Innovation in early medical education, no bells or whistles required.

BACKGROUND: Despite a paucity of evidence to support a multitude of educational innovations, curricular leaders are pressured to find innovative solutions to better prepare medical students for an evolving twenty-first century health care system. As part of this effort, this study directly compared student-rated effectiveness scores of six different learning modalities. METHODS: Study participants included 286 medical students enrolled in the second-year rheumatology core at a single academic medical center between 2013 and 2017. Students were surveyed at the end of the core with a 15-item questionnaire, and student perceived effectiveness of six different learning modalities were compared. RESULTS: The modality that outperformed all others was Live Patient Encounters (LPE), with significantly higher student-rated effectiveness scores when compared to the referent modality of Problem-Based Learning (PBL). Using a 5-point Likert scale with responses ranging from "not effective" to "highly effective," LPE received a mean effectiveness score of 4.77 followed by Augenblick (4.21), PBL (4.11), Gout Racer video game (3.49), Rheumatology Remedy e-module (3.49), and simulation knee injection (3.09). CONCLUSIONS: Technologically advanced novel learning strategies were outperformed in this study by the more traditional active learning modality of LPE. This finding highlights the importance of testing innovative learning strategies at the level of the learner. Three additional conclusions can be drawn from this result. First, conflation of technology with innovation may lead to a myopic view of educational reform. Second, human factors seem to be responsible for the success of LPE and may have far-reaching educational rewards. Third, further applications of LPE should be tested in non-rheumatologic curricula. The relevance of this study is innately tied to the humanities-based application. While a formal qualitative analysis was not performed in this study, preliminary results suggest that live, structured patient interactions in the pre-clinical years of medical education may not only promote the learning of important educational objectives but also foster professional development, empathy, reflection, leadership, agency, and interpersonal skills. This "win-win" scenario (if true) would stand out as a rarity among strategic educational initiatives.

Semianalytical model for the derivation of ocean color inherent optical properties: description, implementation, and performance assessment.

A semianalytical approach to the problem of determining inherent optical properties from satellite and in situ ocean color data is presented. The model uses empirically derived spectral slopes between neighboring wavebands in combination with radiative transfer modeling to determine the spectral absorption (alpha) and backscatter (b(b)); these values are then further decomposed into absorption due to phytoplankton, detrital, and colored dissolved organic matter components. When compared with over 400 in situ data points the model makes good retrievals of the total absorption and backscatter across the entire spectrum, with regression slopes close to unity, little or no bias, high percentage of variance explained, and low rms errors.

Use of a Spectralon panel to measure the downwelling irradiance signal: case studies and recommendations.

Field determinations of the remote sensing reflectance signal are necessary to validate ocean color satellite sensors. The measurement of the above-water downwelling irradiance signal Ed(0+) is commonly made with a reference plaque of a known reflectance. The radiance reflected by the plaque (L(dspec)) can be used to determine Ed(0+) if the plaque is assumed to be near Lambertian. To test this assumption, basic experiments were conducted on a boat under changing sky conditions (clear, cloudy, covered) and with different configurations for simultaneous measurements of L(dspec) and Ed(0+). For all measurement configurations, results were satisfactory under a clear sky. Under cloudy or covered skies, shadow effects on the plaque induced errors up to 100% in the determination of Ed(0+). An appropriate measurement configuration was defined, which enabled Ed(0+) to be determined with an accuracy of better than +/- 15% regardless of the sky conditions.

Optical modeling and measurements of a coccolithophore bloom.

Blooms of the phytoplankton coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi can cause significant changes to both the inherent and the apparent optical properties within an oceanic column. Measurements made within such a bloom off the southwestern coast of England during July 1999 are reported. The multiple scattering properties of the bloom prevented accurate retrieval of absorption (a) and attenuation (c) coefficients with a WETLabs ac-9. Upwelling radiance measurements were similarly affected by the bloom, which caused the sensors to saturate. An optical model has been developed that gives close agreement with the in situ optics when it is used as input to the Hydrolight radiative-transfer model.