Windows-Based Multimedia Teaching Aids for Radiology Residents
J. Ray Ballinger, MD, PhD
Department of Radiology, University of Florida
Go to http://www.xray.ufl.edu/~rball/mritutor.html to access the program.
Introduction: Three types of programs were used to produce a multimedia aid for teaching residents MRI Physics, in particular, MRI artifacts. These programs were: 1) a Windows help file; 2) a commercially available multimedia program (Toolbook 3.0, Asymetrix, Bellevue, WA); and 3) hypertext markup language (html) run with Mosaic. Ease of programming, file sizes, flexibility, and loading times were compared.
Methods: The author, a novice at programming, qualitatively compared the ease of programming the tutorial using the three techniques. Advantages and disadvantages of each were noted during the process. The time to load the programs using a PC 486DX66MHz clone was measured three times each, using a stop watch.
Results: The Windows help file was the easiest to learn to program, followed by the html program, and last by the multimedia program. The multimedia program was the most flexible in terms of incorporating dynamic and static images. The html-based program was somewhat limited in terms of dynamic images, although avi and mpeg movies can be incorporated. The Windows help file was the most limited, with only four shades of grey and limited colors for images and no dynamic capability. The multimedia program also requires an executable file to run the program; however, this can be distributed without royalty charges. The loading time for the programs was:
Discussion: The Windows help file was the best program for text and simple graphics. It has a small size and loads quickly. The html program loads more slowly, but has better graphic and image capability and can be viewed over networks on multiple different platforms. The multimedia program has the most flexibility but is slower loading, takes more memory, has a steeper learning curve, and for the Toolbook programs, is limited to PC computers.