medicine

School of Medicine
http://mediswww.meds.cwru.edu/

From a summary submitted by Peter V. Scoles, pvs@po.cwru.edu Professor of Orthopaedics, former Interim Associate Dean for Information Technology, and a member of the University Committee on Distance Learning.

The School of Medicine views distance learning technologies as an integral part of its planning process for the next decade. The large central teaching hospital is no longer the only site at which medical students train; increased emphasis on ambulatory medicine has shifted students and professors from the university campus to the community. Flexible curriculum content and “on-demand” delivery systems are necessary to meet the educational needs and clinical schedules of students. The School of Medicine made major commitment electronic education six years ago when it began its laptop computer program, and it continues to be a national leader in the field.

Specific steps which have already been taken include the creation of a single office of Biomedical Information Technologies, headed by the Associate Dean of Biomedical Information Technologies. Dr. Thomas Nosek was appointed to this position August 1, 1997. He will be responsible for all aspects of academic and administrative computing in the School of Medicine.

Modifications in the preclinical curriculum content during the past year reflect increased emphasis on media-rich educational tools. The faculty has included commercially available programs in anatomy, pathology, and physiology in its teaching library, and has developed its own series of interactive programs in histology and pathology. Undergraduate and graduate students of medicine, as well as faculty members with fiber optic access to CWRUnet can link directly to these programs through the School's electronic preclinical syllabus, an HTML formatted document that contains the entire content of the first two years of the medical curriculum. This syllabus forms the backbone of the School's envisioned electronic curriculum.

To accommodate increased reliance on CWRUnet and Web-based educational materials, the School of Medicine has undertaken an extensive internal remodeling program. The major lecture rooms in the school will be equipped teleconferencing and computer projection equipment, electronic podiums, and new sound systems. A prototype multipurpose microcomputer laboratory currently under construction in the School will serve as a test platform for course design and examination administration. Finally, the primary conference rooms in the School are being equipped with videoconference capability to permit on demand linkage between the central campus and the School's affiliate programs.

The School of Medicine has third and fourth year students at numerous sites throughout Cleveland and at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. To serve the needs of these students, network linkages have been established to permit students to use their personal computers to log into the School of Medicine for academic and administrative information.The scope of information provided electronically is expected to expand dramatically within the next twelve months; the School is actively pursuing plans to present the entire preclinical curriculum to undergraduate students located at remote sites beginning in academic year 1998-1999.

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