Quick Dips

Playing at Plant Doctors

A computer-based teaching game developed at Massey University has been launched internationally.

Diagnosis incorporates text, images and video to present a range of plant disease problem scenarios to students. Students can question the grower, examine the plants in the field, collect samples, examine the specimens back in the lab and conduct tests -- all without ever leaving their computer.

The students' diagnoses are recorded on disc for a tutor to mark. Each step in the process is recorded so that the tutor can monitor their approach to the problem.

The educational package won a national Microsoft software competition late last year. Australian interest has seen that country's Co-operative Research Centre for Tropical Pest Management provide assistance for development of a Windows version to complement the DOS and Macintosh versions already developed.