Appraisal of the PathoDiscovery: an interactive web-based educational tool for teaching pathophysiology and histopathology

Virtual pathology education has shown to enhance the students' learning experience. At the Radboud University, an E-learning platform-called the PathoDiscovery-was developed and first used in a course about neoplasm development amongst first year (bio)medical sciences students. The PathoDiscovery incorporates high-power microscopic images, histological annotations, interactive questions and pre-programmed feedback.The objective of our study was to develop and evaluate the PathoDiscovery within the Neoplasm course focusing on student perceptions of usability and utility. For this study the online feedback on the PathoDiscovery that was obtained anonymously from (bio)medical students over two consecutive academic years was analyzed. The responses of the first year were used to make improvements. After the second year, the feedback of the two academic years was compared. The rating of the E-learning increased from 6.8 (n = 285) to 7.4 (n = 247) after implementation of feedback obtained in the first year. The students judged the structure as logical (90%). The content was considered easy or just right (57%), matched the learning objectives (76%), and contributed to knowledge development (78%). We conclude that the first experiences with the PathoDiscovery are positive for both students and lecturers; it is an example of a dynamic online learning tool that is easily adaptable and is well suited for a blended learning approach.

Automated summary

Virtual pathology education is enhanced through the use of an online learning platform called PathoDiscovery, which was first implemented in a Neoplasm course at Radboud University. This platform incorporates high-quality microscopic images, histological annotations, interactive questions, and pre-programmed feedback. Student feedback over two consecutive academic years showed positive perceptions of usability and utility, leading to an increase in the rating of the E-learning tool.