Methods and systems for virtual problem based learning

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

selecting, by a virtual problem-based learning (PBL) system, information indicative of a medical profile of a patient;

accessing, by the virtual PBL system, information indicative of a team of students using the virtual PBL system;

generating, by the virtual PBL system and based on the medical profile, a medical PBL schema comprising a medical problem to be solved by the team of students;

generating a plurality of sections in the medical PBL schema, with each section promoting solving of the medical problem students, and with each section associated with (i) a private work environment for a student to privately analyze the medical problem, and (ii) a shared, anonymous work environment for the students to view analysis performed by other students in solving the medical problem;

providing, to one or more client systems used by the students participating in the virtual PBL system, a webpage including the medical PBL schema;

processing data indicative of analysis of the medical problem;

generating, based on the processing, a notification when the processing indicates that a quality of the data is below a threshold amount;

sending, over the Internet to an application on a client system, the notification to cause the application to display a prompt with a communication control, selection of which causes the client system to cause the virtual PBL system to establish a connection between the client system and another device external to the virtual PBL system.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

evaluating the received analysis information;

generating, based on evaluating, feedback information; and

transmitting the feedback information to at least one of the one or more client systems.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating one or more research tools with the private work environment, wherein the one or more research tools are selected from a group consisting of an Internet browser and an instant messaging tool.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, to at least one of the one or more client devices, outcome data indicative of outcomes of patients with medical profiles that are similar to the selected medical profile, with the outcome data comprising comorbidity data.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

for a particular student, populating the private work environment of the student with a portion of the analysis information that is associated with the particular student;

generating an anonymized view of the private work environment of the student;

populating the shared, anonymous work environment with the anonymized view of the private work environment of the particular student and with anonymized views of other private work environments of others of the students.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising:

receiving, from at least one of the one or more client systems used by a first student, information indicative of an annotation of information displayed in one of the anonymized views of a second student, with the first student differing from the second student; and

updating the one of the anonymized views with the received annotation to promote learning by the second student.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

for a particular first section:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, first analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

determining, from the received first analysis information, first recommended actions that are recommended by each of the students;

determining an inconsistency among the first recommended actions;

providing, to the one or more client systems, evaluation information to promote an understanding by the students of the medical problem;

receiving, from the one or more client systems, second analysis information indicative of another analysis performed by the one or more students;

determining, from the received second analysis information, second recommended actions that are recommended by each of the students;

determining consistency among the second recommended actions;

causing, based on determination of the consistency, the medical PBL schema to progress from the first section to the second section.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

retrieving information indicative of a correct action for the particular first section;

responsive to determining the consistency among the second recommended actions, generating a notification of whether the second recommended actions corresponds to the correct action.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the second recommended actions comprise an action to perform surgery.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating highlighting tools for annotation of the medical profile, wherein each one of the highlighting tools corresponds to attributes of the medical problem;

receiving, by the computer system, information indicative of annotations of the medical profile;

determining, by the computer system, at least a portion of the annotations that is selected using a particular one of the highlighting tools;

identifying which one of the attributes corresponds to the particular one of the highlighting tools; and

storing, in a data repository, the determined portion of the annotations in association with the identified one of the attributes.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

selecting, by a virtual problem-based learning (PBL) system, information indicative of a medical profile of a patient;

accessing, by the virtual PBL system, information indicative of a team of students using the virtual PBL system;

generating, by the virtual PBL system and based on the medical profile, a medical PBL schema comprising a medical problem to be solved by the team of students;

generating a plurality of sections in the medical PBL schema, with each section promoting solving of the medical problem students, and with each section associated with (i) a private work environment for a student to privately analyze the medical problem, and (ii) a shared, anonymous work environment for the students to view analysis performed by other students in solving the medical problem;

providing, to one or more client systems used by the students participating in the virtual PBL system, a webpage including the medical PBL schema;

processing data indicative of analysis of the medical problem;

generating, based on the processing, a notification when the processing indicates that a quality of the data is below a threshold amount;

sending, over the Internet to an application on a client system, the notification to cause the application to display a prompt with a communication control, selection of which causes the client system to cause the virtual PBL system to establish a connection between the client system and another device external to the virtual PBL system.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

evaluating the received analysis information;

generating, based on evaluating, feedback information; and

transmitting the feedback information to at least one of the one or more client systems.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

for a particular student, populating the private work environment of the student with a portion of the analysis information that is associated with the particular student;

generating an anonymized view of the private work environment of the student;

populating the shared, anonymous work environment with the anonymized view of the private work environment of the particular student and with anonymized views of other private work environments of others of the students.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

for a particular first section:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, first analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

determining, from the received first analysis information, first recommended actions that are recommended by each of the students;

determining an inconsistency among the first recommended actions;

providing, to the one or more client systems, evaluation information to promote an understanding by the students of the medical problem;

receiving, from the one or more client systems, second analysis information indicative of another analysis performed by the one or more students;

determining, from the received second analysis information, second recommended actions that are recommended by each of the students;

determining consistency among the second recommended actions;

causing, based on determination of the consistency, the medical PBL schema to progress from the first section to the second section.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving information indicative of a correct action for the particular first section; and

responsive to determining the consistency among the second recommended actions, generating a notification of whether the second recommended actions corresponds to the correct action.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

selecting, by a virtual problem-based learning (PBL) system, information indicative of a medical profile of a patient;

accessing, by the virtual PBL system, information indicative of a team of students using the virtual PBL system;

generating, by the virtual PBL system and based on the medical profile, a medical PBL schema comprising a medical problem to be solved by the team of students;

generating a plurality of sections in the medical PBL schema, with each section promoting solving of the medical problem students, and with each section associated with (i) a private work environment for a student to privately analyze the medical problem, and (ii) a shared, anonymous work environment for the students to view analysis performed by other students in solving the medical problem;

providing, to one or more client systems used by the students participating in the virtual PBL system, a webpage including the medical PBL schema;

processing data indicative of analysis of the medical problem;

generating, based on the processing, a notification when the processing indicates that a quality of the data is below a threshold amount;

sending, over the Internet to an application on a client system, the notification to cause the application to display a prompt with a communication control, selection of which causes the client system to cause the virtual PBL system to establish a connection between the client system and another device external to the virtual PBL system.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

evaluating the received analysis information;

generating, based on evaluating, feedback information; and

transmitting the feedback information to at least one of the one or more client systems.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

for a particular student, populating the private work environment of the student with a portion of the analysis information that is associated with the particular student;

generating an anonymized view of the private work environment of the student;

populating the shared, anonymous work environment with the anonymized view of the private work environment of the particular student and with anonymized views of other private work environments of others of the students.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

for a particular first section:

receiving, from the one or more client systems, first analysis information indicative of an analysis performed by the one or more students;

determining, from the received first analysis information, first recommended actions that are recommended by each of the students;

determining an inconsistency among the first recommended actions;

providing, to the one or more client systems, evaluation information to promote an understanding by the students of the medical problem;

receiving, from the one or more client systems, second analysis information indicative of another analysis performed by the one or more students;

determining, from the received second analysis information, second recommended actions that are recommended by each of the students;

determining consistency among the second recommended actions;

causing, based on determination of the consistency, the medical PBL schema to progress from the first section to the second section.