Optimizing Synchronous Online Teaching Sessions: A Guide to the “New Normal” in Medical Education

Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical education community was forced to transition to the virtual space seemingly overnight, with little time to prepare. As such, many medical educators are actively seeking ways to improve delivery of online content and utilize features of different technologies. This View from the APPD, informed by existing literature and author experience, was created to guide medical teachers in their transition to hosting synchronous learning sessions in the virtual space. We hope to empower medical educators with the confidence and skills needed to teach effectively from a distance.

Perception of medical education by learners and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey of online teaching

“…The most popular use of asynchronous presentations is for revision or recap of difficult topics, students being able to access teaching material when they want to [21]. Teachers have discovered the efficiency, ease of access, and diverse collaborations afforded by the virtual world, and many aspects of online teaching will likely continue even after relaxation of pandemic-related societal restrictions [25].…”

“…The pandemic does not only create the need but rather may provide the chance to accelerate digital transformation in medical education. The term 'new normal' has been repeatedly used with some advices for the faculty to adapt their courses [3,22,25,33], online curricula having a predominantly positive perspective if combined with face-to-face learning [34]. These changes may also provide a unique opportunity for interaction and partnerships between universities, which can be particularly useful for those who do not have the capabilities to rapidly implement such transformation [35][36][37].…”

Experiencia del Departamento de Pediatría en el uso de herramientas remotas para la continuidad académica en la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana durante la pandemia por SARS-CoV-2 en el 2020

“…This situation of changes in academic and practical activities in medical education also occurred in other universities in the country and worldwide (5). Medical educational institutions have been transformed and have appropriated different tools to give continuity to their objectives and report experiences similar to those presented in this article and some with promising results (6,7,8). As well as the experience reported by Sharp et al (7), the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has been making efforts in complementary training in virtual and combined educational strategies for professors of all areas, including those of the School of Medicine, both clinical and non-clinical.…”

Translating the learning sciences into practice: A primer for clinical and translational educators

“…Both formal and informal curricula in the CTSIs tend to be practical rather than theoretical, focused on skill-building in discrete competency areas (e.g., statistical knowledge, grantsmanship, qualitative research skills [41,42]). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, wealong with the rest of higher educationhave seen a shift in learning modalities toward online and hybrid programming that may become more permanent [18,43].…”

“…We are evidence-based in our orientation, accustomed to working across disciplines to find effective approaches to complex problems, trained to find bridges between research and application, and firmly committed to educating and training the next generation of researchers. Moreover, because we are facing seismic shifts in the educational environmenta sudden move to remote and hybrid modalities, changing student populations, and an ever-broadening range of educational technologiesthat demand constant innovation and adaptation [18][19][20], we understand the need to build new educational practices on a solid, evidence-based foundation.…”