An interactive histology image-barcode manual for a videodisc image library

Cell Biology and HISTOLOGY (alias Microanatomy, alias Microscopic Anatomy) is a required course for first-year medical and dental students in most health science centers. The traditional approach used in teaching this discipline is to present photomicrographic images of structures to students in lecture using 35 mm slides of fields seen through the microscope. The students then spend many hours viewing and studying specimens of tissues using a light microscope in a laboratory setting. Students in traditional courses of histology spend an inordinate amount of time learning the component structures by attempting to find and identify them in tissue sections using a microscope, where the structure being sought is surrounded by a multitude of other structures with which they are also not familiar. With the recent availability of videodisc stored image libraries of histological samples, it is now possible to study histological principles without the use of the microscope as the primary learning tool. A videodisc entitled "

A Photographic Atlas" by S. Downing (published by Image Premastering Services Limited, Minneapolis, MN, 1991) has been incorporated into our histology course. Fifteen videodisc player stations are provided for 150 students. Images are retrieved by students using a bar code scanner attached to a videodisc player (Pioneer CLD-2400). Using this kind of image library, students can now learn basic histological structure, such as cell and tissue types, without the use of a microscope or as a tool for facilitating microscopy. The use of a videodisc library of randomly accessible images simplifies learning the basic components which all organs are composed of by presenting the learner with clear-cut examples to avoid confusion with other structures. However, videodisc players and TV monitors are still not appropriately priced for every student to own. This presents a problem in that the same images studied in class are not available to study and review outside of class. There is a need for resources for additional study outside of the institutional setting, for students to have and interact with to reinforce the learning experience in the teaching laboratory. A hard copy manual was created and is being used in our course; it incorporates photos captured from the videodisc. The images displayed in the manual are chosen to give the student one example of each histological component. Additional labeling is added to the images, and each image is accompanied by a bar code that may be used at a videodisc player with a bar code reader to retrieve the same color image from the disc displayed in larger format on a TV monitor. Each topic in the manual is accompanied by learning objectives and a statement of clinical relevance. Following the presentation of the images in each section of the manual, the students are encouraged to practice by viewing multiple examples of each structural component presented in the lesson. They can do this by using the bar-coded catalog supplied with each disc. The presentation of each topic concludes with a quiz composed of questions about images that the student can retrieve from the videodisc using barcodes in the text of the manual. Some of the images on the quiz are printed in miniature in the manual to provide the student with an opportunity for personal review at home when hardware to obtain and display images from a video disc is not available. This manual provides an answer to the dilemma faced by the learner when access to hardware is not available; reinforcement is therefore facilitated outside the teaching laboratory. This allows learning to continue outside of the classroom, using the same materials. (abstract truncated)