Here Inga Hege from LMU Munich describes how VPs have been used at LMU Munich.
- Background
- Educational Scenarios
- Curricula Integration
- Integration with Other e-Learning Opportunities
- Technical Integration
- Evaluation of VPs
- Future Plans
- Any Advice
LMU Munich use the CASUS VP system.These linear VPs are very different depending on the field and scenario. Most of the VPs include multimedia content like images (can include hotspots) and/or movies. The interactive elements used include: seven different answer types with quantitative and qualitative feedback, hyperlinks and expert comments. If applicable a “protest” button can be used to contact the case author and suggest improvement, as questions or discuss and aspect.
The VPs have been used in the following contexts: undergraduate, Continuing Medical Education (CME), nursing and in schools. The following students used the VPs:
- Medicine (internal medicine, surgery, radiology, interdisciplinary, psychology, occupational medicine, environmental medicine, neurology, pediatrics, emergency medicine, general medicine, clinical skills).
- Animal health
- Dentistry
- Law
- Anglistics
- Career choice (at schools)
The CASUS VPs are used in the following educational scenarios:
- As an additional e-learning unit integrated as preparation for weekly seminars
- As a voluntary e-learning unit containing exam relevant material
- A combination of the above two points
- As obligatory e-learning unit (relevant for credit), e.g., two of 10 VPs have to be solved successfully (minimum correct answers, minimum session duration, minimum visited cards defined by the course instructors)
- As a voluntary e-learning unit in addition to lectures
- As a learning by teaching tool (team work) in a seminar setting (credit is given for a completed VP)
- As an examination tool
Most of the integrated VPs match the curricular learning objectives and are a useful addition to lectures. Some are integrated as preparation for a weekly seminar with a discussion of the VPs within the seminar.
Integration With Other e-Learning Opportunities
VPs are partly integrated in the learning management system of the faculty and can be combined with learning material like movies. The clinical skills VPs are combined with another e-learning tool (“Nickels” by the University of Kiel) which presents some background information.
Some VPs can be booked and accessed via the Virtual University of Bavaria (vhb). Some VPs are integrated in the learning management system of the faculties (e.g., Clix and Moodle).
At LMU Munich, currently the integration of CASUS into the faculty system “MeCuM-online” is implemented.
Numerous studies have been conducted since the beginning of CASUS in 1993. Every term all integrated VPs are evaluated with an online questionnaire (for each course of VPs a quistionnaire can be attached by the tutor).
Other major studies include:
- Computer-based VPs versus paper-based VPs
- Investigation of different integration strategies
- Concept Mapping to support the differential diagnostic reasoning porcess
- Supporting the diagnostic capacity of medical students through case- and example-based learning
- Does an internet-based learning environment for clinical skills in addition to the face-to-face teaching enhance the performance of the students?
- CME-course participants through group learning and online cases: a modified team-based approach
- Electronic Key-Feature_problems for assessing procedural knowledge
Currently, VPs in paediatrics, internal medicine and epidemiology are being developed. The main focus will be on creating VPs which match the curricular learning objectives and fit into the existing courses.
Another important aspect will be the update of the existing VPs.
The most important aspect is a good integration strategy when using VPs.
