Jason Eric Looper
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interactive study aid – medicine (efl/esl)
Interactive Neurology
A responsive, self-paced, micro-learning with 3D interactivity to improve medical students’ recall.
Interactive Neurology
self-paced, micro-learning interaction
Client
Tohoku Univ. Medical English Dept.
Role
Project initiation
Objectives preparation
Survey design
User Interviews
Low-fidelity rapid prototyping
High-fidelity prototyping
Usability testing & Validation
Presentation
Evaluation
Design Tools
Noteworthy
Illustrator
PowerPoint
Articulate 360
The Challenge
Over a period of 2 years, the Medical English department at Tohoku University noticed students were under-performing on tests related to the general science area of Neuroanatomy. Specifically, the content areas that deal with the post-infarction, physical and mental complications ischemic stroke survivors face. The assumption was that, if a portion of these objectives were targeted via self-paced, independent study, classroom instructional content could be redesigned for more engagement, thus leading to more attentive students and improved test scores. As lead designer, I proposed the development of a high-fidelity e-learning prototype.
Goals:
- improve student recall of basic science facts + terms
- demonstrate how rudimentary science facts could be learned more efficiently, while:
- supplementing classroom lessons
- de-emphasizing last-minute “cramming”
- demonstrate the merits of self-study habits which emphasize learner self-direction (autonomy)
- convince students and faculty of in-house e-learning’s potential.
Objectives: Given an interactive 3D image of a brain, medical professionals will:
- identify and be able to recall each area of the brain in English (target language)
- summarize the physiological impairment affecting an ischemic stroke survivor
- identify the post-stroke impairment to its appropriate locus in the brain
- classify basic physiological impairment associated with stroke according to their Greek or Latin roots
Maybe self-study can inject some novelty into this dull process.
How best to go about an e-learning micro-course?
I can hardly remember these terms in Japanese, let alone in English!
Drilling these facts in class feels like a waste — we should be doing something more…interesting.
User Needs
Neuroanatomy is taught in class as a barrage of facts to be drilled. Anecdotal evidence revealed that students were becoming bored and a bit frustrated with this method of instruction. Direct survey data confirmed this was the case.
Instead of the standard “read-repeat-drill-test” cycle, early analysis showed that our students might benefit from more autonomy; drilling the facts at their own pace. The rationale was that this could free up class-time for more engaging knowledge building.
Nevertheless, as self study requires more structure, the “drill” exercises needed to be scheduled and set at customized intervals with with appropriate scaffolding (e.g. links, search function, and flashcard study and other features in Japanese).
e-learning would be good, but only if I could access the material and drill anytime.
Drilling these facts in class feels like a waste — we should be doing something more…interesting.
Survey Data
To get reliable data on Medical English student attitudes, the designer was given 2 weeks to design, administer, and evaluate the data. Standard survey questions (Likert, matrix, open-ended) revealed the following:
- the in-class method of instruction might be hindering student performance.
- students want more autonomy and the flexibility to study (drill) the contents at their own pace.
- “drilling” outside the classroom via technology interventions is an ideal option for most.
And although students recognized that the class content was somewhat rudimentary, the general consensus was that they wanted to try to commit these facts to memory without wasting precious classroom time that could be spent on more interactive, collaborative activities.
Slide feature. User swipes to trigger animation and display brain regions as well as a data card (landscape view)
Flash card study feature. User taps to see translation in Japanese (portrait view)
Cultural + Theoretical Underpinnings
It’s no secret that the Japanese education system continues to rely on traditional, rote memorization as the primary teaching method. Regardless of what contemporary theories say about the problems of “drill and kill” instruction (and there are), Japan and its Asian neighbors stick with it. And they do so with plenty of success. Japan’s near 100% reading literacy and globally high math and science numbers attest to this fact.
In contrast to the Objectivist “drill and kill” approach, several instructors in the Medical English department at Tohoku Medical are advocates of a far more collaborative (Constructivist) learning framework.
For Objectivists, knowledge can simply be transferred from instructors or technologies, and be absorbed by learners as if they are “empty vessels” waiting to be filled. By contrast, in a Constructivist learning environment, the instructor is not the “wellspring” of knowledge but is a facilitator of learning opportunities and experiences that are primarily under the direct control of the learners themselves.
These differences in style and substance brought up important questions during the iterative process of developing and designing this project:
- Would students be comfortable with the newfound freedom to study at their own pace?
- Would the Constructivists — all of them from the US, UK, or Canada — be imposing their Western sensibilities onto a system that works for Japanese students?
Upon review of the academic literature on the merits and demerits of (e.g) rote memorization, it was concluded that even the most staunch Constructivist must accept that, despite the well-reasoned criticism against it, rote memorization (Objectivist framework) remains (arguably) the fastest way to commit basic medical terms and facts to memory.
This realization remained at the fore of how the designer approached and conceptualized the learning opportunities in this project. As such, the project was an attempt at blending elements of both schools of thought.
Takeaways
User-test evaluations conducted with students and staff were generally positive. Praise was limited only to the features that were accessible, however. Several features that were sketched in early iterations, were not included in the final prototype due to time and skill constraints.
A key feature that went undeveloped was the Flashcard study feature. This was impractical as it would have required a back-end database and the design team did not have enough time nor knowledge of SQL. Besides, such detail was beyond the scope of the project which only called for a relatively high-fidelity prototype.
Nevertheless, student testers noted the overall polish and the ‘wow’ factor provided by the 3D animation. All testers felt the smoothness of the transitions from one animation to the next—both backwards and forwards—were of very good quality.
Faculty agreed that the prototype, although lacking some of the most useful features, such as the scaffolding components (e.g. flashcards), the prototype was of a high enough quality to encourage further consideration and investment in the future.
So, in terms of the goals the project sought to achieve, the first: to improve recall, went unfulfilled. This is unsurprising given the limited means (time, technique) available. Nevertheless, the project can be considered a partial success as the other goals were accomplished. As such, Tohoku Medical English is now seriously considering a fully in house e-learning module to be developed in the near future.
While objectivism and constructivism are usually conveyed as incompatible…[they] offer different [yet, valid] perspectives on the learning process from which we can make inferences about how we ought to engender learning.
Dr. Charles Reigeluth (1983)