Learning with technology: use of case-based physical and computer simulations in professional education.

This presentation will clarify contemporary ideas on the role of technology in education and how it can be employed to improve student learning experiences and outcomes. The paper will emphasise RMIT's role in providing quality education that is relevant to today's world and professional practice. It will examine a specific collaborative (RMIT & ACU), interdisciplinary project 'Pregnancy Simulator: Developing and Enhancing Student Learning of Assessment Skills'. This project consist of a physical pregnancy model connected to a multi-media computer-assisted learning package for the purpose of enhancing student learning of abdominal assessment skills. Our paper outlines an innovative technology-based teaching project and includes current educational issues or problems encountered in professional education, steps already taken to address these difficulties and how this project intends to facilitate learning. It identifies expected learning outcomes for midwives, nurses and medical students, and examines pedagogical principles applied to technological applications designed to provide guided discovery for allowing students to build confidence and competence in professional education. The case-based physical and computer simulations contextualise learning to assist transfer of learning to real world situations. This paper will also discuss how technology-based projects can be evaluated and integrated into university curricula to enhance student learning.