Blending MOOCs into Medical Education

Leah Marks,Sarah Meek

doi:10.15694/mep.2018.0000060.1

Leah Marks, Sarah Meek

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2018.0000060.1

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Journal: MedEdPublish (2016)	Publication Date: Mar 9, 2018
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Glasgow

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The importance of student choice and diversity of opportunities within the undergraduate medical curriculum is clear. However, space for additional content is limited, requiring novel ways to provide opportunities for students. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a recent educational development education which have attracted much attention, both positive and negative. As medical educators involved in MOOC development, we investigated how MOOCs can be used to increase variety in the medical curriculum. We developed a 2nd year MBChB Student Selected Component (SSC) that uses an existing MOOC, and describe our evaluation of this blended learning experience.

Highlights

Tomorrow’s Doctors 2009 stated that at least 10% of the UK undergraduate medical curriculum should allow students to pursue medical topics of individual interest, outside core curriculum content (General Medical Council, 2009). This is considerably less than the amount suggested previously (General Medical Council 1993), it can still pose a considerable challenge to curriculum developers
We decided to take a novel approach to increasing the variety of Student Selected Component (SSC) by utilizing a growing trend in education - incorporating a Massive open online courses (MOOCs)
Choice: The SSC format did not appear to be a major factor in SSC choice, with the topic rated much as more important. This may suggest that students do not view the online/offline distinction as important

Summary

Introduction

Tomorrow’s Doctors 2009 stated that at least 10% of the UK undergraduate medical curriculum should allow students to pursue medical topics of individual interest, outside core curriculum content (General Medical Council, 2009). At the University of Glasgow, SSCs are offered in 5-week blocks to students in Years 2,3 and 4. We decided to take a novel approach to increasing the variety of SSCs by utilizing a growing trend in education - incorporating a MOOC.

Results

Conclusion