Peter G. Anderson, DVM, PhD and Kristopher N. Jones, BS

Background: The need for "just-in-time" information access and the desire to develop "information seeking behavior" in our medical students necessitates creative modifications in medical curricula. Distance learning strategies with information access via local intranets and the Internet can help to fulfill these goals.

Design & Results: The Interactive Pathology Laboratory (IPLab) is an interactive, case-based approach for learning the concepts of pathology. The program consists of approximately 100 cases outlining clinical and laboratory findings along with gross photographs and photomicrographs accompanied by descriptive text. Each laboratory module also contains a list of learning objectives, review questions, a self-assessment multiple choice question quiz feature and an online scored multiple choice quiz. The IPLab was designed to operate as a LAN or CD-ROM-based application but it also has hypertext links embedded throughout the program so students can access materials on the IPLAB.net Web site. The IPLAB.net Web site contains a discussion board (Discus by DiscusWare, LLC), links for other on-line resources related to the specific topic areas, the PubMed search engine, online textbooks, and an extensive links database to other educational sites. This combination of discussion board for communication and ready access to online resources promotes interaction among students and encourages active searching for answers rather than passive aquisition of knowledge. Students in the General Pathology course at UAB filled out an online evaluation of the IPLab after the 1998 school year. The 162 students responding (91% of the class) gave the IPLab a rating of 4.6 (on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent). The highest rated features included: communication among students and faculty, online graded quizzes, and the self-study feature with the option to work on the CD at home.

Conclusions: IPLab, with the combination of image rich case-based instructional materials and links to the IPLab.net Web site, offers powerful interactivity and access to Internet-based educational resources. This program has been used at UAB for two years and is currently being used/evaluated by other medical schools. In addition to providing content, this program also encourages and facilitates communication and "information seeking" behavior - traits we would like to encourage in our medical students.