Medical case teaching on the web.

Background: Little is known about strategies for developing teaching cases and strategies for identifying design features that optimize a learner's interactions with Web-based cases.

Purposes: We examined design features in Web cases that facilitated interactive and engaging learning.

Methods: Nine collaborators reviewed selected Web cases and documented the presence of features that facilitate interactive learning, including opportunities for information gathering, decision making, and receiving feedback.

Results: Eighteen Web sites offered cases. These cases mainly were narrated based on biomedical information without patient voices. The cases were organized in a linear structure from patient presentation to follow-up. Many cases presented only a single case. We found little use of features for augmenting a learner's interaction with cases. Only a handful of cases generated feedback on the basis of the learners' responses.

Conclusion: Our study suggests ways to improve the development of Web cases. These methods contribute to future research in testing cases for educational effectiveness.