Collaborative Development of Internet-Accessible, Interactive, Medical Imaging Teaching Courseware and Application to Undergraduate Curricula
Year: 2020
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Collaborative Development of Internet-Accessible, Interactive, Medical Imaging Teaching Courseware and Application to Undergraduate CurriculaMedical imaging education is interdisciplinary in many engineering programs, most typicallyBiomedical Engineering. Medical imaging techniques involve physics principles, mathematicalderivations, and engineering implementations for image generation, reconstruction, andinstrumentation. Obstacles to medical imaging education include 1) class hours required becauseof the interdisciplinary features, 2) sophisticated mathematical modeling required for manyimaging systems, 3) inaccessibility or local unavailability of the imaging devices. Finding anefficient way for instructors to deliver medical imaging knowledge and establishing an effectivelearning environment for students, especially at institutions without associated medical schoolsor hospitals, have long been goals for medical imaging educators.In our own approach, we were motivated by the pedagogical theory, “What you hear, you forget;what you see, you remember; what you do, you understand.” We proposed to develop an Internetaccessible, interactive medical imaging teaching system serving the courseware for medicalimaging classes. Interaction is the most important feature of the proposed courseware. We wishto promote teaching efficiency and learning effectiveness through interaction with medicalimaging animations and simulations. Supported by a series of NSF CCLI/TUES grants throughstages of proof-of-concept, creation of prototype, and expansion of application, we havedeveloped courseware titled “Medical Imaging Teaching Software (MITS) and DynamicAssessment Tracking System (DATS)”. The MITS/DATS system provides background review,text description, figure illustration, interactive animation, dynamic simulation, and applicationdemonstration for teaching five commonly used medical imaging modalities (X-ray, CT, MRI,PET, and Ultrasound).Three institutions in South Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International Universityand University of Miami, have participated in the development and application of this system.Our effort has been focused on the creation of animations for physics/chemistry principles andsimulations for engineering implementations. The animations or simulations are interfaced withuser-adjustable parameters or settings so that the physics/chemistry/engineering principles can bedynamically demonstrated. A “live” medical imaging device or component can be presentedwithout accessing the real equipment. We have created over thirty animations/simulationscovering five commonly used medical imaging modalities. The MITS/DATS system isintegrated by the open source MySQL database software that manages updating teachingmaterials and also tracks student’s learning gain through different assessments. Instructorsreceive instant feedback on the topics delivered through their lectures when students work on thesystem.We have opened this teaching/tracking system in different size classes (FAU:12, FIU:40, UM:50,per semester) on all or selected imaging modalities during the last few years. More than 200students in three institutions have accessed the Website. The assessment result (pre/post) showsincreased learning gains, especially significant in concept understanding. We plan to test thesystem further and experiment with its use at other institutions.
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19310
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2590275831