Computers in health-sciences education An application to electrocardiography

Aspects of a computer-based education (CBE) are described. Recent developments in the use of computer in health-sciences education are highlighted. An interactive computer system (CALE) has been developed to provide individualised instruction and testing for biomedical and medical sciences students. CALE is a system for computer assisted learning of electrocardiography which consists of an organizer program and few subprograms. The system has a self-instruction mode which is equivalent to lecturing. Moreover, review questions are supplied either in multiple choice questions (MCQ) and/or matched questions and answers (MQA) forms. Furthermore, the system can simulate normal as well as abnormal electrocardiograms. A statistical program is included to evaluate the performance of the students while using the CALE-system. A comment file is created so that the users can register their comments about the CALE and the difficulties they have faced in using the system. CALE is easy to use and requires no knowledge of programming. The feedback obtained from the students currently using the system is encouraging. CALE is written in Data General FORTRAN 5.