LearnIT -future directions for learning with technology at the University of Adelaide
Implementation and evaluation of Information Technology as a learning and study medium in medical education
Peter Devitt & Edward Palmer
Presenter's biographical details
Peter Devitt is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide. He is also a Consultant Surgeon, Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Eddy Palmer is the IT Curriculum Manager in the Medical Education Unit at the University of Adelaide.
Abstract
The development of the Medici project will be presented, with emphasis on student usage and its formal evaluation. The strategies used to encourage this form of learning resource will be discussed, including how it has been incorporated into the student curriculum. Details will be provided on how Medici has been incorporated into a number of different disciplines within the Faculty. Medici is now used extensively within this Faculty and also by a number of other medical schools in Australia. The Future of Information Technology (IT) depends to a large extent on its acceptance and use by the teachers. Strategies undertaken to increase the awareness and use if IT by clinicians will be discussed.
Web address
http://online.adelaide.edu.au/LearnIT.nsf/URLs/Medici
Introduction
Commonest sense dictates that medical education be focussed on the patient. In today's health care environment, that is not always practical or possible. Alternative strategies must be developed to ensure that tomorrowís graduates have the best training that can be offered. Information technology has its advantages and disadvantages. It can widen the clinical experience for students, but at the same time distance the student from the patient. Whilst the computer can supplement clinical learning, it can never replace that which is learnt at the bedside.
The Medici project has achieved several goals. It has widened the clinical experience for the individual. The case studies that have been developed have both increased the scope of clinical material available for the student and taken some of the burden off the teacher. The program has provided material that can be studied at leisure and learnt at the studentís own pace. Generous and positive feedback within the program has allowed the users to appreciate their own strengths and weaknesses.
Medici has been carefully evaluated, both by student and teachers' opinions and by formal testing. The results of these studies have been presented at national and international meetings and published in international peer-reviewed journals.
Students use the material enthusiastically and value it more highly than traditional book or lecture-based material. Objectively, the material in Medici will increase student knowledge and problem-solving skills as effectively as that gained in tutorials. The program is more efficient at helping students develop their powers of data analysis. Medici can be used to test studentsí clinical skills and is as effective as a clinician in the assessment of history taking and examination skills.
Clinical teachers maintain a healthy scepticism towards the computer in medical education. Whilst some of the scepticism may be a reflection of their own unfamiliarity with the medium, much of it is based on the failure of the program developers to provide satisfactory evidence of the worth of the medium.
If computers are to be used more effectively in medical education, their proponents must rectify a number of shortcomings. These include the complexity of software and the difficulty of content construction. The medium is not user-friendly, particularly for those who were not weaned at the keyboard. The issues of lack of proof of the effectiveness of the medium must be addressed. Teachers more than students remain to be convinced of the value of information technology in medical education. If the teachers do not use computers in their teachings, it is unlikely students will see the medium of great importance - perhaps this is appropriate if the focus is to stay with the patient.
 Planning
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