This is courseware aimed at medical students without A-level biology and for first year medics wishing to revise their basic cell biology and biochemistry. The courseware has been produced in Authorware Professional and comes as separate files for each module, a Main Menu file, a glossary file and the RunAPM application 'player' needed to run it. All these are in a single folder ('Mol Basis of Med 1'), stuffited and binhexed. Fonts are bundled with the modules. This is probably unnecessary as we have not used any strange fonts, but for the first release, to be on the safe side....
Users must start by launching the Main Menu file. To facilitate this I suggest that you make an alias of the Main Menu file (NB custom icon) and store this in an appropriate student-accessible folder. The courseware can then be kept together anywhere on the hard disk, preferably out of sight or protected. Users launching other files, eg. glossary would be confused on not being presented with the menu. Launching the Main Menu presents the Main Menu options, clicking on a main option displays the sub menu choices, clicking on these takes you to the appropriate file. When finished with a module the user is returned to the Main Menu. File names must not be changed, but the alias can be given any suitable name you desire. Clicking on a 'hotword', displayed in red, takes you to the glossary entry. The glossary is an important feature of the courseware. So users 'jump' in and out of files, this results in a small shift in the window position but can't be helped.
The courseware utilises the VGA (16-colour palette) and a Mac 12in monitor-sized window and so should run on LCs with this monitor option upwards. It has been authored on an LCIII, where performance is acceptable, if not very fast, it will inevitably be slower on an LCII and may be unusable on an LC, try it and see. The animations are the problem.
We will be grateful for any comments, particularly helpful ones! In the next version we plan to include some self-testing at the completetion of each module.
If you are an Authorware user you can contact us for the unpackaged files if you want to edit them, only we would like to see any altered versions, and please leave the acknowledgements, although you may add your own if you make changes (eg. modified by .......).
Have fun. We hope there are not too many bugs, typos, howlers. Let us know if you find any.
Any Relf & Fergus Doherty, Dept. Biochemistry, University Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2UH. Tel: 0602-709366, FAX: 0602-422225, e-mail: mbxfd@uk.ac.nottingham.ccc.unicorn (JANET), mbxfd@unicorn. nott.ac.uk (Internet).
