ESCRS iLearn: eLearning Project for European-wide Medical Education

The European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons initiated an eLearning project in 2010 with a broad remit to develop an online education platform for cataract and refractive surgeons across Europe, that was CME... [ view full abstract ]

The European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons initiated an eLearning project in 2010 with a broad remit to develop an online education platform for cataract and refractive surgeons across Europe, that was CME (Continuing Medical Education) accredited.

Much of the online education available for surgeons at the time consisted of standalone recorded presentations and surgical videos. As digital learning materials, these assets pose problems: What were people learning and who were they learning from? Could learners know they understood it properly? How could they record the effort they put in and prove their understanding?

The ESCRS eLearning team set to meet these challenges as they developed an eLearning project, consisting of highly interactive content that was assessed and accredited. In development, further challenges quickly arose:
- SMEs were very busy, with many professional commitments
- Surgical education and training differs widely across Europe – in some cases, CME isn’t that important
- There had historically been little take up of forums or other online open communication

To begin, a mission statement was developed to guide development, based on the educational needs of learners and the resources available.

After several conceptions (webinars, part-blending, quiz -based platform), the approach included using:
- A question-rich approach to enhance interactivity and engagement for formative and summative assessment
- Articulate rapid eLearning tools (originally Studio, then Storyline)
- Moodle LMS to allow for easy tracking, ease of use, and scalability of both the audience and the feature set
- User feedback mechanisms to inform redevelopment of courses

This presentation will summarise the journey that has brought us to providing over 40 CME credit hours across 22 courses (updated every 2 years), and outline how feedback from learners, SMEs, society members and CME reviewers informed (and continue to inform) our development.