Hypermedia and Educational Systems. Systems for Enhancing Medical Education: Designing Communication Protocols for a Computer-Mediated Laboratory for Problem-Based Learning
T.D. Koschmann, P.J. Feltovich, A. Myers, H.S. Barrows · Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer Application in Medical Care · 1990
This paper describes some of the design criteria for a facility to support problem-based tutorials, known as the Computer-Mediated Tutorial Laboratory (CMTL). In the CMTL, a networked workstation will be provided for the tutor and each of the students. The tutor's workstation will be connected to a projection system, permitting the entire group to view the tutor's screen. The software used in the CMTL will have three components: a Patient Simulation Stack (PSS), the group/student Tutorial Stacks (TSs) and the network communication interface. The PSS represents a clinical problem; it is designed to realistically simulate an encounter with an actual patient. The TSs serve as a personalized record of what transpired in the tutorial session. Each student will maintain a private TS and the tutor will maintain a shared TS, viewable by all members of the group. The network communication interface will permit the participants in the tutorial to direct electronic messages to each other. The communication interface has two components: the client software available on the student's and tutor's workstation and the server software. The CMTL client software consists of two applications-one for sending messages and one for viewing the stream of incoming messages. Research is planned to investigate the effects of computer-mediation on the tutorial process.