AUDITORIUM PRESENTATION
A Web-Based Self-Directed Student-Authoring Module to Depict
the Unifying Concept of Disease in Pathology Education
Jannie Woo, Ph.D., John Bernard Henry, M.D., Chang I. Wu,
Karen Kelly Department of Pathology, SUNY Upstate Medical University at
Syracuse, New York, USA
ABSTRACT:
An interactive Web
site (http://www.ec.upstate.edu/path/)
was launched in 1998 as a learning tool for our second-year pathology course,
Pathology 201. It encompasses image reviews, CPC cases, case study modules, and
image-enhanced handouts and PowerPoint lectures. The Web site undergoes
continuous updates in keeping with Web technological advances and in
synchronization with the ever-changing course curriculum.
A Unifying Concept of
Disease (UCD) model (Henry: Pathology Education, 21(2), 4-12, 1996) was
proposed as a logical lattice for identifying and describing discrete clusters
of information about a disease that evolves sequentially from etiology and
natural history to outcome. To facilitate learning, we developed this concept
into a Web-based self-directed student-authoring module, and included it in our
department Web site as a class exercise for the Pathology 201 course.
This module consists
of a) a tutorial section describing the UCD, b) data entry templates enabling
input of text and image annotations of a selected disease into a database, and
c) display templates allowing formal presentation of the completed disease
entities to an audience. Specifically, students are divided into groups of
four. Each group selects a disease of interest and proceeds with information
gathered from Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) literature searches and group
review. The consolidated & reviewed data are then inputted into pre-formatted
HTML templates, with designated fields for text, graphics, and image
descriptions pertaining to the disease. All entries are automatically stored in
a database created in FileMaker Pro (FileMaker, Santa Clara, CA); the student
then uploads accompanying images to the server via FTP. The more enthusiastic
students may elect to enhance the final Web page output with simple HTML
scripts for text bolding, text coloring, font changing, and site linking,
etc... At presentation time, the student logs onto JavaScript enhanced HTML
templates to display desired disease information with image thumbnails, the
latter of which may be clicked to display full size images in a popup window.
This class exercise
has helped students gain better understanding of the UCD as a lattice for
studying disease. Other benefits include an emphasis on team-work, experience
in EBM searching and review, improvement in group presentation skills, and
exposure to database-driven Web technology. This module may also be adapted for
use as educational tool in areas other than pathology.
BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:
Participants will see
from this presentation:
1.
How to set up a
database-driven Web site
2.
How to develop
Web-based templates for data entry into a database
3.
How to retrieve
information from a database for Web display
4.
The educational value
of enabling students to create an example while learning a concept
Jannie Woo, Ph.D.
Department of
Pathology
SUNY Upstate Medical
University
Syracuse, NY 13210
USA
Phone: 315-464-6717
Fax: 315-464-7130
Website: http://www.ec.upstate.edu/path/
CO-AUTHORS:
John Bernard Henry,
M.D.
Chang I. Wu
Karen Kelly
Department of Pathology
SUNY Upstate Medical
University
Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Phone: 315-464-7186
Fax: 315-464-7187
Email: mailto:henryjb@upstate.edu