4 March 2010 (Thursday) | 16:10 - 16:30 | http://citers2010.cite.hku.hk/abstract/26 | HWANG, Isabel and LAM, Paul, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

1. Graphic rich animated courseware improves
both e-learning and understanding in
physiology topics of year 1 medical and
non-medical undergraduate courses
Dr. Isabel Hwang
Teaching and Learning Unit
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

2. Introduction: Why bother?
Most physiology mechanisms involves sequential
order of numerous events of microscopic structures
Static illustrations fail to demonstrate sequential
events in motion
Time limitation of lectures
Copyright issues of purchased animations
Time consuming to obtain publisher permission from
separate animations
Common mistakes and misconcepts from students

3. Animated Courseware Package
Two areas: General physiology
a. nerve cell membrane potential and
b. skeletal muscle contraction
Package includes:
1. Step by step animated videos that visualize mechanisms
clearly
2. Clear voice and run-along text option keys
3. Summary that helps students to consolidate key points
4. A glossary for term definition
5. Some game activity to test understanding
*6. Automarking online exercise/quiz in WebCT

4. Wide spectrum of Year 1 courses
(2008-2009)
Course Name (Course Code) Number of
student enrolled
Bachelor of Nursing (NRS1601-1602) 195
Bachelor of Pharmacy (PHA1421) 30
Bachelor of Chinese Medicine (BCM1600) 31
Bachelor of Biology (Human Biology: 13
MED3050)
Total: 269

5. Mode of courseware delivery
In the first lecture series, the courseware in the
format of CD would be given (also uploaded onto
WebCT)
Simple introduction of the courseware package
Reminder of auto-marking exercises/quiz with
deadlines
At the end of lecture series, usually after 5-6
weeks, evaluation of the courseware would begin

7. Courseware
evaluation
Survey forms
delivered at the end
of the lecture series
Usability, Use and
Usefulness (5-point
Likert scale)
Open-ended
questions

8. Opinion overview (Quantitative)

9. Statistics summary of each section
Question 1-3 refer to Usability
Question 4-6 refer to Use
Question 7-11 refer to Usefulness
‘Usability' is about the ease of use
sability
of the resource
‘Use' is about the amount of time
the students in general spent on
using the resource
‘Usefulness' is the benefits to
sefulness
learning

10. Other benefits associated with
the courseware?
1. Improve understanding (10/48)
2. Learning becomes more interesting
(11/48)
Total number of questionnaires received: 245
Number of observers responded this question: 48

11. Open-ended comments (Qualitative)
Open ended questions 3 most common feedback
(response frequency)
What you like best about the Animations (71/121)
courseware? Clarity (16/121)
Ease of use (13/121)
What you dislike about the Slow (13/39)
courseware? Difficult to open/access (8/39)
Hardware required (3/39)
How can courseware be further More information (17/62)
enriched? More animations (10/62)
More graphics (7/62)
N.B. The response frequency is shown by number of same response collected from
students over total number of students who responded to this question

12. Other potential benefits
Two fold: Student and Instructor level
Student Instructor
Off campus revision No worry for copyright
before or after lecture issues
Provide a new platform Generate data for
for discussion educational research
Improve motivation Use by other teaching
and engagement staff

13. Ongoing animation project
1. Cardiovascular Physiology (2009-2010)
2. Renal physiology and clinical examples
(2010-2011)

14. Acknowledgement
This project is supported by the
Courseware Development Grant 2007-08
(IT Steering Committee, CUHK)
Academic Support Division, ITSC, CUHK
Professor Paul Lam, Center for Learning
Enhancement And Research, CUHK

15. Thank you.