Simulation has been a valuable educational tool for decades in health care. They have been particularly good for learning procedures and for specialties like surgery. There has been an increasing interest in simulations and there should be many interesting studies of learning from simulations in the next several years.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has recently opened a new Simulation Simulation Learning and Research Network (SimLearn). They've already produced a great 124 page resource: A Review of Simulation-Based Strategies for Healthcare, Education, and Training. It's a good place to start for anyone wanting an overview simulations in health care.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
E-learning CME that changed practice behavior
One of the things I want to focus on in this blog are the kind of learning interventions that have been successful in changing practice behavior. Today I'm looking at a study published in JAMA in 2005.
In this study, what worked was 1) getting the information from an expert, 2) the opportunity to practice skills while working through cases, 3) the opportunity to spread the instruction out over a period of time, and 4) job aids that the physicians could use in their practices.
This was a well-designed study comparing a previously successful live CME event for physicians, with the same material presented in an e-learning format, and a control group that did not receive instruction. This was a good study, they measured learning immediately and at 12 weeks and more importantly, they measured actual physician behavior using chart reviews.
The live CME consisted of a lecture, followed by interactive case discussion with faculty, the participants received a number of job aids to help them when they got back to work.
The internet based instruction was designed to give people a similar experience - a recorded lecture, followed by cases that the physicians could work through. Both sets of learners had access to faculty if they wanted to ask questions. the internet CME group also had a live session, where they worked through cases with an expert. The major difference was that the internet-based instruction was done at the learners' convenience, and often over several different sessions.
Learning increased for both the live and the internet-based instruction group, both immediately after the instruction and at 12 weeks.
Practice behavior only changed significantly for the group that received instruction over the internet.
This is kind of a surprising result, why should the internet-based instruction be successful, while the live-training was not.
One reason might be that the internet-based group had the chance to complete the instruction in a single sitting. This fits with the instructional principle pf spaced practice - that is - spreading the practice over a period of time, which gives people a better chance to learn the material.
In this study, what worked was 1) getting the information from an expert, 2) the opportunity to practice skills while working through cases, 3) the opportunity to spread the instruction out over a period of time, and 4) job aids that the physicians could use in their practices.
This was a well-designed study comparing a previously successful live CME event for physicians, with the same material presented in an e-learning format, and a control group that did not receive instruction. This was a good study, they measured learning immediately and at 12 weeks and more importantly, they measured actual physician behavior using chart reviews.
The live CME consisted of a lecture, followed by interactive case discussion with faculty, the participants received a number of job aids to help them when they got back to work.
The internet based instruction was designed to give people a similar experience - a recorded lecture, followed by cases that the physicians could work through. Both sets of learners had access to faculty if they wanted to ask questions. the internet CME group also had a live session, where they worked through cases with an expert. The major difference was that the internet-based instruction was done at the learners' convenience, and often over several different sessions.
Learning increased for both the live and the internet-based instruction group, both immediately after the instruction and at 12 weeks.
Practice behavior only changed significantly for the group that received instruction over the internet.
This is kind of a surprising result, why should the internet-based instruction be successful, while the live-training was not.
One reason might be that the internet-based group had the chance to complete the instruction in a single sitting. This fits with the instructional principle pf spaced practice - that is - spreading the practice over a period of time, which gives people a better chance to learn the material.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Cognitive Design for Online Medical Education
Richard Mayer has written a new article in Medical Education about applying the fundamentals of cognitive design to multimedia or online medical education. We know a lot about how to structure instruction to help people learn and Mayer's article is a very good introduction for people interested in learning more about how to do it. Mayer's writing has influence a lot of good multimedia design and his recommendations are all based on careful research.
Principles for instructional design include reducing the amount of extraneous cognitive processing (that is, processing that isn't related to the learning task), principles for managing essential processing (that is, processing that is related to the learning task), and principles for fostering generative processing.
These principles are probably best used for relative novices, or for an introduction to a subject but understanding these principles can help you develop online learning and even PowerPoint presentations.
Principles for instructional design include reducing the amount of extraneous cognitive processing (that is, processing that isn't related to the learning task), principles for managing essential processing (that is, processing that is related to the learning task), and principles for fostering generative processing.
These principles are probably best used for relative novices, or for an introduction to a subject but understanding these principles can help you develop online learning and even PowerPoint presentations.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
DevLearn 2010
I've just come back from DevLearn 2010, the biggest e-learning conference in the United States. The conference was packed with many interesting people and ideas.
There was a lot of talk about social learning. I've become increasingly convinced over the last several years that social media can be an important tool for learning in health sciences professional education.
I have several new books to read including the "Working Smarter Fieldbook" by the folks at the Internet Time Alliance. The book is filled with good information that will take some time to digest. I'm also getting ready to read Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner's book, "New Social Learning".
There was a lot of talk about social learning. I've become increasingly convinced over the last several years that social media can be an important tool for learning in health sciences professional education.
I have several new books to read including the "Working Smarter Fieldbook" by the folks at the Internet Time Alliance. The book is filled with good information that will take some time to digest. I'm also getting ready to read Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner's book, "New Social Learning".
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