An exploratory study of co-location as a factor in synchronous, collaborative medical informatics distance education

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study determined differences in learning, judgments of teaching and technology, and interaction when videoconferencing was used to deliver instruction on telemedicine to medical students in conditions where they were co-located and dispersed. A lecture on telemedicine was given by videoconference to medical students at a distant site. After a question and answer period, students were then given search problems on the topic and encouraged to collaborate. Half the students were randomly assigned to a co-located condition where they received the presentation and collaborated in a computer lab, and half were assigned to a dispersed condition where they were located in different rooms to receive the presentation and collaborate online using the videoconferencing technology. Students were observed in both conditions and they individually completed a test on presentation content and a rating scale about the quality of the teaching and the technology.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>There were no differences between the two groups in the learning outcomes or judgments about the teaching and technology, with the exception that more students in the dispersed condition felt more interaction was fostered. The level and patterns of interaction were very different in the two conditions and higher for dispersed students.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Synchronous communication at a distance via videoconference may give sufficient sense of presence that the learning experience may be similar to that in actual classrooms, even when students are far apart. The technology may channel interaction in desirable ways.</p

Communication and proximity effects on outcomes attributable to sense of presence in distance bioinformatics education

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Online learning is increasingly popular in medical education and sense of presence has been posited as a factor contributing to its success. Communication media influences on sense of presence and learning outcomes were explored in this study. Test performance and ratings of instruction and technology, factors influenced by sense of presence, are compared under four conditions involving different media and degrees of student physical presence: 1) videoconference co-located, 2) webcast co-located, 3) videoconference dispersed, and 4) webcast dispersed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighty one first to forth year medical students heard a lecture on telemedicine and were asked to collaboratively search a telemedicine website under conditions where the lecture was delivered by videoconference or one way streaming (webcast) and where students were either co-located or dispersed. In the videoconference conditions, co-located students could use the technology to interact with the instructor and could interact with each other face to face, while the dispersed students could use the technology to interact with both the instructor and each other. In the webcast conditions, all students could use chat to communicate with the instructor or each other, although the co-located students also could interact orally. After hearing the lecture, students collaboratively searched a telemedicine website, took a test on lecture-website content and rated the instruction and the technology they used. Test scores on lecture and website content and ratings of instruction and technology for the four conditions were compared with analysis of variance and chi-square tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no significant differences in overall measures, although there were on selected ratings of instruction. Students in both webcast conditions indicated they were encouraged more to follow up on their own and felt instruction was more interactive than co-located videoconferencing students. Dispersed videoconferencing students indicated the highest levels of interaction and there was evidence they interacted more.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results do not strongly support proximity as a sense of presence factor affecting performance and attitudes, but do suggest communication medium may affect interactivity.</p

Influence of Case and Physician Characteristics on Perceptions of Decision Support Systems

Objective: This study examines how characteristics of clinical cases and physician users relate to the users' perceptions of the usefulness of the Quick Medical Reference (QMR) and their confidence in their diagnoses when supported by the decision support system. Methods: A national sample (N = 108) of 67 internists, 35 family physicians, and 6 other U.S. physicians used QMR to assist in the diagnosis of written clinical cases. Three sets of eight cases stratified by diagnostic difficulty and the potential of QMR to produce high-quality information were used. A 2 × 2 repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to test whether these factors were associated with perceived usefulness of QMR and physicians' diagnostic confidence after using QMR. Correlations were computed among physician characteristics, ratings of QMR usefulness, and physicians' confidence in their own diagnoses, and between usefulness or confidence and actual diagnostic performance. Results: The analyses showed that QMR was perceived to be significantly more useful (P < 0.05) on difficult cases, on cases where QMR could provide high-quality information, by non-board-certified physicians, and when diagnostic confidence was lower. Diagnostic confidence was higher when comfort with using certain QMR functions was higher. The ratings of usefulness or diagnostic confidence were not consistently correlated with diagnostic performance. Conclusions: The results suggest that users' diagnostic confidence and perceptions of QMR usefulness may be associated more with their need for decision support than with their actual diagnostic performance when using the system. Evaluators may fail to find a diagnostic decision support system useful if only easy cases are tested, if correct diagnoses are not in the system's knowledge base, or when only highly trained physicians use the system