May 4, 2012 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM
Sheetal Kavia BSc Honors Medical Biology, St George's University of London
Supriya Krishnan, BSc (Hons), St George's University of London
Luke Woodham, MSc, St George's University of London
Trupti Jivram, BSc (Hons), St George's University of London
Narain Ramluchumun, MSc, St George's University of London
Terry Poulton, PhD, St George's University of London
A cohort of the undergraduate course at St George’s replaced its conventional Problem-Based Learning (PBL) cases with online virtual patients (VPs). The acceptance of online PBL has encouraged us to provide online formative self-assessment VPs each week, which simultaneously address a common PBL issue: that students may concentrate more on the individual case of the week than the wider learning objectives that the case is expected to trigger. A range of self–directed learning VPs were developed to increase the range of cases to which students were exposed in a single learning week. These VPs are delivered through a mobile app, and include assessment features such as SBAs and MCQs, with cumulative scoring. The app allows students to download VPs to their device and play the VPs without a network connection. The app was released to a cohort of students in September 2011. The students have warmly welcomed the app, and these self assessment VPs are now widely used, though when previously available through the university LSM, they were largely ignored. Self-directed assessment VPs can enrich the curriculum by allowing students exposure to a greater number of cases and the opportunity to self-test. “Anytime, anywhere” learning can be supported by developing resources to be used off-line on mobile devices, and helps to move us away from using technology to support traditional learning, and more towards new forms of learning, enhanced by technology.
