PTO Psychopathology Taught OnlineProject LeaderProf. Dr. Damian Läge
d.laege@psychologie.uzh.ch
Psychologisches Institut Angewandte Kognitionspsychologie
UZH
Binzmühlestrasse 14 / 28
8050 Zürich Project CoordinatorDr.des.phil. Roland Streule
r.streule@psychologie.uzh.ch
UZH
Binzmühlestrasse 14 / 28
8050 Zürich Project PartnersProf. Dr. Rolf Dieter Stieglitz
| UNIBAS | Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Tschacher
| UNIBE | Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Znoj
| UNIBE | Prof. Dr. Meinrad Perrez
| UNIFR | Prof. Dr. Andreas Maercker
| UZH | Prof Dr. Urs Baumann
| UNI SALZBURG | Prof. Dr. Franz Caspar
| UNIGE |
| e-learning Center, UZH |
| MELS, UZH |
SummaryThe project "Psychopathology Taught Online" (PTO) pursues two main goals:
- The development of a high-quality and modular virtual learning environment
in the field of mental disorders, fully integrated into the existing curricula
of psychopathology.
- The technical implementation of innovative knowledge diagnostic tools for
adaptive learning systems. These highly re-usable tools are based on the
diagnostics of individual factual knowledge by means of knowledge maps.
PTO primarily targets students of psychopathology of adult age, but students
of clinical psychology, psychiatry and continuing education (e.g. psychotherapy
and psychiatry) might also benefit. Participating students are offered
the opportunity to expand upon, differentiate and complete what they have
learned in conventional courses by means of individually tailored multiple
media access. The relevance of this project is highlighted by the importance
of this field in clinical psychology and psychiatry. Moreover, the conventional
courses are characterized by an inadequate student/ teacher ratio (up to
400 students/professorship), and are only able to provide a superficial,
fragmentary and standardized presentation of the knowledge. As a consequence,
a great deal of self-study is required on the part of the students, which
can now be guided, executed and tested with the help of PTO. Individual
needs of the learner with regard to previous knowledge, learning style,
interest and motivation can be met more adequately than by the current
ex cathedra courses. PTO aims to present basic and detailed expertise in
the field of mental disorders. It contains approximately 80 basic modules
/ disorders. Each module consists of (a) introducing texts, (b) hyperlinks
to aetiology, phenomenology, prevalence, therapy etc. and (c) interactive
case examples. Where appropriate, more complex case examples, as well as
(d) diagnostic interviews (video) and examples of therapy sessions (video)
will be added. All modules are implemented at an overview knowledge level,
and a selected number of lessons build up a more detailed level of knowledge.
PTO consists of three self-contained learning phases, each of which is
concluded with an ECTS exam: Phase 1 (2 ECTS) provides the learner with
a structured overview of the field of knowledge based on 20 mental disorders,
with learning progress monitored by a continuous relational diagnostics.
Phase 2 (4 ECTS) expands upon the knowledge structure already built up
by the assimilative integration of 60 new mental disorders in explicit
relation to the disorders that have already been learnt. Also in this phase,
the successive diagnostic process facilitates the adequate processing and
integration of new information and if need be contents that have already
been presented are repeated. After the basic structure has been established,
Phase 3 (4 ECTS) consists of deepening knowledge concerning 20 particularly
relevant disorders. The specific diagnostic and statistic tools were developed
by the project leader in a Swiss National Fund project (11-63536.00). The
implementation of these tools facilitates relational linking of knowledge
and structure-adaptive guidance of the learner as two innovative aspects
of e-learning. Structure-adaptive guidance is a new tool for recommending
lessons adaptive to the current level of knowledge. The basis for this
procedure is a relational diagnostics measuring the current level of knowledge
as a cognitive map. By combining these innovative tools, which in the future
will be applicable in many domains, with the "traditional" knowledge diagnostics,
PTO extends beyond the didactic horizon of current systems of e-learning.
By means of knowledge maps, PTO deliberately focuses on relational aspects
(similarities, differences). This approach therefore takes into account
criticisms of the hierarchical, categorical aspects of the ICD-10 by accentuating
a dimensional perspective. At the same time, cognitive maps allow a categorical
perspective to be kept in mind.
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