Muscle Physiology
Audience
Second-Year Medical Students
Responsibilities
Needs Analysis, Instructional Design, eLearning Development, Visual Design, Storyboarding
Tools Used
Articulate Rise 360
Articulate AI Assistant
Lecturio AI Question Generator
ChatGPT | GPT-4o
Project Overview
This learning activity is for an independent learning session for a second-year medical school course. My team has been leading an initiative to update materials of independent learning sessions within the pre-clinical modules. Previously, this session’s materials were two PowerPoint presentations with speaker notes and a textbook chapter offered for supplemental reading. The desired product was to create an asynchronous and interactive learning experience which could be hosted directly in Canvas, the learning management system (LMS) used by the university.
Outline
The first part of the process was to directly move over the content from the old presentation to the new software, Articulate Rise 360. The original presentation provides an outline of the session content. I used this outline to structure the new learning activity, breaking it up into smaller sections of related content. Because the content of the session builds on itself, I placed restrictions on the course navigation while still allowing the learner to track their progress visually in the side panel.
The original presentation was a little tricky to follow along with the original outline, so I clarified the organization of the material through the incorporation of hierarchical headings, content breaks, and lesson sections.
The original session materials were two PowerPoint presentations with speaker notes and a textbook chapter offered for supplemental reading.
Development - Articulate Rise 360
Once the content was transferred in full, I looked for opportunities for the learner to interact with the content more, using the interactive features offered by Articulate Rise 360.
Below are some of the enhancements that were made:
Hotspot Interaction
Before
The original presentation contained static images and information, with context included in the speaker notes at the bottom of the PowerPoint window. Students were assigned to read through the content. Students were encouraged to reach out to the instructor if they had questions about the content of the presentation.
After
I converted content like this into interactive components like the image with hotspots here. I sourced a similar, higher-quality version of skeletal muscle structure without the text images, and used the institution's access to Lecturio to source quality photos and content on different types of muscle to create a stronger impression of the differences in muscle type characteristics.
Sorting Interaction
Before
The original presentation did not include opportunities for the students to interact with the content and check their understanding of the material. Previous feedback from students expressed that in other sessions they appreciated opportunities for self-assessment to inform their studying strategies.
After
I identified opportunities for content breaks and used Articulate's AI Block tool to develop a sorting activity focused on content sections. It produced options for two-category sorting activities including true/false, do's/don'ts, etc. I selected an activity that focused on identifying the characteristics of fast twitch versus slow twitch fibers. the tool created a table with the answers which I included in my review submission to the course director to verify that the content was correct.
Sorting activity for identifying the characteristics of fast twitch vs slow twitch fibers.
Knowledge Checks
Multiple choice knowledge check question developed by Lecturio AI Question Generator.
Before
The original presentation did not include any opportunities for the students to interact with the content and check their understanding of the material. Student feedback for other sessions expressed appreciation for opportunities for self-assessment, and students have responded positively to other sessions where they were given practice questions that reflected the style of the USMLE tests for which they were preparing.
After
I used Lecturio's AI Question Generator to create questions tied to the learning objectives for the session. I inserted opportunities for periodic knowledge checks at logical breaks in the content. By identifying the learning objective tied to a section and inputting it into Lecturio's AI Question Generator, I was able to create leveled knowledge check questions written in USMLE format.
The development process also involved optimizing the course for accessibility and testing the course all the way through for quality and functionality.
Design
With the primary content of the activity complete, I turned my attention to the design and visual presentation of the activity. This included ensuring that the project was visually cohesive in organization and theme. I used Google Image Search to find higher resolution versions of the images used in the presentation, ChatGPT to improve the image quality of other images, and the institution's memberships to various medical content platforms for sourcing images when an original version of an image from the presentation could not be found.
I also found images for use in the headers of each subsection and a cover image for the activity.
Lastly, I made the theme and colors cohesive with the institution’s branding standards.
Review
After the completion of the first iteration of the new learning activity, I submitted the project to the course director for content approval and user feedback. In addition to the presentation, I included two documents: a question and answer bank for quick review of all knowledge check questions and interactive content, and an outline with my clarifying notes and questions about the project. Feedback was incorporated into follow-up adjustments to content for accuracy, and a few organizational changes for clarity.