Multimedia system based on programmed instruction in medical genetics: construction and evaluation.

A multimedia system used as an auxiliary didactic tool for teaching medical genetics, HGEN, is based on non-linear programmed instruction and multimedia. HGEN was implemented in layers for PC compatible using MULTIMEDIA TOOLBOOK and DELPHI. It includes basic medical genetics concepts (inheritance patterns and cytogenetics) and it is based on multiple choice questions with images, diagrams and animations. The student-program interaction occurs by choosing an alternative in a question and receiving a specific answer as feedback and additional information. Links send the students to a glossary, to short descriptions of diseases used as examples, or to references for further studies. In order to evaluate the performance of the HGEN the authors used two questionnaires: (a) about the students' background in using computers; and (b) the system efficiency as a didactic tool, the software quality and user satisfaction. HGEN was used by 63 students from three medical schools and it was considered efficient as a learning tool (100%). Furthermore the implementation of a navigation map for frequencies analysis of followed path enable the study to detect structure and content inadequacies that could be correct for version 1.1 and proved to be an efficient tool to optimize a didactic software.