Use of an Open Source Platform for e-Learning with Virtual Microscopy

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Use of an Open Source Platform for e-Learning
with Virtual Microscopy

• H.P. Sinn
• Dept. of Pathology
• University Hospital
• Heidelberg

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Agenda

• Platforms for Virtual Microscopy
• Characteristics of Moodle
• Types of courses
• Modules
• Scripts and Tricks
• Application examples

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IDC
MPC
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Platforms for virtual microscopy
Introduction

• Embedded pages (USCAP, AFIP)
• Specialized solutions for virtual microscopy
  (SlidePath)
• Localized standalone systems (Basel, Zürich)
• Personal sites (Aachen)
• E-learning Systems (Moodle, WebCT)
• Course oriented
• Community oriented

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Things to consider when choosing a system
Introduction

• E-learning functionality
• Authentication, LDAP support
• Interactive Modules
• Exams
• Feedback
• others
• Easy to use content management system
• Flexibility (Modularity)
• Low or no cost
• Community support

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Moodle
Introduction
Modular, Object-Oriented, Dynamic Learning
Environment

• Moodle is an open source e-learning system
• It is course-based
• It uses a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
  architecture

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Course Management
Introduction

• A teacher administrator has full control over all
  settings for a course, including restricting
  other teachers
• Choice of course formats such as by week, by
  topic or a discussion-focused social format
• Flexible array of course activities Forums,
  Journals, Quizzes, Resources, Choices, Surveys,
  Assignments, Chats, Workshops, Internalmail
• Display recent changes to the course since the
  last login can be displayed on the course home
  page
• Easy editing of text for resources, forum
  postings, journal entries using an embedded
  WYSIWYG HTML editor
• Import and export custom courses, examples, and
  scorm compatible objects

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Topic based format
Basic Moodle

• Lists of topics within one course
• Within each topic activities (such as lessons,
  hyperlinks, questionaire etc.) or blocks (data,
  images) may be included
• Convenient for presentation of a list of cases,
  such as a study set of digital slides

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Topic based format
Basic Moodle
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Topic based format- Drawbacks -
Basic Moodle

• Not good for maintaining large cases series
• Repetetive formatting of every cases
• Maintainence of hyperlinks tedious
• Not good for structured documents, such as
  unknown cases and solutions
• No database facilities like search or sort

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Database module
Modules

• Provides one or multiple sub-databases per course
• Database fields include numeric, text, textarea,
  file, image, menu, URL and others
• Teacher and/or student can enter data
• Lists can be searched and sorted

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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module
Modules
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Database module- Further uses -
Modules

• Accessability of database content from other
  modules
• Linking database from external sources (e.g.
  through PHP)
• Interactive use, e.g. allowing students to enter
  data

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Book Module
Modules

• Provides textual and non textual content
• Arragend in chapters and sub-chapters
• Input is plain HTML using the integrated HTML
  editor or not
• No search of sort facilities

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Book Module
Modules
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Wiki module
Modules

• Uses Nwiki (based on dfWiki), from Moodle 1.9
• Syntax like MediaWiki (used in Wikipedia)
• Ideal for collaborative editing
• Students and Teachers can enter data
• Usueful for collecting structured information,
  such as when building a course
• Beware Texts in the Wiki syntax cannot be used
  anywhere else in Moodle

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Wiki module
Modules
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Lesson module
Modules

• Interactive questions and answer pages
• Case-based learning

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Lesson module
Modules
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Lesson modulelesson construction page
Modules
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Tricks and Hints
Tricks and Hints

• ltiframegt tag
• Javascript
• Execution of custom PHP files

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Use of ltiframegt and external PHP script
Tricks and Hints
mysql_connect(localhost,username,password) _at_mys
ql_select_db(database) or die( "Unable to select
database") query"SELECT FROM svs WHERE
substr(kurs,12,3)'".serie."' order by id"
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Example internet sites using Moodle and virtual
microscopy
Examples

• IAP Germany (testing site)www.iap-bonn.de/moodle
• University of Heidelbergelearning.uni-heidelberg.
  de
• Sandbox for application developmentwww.vpathology
  .org/sandbox

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IAP Germanywww.iap-bonn.de/moodle
Examples
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General Pathologyelearning.uni-heidelberg.de
Examples
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Neuropathologyelearning.uni-heidelberg.de
Examples
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CP Conferenceelearning.uni-heidelberg.de
Examples
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Summary

• Moodle is a versatile platform for pathology
  teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
• Provides connectivity to other systems through
  open standards and great variety of modules