INTERACTIVE UROLOGY - AN EVALUATION

Background: Interactive Urology is a multimedia software program that has been written to provide computer-assisted interaction for medical students at the University of Sydney during their surgical term in uro logy. An evaluation sought to establish how the software will be used by medical students in the learning context and to explore the efficac y of the software in the transfer of content as well as problem-solvin g skills. Methods: Interactional analysis during student computer sess ions and pre- and post-testing included a total of 80 medical students to evaluate Interactive Urology. Results: The software package appear ed to promote higher-order thinking skills with brainstorming activiti es occupying about half the time available. Utilizing pre- and post-te sting, Interactive Urology was found to be efficacious in the transfer of content and problem-solving skills. It was also found to be as eff ective as text in transferring content and problem-solving skills. The sequence of text and computer assisted learning (GAL) did not alter l earning efficacy. Conclusion: It was concluded from the present study that Interactive Urology is an effective and valuable learning resourc e for medical students.