Consensus standards for introductory e-learning courses in human participants research ethics

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a workshop held in January 2013 to begin the process of establishing standards for e-learning programmes in the ethics of research involving human participants that could serve as the basis of their evaluation by individuals and groups who want to use, recommend or accredit such programmes. The standards that were drafted at the workshop cover the following topics: designer/provider qualifications, learning goals, learning objectives, content, methods, assessment of participants and assessment of the course. The authors invite comments on the draft standards and eventual endorsement of a final version by all stakeholders.

Education of research ethics for clinical investigators with Moodle tool

“…Our program combines the availability of video lectures and other learning material with web-based interaction between students and tutors. Previous studies have found that on-line and on-site training result in rather similar improvements in the knowledge of research ethics [9,18]. Because web-based education, especially the Moodle environment, offers several advantages over on-site teaching for professionals, it may represent a very feasible method for education in research ethics.…”

“…The opportunity to share experiences with different research related issues might increase the appreciation of the multidimensional nature of bioethics [9]. The inclusion of a discussion portal into our course program will be considered in the future.…”

“…A pilot version of the course was tested and evaluated by seven clinical research experts and three PhD students [9]. …”

“…To this end, traditional contact teaching courses as well as programs utilizing online methods have been developed to meet the needs for training in research ethics [6-9]. Within the EU, approaches in teaching research ethics vary from country to country [10].…”

Strengthening stakeholder engagement through ethics review in biomedicalHIVprevention trials: opportunities and complexities

“…Both might benefit from training that highlights engagement as a legitimate focus of ethics review [35]. This might complement existing research ethics modules [36][37][38][39][40][41] developed by several institutions [42][43][44][45][46][47][48] that highlight practical skills using interactive features [36,39,41,[49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. This might also complement existing modules featuring engagement as a key part of ethical research (FHI 360) [46]; of ethical HIV vaccine trials, of ethical adolescent trials, and of public health research (TRREE) [42].…”