January 23, 2003
The Office of Medical Education, the Biomedical Libraries, and DMS Computing are pleased to offer an afternoon presentation by Dr. Suzanne Stensaas regarding the use of technology in medical education.
The presentation will be held on Thursday, January 23rd from 3:30 - 5:00pm in the Chilcott Auditorium at the DMS Hanover campus.
Dr. Stensaas has been involved in medical education for 30 years, and in the last 12 years has been involved with computers, videodiscs, CD-ROMs and web sites. Her major interest is in integrating existing texts, syllabi, visuals and sound into teaching strategies adapted for independent study or classroom use. Prior to her involvement with computers she did research in neuroscience.
Her interest in multimedia began with an image collection project that went on to become the "Slice of Life" videodisc project initiated in 1986 at the University of Utah. Students and faculty working with Instructional Media Services created and annually updated a videodisc with over 200 contributors from over 60 institutions. Subsequently software was created and introduced into the curriculum at various institutions and shared with others through sharing or sale.
In 1990 Dr. Stensaas became Director of the new Education Center at Cornell University Medical College in New York City as well as a member of the Department of Pathology where she directed the pathology and pathophysiology course. There she brought computers and digital images to the lab benches next to the microscopes. The renovated space that became the Joan and Sanford Weill Education Center.
Her other role was to work with faculty course directors and clerkship directors to integrate currently available software into all four years of the Cornell.
In 1998 she returned to the University of Utah where she is director for the second year neuroscience block and also teaches neuroanatomy in the course.
It is in this capacity that her software program, HyperBrain, for complementing a neuroanatomy lecture/lab course was developed for Macintosh computers with HyperCard and laserdisc. HyperBrain is currently being restructured for the World Wide Web for all to use. At the University of Utah she is involved with a variety of curricular committees. She currently consults with faculty at many medical schools on the difficult issue of integration of new media into traditional as well as new experimental curricula.