Gradual disclosure

Sometimes called "unfolding" or "inturrupted" cases, online interactive design allows for parsing of information over space and time. 

Some examples:

• A case may be introduced in an online environment and picked up in a classroom setting.
• Information may be distributed over a learning activity, over an entire term, or even over several. One medical program had students working with a particular patient in their family practice through several different conditions/episodes over several years, increasing complexity as they progressed.

Here is Gerry Altmiller sharing her guidelines and experiences with Inturrupted cases (visit qsen.org for OER access to several nursing cases)

Altmiller describes the benefits of "unfolding" (aka inturrupted) cases: "What had been a static approach to learning could now be a dynamic activity where learners could follow the patient through a sequence of time and engage as caregivers in the moment, react as new information was revealed, and problem solve as the situation changed, all the while connecting information through clinical reasoning."