The following abstracts have been accepted for presentation at the this meeting in Poster format in the category on Computer Demonstrations.  Those selected for Oral Poster Presentations are so designated in the far right column.
 
 
 

A67	WHEN WILL ONLINE STUDY AIDS REPLACE THE TRADITIONAL SYLLABUS? Gary D. Bos MD*, H. Robert Brashear MD, and Joe T. Minchew MD, Department of Orthopedics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7055  U.S.A.  The musculoskeletal  (MSK) course at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine is taught at the end of the second year. 40 hours are divided equally between lecture and small group sessions. The paper syllabus is also available online. Over the last few years, many study aids have been added to the online offerings including a series of teaching cases with helps and answers, Power Point versions of five of the 22 lectures, and streaming videos teaching the required histological material. The course directors desired to know whether the online aids were being used and whether the students wished to transition completely to online study aids. METHODS:  At the beginning of the course, students were advised that they would be asked to complete a questionnaire about their use of and opinions about the online study aids. The Office of Information Services provided data about the use of the online curriculum. 134 of 156 students (86%) returned questionnaires, although all students did not answer each question. RESULTS:  96 of 129 (74%) of students responding did not use the online syllabus at all. 33 did use the online syllabus but reported that only 10% (median) of their syllabus reading was online. If a paper syllabus was not provided, 114 of 126 (90%) would have downloaded the syllabus to paper. 10 study cases were presented with traditional slide carousels and 10 additional cases were presented online with study aids. Most students preferred the online presentation (75%). Those who preferred the slide presentation enjoyed the extra faculty contact. Streaming videos explaining features of the required histologic slides were very popular. Estimates of total time spent online ranged from 2 to 40 hours with a median of 8 hours. There were 2200 separate logons to the site from 700 different places.  UNC students strongly prefer to learn histology from the computer rather than the microscope. However, they are not yet ready to give up the traditional paper syllabus. Both online and paper study aids are preferred at the present time.
A68	DIGITAL COMPENDIA FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION  Thomas Brennan, Christopher Lambert and Dennis Paul Valenzeno*, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, KS 66160-7401  U.S.A. Digital Compendia represent a new concept in education designed to provide a web-based lifelong learning environment. They consist of web-based learning modules that incorporate common features and format to encourage return visits for continuing education. Digital Compendia are designed to span a broad educational range, easily allowing for continuing education. The first Digital Compendium is now under development in the science of photobiology a young interdisciplinary field that is growing in importance because of its relevance to laser/light therapies and the biological consequences of increased UV radiation due to ozone depletion. This Digital Photobiology Compendium (DPC) will consist of a matrix of more than 100 instructional modules in all subdisciplines of photobiology. The modules will be mutually compatible to allow the user (learner or instructor) to connect a set of modules in a user-defined Work.  Standard Works will also be predefined, and will include a Basic Text at the level of advanced undergraduates, a manual of experiments and a historical treatment of the field.  The matrix will include modules suitable for learners at various levels from advanced undergraduate through practicing professional.  All modules will capitalize on the ability of the web to provide active and interactive elements to engage the learner.  Many of the basic text modules are currently in place, produced by a worldwide collaborative effort that involved developers from 5 countries at the time of this writing. Twenty-five institutions in North America, Europe and Asia have expressed an interest in using the DPC in established courses. The instructors and students at these institutions will provide formative and summative feedback to evaluate the utility and effectiveness of the DPC. The DPC web site can be visited during development at http://www2.kumc.edu/instruction/dpc/.  [Supported by the Photobiology Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education (FIPSE). Contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.]	ORAL
A69	A DIGITAL NEUROANATOMY LABORATORY FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS: IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS' RESPONSES  Jennifer Brueckner, Ph.D.* and Harold Traurig, Ph.D. Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY  40536  U.S.A. We have developed, implemented and assessed the effectiveness of a digital neuroanatomy atlas and integrated guide for the study of medical neuroanatomy. The digital neurolab is part of the learning resources in a medical neuroscience course for first year medical students. The program is designed to facilitate student self-learning in the laboratory at a computer workstation. Program illustrations include neuroanatomical specimens, slides and neuroimaging materials. The guide text facilitates student navigation through the laboratory lessons.  The neuroanatomy digital laboratory was developed using AUTHORWARE 5 (Macromedia, Inc.). Navigation tools permit toggling between guide text, underscored key items and related images. The  CD-based storage format facilitates students' laboratory study at home or at other sites.  Data describing program utilization and students' responses regarding learning outcomes were collected using pre- and post use surveys and these data will be presented. The data infer that the digital neuroanatomy laboratory significantly facilitated student learning of neuroanatomical concepts. Based on students' suggestions, a section on self-assessment and one on neurological lesions will be added.
A70	WEB-BASED VIRTUAL MICROSCOPE LABORATORIES VS. TRADITIONAL LABORATORIES F. Dick*, T. Leaven, D. Consoer, P. Heidger, C. Kreiter, and J. Duncan. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa,  52242  U.S.A. There is an increasing tendency for medical schools to digitize selected fields of their microscope slides for web-based study, and to make traditional microscope laboratory study optional.  This tendency is of concern because of the sacrifice of aspects of traditional microscope study that allow students to independently explore the entire histologic slide and discover relationships, as opposed to viewing instructor-prepared static images.  Virtual microscope slides, introduced into courses at Iowa in 2000, offer a viable alternative to the traditional microscope laboratory.  A single giant virtual slide montage composed of 1200 high power fields, saved in FlashPix file format, can be manipulated from very low power to high power and moved in an x-y axis at each magnification.  This process facilitated by MGI LivePicture and MicroBrightField software nearly perfectly emulates a traditional microscope and glass slide.  In the spring semester of 2000 we carried out a formative evaluation of virtual slides in the first year histology laboratory.  Glass slides from two units of the course were made available to students as a supplement to the traditional microscope laboratory.  Students rated the Virtual Laboratory equal to the traditional laboratory with respect to quality of image, ease of use and content, and superior to the traditional laboratory with respect to efficiency of learning and accessibility.  The results of this evaluation were recently published in The Anatomical Record (New Anatomist) 2001, 265: 10-14.  Based on this positive formative evaluation, the entire set of 110 slides was digitized and implemented in the 2001 spring semester in three computer laboratories with two students per computer.  Students also had access to traditional microscopes in one of the laboratories.  An instructor was present in all sites to interact with students at individual workstations or microscopes, and to project virtual slides.  Less than 10% of students used traditional microscopes. Also, 50% of visits to the Virtual Laboratory were outside of scheduled laboratories.  For the fall 2000 Pathology course, all of the 67 slides were digitized and placed on the web.  These were linked with gross images, radiologic images, and patient case histories.  Students were free to prepare for pathology case-based learning groups using the Virtual Laboratory or the traditional laboratory.  Use of the traditional laboratory decreased to approximately 25% of that from 1999.  Students thought virtual slide quality was nearly equal to that of traditional slides, but felt that they learned significantly more from the Virtual Laboratory.  There was no decrement in their scores on repeat morphology exam items, and faculty subjective evaluations showed an increase in student’s skills at demonstrating the content of microscopic slides in a room equipped with a computer and projector.  Faculty unanimously found the virtual slides useful in preparing to facilitate small group discussion.  Concurrent with implementation in our courses we have received a National Library of Medicine Information Resource Grant to develop a public domain database of 450 slides that can be used by institutions around the world: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/pathology/nlm_histology  http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/pathology/uarep_histopathology	ORAL
A71	STUDENT AND FACULTY EXPERIENCES USING NEUROVIEW(tm), A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR NEUROANATOMY Donna J. Forbes, Ph.D.* and Arlen R. Severson, Ph.D., Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Minnesota Duluth School of Medicine, Duluth, MN 55812  U.S.A. NeuroView(tm), an interactive computer program developed by the authors to help medical students learn neuroanatomical structures and their relationships, has been used at the UMD School of Medicine for two years. The program includes high quality images of intact and dissected gross specimens of the central nervous system, whole brain sections and magnetic resonance (MR) images. In the Identification Mode, students study the images by selecting the name of a structure from a list located beside the image. Selecting the name brings up a transparent, colored overlay identifying the structure in the image. In the Quiz Mode the student is asked to identify structures in the displayed image. Clicking on the correct structure brings up the respective colored overlay. The student can make multiple attempts or can quickly revert to the Identification Mode to find the correct structure. We will report on the impact that this learning program has had on the teaching and learning of neuroanatomy at the UMD School of Medicine. We will summarize the results of a student questionnaire which focused on the use and effectiveness of the program in learning neuroanatomy and describe the changes in faculty time and effort in preparing the laboratories and examinations. For example, students appreciate the anytime/anywhere access to all specimens, they feel that they learn the material in a shorter period of time and they gain expertise in interpreting MRIs.  (Supported by the Minnesota Medical Foundation and the University of Minnesota TEL grant program.)	ORAL
A72	TEACHING OF BIOCHEMISTRY TO ALTERNATE HEALTH CARE STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT SCIENCE BACKGROUNDS USING POWERPOINT SLIDES Ian Fraser, PhD*, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, 1900 Bayview Avenue, Toronto M4G 3E6 Ontario, Canada Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Toronto, Canada Biochemistry is a first year course taught at CMCC consisting of 83 lecture and 23 lab/tutorial hours. The class consists of 160 students who have completed at least 3 years of university. A background in sciences is recommended but not required. The course introduces and integrates carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism and serves as a basic framework for nutrition, physiology and clinical laboratory courses taught in second and third years. Overheads and lecture notes were converted to PowerPoint slides using Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 tools to draw chemical structures, enzymatic reactions and illustrations. Less than 1% of the slides utilized scanned images. A thumbnail sketch was presented initially and later referred to in whole or in part when discussing the various metabolic pathways. The use of this new format helped to better organize and deliver the material and served as a basis for handouts that can be made into a set of course notes for subsequent years. This altered format will be discussed in relation to student background, evaluations and focus group discussions.
A73	TESTWARE/ANYWHERE: EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT SOFTWARE USING THE INTERNET  Joel A. Gordon, M.D*., Scott Elliot, B. S., and Michael Peterson, M. D.  University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA  U.S.A. Medical schools are increasingly using computers and the Internet to deliver educational material to students.  Not only can this technology be used to deliver traditional educational material (lectures, video, and audio), but also computers can be used in an interactive way to both teach and assess students.  At the University of Iowa College of Medicine we have developed a software system, “TestWare” that has been used in our basic science and introductory clinical curriculum for testing during the second semester of the first and second year.  The software can now also be delivered over the Internet using a custom browser allowing the students to take advantage of this testing software at a place and time of their own choosing (TestWare Anywhere).  We have used this Internet testing software in two basic science courses here in our College of Medicine Curriculum: in our combined physiology and histology course (Human Organ Systems) taught in the second semester of the first year and in our Foundations of Clinical Practice course taught in the second semester of the second year.  In the HOS course, practice questions from lecture presentations in the Blood and Lymphoid section and from the Body Fluid Homeostasis/Renal section were developed and piloted this spring.  87 % of the students took advantage of the test with 59% accessing the test from a site off campus.  Student feedback was very positive.  It not only allowed them to assess their ability to answer questions in these organ systems, but it also allowed them to familiarize themselves further with our testing software.  In the FCP course, we have incorporated multimedia into the questions to facilitate integration and clinical problem solving.   In addition to using the software in an assessment mode, the software is also capable of being used in an instructional mode and provides individual feedback to the students.  In conclusion, a very flexible and powerful testing tool, TestWare Anywhere, is fully capable of being delivered using the Internet.  This advance should be helpful in further moving towards a medical school curriculum that can take advantage of the strengths of computer-based tests, moving away from traditional paradigm of paper/pencil testing.	ORAL
A74	COMPUTER ASSISTED TEACHING OF RADIOLOGY AND ULTRASOUND Judith A. Hudson, D.V.M., Ph.D.*, Department of Clinical Sciences, Imaging, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36874 U.S.A. Interactive computerized tutorials on ultrasonography and radiology have been produced using Macromedia’s Authorware authoring system which can be used in both the MacIntosh and Windows environments. Each module teaches through the use of digital images and video clips. Pull-down menus, buttons, hot spots, and hypertext allow the student to explore images and text, and to move from section to section. The tutorials are used during lectures, are in use in the college computer laboratory and are available to the students on CD. The tutorials are currently being revised for use over the internet. The poster describes steps involved in creating the tutorials and the relationship between lectures and the tutorials.
A75	THE ROLE OF WEB-BASED EDUCATION IN NEW MILLENNIUM (EXPERIENCE IN KOREA) Young Tae Kim, MD PhD*, Sook-whan Sung, MD PhD, Joo Hyun Kim, MD, PhD, Yong Jin Kim, MD PhD  Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea The recent change of medical education towards PBL (problem based learning) requires a variety of learning materials that are readily accessible to students. Web-based educational contents may be one of the solutions. By the end of 2000, more than 4 million families were connected to the high-speed internet in Korea. Subsequently, access to the internet has been much easier in everywhere throughout the country. With such a rapid increase in the internet population and the marked development of high-speed connection technology in Korea, the role of web-based education is growing. Based on this strong infrastructure, there are a lot of efforts being made to increase the efficiency of the web-based medical educational contents. This is being done individually or with government support. The authors have working on adding surgical methodology contents using a flash-based animation and video clip. In this presentation, we will demonstrate our web-based surgical education contents, suggest efficient way of making animation or video clips, and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
A76	USE OF ONLINE COURSE DELIVERY AND EMAIL TECHNOLOGY IN A MEDICAL PROBLEMS ELECTIVE India F. Lane, DVM, MS*. Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville, TN  U.S.A. A small animal medical problem-solving course was developed as a new elective for second-year veterinary students. Objectives of the course were 1) to introduce the mechanistic, problem-oriented approach to common internal medical disorders; 2) to introduce the multisystemic nature of medical problems and disorders; and 3) to provide individual feedback regarding students' problem-solving skills and self-directed learning efforts. Impetus for the course was a renewed curricular effort to promote problem-solving, self-directed and lifelong learning skills as well as a lack of opportunities for preclinical students to receive highly individualized feedback on their approach to cases. The use of computer technology in the course was chosen because of the flexibility provided, both for course delivery and for student and instructor schedules. Twenty-four of 69 students selected the course as their first choice elective. Enrollment was limited to 16 students chosen by lottery. The course objectives, syllabus and methods were introduced during an initial orientation meeting. Course documents and all case content were also provided in an online course delivery system (Blackboard's CourseInfo v. 3.0). Students were provided a diskette with a problem list template in MSWord. The problem list template included space for listing problems, differential diagnoses, diagnostic and therapeutic plans. Students were encouraged to rank or prioritize their ideas using stars or boxes to indicate the most likely diagnosis and most valuable diagnostic plans. Problems including anemia, bleeding tendency, icterus, dyspnea, pleural effusion, ascites, fever and lameness, were introduced in the context of a clinical case. Students then independently prepared an initial problem list and emailed the document to the instructor. Using an edit tool, the instructor made comments, additions or deletions to the student's problem list and plan and returned it to the student via email. Upon opening the document, the comments are highlighted in red for the student's review. After the initial problem lists were reviewed, requested additional case data was provided on the CourseInfo site and the process was repeated, as students refined their problem lists. Class meetings were held approximately every two weeks to present the case outcome and discuss the major problems of each case. Limited didactic review of medical problems was included.  The online delivery system and email exchanges provided a continuous method of contact with the students in the course.  Schedules, case data and course announcements were easily updated.  Future development of the course will focus on adding PowerPoint learning modules to the course site, enhancing dialogue among students, and determining the optimal number of students to include in the course. The course site, problem list template, examples of student work, and course evaluation data will be presented.	ORAL
A77	ACCEPTANCE OF COMPUTER-AIDED INSTRUCTION IN A SECOND-YEAR MEDICAL  SCHOOL COURSE  Edward R. Smith, Ph.D.* and Steven A. Lieberman, M.D., Departments Obstetrics-Gynecology and Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX  77550-0587  U.S.A. Introduction:  The "Essentials of Endocrinology and Reproduction" course given to second year medical students, emphasizes student directed-learning through problem-based cases. Few lectures (17 over 7 weeks) and no specific lectures on the menstrual cycle were conducted. The students are expected to learn the menstrual cycle material on their own as they progress through a case about infertility and pregnancy. We wrote a computer program using Director (Version 7,Macromedia) that students could access if they wished during the case. The CD-ROM based program entitled "Endocrinology of Pregnancy" reviewed the menstrual cycle, ovarian cycle, hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis, and pregnancy.  Methods: In this project, we assessed how well the students liked the computer program using a survey with a five-point Likert scale. A total of 96 students out of a class of 184 students completed the survey with 66 using the computer program and 30 not trying it. In addition to the survey results, we compared the midterm exam scores of those students who used the computer program against those students who elected not to use the program.  Results:  We found that 76% of the students who tried the computer-aided instruction liked the program compared to 2% who did not. A majority of students (68%) preferred the program to textbooks or lectures. The students who used the program scored significantly better (P<0.04) on the midterm than those who did not, 74.7 + 1.0, 65 vs. 70.9 + 1.6, 29 (X + SEM, n). Half of the students completed the survey with over 90% indicating that the "Endocrinology of Pregnancy" computer program was helpful.  Conclusions:  The computer program was well received by the students and aided their learning of endocrinology and reproduction.	ORAL