iCBLS: An interactive case-based learning system for medical education.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Reasoning
• Digital Learning Tools

Background:

• Case-Based Learning (CBL) is a student-centered methodology for developing clinical reasoning.
• Medical education requires scalable, non-obtrusive methods for applying clinical skills.
• Existing CBL methods may lack interactive and collaborative features for online learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate an interactive Case-Based Learning System (iCBLS).
• To support the development of collaborative clinical reasoning skills in medical students.
• To assess the system's effectiveness and user satisfaction in an online environment.

Main Methods:

• Development of the iCBLS with three modules: System Administration (SA), Clinical Case Creation (CCC), and Case Formulation (CF).
• Implementation of a semi-automatic approach for clinical case creation.
• Evaluation using the Context/Input/Process/Product (CIPP) model with a Glycemia study.
• Two evaluations: system satisfaction (54 students) and system effectiveness (155 students).

Main Results:

• High success rates observed across various aspects of the iCBLS.
• Student interaction: 70% success rate.
• Group learning: 76.4% success rate.
• Solo learning: 72.8% success rate.
• Improved clinical skills: 74.6% success rate.

Conclusions:

• The iCBLS effectively supports collaborative clinical reasoning development in medical students.
• The system demonstrates high user satisfaction and effectiveness in enhancing clinical skills.
• The interactive and semi-automatic features contribute to a scalable online learning solution.