e-Learning's strategic role in 21st century Health Sciences Education

In 1910 the Flexner Report on Medical Education in the United States and Canada (Flexner, 1910) was published. This led to major changes in medical education, such as the compulsory introduction of basic science to curricula. Today it is nearly unthinkable that hundred years ago anatomy, physiology, pathology and pharmacology, etc., weren’t necessarily part of a doctor’s education.  This major overhaul in health sciences education (HSE) contributed to the doubling of life expectancy during the previous century.

However, today, all is not well in HSE (Frenk, Chen, Bhutta, Cohen, Crisp, Evans, Fineberg, et al., 2010).  Recently three major publications* saw the light urging for major transformation in HSE to equip students with the competencies to effectively address the health needs of the twenty first century.  In one of these publications, Frenk et al. (2010), propose instructional reforms needed in HSE to enable equity in health through transformative learning and interdependence in education.  The strategic role of e-Learning and open educational resources (OER) is pivotal in this proposal to reform HSE.

In addition to this, Ellaway (2011) states that good evidence is needed to prove that e-Learning contributes to learning that will produce agents of transformation and urges the scholarship of e-Learning to be more critically engaged with the broader dimensions of technology use in medical education. In this, the involvement of students and faculty is needed throughout the design and implementation of new learning technologies (McGee & Kanter, 2011).

In my assignment I will take to this challenge by exploring the use of e-Learning as part of a blended learning approach to equip medical students with the knowledge, skills and character to effectively work in a healthcare team and to recognise and manage conflict appropriately. This initiative will take place in the Leadership and Health Management module, as part of the MBChB programme for fifth year medical students, at Stellenbosch University (SU).

Do you have any ideas how we can use innovative e-Learning technologies to cultivate and assess teamwork skills?

References:

*Frenk, J., Chen, L., Bhutta, Z.A., Cohen, J., Crisp, N., Evans, T., Fineberg, H., et al. 2010. Health Professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an inderdependent world. Lancet, 376:1923-1958.

Sandars, J. 2011. It appeared to be a good idea at the time but… A few steps closer to understanding how technology can enhance teaching and learning in medical education. Medical Teacher, 33:265-267.

Ellaway, R. 2011. E-learning: Is the revolution over?  Medical Teacher, 33:297-302.

McGee, J.B. & Kanter, S.L. 2011. How we develop and sustain innovation in medical education technology: Keys to success. Medical Teacher, 33:279-285.

Flexner, A. 1910. Medical education in the United States and Canada: a report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. New York: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Frenk, J., Chen, L., Bhutta, Z.A., Cohen, J., Crisp, N., Evans, T., Fineberg, H., et al. 2010. Health Professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an inderdependent world. Lancet, 376:1923-1958.

*Institute of Medicine. 2011. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

*Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel. 2011. Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: Report of an expert panel. Washington, D.C.: Interprofessional Education Collaborative.