Evaluation of the App coroPro

Assigned Human-Computer Interaction Bachelor Thesis No Affiliation

Abstract

The aim of this project is to further develop an existing mobile application, which is used to visualize coronary vessels during a cardiac catheterization, and to create a learning experience platform (LXP) based on it. With the help of a learning algorithm to be implemented and the resulting results, this platform should enable targeted and in-depth learning. In the context of a heuristic evaluation it should be found out whether the application corresponds to the usability principles known at present.

Contents

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Problem Statement
  • 1.2 Approach
  • 1.3 Project Requirements
    • 1.3.1 Technical Requirements
  • 1.4 Tasks
    • 1.4.1 Backend Server and API
    • 1.4.2 Unity3D mobile application
    • 1.4.3 Webinterface
• Bibliography
• Appendix

1 Introduction

Cardiac catheterizations are among the most common inpatient procedures in the healthcare system. According to the German Heart Report, for example, over 870 thousand cardiac catheterizations were performed in 2018 only in Germany (Herzs- tiftung, 2019). This shows that it is all the more important to provide future carthi- ologists with a sound training. However, if we look at the most common train- ing methods offered: simulators like the ANIGO Mento (Mentor, 2018) and frontal teaching, it is noticeable that these require continuous instruction of the trainees and the trainers, which cannot always be guaranteed, especially in a time like the corona pandemic. Moreover, these methods focus predominantly on the transmission of in- formation to a collective and do not leave any room for adapting the learning process to the individual. Recent research shows, that one possible approach to designing more flexible and individual learning content, is the use of mobile applications and e-learning platforms (Briz et al., 2016), which can lead to better learning results. This shows that mobile applications could be well suited to support the practical teaching of simulators and the manifestation of theoretical content of a coronary examination. In a previously conducted project, the medical training application coroPro, has been further developed by providing different training sessions to learn the specific components of a cardiology education. Thus, not only the possibility to learn the nomenclature of different ateries has been implemented, but also an exercise has been created with which the recognition of stenoses can be trained.

1.1 Problem Statement

In the current version of the coronary artery training application, users only have the option to learn a small dataset given by the developers. In addition, due to a lack of medical expertise on the part of the developers, the currently implemented learning content contains some incorrect information, which should be corrected in the further course. Due to the large amount of content in a medical degree, it can often be overwhelming to learn all the technical terms and retain the knowledge over a longer period of time. However, in the field of cardiology, the frequent occurrence of critical cases requires cardiologists to quickly determine the exact name and location of each coronary artery and any stenosis that may occur. It is therefore all the more important that the contents learned are repeated sensibly and frequently, taking into account the user-specific learning speed of the individual, in order to achieve the most well-founded knowledge possible. In the CoroPro learning application used in this project, the learning content has so far been queried without logic and it often happens that the user, despite already having enriched knowledge, has to work through the already learned content again and again, which can affect both the learning speed and the enjoyment of learning. Due to the current lack of learning history, it is also difficult to assess one’s own learning effectiveness and to work on one’s weak points.

1.2 Approach

In order to find out if the implemented mobile application and webinterface are corresponding to the current usability heuristics, a expert-based study will be car- ried out. As further subjective aspects, the participants will assess their own user experience by means of the UEQ at the end of the study to evaluate the overall user experience during the study. A comparing of the results between the old version and the newer version will be used to find out whether the extended version has a more motivating, attractive and controlled effect on the participants than the older one.

1.3 Project Requirements

In the previously conducted project, some future-oriented ideas were broken down. Among other things, it was proposed to manage the data sets of the learning content via an external platform in order to ensure that the learning content is constantly up to date. Furthermore, there was the suggestion to synchronize the learning success of the users via the external platform in order to realize a cross-platform use. Through this, it would also be conceivable for instructors to be able to view the current learning status of their students, thereby creating a more personalized

1.4 Tasks

learning experience. To archive a better offline based teaching and to make the theoretical training even more effective, special learning techniques such as spaced repetition (Wikipedia, 2021) are often used by medical students (Augustin, 2014). These methods make it possible to acquire knowledge over a longer period of time, even if it’s a excessive amount of factual knowledge like the anatomical parts of the human body. Through the synchronized Data it would be possible to build up a per- sonalized training by using a space repetition algorithm like the SM2 (“SuperMemo Algorithm SM-2”, 2021)

1.3.1 Technical Requirements

The requirements and tasks of this project will be split into three parts: the backend- server / database to be used to store the user information, the mobile training application for participants and a administrative webinterface for teachers and par- ticipiants to manage the learning data and view their statistics.

1.4 Tasks

1.4.1 Backend Server and API

To providing a secure and easy access for the end devices its plannned to build a typical REST-API with token-based authentication. For this purpose a Node.JS server will be implemented and extended by the express framework to ensure the api access. For the user authentication and authorization, we aim to implement a JWT-based service.The database is planned to mapped in a relational form like PostgresSQL combined with a ORM like TyoeORM running on the node.js to sim- plify the access.

1.4.2 Unity3D mobile application

The mobile application is intended to work on multiple platforms including Android, iOS and WebGl for Desktop use. For this, the current version of Unity3D will be used for the development.

Fixing current issues

The prioritized task for the mobile training application will be to fix the critical issues in the current development state. This includes to outperform the current loading speed when starting a training task in the the application. Furthermore its planned to fix some smaller bugs of the application settings and dynamic resolution scaling.

Integration of further training data

By integrating new training data, a larger scope of learning will be created in the future. For this purpose, new stenoses have to be modeled and integrated according to medical specifications, especially in exercise 2 and 3.

Implementing account management

In order to ensure the cross-platform synchronization planned for later, local man- agement of user data must first be created. This is then connected to the API with the help of a WebRequest library. The users will be able to synchronize their current learning process and their personal application settings.

Implementing learning algorithm and statistics

By collecting the data of the specific learning process of each individual user it will be possible to implement and perform the SM-2 algorithm and storing its results to the user data. By the use of this data, its planned to provide some useful statistics and diagrams in the mobile application and the webinterface.

1.4.3 Webinterface

The webinterface will be split up into three different dashboards. The first will be a startpage to welcome upcoming users and providing a download link for the application. The second is indeed to work as a showcase for current users to see their personal learning process and useful statistics. Furthermore they will be able to change user data like email, password or strictly deleting their account. The last dashboard will be a roled-based administrative webinterface where teachers are able to manage the teaching material and check anonymized statistics about the learning process of their students.

Protoype of Webinterfaces

To construct the later webinterface, a interactive prototype will be first created. For this its planned to use the current web version of the prototyping tool figma.

Bibliography

Augustin, M. (2014). How to learn effectively in medical school: Test yourself, learn actively, and repeat in intervals. The Yale journal of biology and medicine , 87 (2), 207 (cit. on p. 3).

Briz, L., Juanes, J., García-Peñalvo, F., & Pereira, A. (2016). Effects of mobile learning in medical education: A counterfactual evaluation. Journal of Med- ical Systems , 40 (cit. on p. 1). Herzstiftung, D. (2019). Deutscher herzbericht (2019) [(Accessed on 07/22/2021)]. (Cit. on p. 1).

Mentor, A. (2018). Angio mentor | simbionix [(Accessed on 07/22/2021)]. (Cit. on p. 1).

Supermemo algorithm sm-2 [(Accessed on 10/14/2021)]. (2021). (Cit. on p. 3). Wikipedia. (2021). Spaced repetition — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [[Online; accessed 22-July-2021]]. (Cit. on p. 3).

Contact Persons at the University Würzburg