Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine?
BackgroundCurriculum mapping, which is aimed at the systematic realignment of the planned, taught, and learned curriculum, is considered a challenging and ongoing effort in medical education. Second-generation curriculum managing systems foster knowledge management processes including curriculum map...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2013-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | http://www.jmir.org/2013/8/e169/ |
| _version_ | 1818965487811297280 |
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| author | Spreckelsen, Cord Finsterer, Sonja Cremer, Jan Schenkat, Hennig |
| author_facet | Spreckelsen, Cord Finsterer, Sonja Cremer, Jan Schenkat, Hennig |
| author_sort | Spreckelsen, Cord |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundCurriculum mapping, which is aimed at the systematic realignment of the planned, taught, and learned curriculum, is considered a challenging and ongoing effort in medical education. Second-generation curriculum managing systems foster knowledge management processes including curriculum mapping in order to give comprehensive support to learners, teachers, and administrators. The large quantity of custom-built software in this field indicates a shortcoming of available IT tools and standards.
ObjectiveThe project reported here aims at the systematic adoption of techniques and standards of the Social Semantic Web to implement collaborative curriculum mapping for a complete medical model curriculum.
MethodsA semantic MediaWiki (SMW)-based Web application has been introduced as a platform for the elicitation and revision process of the Aachen Catalogue of Learning Objectives (ACLO). The semantic wiki uses a domain model of the curricular context and offers structured (form-based) data entry, multiple views, structured querying, semantic indexing, and commenting for learning objectives (“LOs”). Semantic indexing of learning objectives relies on both a controlled vocabulary of international medical classifications (ICD, MeSH) and a folksonomy maintained by the users. An additional module supporting the global checking of consistency complements the semantic wiki. Statements of the Object Constraint Language define the consistency criteria. We evaluated the application by a scenario-based formative usability study, where the participants solved tasks in the (fictional) context of 7 typical situations and answered a questionnaire containing Likert-scaled items and free-text questions.
ResultsAt present, ACLO contains roughly 5350 operational (ie, specific and measurable) objectives acquired during the last 25 months. The wiki-based user interface uses 13 online forms for data entry and 4 online forms for flexible searches of LOs, and all the forms are accessible by standard Web browsers.
The formative usability study yielded positive results (median rating of 2 (“good”) in all 7 general usability items) and produced valuable qualitative feedback, especially concerning navigation and comprehensibility. Although not asked to, the participants (n=5) detected critical aspects of the curriculum (similar learning objectives addressed repeatedly and missing objectives), thus proving the system’s ability to support curriculum revision.
ConclusionsThe SMW-based approach enabled an agile implementation of computer-supported knowledge management. The approach, based on standard Social Semantic Web formats and technology, represents a feasible and effectively applicable compromise between answering to the individual requirements of curriculum management at a particular medical school and using proprietary systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T13:17:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4da12950ca2145ab9b9f005b0334b3c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T13:17:48Z |
| publishDate | 2013-08-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-4da12950ca2145ab9b9f005b0334b3c82022-12-21T19:39:29ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712013-08-01158e16910.2196/jmir.2623Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine?Spreckelsen, CordFinsterer, SonjaCremer, JanSchenkat, HennigBackgroundCurriculum mapping, which is aimed at the systematic realignment of the planned, taught, and learned curriculum, is considered a challenging and ongoing effort in medical education. Second-generation curriculum managing systems foster knowledge management processes including curriculum mapping in order to give comprehensive support to learners, teachers, and administrators. The large quantity of custom-built software in this field indicates a shortcoming of available IT tools and standards. ObjectiveThe project reported here aims at the systematic adoption of techniques and standards of the Social Semantic Web to implement collaborative curriculum mapping for a complete medical model curriculum. MethodsA semantic MediaWiki (SMW)-based Web application has been introduced as a platform for the elicitation and revision process of the Aachen Catalogue of Learning Objectives (ACLO). The semantic wiki uses a domain model of the curricular context and offers structured (form-based) data entry, multiple views, structured querying, semantic indexing, and commenting for learning objectives (“LOs”). Semantic indexing of learning objectives relies on both a controlled vocabulary of international medical classifications (ICD, MeSH) and a folksonomy maintained by the users. An additional module supporting the global checking of consistency complements the semantic wiki. Statements of the Object Constraint Language define the consistency criteria. We evaluated the application by a scenario-based formative usability study, where the participants solved tasks in the (fictional) context of 7 typical situations and answered a questionnaire containing Likert-scaled items and free-text questions. ResultsAt present, ACLO contains roughly 5350 operational (ie, specific and measurable) objectives acquired during the last 25 months. The wiki-based user interface uses 13 online forms for data entry and 4 online forms for flexible searches of LOs, and all the forms are accessible by standard Web browsers. The formative usability study yielded positive results (median rating of 2 (“good”) in all 7 general usability items) and produced valuable qualitative feedback, especially concerning navigation and comprehensibility. Although not asked to, the participants (n=5) detected critical aspects of the curriculum (similar learning objectives addressed repeatedly and missing objectives), thus proving the system’s ability to support curriculum revision. ConclusionsThe SMW-based approach enabled an agile implementation of computer-supported knowledge management. The approach, based on standard Social Semantic Web formats and technology, represents a feasible and effectively applicable compromise between answering to the individual requirements of curriculum management at a particular medical school and using proprietary systems.http://www.jmir.org/2013/8/e169/ |
| spellingShingle | Spreckelsen, Cord Finsterer, Sonja Cremer, Jan Schenkat, Hennig Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine? Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine? |
| title_full | Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine? |
| title_fullStr | Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine? |
| title_short | Can Social Semantic Web Techniques Foster Collaborative Curriculum Mapping In Medicine? |
| title_sort | can social semantic web techniques foster collaborative curriculum mapping in medicine |
| url | http://www.jmir.org/2013/8/e169/ |
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