Creating online Histology study tools for Medical/Dental students at the University of British Columbia (UBC)

Histology is a core preclinical program at UBC Medical and Dental School. In conjunction with lectures and laboratories, a significant portion of student learning is through online resources such as weekly practice quizzes. We aimed to create new quizzes in Term Two of the first year Histology curriculum.In order to makequizzes more representative of questions encountered in summative assessments and in clinical situations, we animated virtual slides to simulate microscopic viewing. The movable virtual slides were created by compiling snapshots of tissue sections at increasing magnifications into a "gif" file using Adobe Photoshop. To producean online version of the quiz, questions were formatted using Respondus® software and uploaded to WebCT.WebCT allows easy access to online quizzes and instant feedback for students. In May 2009, we will survey the Medical/Dental Class of 2011 and compare student satisfaction with quizzes from Term One and Term Two