IMPROVED LEARNING EFFICIENCY AND INCREASED STUDENT COOPRERATIVE LEARNING THROUGH THE USE OF VIRTUAL MICRSOSCOPY.

Mark Braun*, Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405 U.S.A.

PURPOSE: Wishing to improve efficiency of learning and promote student collaboration, the Medical Sciences Program in Bloomington, a regional division of the Indiana University School of Medicine, integrated the virtual microscope into the second-year (MS-II) pathology curriculum.

METHODS: The gradual and integrated approach of incorporating virtual microscopy (Bacus Laboratories. Lombard, IL) into the second-year medical school pathology class allowed the parallel assessment of student attitudes and histopathology content mastery with respect to the virtual and optical microscopes. After obtaining human subject’s committee approval for this study, a survey was developed to measure student attitudes regarding use of the virtual microscope in comparison to the traditional optical microscope. Comparison of aggregate grades with previous classes permitted assessment of content mastery.

RESULTS: Student survey data indicated that the virtual imaging technology was enthusiastically received, and grade comparisons with the previous classes showed no decrease in content mastery. Survey questions assessing a variety of parameters revealed improved time and resource utilization with virtual microscopy. Questions assessing team learning indicated increased collaborative study. Instructor observations of spontaneous student interaction during laboratory periods confirmed the student survey data of enhanced cooperative study. Even so, 54% of students reported they appreciated having both the virtual and optical microscopes available for use.

CONCLUSIONS: Virtual microscopy is an effective and user-friendly tool for learning tissue pathology. Student grade comparison revealed equivalent content mastery when compared with use of the traditional optical microscope. Virtual microscopy in our pathology course improved resource utilization and student cooperative learning.