Intelligent Authoring Tools for Web-based Case Vignettes

Global eMedicine, with UCLA, proposes to design and fully develop a remote intelligent case authoring toolset. Phase I efforts will focus on the collaborative design and development of the tools through staged formative evaluation and iterative refinementof the application's technical and functional specifications until a complete operational prototype tool is achieved. Systematic user studies, in cooperative effort between the Principal Investigator and UCLA research faculty, will be used to iterativelyincorporate needed modifications and functional enhancements by Global eMedicine's development team. The toolset will interface with our existing SCORMv1.2-compliant digital asset management system for the incorporation of standards-based learningobjects. Phase I will additionally involve technical modifications to the case simulation engine and existing didactic lecture engine which will allow variable integration of case-based learning with lecture-based learning for further Phase II researchand development.Phase II will evaluate the toolset's value in the context of the whole case production process as well as optimal use of case-based and traditional lecture-based learning when these two teaching methods are variably integrated into a Distance Learningplatform.The intelligent toolset will be Web-based and constructed with open-architecture technology that can be easily installed on existing DoD DL networks. Because Problem Based Learning (PBL) has shown substantial benefits over traditional lecture base teaching, case simulations have become an important means of incorporating PBL into many different types of professional curricula (medical, law, businessadministration, etc). This is true within the DoD as well as academia and the private sectors. However, case production processes are still primitive, very resource-intensive and are not intelligent or standards-based. Therefore, great reluctance existson the part of technology-challenged subject matter experts to use these tools. A fully automated intelligent tool that incorporates standards-based digital assets and learning objects is expected to be a market leader for teaching institutions andorganizations that utilize PBL curricula. Such an intelligent authoring toolset will enable rapid, scalable, cost-efficient production of case vignette libraries that can be easily modified as knowledge updates occur, thus preventing obsolescence of thesecurricular materials. Specifically, because most instructors do not possess Web development skills, teachers who wish to incorporate PBL can use the intelligent toolset without reliance upon expensive and time-consuming IT resources for case creation andrevision. The utility of such a tool extends far beyond medical education into any form of Distance Learning education that incorporates case simulations. Because Distance Learning is expected to be an $11billion market in coming years, the commercialvalue of an intelligent tool for the creation of engaging case vignettes should be great.