RCR - A Novel Model for Effective Computer-Aided TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Learning over the Web

The rehearsal with cross-referencing (RCR) model is proposed to help Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) students and practitioners learn effectively anytime and anywhere over the Web. The RCR has a 3-layer architecture. The bottom layer is normally the TCM ontology created by domain experts with consensus certification. The middle layer is the semantic net that logically represents the knowledge subsumption hierarchy in the bottom layer. The semantic net is the machine processable form of this hierarchy. The top layer is the syntactical layer where queries are formed. It is for human understanding and management. A query input from this layer invokes the parser in the middle layer that works with the semantic net or DOM (document object model) tree. Through the RCR graphical user interface, a learner can select parameters (e.g. symptoms) freely. These selected parameters become those in the implicit (i.e. formed automatically by the system) query construct that invokes the parser. By selecting the same parameters the learner can visualize the parsing mechanism repeatedly and this moves the newly acquired knowledge in short-term memory of the learnerpsilas brain into the long-term section; that is rehearsing. Since the knowledge in the ontological layer is logically the same as the semantic net, they are transitive. Every semantic path in the DOM tree should have the corresponding XML construct in the ontological layer - they are transitive. This transitivity makes cross-referencing across layers possible. The cross-referencing is important for learning and debugging because it helps the user visualize the subsumption hierarchy of concepts, attributes and their associations in the TCM ontology.