TITLE III
PROGRESS REPORT
Submitted by:
T. Habtemariam
May 20, 1998
A Virtual Biomedical
Learning Environment
Introduction
Internet based virtual learning resources,
when designed creatively and thoughtfully, can provide powerful and
compelling information technology (IT) tools to access information,
analyze and synthesize data so as to solve complex biomedical
problems. As we prepare for the 21st century, the Internet and
digital technologies appear to be pivotal for strengthening
veterinary medical education at the Tuskegee University, College of
Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health (TU-CVMNAH). This is
consistent with the Department of Education (Title III) program for
Strengthening Historically Black Graduate Institutions.
Since harnessing and exploiting the Internet
and IT will be critical to strengthening biomedical education, the
goal in this project is to focus on the Internet and the WWW to build
a set of electronically accessible multimedia systems designed to
reinforce and strengthen biomedical and technological skills.
Objectives and
sub-objectives:
The primary objective is to create Virtual
Biomedical Learning/Teaching Resources designed to strengthen and
advance biomedical education; promote collaborative learning/teaching
and information sharing; and enable access to digital information via
the Internet’s World Wide Web (WWW)
and related resources. The specific sub-objectives are to:
a) enable educational improvement
and advancement by using Internet and Multimedia educational
resources;
b) promote collaborative learning/teaching
and information sharing;
c) enable access to digital information
(where and when
desired) via the Internet;
d) develop methods and resources that will
assist in the evaluation of the value added benefits of technology
based learning/teaching approaches and collect qualitative and
quantitative data to evaluate the impact on biomedical
education.
Methodology
Activity 1: Creating the
Virtual Resources for biomedical education
Task:
creating Virtual Resources that will consist of:
a) acquiring, creating and/or
developing WWW and other Internet resources,
b) acquiring and installing the appropriate
hardware and network resources to enable anytime anywhere
computing,
c) identifying and categorizing and
creating the appropriate veterinary and related biomedical
content.
Status:
This task has been initiated. Some of
the hardware and software resources have been ordered and
installation will follow soon after the items are received. The
network resources of the college is being upgraded. The network
specialist will soon be sent to receive further training in the use
of WINDOWS NT for network management. Activity #1 is a major
undertaking and it is expected to take a sizable amount of time for
development and implementation during the coming years of the Title
III project.
Activity 2: Creating the
Multimedia Resources
Task:
developing hypermedia modules for selected topics that lend
themselves to visual and auditory dimensions for exchange of
information and/or learning will be emphasized. Faculty from each of
the three departments of the college will be recruited for this
purpose. Specific examples for the initial stage could be courses in
Epidemiology, Parasitology, Anatomy or Physiology.
One full time scientific visualization
specialist is expected to focus on this area. One of our staff
members with advanced MacroMind Director and visualization expertise
(in fact the only person
with such expertise on our staff) will be
responsible for this activity.
Status:
the scientific visualization expert has not been hired to initiate
this activity. However, preliminary development in selected areas of
two courses, (Epidemiology
and Gross Anatomy) has been
initiated.
Activity 3: Multimedia
Presentations ( student training)
Task:
Students in the third and fourth years of the veterinary
curriculum, involved in "clinical rounds" will be trained in the use
of Multimedia and Multimedia presentations. Via these presentation
tools, other multimedia resources including QuickTime, Premiere and
PowerPoint will be integrated into biomedical
presentations.
Status:
this task is on target. Fifty six (56) senior class students
received training in the use of multimedia resources including
QuickTime, Premiere and RealAudio. They presented their grand round
presentations using the electronic classroom resources of the
college.
Activity 4: Faculty
development:
Task:
the two key issues for success in the use of
technology in education are:
a) faculty development and
training; and,
b) changing the traditional
teaching/learning paradigm of passive involvement within the triad
of student - teacher - textbook, to an interactive and technology
enriched learning/teaching environment. The emphasis will be on
interactive and participatory learning using multimedia
resources.
To accomplish this, educators will be provided
continuous training and support (one
on one or as appropriate) in the use of
technology in education. Faculty will be encouraged to interact with
other faculty in their own respective areas as well as with others
elsewhere. Access to e-mail and listservs will therefore be critical.
Teachers will be provided time off to pursue a focused training
activity in the use of IT.
Status:
the existing electronic resources of
the college were used to train and prepare students and faculty in
information technology to reinforce and strengthen the
learning/teaching process. An annual workshop on Veterinary Scholar
Workstation Training was conducted during June of 1007. A sizable
number of computer applications/topics ranging from computer basics
to electronic mail (including
QuickMail and Internet) were
offered.
The annual training was intensive
(one month
long) and it was cosponsored by the
University’s Continuing Education Department. Continuing
education units (CEUs) were provided through the Office of the
Provost for those who successfully completed the one month training.
A total of 307 daily attendees (faculty
and staff) received training. Additionally,
41 faculty and 35 staff received individualized training.
Activity 5: Fostering
communication among educators and learners:
Task:
to foster effective communication among
faculty and students, a Listserv and Bulletin Board
(discussion
group) will be set up for the
CVMNAH. Internet
e-mail and electronic bulletin boards will be developed to enable
students to communicate with their teachers and other colleagues in
cyberspace.
Status:
this task has not been initiated.
Activity 6: Creating an
environment that promotes collaborative learning
Task:
to strengthen biomedical education and
promote group study habits, clusters of learner workstations will be
positioned in strategic locations in the college, all geared to
promote and cultivate cooperative and group study habits. For those
interested in individually paced independent studies, appropriate
Internet and IT resources will be made available.
Status:
this task has not been pursued actively during this project period.
Although some clusters of workstations do exist, more must be done in
this area during the coming years.
Activity 7: Student
training:
Task:
interdigitating the use of computer technology in the
teaching/learning process using selected case-study courses
(e.g. Clinical Rotation,
Epidemiology, Physiology and Anatomy) will
be continued and enlarged during this phase of the
project.
Status:
as in the past few years, third year clinical students were required
to complete a two week course intended to develop their expertise in
veterinary scholar workstation computing methodologies and utilize
the Internet and the WWW technology resources to manage and process
biomedical information and advance their scientific activities in
veterinary medicine. All third year students (53 students) received
training during the year long clinical rotation period.
Activity 8: Expanding and
advancing the networking infrastructure and resources:
Task:
to advance the existing local area network of the college and to
migrate towards fast ethernet capability (ATM
or other alternatives) for transmitting
data at about 100 megabits per second or better is now needed. The
existing university wide T1 line is already clogged up and often slow
to respond. Moving multimedia images along this path is already
problematic. The university has recognized this constraint and has
consulted with 3 COM Corporation to:
a) improve network access and
resource utilization,
b) increase bandwidth,
c) implement a scaleable network
architecture to take TU to the 21st century via ATM technology.
Such an advanced infrastructure will fully support video, voice
and data transmission across the university’s network as well
as enabling faster and greater access to the Internet and the
WWW.
One full time network systems expert will
spend 100% of his time on these extremely critical areas of the local
area network. This person will provide training in accessing network
resources, will be responsible for maintaining the complex and
advanced network resources including the sizable number of WWW
servers of the college.
Status:
this task has not been pursued actively
since the network systems expert position has not been filled yet.
However, the college is planning to invest significantly through
another grant to upgrade the network resources. This will be a
positive advantage that will facilitate the work of the Title III
project.
Activity 9: Evaluation
Task:
the project evaluation and assessment
process will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative
measures. Data will be gathered using questionnaires and network
based automated data gathering resources.
Status:
using MacAdministrator
(High Resolution, Foxboro,
MA) user information such as who was logged
on to the Client machine, along with the applications that each user
used and how long the applications were used for are being collected.
Each students frequency and duration of computer use is recorded. The
data is stored in a FileMaker Pro database management
system.
Summary:during
the past few years, the veterinary students have moved from nearly no
(0%) to over 70% usage of computer based resources. We plan to
achieve 100% competency in the use of IT resources by the time our
students graduate from the TU-CVMNAH program.