The first year and a half of the Clinical Officer Training Program (COTP) is considered the “didactic” phase. Didactic means instructive; as in the manner of a teacher. In a traditional medical training program, this instruction occurs in classrooms in the format of scheduled lectures. In the COTP, this instruction occurs in study groups where the “teacher” is an individual member of the group and is guided by the use of a computer based program. A Course Facilitator helps to ensure that the “teachers” are providing the correct information to the other members of the study group. The eighteen-month didactic phase is designed to introduce students to the concepts of basic and clinical sciences and to help them to start to think in the manner of a medical professional; in this case, a Clinical Officer. A Clinical Officer has developed the ability to intuitively identify what is normal and what is abnormal (“sick versus not sick”). The CO has the ability to develop a differential diagnosis (a list of potential causes for the patient’s symptoms and physical signs) and to determine the course of treatment. The computer-based program used by the “teacher” of the study group is an HTML5 program that gives a virtual patient interface focusing on the presenting complaints of that virtual patient. The students will proceed through the cases in a standard format that is used by a fully trained Clinical Officer. The students will progress from Case Introduction which presents the virtual patient’s presenting complaints, through the patient’s history and physical exam, and then onto the development of a differential diagnosis of possible disease entities. The case concludes with Teaching Points and Case Objectives. COTP Study Groups usually consist of 4 students. The Case Objectives are divided between the four students who research the objectives and then “teach” the other members of the group