This project explores the effective implementation, distribution, and analysis of the Surgical Interactive Multimedia Modules (SIMMs), a rich media, web-based, open source educational tool. For the past 3 years, the New York University Medical School has planned 25 and built and evaluated 4 disease-specific, peer-reviewed SIMMs, which are designed based on sound curriculum development and multimedia design principles as well as educational theory. The SIMMs utilize state-of-the-art multimedia to ensure novice clinicians have the opportunity to expand and practice their clinical competence skills. Yet despite enthusiastic interest from colleagues at other US medical schools, collaboration on development and distribution of the SIMMs has been virtually impossible due to differing IT infrastructures, technical capabilities, and institutional resources including and especially faculty time.
This project addresses the ability of a platform based on edge-side content management to meet the requirements of scalability, extensibility, and security required for effective distribution and collective development of the SIMMs, which are bandwidth intensive and utilized by a geographically diverse population. This mechanism will overcome current obstacles to effectively sharing rich media tools and enable rigorous assessment of their impact on medical students' clinical competence. Knowledge gained from this project will inform further development and implementation of such tools and guide the next wave of implementation and study in medical education.
In broad terms, this work addresses internationally recognized difficulties in building consistent, high-quality learning environments that guarantee clinical competence for all physicians-in-training, particularly those in underserved areas globally. The project will create the networks and partnerships necessary for inter- and intra-institution collaboration. Dissemination will be broad and cross disciplinary, including to the fields of computer science, cognitive science, educational psychology, and nursing and allied health and medical education. Data from evaluating the SIMMs will help advance understanding of how to construct competency-based learning environments and provide valuable feedback to educational leaders, teachers, and learners alike.
