Author: Michael Begg, michael.begg@ed.ac.uk
Author: David Dewhurst, d.dewhurst@ed.ac.uk
Author: Mark Eisler, mark.eisler@ed.ac.uk
JISC e-Learning Activity Area: Technology-enhanced Learning Environments
Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine
This case study illustrates...use of specialist software, an effect on learning, an effect on student personal development, student satisfaction with e-learning, innovation in learning and teaching, an influence on educational research, staff satisfaction with e-learning, staff personal development, use of resources, management of learning assets, use of gaming/simulation
Background & Context
This case concerns the creation of branching pathway virtual patient cases by Year 5 undergraduate vet students using the Labyrinth application developed by the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine's Learning Technology Section at the University of Edinburgh
Why did you use this e-learning approach?
Labyrinth, a web-based e-learning content creation tool developed by the Learning Technology Section in the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine at Edinburgh, afforded an opportunity for student groups to collaborate in generating their own e-learning resources in the form of virtual patient scenarios. This significantly extended the range of student-centred learning activities that teaching staff had previously been able to use, with the added benefit that an artefact of the activity (the completed case) has the potential to be subsequently used as a learning object itself.
The tutors felt that the process of creating labyrinth VP cases allowed students to contextualise their own learning in a way not previously available to them.
This approach has been used in two consecutive student cohorts for this particular project - with both deemed by both students and staff to have been successful in terms of engagement with the subject domain, student engagement and staff satisfaction.
What was the context in which you used this e-learning approach?
The 'project' constitutes a one week activity within a three week student elective in tropical animal medicine for final year (year five) students on the BVM&S programme and is led by one tutor. Activities over the three week duration of the elective comprise virtual patient case creation in Labyrinth, small group discussion, and participation in a debate event. Learning outcomes for the elective are defined as;
- A broad understanding of key issues in animal health in production systems in developing countries in the tropics, including its relevance to poverty alleviation and the MDGsn and the impact of geopolitical changes and privatisation of veterinary services.
- Understanding in this context the importance of, diagnosis, epidemiology & control of:
- zoonotic diseases
- transboundary diseases
- vector-borne diseases
Assessed components of the elective are contribution to discussion, performance in debate and contribution to virtual patient case creation.
What was the design?
The virtual patient case authoring activity ran over one week within the three week block of the elective.
The activity began with a face-to-face introduction to Labyrinth and VUE, with a conceptual overview of narrative-based, game-informed learning by a learning technologist. This session was also attended by the course leader who played an active role in suggesting possible appropriate approaches.
The group (3 students) then devised a fictive scenario of their own choosing that would incorporate the stated learning objectives of the elective. The students had full editing rights to the Labyrinth authoring environment and were free to upload multiple versions of their case and edit the content freely through the course of the week.
At the end of the week, the case was presented to a gathering of 4 - 5 staff members (including the learning technologist) who ran the online VP case developed by each group on a data-projector. The staff played through the scenario several times, varying the pathway they took through the scenario, and asking questions surrounding authorial decisions, possible omissions, suggestions for amendments, as well as questions aimed at ascertaining whether the elective's learning outcomes had been suitably covered.
The students then offered general feedback as to how they felt about the activity.
How did you implement and embed this e-learning approach?
Labyrinth, having been promoted throughout the College and presented widely at conference had generated a generally high level of interest. The Learning Technology Section engaged staff in interactive sessions to learn about the concepts behind virtual patient scenarios/ game-informed learning and offered continuing technical support throughout the development process.
There has been, as yet, little formal evaluation carried out on the activity. However, student feedback (which is elicited at the closing presentation session) during the last instance of the elective was captured on minidisk, and informal feedback from both students and staff direct us to believe that the adoption of the methods and processes of Labyrinth cases makes a positive contribution to the fabric of the curriculum.
The main concern with using Labyrinth is that users will find the environment too technically challenging, especially in an activity that is restricted to a period of time as short as a week. This concern, however, has failed to materialise - though students have indicated that although they were initially reluctant to create the first draft of their VP scenario using VUE, this "middle stage" did ultimately reap rewards in terms of productivity and overall management of the growing case.
