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The Impact of E-Learning in Medical Education

Authors:
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Miami, United States

Abstract

The authors provide an introduction to e-learning and its role in medical education by outlining key terms, the components of e-learning, the evidence for its effectiveness, faculty development needs for implementation, evaluation strategies for e-learning and its technology, and how e-learning might be considered evidence of academic scholarship. E-learning is the use of Internet technologies to enhance knowledge and performance. E-learning technologies offer learners control over content, learning sequence, pace of learning, time, and often media, allowing them to tailor their experiences to meet their personal learning objectives. In diverse medical education contexts, e-learning appears to be at least as effective as traditional instructor-led methods such as lectures. Students do not see e-learning as replacing traditional instructor-led training but as a complement to it, forming part of a blended-learning strategy. A developing infrastructure to support e-learning within medical education includes repositories, or digital libraries, to manage access to e-learning materials, consensus on technical standardization, and methods for peer review of these resources. E-learning presents numerous research opportunities for faculty, along with continuing challenges for documenting scholarship. Innovations in e-learning technologies point toward a revolution in education, allowing learning to be individualized (adaptive learning), enhancing learners' interactions with others (collaborative learning), and transforming the role of the teacher. The integration of e-learning into medical education can catalyze the shift toward applying adult learning theory, where educators will no longer serve mainly as the distributors of content, but will become more involved as facilitators of learning and assessors of competency.
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... Thus e-learning has become part of the mainstream health professions' education because of increased emphasis to incorporate active learning and selfdirected learning in education programs [2]. Studies have shown that multimedia e-learning enhances the experience of both teaching and learning and has become the easiest method for updating oneself and use at ease [3]. The horizon of medical education is widening day by day and to keep the upcoming doctors and established physicians on par with the competitive world e-learning has become a necessary tool and the platform most commonly used is learning management system (LMS) [3,4]. ...
... Studies have shown that multimedia e-learning enhances the experience of both teaching and learning and has become the easiest method for updating oneself and use at ease [3]. The horizon of medical education is widening day by day and to keep the upcoming doctors and established physicians on par with the competitive world e-learning has become a necessary tool and the platform most commonly used is learning management system (LMS) [3,4]. LMS helps in assessment, evaluation, and supervision of the content delivered via e-learning [3]. ...
... The horizon of medical education is widening day by day and to keep the upcoming doctors and established physicians on par with the competitive world e-learning has become a necessary tool and the platform most commonly used is learning management system (LMS) [3,4]. LMS helps in assessment, evaluation, and supervision of the content delivered via e-learning [3]. Thus, the introduction of e-learning into academics had made learning system more active and teachers as facilitators and mentors [5]. ...
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Objectives: The objective is to conduct a pilot study to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of e-learning among undergraduate medical students. Methods: An observational, questionnaire-based, and cross-sectional pilot study was carried out for 1 month among undergraduate medical students of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (13 from each phase of MBBS). We compared the responses of KAP among the participants of each phase of MBBS. Results: A total of 52 undergraduate medical students participated in the study. 43 (82.69%) were male and 9 (17.31%) were female with a mean age of 21.63±1.63. 18 (34.62%) owned a personal laptop or computer and 45 (86.54%) of them had access to Internet facility. Majority of them i.e. 48 (92.31%) used only smartphones and were competent in using software applications. Most of them agreed that e-learning should be supplemented in regular teaching curriculum (76.92%). Statistical analysis was done by using one-way analysis of variance and post hoc test (Tukey), to know the mean KAP score of e-learning among the participants of three phases of MBBS and also the significance of KAP towards e-learning. It showed that p value was significant in case of knowledge and practice but not in case of attitude. Conclusion: The results that were found in each category of KAP toward e-learning were almost comparable to other studies which were conducted using a structured and validated questionnaire. Thus e-learning can be a useful tool in enhancing the learning experience among students.
... Gerade in Bezug auf die Auswirkungen der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie stand die medizinische Hochschullehre vor den größten Herausforderungen. 2 Infolge eines Notfalls im Bereich der öffentlichen Gesundheit drohte die Ausbildung neuer Ärzte unterbrochen zu werden, während gleichzeitig ein dringender Bedarf an einer Verbesserung der Ausbildung bestand. 3 Obwohl viele Anstrengungen unternommen wurden, um die Wirksamkeit klassischer Lehrmethoden zu analysieren, gibt es derzeit nur teilweise und bruchstückhafte Analysen der Wirksamkeit von E-Learning für postgraduale Programme und noch weniger für die Psychiatrieausbildung. ...
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E-Learning in der medizinischen Facharztausbildung wird in Europa immer beliebter. Mehrere Faktoren haben dazu geführt, dass mehr Ressourcen für diese Lehrmethode bereitgestellt werden müssen: Zum einen die praktisch allgegenwärtige Verfügbarkeit von Geräten, die die Nutzung von multimedialen Online-Inhalten ermöglichen, und zum anderen die weltweite Abriegelung in den Jahren 2020 und 2021 aufgrund der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie.1 Auf diese Weise ist das E-Learning, das bis vor einigen Jahren eine marginale oder ergänzende Rolle spielte, in vielen Ländern zu einer unverzichtbaren Unterrichtsmethode geworden. Gerade in Bezug auf die Auswirkungen der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie stand die medizinische Hochschullehre vor den größten Herausforderungen.2 Infolge eines Notfalls im Bereich der öffentlichen Gesundheit drohte die Ausbildung neuer Ärzte unterbrochen zu werden, während gleichzeitig ein dringender Bedarf an einer Verbesserung der Ausbildung bestand.3 Obwohl viele Anstrengungen unternommen wurden, um die Wirksamkeit klassischer Lehrmethoden zu analysieren, gibt es derzeit nur teilweise und bruchstückhafte Analysen der Wirksamkeit von E-Learning für postgraduale Programme und noch weniger für die Psychiatrieausbildung.4-6 Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Wahrnehmung von Assistenzärzten, die am Schweizer Ausbildungsprogramm für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie teilnehmen, in Bezug auf den Einfluss früherer Erfahrungen mit E-Learning und anderen multimedialen Inhalten auf die Bewertung und Akzeptanz von E-Learning während der Assistenzzeit zu klären und zu analysieren.
... Online learning initiatives include incorporating text, audio, video and animation, etc. into study materials and course lectures, retrieving learning materials and information from various online learning platforms such as SWAYAM, VIDWAN, E-PG Pathshala, Shagun Online Junction, MOOCs, SWAYAM PRABHA, NDLI (National Digital Library of India), Virtual Labs and online journals, periodicals and newspapers including simulations and multi-media presentations in the classroom; focusing on innovative and modern scientific ICT based teaching-learning activities among the learners of different places. Online learning is the use of ICT and internet technologies to enhance, information, knowledge and academic performance of the learners (Ruiz et al., 2016;Azliza et al., 2012). Online learning platform offers learner's control over learning materials, content, learning sequence, the pace and time of learning and often allow them to modify their experiences to meet their individual learning objectives (Romero at al., access 2020). ...
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Purpose: Online learning is a technologically facilitated learning process using websites, personal computers (PCs), tablets, cell phones, learning management system (LMS), televisions (TVs), radios, computers, mobile phones, laptops, desktops, etc. from a remote distance. Online learning has changed the learning experience for many learners. Rather than sitting in traditional classrooms and taking notes, learners are taking advantage of online classes and other forms of online learning. Online learning allows the widespread distribution of electronic learning materials to many learners simultaneously anywhere and anytime from a remote location. Methods: This is a questionnaire-based study on online learning and its effects on the teaching and learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigators collated the samples from different teachers and students with regard to their gender, age, community, location, working streams, qualification and, experiences. Findings: Based on the results obtained, online-learning has positive effects on teaching-learning process of the learners. Conclusion: Overall, traditional learning is expensive and takes a long time, and the results can vary. Online-learning offers an alternative that is faster, cheaper, and potentially better. Online-learning has to be implemented and made available to everyone easily.
... The benefit of e-Learning (see Table 1 of key definitions) integration into undergraduate, graduate, and continuing health sciences education is the promotion of a student-centred pedagogy in which educators will no longer serve solely as distributors of content but become facilitators of learning and competency assessors [29]. More recent recognition of the value of digital technology to facilitate more personalised, flexible, and student-centred teaching has been reported in the European Commission in their Education Action Plan (2021-2027) [30]. ...
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