HUMAN SYSTEMS EXPLORER

(DOCUMENTARY)

Interactive Teaching Tools

The genesis of the Human Systems Explorer project can be traced to 1999, when web-based tools were becoming more prominent. At the time, Dr. Michael Parker began working with a group of faculty to identify the inadequacies of certain older teaching methods. Sometimes, they argued, drawing on the chalkboard wasn't enough, speaking in class wasn't enough, and a textbook wasn't enough to help the majority of students understand hard topics. Students still battled confusion on certain difficult concepts, and Dr. Parker sought to work with his colleagues to introduce innovative tools that would allow them to make headway in their teaching. The Internet, a platform with unique media capabilities, was the key, and the Human Systems Explorer was the result: interactive visuals delivered via the web for teaching complex medical concepts.

Dr. Barbara Cockrill uses a module that covers gas exchange in her pathophysiology class. The module, an online interactive diagram, is dynamic so that students can see oxygen entering the alveolus (a sac in the lungs where oxygen is transferred into the blood), and they can make adjustments on the screen to show disease states. Perhaps a student wants to understand what happens to gas exchange when a person has asthma and the airways are constricted. With the click of a button, the airway in the animated picture narrows and the other parts of the diagram are affected accordingly. Being able to see this happen in real time, says Dr. Cockrill, is invaluable.

Dr. Parker says he works hard to design modules that are as intuitive as possible, so that buttons and scroll bars speak the "international language" of the web. In other words, students need just a bare minimum level of technical proficiency to navigate these interactive diagrams. This frees students to focus entirely on the medical concept at hand. Dr. Parker and his team also do usability testing with students; and if a module's interface doesn't pass muster, they go back to the drawing board using the students' comments as a guide.

In addition, some of the modules have a "Show Me" button nestled in one corner. When pushed, it prompts a console to appear that allows students to play a guided animation of the diagram, with a voice that talks them through what's happening on the screen. This helps users who are afraid that they're missing something in the diagram. It's also an effective teaching mode. Dr. Parker points out that research has proven that if you deliver corresponding information simultaneously through both audio and visuals, the information is better encoded and better available for recall. Students are big fans of the "Show Me" feature as well. "The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive," says Dr. Parker.