Pathways are a necessary part of many teaching curriculums and underpin key learning concepts.
Often students don’t understand pathways and resort to rote learning techniques. Rote learning is useful to provide foundation knowledge, but does not support the application of knowledge for integrated learning.
In textbooks and PowerPoint slides we relate these pathways to changes that take place due to diseases. The development of two dimensional mind maps and similar aids for the integration of knowledge provide the network linking the static biochemical pathways with the clinical and analytical applications, but these traditional approaches are tedious and hinder the ability to teach clinical reasoning skills in the classroom.
The development of reasoning skills is essential for students, and the scientists and clinicians they will become, to fully interpret clinical results ie. in order to decide whether a specific change in pattern is consistent with the clinical presentation and laboratory results generated.
With RMIT University’s reputation as a leader in both design and technology, we are uniquely placed to establish integrated and interactive learning. This steroid pathway provides a template to develop an integrated learning tool that can be applied broadly across courses and programs within and outside of RMIT University.
