Pathology

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Intro

Dr. Shashidhar Venkatesh Murthy was looking for a technology that enables him to provide a more personalized learning experience for his students, without having to be everywhere at once. He decided to rethink “blended learning” to engage students beyond the classroom and provide flexible or fully-online delivery for students in rural areas. With Smart Sparrow, he created online adaptive tutorials that encouraged his students to actively work through disease examinations and medical case studies, helping all of his students perform better in the class.

“Teaching students and sustaining their enthusiasm can be challenging. The online tutorials gave them the opportunity to complete the tutorials at their own pace. My students enjoyed this new learning experience and there is demand for more of these tutorials in the future.”

Challenge

As the single pathology teacher at the James Cook University Cairns Institute, responsible for the education of hundreds of students, Dr. Shashidhar was faced with a challenge: he wanted to reach out to every student personally and give them the feedback and guidance they needed to learn most effectively. But for the self-professed ‘one-man army’ this seemed impossible.

Dr. Shashidhar was also investigating ways to present his material in a more practical and engaging manner, as much of what he was teaching wasn’t suited for a typical passive lecture scenario. Knowing that his content is taught more effectively when students are encouraged to actively work through problems and practical exercises, Dr. Shashidhar wanted to facilitate this in an online environment.

Having experimented for years with new ways of teaching, including a digital pathology lab, in-class instant assessments using the Electronic Student Response System, MOOCs and SPOCs, Dr. Shashidhar was looking for a platform that could offer a more personalized experience, that allowed him to give his students the feedback they need without having to be everywhere at once.

Solution

In 2011, Dr. Shashidhar signed up with Smart Sparrow to develop adaptive and personalized online tutorials for a number of topics in pathology, including an examination into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a snake bite analysis case study. Already experienced at creating content in an online environment, he was able to design the majority of the lessons on his own, occasionally seeking the help of technical staff at James Cook University to put together the more complex components of the lesson.

The first adaptive lesson Dr. Shashidhar created teaches the basics of lung structure and function with the help of interactive medical images and video tutorials, guiding students through a physical examination of the respiratory system, chest x-rays of common lung disorders, and the pathology of chronic obstructive airway disorders. While completing the exercises, students are encouraged to consider the complications of a number of smoking and lung diseases, and the role of health promotion and public screening initiatives in alerting people to the associated risks.

“Would be a great tool for integrative sessions as it puts all the info learned throughout the week together.” —Student

The project was a huge success. So far the feedback we’ve received from users in corporate offices and schools has included ‘Best e-learning I’ve done at the department so far – or ever!’.

                                                                                                                Dr. Shashidhar Venkatesh Murthy

                                                                                                                               Research Fellow

Results

Having integrated Smart Sparrow adaptive lessons into his teaching material over the past three years, Dr. Shashidhar has received very positive feedback from his students. Upon completing Dr. Shashidhar’s snake bite analysis case study, the vast majority of his students reported that the lesson had improved their understanding of the content.

He finds his students are more engaged and happy, and he is able to maintain student engagement and his influence as a teacher even beyond the classroom. He’s also found that because the system’s analytics program gives him constant insight into how his students are handling the material, he’s been able to better pick up and address common misconceptions and help his struggling students to pass.

Dr. Shashidhar was also able to bring his content to life through animations and virtual simulations, interactive medical photographs and video tutorials, which has enabled active learning in his classes.