New approaches to anatomy tutorial via the Internet

For the purposes of a functioning information and knowledge based medicine the conditions for the medical education are crucial. Although multimedia b ased courses and tutorials via the Internet seem to serve best for a more e ffective teaching and new didactics, respective anatomical offers in German y are scarce and thus practice and experience are limited. Only simple digi tal equivalents of conventional contents and methods can be found, whereas the potencies of the new media are not realized in didactic concepts. Subst antial advantages of web based tutorial systems are an intensive use of the feedback possibilities, the opportunity for continuous updating of the con tents, the favourable distribution, and faster utilization of improved tech niques. This paper introduces the adaption of different techniques and the development of concepts and notions of modern Internet based teaching by th e way of three different events in anatomical education for medical student s and doctors. HistoNet 2000 was developed as an interface of lectures, sem inars and practical courses in microscopy. The online transmission of a mic roscopical course as an interactive practical teleteaching was performed by the way of asymmetric data transfer via the ADSL-technology. Multicasting was used as well and has also been applied for the third project. In this m ultimedial online teaching different specialties were joined together for i nterdisciplinary courses via the Internet. These new technologies lead to e nhanced efficiency in teaching and enlarge the educational offer. Specific Internet adapted teaching and learning projects have to be developed.