An Interactive Method Of Teaching Blood Cell Identification: Evaluating The System

Abstract

textual material can be presented in any language.AN INTERACTIVE METHOD OF TEACHING BLOOD CELL IDENTIFICATION: EVALUATING THE SYSTEMJoan N. McHam, M.S., M.T.(ASCP) Arthur I. Karshmer, Ph.D.Computer Science DepartmentNew Mexico State UniversityLas Cruces, NM 88003 U.S.A.and Michael Shaw, M.D.Medical SchoolUniversity of New MexicoAlbuquerque, NM 87131 U.S.A.Extended AbstractThe task of teaching medical personnel how to identify blood cells is complicated by several factors relating to the type of teaching equipment required and the amount of teacher-student inter­ action available in the traditional teaching environment. Equipment such as 'double headed1 microscopes and slide projectors have been used in the classroom as interactive teaching tools, but are of limited value as they require the presence of an instructor during the basic phase of learning blood cell identification. Textbooks and manuals augment this process in a non-interactive fashion. A student can therefore expect a rather small number of 'interactive' hours of instruction during a normal course in blood cell identification.In response to this problem, a method involv­ ing the use of interactive color computer graphics has been developed to aid in the teaching of blood cell identification. The system uses a 'joystick' as an interactive device which allows the student to easily communicate with a series of instruction­ al units programmed on a mini-computer based system. The only computer related knowledge needed by the student is the ability to move a 'cross hair1 cursor by means of a joystick and press a button in response to questions presented on the display screen.The instructional units present a combination of color pictures and textual material relating to the types of cells found in peripheral blood. In all cases, blood cells are displayed on the display device as a typical microscopic field. Under control of the student, enlargements of specific cells may be displayed along with instructional materials which describe various features of the cell. At the users request, labels may be appended to the display, or removed to enter the interactive quiz mode of operation.Currently, three instructional units are included in the system. In the first unit, the student is presented with a microscopic field con­ taining cells found in 'normal' blood. In the second unit, the maturation process of myelo-cytic series is presented. Finally, in the third unit, differentiation of leukemic cells is pre­ sented in the same interactive learning scheme as used for the other units.The system is currently operational and under­ going tests at New Mexico State University. Students from several disciplines are using the system and evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. Further, physicians and other medical staff from local hospitals also participating in evaluation process. Each evaluator is asked to use the system and then respond to a questionnaire which rates several features of the interactive teaching system. Some of the questions deal with the realism of the display and the value of the textual materials presented while other questions relate to the person-computer interface.Keywords: computer graphics, interactive learning, blood cells, leukemia.Portions of this paper have been published else­ where.I. IntroductionOne of the most challenging aspects medical technology internship is the learning of blood cell morphology and identification. The new hematology student often finds that the art of relating optical images of cells to blood cell nomenclature is a very difficult task. From the instructor's point of view, there is a great deal of concern about the amount of time that may be spent with individual students. As a partial solution to these problems, three interactive teaching units have been developed which employ interactive color computer graphics to teach blood cell identification. Using this teaching tool, a student may spend as much time as he desires with each teaching unit and gets the equivalent of individualized tutoring from the machine. Further benefits to be derived from such a system are the ability to teach students with hearing handicaps as well as non-English speaking students, as the textual material can be presented in any language.486