandra McIntyre, M.Ed. and Sebastian Uijtdehaage, Ph.D., David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Sharon Dennis, M.S., Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah;, Chris Candler, M.D., University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, Oklahoma City, USA

ABSTRACT:

The Health Educational Assets Library (HEAL), a national online repository of multimedia health education resources, announces new features and content for health sciences educators. Earlier releases of the web-based HEAL application provided the ability to search a prototype collection of multimedia files, such as images and videos, via text strings and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords, or to search by other content characteristics, such as disease process, organ type, or radiograph type, or by contributor information, such as copyright holder. HEAL now allows the user to browse through the collections with a navigation tree organized by MeSH terms to find specific multimedia files. It also allows educators to contribute to the HEAL collection by uploading multimedia files with cataloging information using a simple web-based wizard.

In addition, HEAL has started the development of its collection by adding 600 histological images from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and over 100 neurology examination videos, in both English and Spanish, by Paul D. Larsen, M.D., and Suzanne S. Stensaas, Ph.D. Each addition to the HEAL database includes valuable metadata information, which can be downloaded in addition to the actual multimedia file. HEAL continues to increase the scope of its collections, expanding into new file types and into new subject areas. Along these lines, the team has worked with partnering organizations to build a network of distributed databases of teaching resources.

In this demonstration, we will show the current version of HEAL's application and the expanded multimedia collection. Attendees may "test drive" the searching, browsing, and contribution modules and download multimedia files. Supplemental materials will present details about the technical underpinnings of the program. Team members will be available to discuss cataloging and metadata issues.

HEAL is a multi-institutional, collaborative project funded by the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) initiative of the National Science Foundation since the fall of 2000. HEAL is aimed at improving access to teaching resources for health sciences educators, promoting the sharing of teaching resources, and fostering the interoperability of resources. Chris Candler, M.D., from the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine; Sebastian Uijtdehaage, Ph.D., from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and Sharon Dennis, M.S., from the University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library are the co-directors of the project. More information about the HEAL Project, as well as free access to the web-based application and resources, is available at http://www.healcentral.org.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

Discover how HEAL can help health science educators find free digital multimedia files for their teaching and avoid "reinventing the wheel." Get a glimpse of the growing HEAL collection by using the new browsing and searching tools. Find out how multimedia can be easily downloaded and repurposed for teaching. Learn how educators can contribute and catalog multimedia and share them with colleagues worldwide while retaining copyright. "Test drive" the application and find out how you can contribute to its improvement. Share your impressions and suggestions with the HEAL team so that the application will continue to improve. In short, find out how everyone with an interest in improving health science education can participate in this national collaborative project that is carried out in the "Slice of Life spirit."

Sandra McIntyre, M.Ed.

Program Manager

Health Education Assets Library (HEAL)

60-051 Center for the Health Sciences

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Box 951722

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1722

Phone: 310-267-2873

Fax: 310-794-7465

Email: smcintyre@mednet.ucla.edu

Website: http://www.healcentral.org/

CO-AUTHORS:

Sebastian Uijtdehaage, Ph.D., David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Sharon Dennis, M.S., Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah;

Chris Candler, M.D., University of Oklahoma School of Medicine