Interactive Educational Diabetes/Insulin Tutorial at www.2aida.info

Abstract

The World Wide Web now hosts a multitude of diabetes educational materials in various formats. Of particular interest is the diabetes/insulin tutorial available at the AIDA Website (accessible directly at: www.2aida.info). The tutorial combines textual or "static" information with an interactive diabetes simulator-AIDA online-to provide an engaging and effective educational tool. AIDA online (accessible directly at: www.2aida.net) enables the simulation of plasma insulin and blood glucose levels from user-defined insulin injection and carbohydrate intake data. A haemoglobin A1c value is also computed, giving an indication of overall blood glucose control in the virtual patient with diabetes. The diabetes/insulin tutorial is currently composed of four sections: the first two cover in considerable depth insulin injection regimens and insulin dosage adjustment; the third section introduces the principles of carbohydrate counting and, specifically, matching insulin doses to carbohydrate intake; and the fourth section illustrates the relationship between blood glucose levels and renal excretion of glucose. The simulator runs alongside the tutorial, and allows various concepts described in the text to be explored freely by the user and simulated interactively. This introduces a novel way of learning how injected insulin and dietary carbohydrate interact in various insulin injection regimens. A fifth section- for which any offers of assistance would be gratefully received-is planned. This will consider the use of insulin pumps and rapidly acting and very long-acting insulin analogues. Further improvements that may strengthen the existing tutorial and/or use of the online simulator are discussed in this column.

Dynamic Interactive Educational Diabetes Simulations Using the World Wide Web: An Experience of More Than 15 Years with AIDA Online

“…This consideration is of importance particularly if the intention is to encourage third party websites to link to AIDA online and the Diabetes/Insulin Tutorial [46]. For such links, it becomes imperative to offer a good “service,” because if AIDA online becomes unavailable, then the service at the other websites will also be restricted.…”

“…The interactive educational Diabetes/Insulin Tutorial at the AIDA website [46] demonstrates how AIDA online can be integrated with “static” informational material to provide an even more engaging educational resource. It is envisaged that this concept could be expanded further.…”

“…In Reed and Lehmann [46], the concept is developed of one simulation engine being able to service a number of educational websites. So, for instance, not all diabetes educational websites need to have the complexity of running AIDA online locally, with (common gateway interface) cgi-bin programs/scripts and gnuplot available.…”

“…Something similar (without HbA 1c monitoring) has been tried for a small number of medical students by DeWolf [47], but the approach might be more powerful with hundreds, or thousands, of people with diabetes accessing AIDA online and the accompanying Diabetes/Insulin Tutorial [46]. …”

“…One way in which the simulation approach may be tied in with “static” textual educational material to effectively enhance the learning experience is illustrated at the AIDA website by the interactive Diabetes/Insulin Tutorial [46]. However, use of AIDA online is not limited to personal or individual distance learning via the internet; it also has the potential to be used successfully in a variety of settings, including group education sessions [44].…”