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Teaching a difficult topic using a problem-based concept resembling a computer game: development and evaluation of an e-learning application for medical molecular genetics.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Genetic testing rapidly penetrates into all medical specialties and medical students must acquire skills in this area. However, many of them consider it difficult. Furthermore, many find these topics less appealing and not connected to their future specialization in different fields of clinical medicine. Student-centred strategies such as problem-based learning, gamification and the use of real data can increase the appeal of a difficult topic such as genetic testing, a field at the crossroads of genetics, molecular biology and bioinformatics. METHODS:We designed an electronic teaching application which students registered in the undergraduate Medical Biology course can access online. A study was carried out to assess the influence of implementation of the new method. We performed pretest/posttest evaluation and analyzed the results using the sign test with median values. We also collected students' personal comments. RESULTS:The newly developed interactive application simulates the process of molecular genetic diagnostics of a hereditary disorder in a family. Thirteen tasks guide students through clinical and laboratory steps needed to reach the final diagnosis. Genetics and genomics are fields strongly dependent on electronic databases and computer-based data analysis tools. The tasks employ publicly available internet bioinformatic resources used routinely in medical genetics departments worldwide. Authenticity is assured by the use of modified and de-identified clinical and laboratory data from real families analyzed in our previous research projects. Each task contains links to databases and data processing tools needed to solve the task, and an answer box. If the entered answer is correct, the system allows the user to proceed to the next task. The solving of consecutive tasks arranged into a single narrative resembles a computer game, making the concept appealing. There was a statistically significant improvement of knowledge and skills after the practical class, and most comments on the application were positive. A demo version is available at https://medbio.lf2.cuni.cz/demo_m/ . Full version is available on request from the authors. CONCLUSIONS:Our concept proved to be appealing to the students and effective in teaching medical molecular genetics. It can be modified for training in the use of electronic information resources in other medical specialties.

SUBMITTER: Prochazkova K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6813102 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Teaching a difficult topic using a problem-based concept resembling a computer game: development and evaluation of an e-learning application for medical molecular genetics.

Prochazkova Kamila K Novotny Petr P Hancarova Miroslava M Prchalova Darina D Sedlacek Zdenek Z

BMC medical education 20191024 1

<h4>Background</h4>Genetic testing rapidly penetrates into all medical specialties and medical students must acquire skills in this area. However, many of them consider it difficult. Furthermore, many find these topics less appealing and not connected to their future specialization in different fields of clinical medicine. Student-centred strategies such as problem-based learning, gamification and the use of real data can increase the appeal of a difficult topic such as genetic testing, a field ...[more]

PMID: 31651301

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Project description:BackgroundWhat subjects UK medical schools teach, what ways they teach subjects, and how much they teach those subjects is unclear. Whether teaching differences matter is a separate, important question. This study provides a detailed picture of timetabled undergraduate teaching activity at 25 UK medical schools, particularly in relation to problem-based learning (PBL).MethodThe Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey used detailed timetables provided by 25 schools with standard 5-year courses. Timetabled teaching events were coded in terms of course year, duration, teaching format, and teaching content. Ten schools used PBL. Teaching times from timetables were validated against two other studies that had assessed GP teaching and lecture, seminar, and tutorial times.ResultsA total of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in the academic year 2014/2015 were analysed, including SSCs (student-selected components) and elective studies. A typical UK medical student receives 3960 timetabled hours of teaching during their 5-year course. There was a clear difference between the initial 2 years which mostly contained basic medical science content and the later 3 years which mostly consisted of clinical teaching, although some clinical teaching occurs in the first 2 years. Medical schools differed in duration, format, and content of teaching. Two main factors underlay most of the variation between schools, Traditional vs PBL teaching and Structured vs Unstructured teaching. A curriculum map comparing medical schools was constructed using those factors. PBL schools differed on a number of measures, having more PBL teaching time, fewer lectures, more GP teaching, less surgery, less formal teaching of basic science, and more sessions with unspecified content.DiscussionUK medical schools differ in both format and content of teaching. PBL and non-PBL schools clearly differ, albeit with substantial variation within groups, and overlap in the middle. The important question of whether differences in teaching matter in terms of outcomes is analysed in a companion study (MedDifs) which examines how teaching differences relate to university infrastructure, entry requirements, student perceptions, and outcomes in Foundation Programme and postgraduate training.

Project description:In this paper we argue that a synthesis of findings across the various sub-areas of research in complex problem solving and consequently progress in theory building is hampered by an insufficient differentiation of complexity and difficulty. In the proposed framework of person, task, and situation (PTS), complexity is conceptualized as a quality that is determined by the cognitive demands that the characteristics of the task and the situation impose. Difficulty represents the quantifiable level of a person's success in dealing with such demands. We use the well-documented "semantic effect" as an exemplar for testing some of the conceptual assumptions derived from the PTS framework. We demonstrate how a differentiation between complexity and difficulty can help take beyond a potentially too narrowly defined psychometric perspective and subsequently gain a better understanding of the cognitive mechanisms behind this effect. In an empirical study a total of 240 university students were randomly allocated to one of four conditions. The four conditions resulted from contrasting the semanticity level of the variable labels used in the CPS system (high vs. low) and two instruction conditions for how to explore the CPS system's causal structure (starting with the assumption that all relationships between variables existed vs. starting with the assumption that none of the relationships existed). The variation in the instruction aimed at inducing knowledge acquisition processes of either (1) systematic elimination of presumptions, or (2) systematic compilation of a mental representation of the causal structure underpinning the system. Results indicate that (a) it is more complex to adopt a "blank slate" perspective under high semanticity as it requires processes of inhibiting prior assumptions, and (b) it seems more difficult to employ a systematic heuristic when testing against presumptions. In combination, situational characteristics, such as the semanticity of variable labels, have the potential to trigger qualitatively different tasks. Failing to differentiate between 'task' and 'situation' as independent sources of complexity and treating complexity and difficulty synonymously threaten the validity of performance scores obtained in CPS research.

Project description:BackgroundThis study combined themes in cardiovascular modelling, clinical cardiology and e-learning to create an on-line environment that would assist undergraduate medical students in understanding key physiological and pathophysiological processes in the cardiovascular system.MethodsAn interactive on-line environment was developed incorporating a lumped-parameter mathematical model of the human cardiovascular system. The model outputs were used to characterise the progression of key disease processes and allowed students to classify disease severity with the aim of improving their understanding of abnormal physiology in a clinical context. Access to the on-line environment was offered to students at all stages of undergraduate training as an adjunct to routine lectures and tutorials in cardiac pathophysiology. Student feedback was collected on this novel on-line material in the course of routine audits of teaching delivery.ResultsMedical students, irrespective of their stage of undergraduate training, reported that they found the models and the environment interesting and a positive experience. After exposure to the environment, there was a statistically significant improvement in student performance on a series of 6 questions based on cardiovascular medicine, with a 33% and 22% increase in the number of questions answered correctly, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.001 respectively.ConclusionsConsiderable improvement was found in students' knowledge and understanding during assessment after exposure to the e-learning environment. Opportunities exist for development of similar environments in other fields of medicine, refinement of the existing environment and further engagement with student cohorts. This work combines some exciting and developing fields in medical education, but routine adoption of these types of tool will be possible only with the engagement of all stake-holders, from educationalists, clinicians, modellers to, most importantly, medical students.

Dataset Information

Teaching a difficult topic using a problem-based concept resembling a computer game: development and evaluation of an e-learning application for medical molecular genetics.

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Teaching a difficult topic using a problem-based concept resembling a computer game: development and evaluation of an e-learning application for medical molecular genetics.

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