Medical education

Abstract

In a functional sense, Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) has not advanced from the primary grades, yet its implications for higher education cannot be ignored. Most of the work that has been done in CAI falls into the category of drill and practice or straight tutorial presentation. Logically, both the hardware and software that have been developed or modified to support CAI have been tailored with these goals in mind. In medical education, multiple choice questions would neither hold the interest of the average student nor challenge his intellectual abilities. Since we can formally present only a small fraction of the problems our students may some day have to deal with, we are concerned not only with presenting factual information, but even more with developing their power to reason and handle new problems. Medical students have widely divergent backgrounds and needs, as well as differing interests. For these and other reasons, we need a truly two-way, free-format discussion where each student is treated as an individual. Anatomy, the field in which we teach, is very much a visual science. Consequently, graphic capabilities are important. Here also the student needs to interact and be treated as an individual.