Collaborative Development of Internet-Accessible, Interactive, Medical Imaging Teaching Courseware and Application to Undergraduate Curricula

Medical imaging education is interdisciplinary in many engineering programs, most typically Biomedical Engineering. Medical imaging techniques involve physics principles, mathematical derivations, and engineering implementations for image generation, reconstruction, and instrumentation. Finding an efficient way for instructors to deliver medical imaging knowledge and establishing an effective learning environment for students, especially at institutions without associated medical schools or hospitals, have long been goals for medical imaging educators. We proposed to develop an Internet accessible, interactive medical imaging teaching system serving the courseware for medical imaging classes. Three institutions in South Florida have participated in the development and application of this system. Our effort has been focused on the creation of animations for physics/chemistry principles and simulations for engineering implementations. The animations or simulations are interfaced with user-adjustable parameters or settings so that the physics/chemistry/engineering principles can be dynamically and interactively demonstrated. A “live” medical imaging device or component can be presented without accessing the real equipment. We have opened this teaching system in different size classes on all or selected imaging modalities during the last few years. More than 200 students in three institutions have accessed the Website. The assessment result (pre/post) shows increased learning gains, especially significant in concept understanding.