Medical E-Learning Is Alive And Well At McMaster University School of Medicine

What does Articulate have to do with women’s reproductive health?

 

To help address ever-increasing enrollment and the burden on limited faculty resources, the McMaster University School of Medicine in Hamilton, Ontario has (so far) developed 22 courses that are helping educate future obstetricians and gynecologists. Using Rapid E-Learning Studio to create courses, quizzes, and interactions, and Articulate Online to track student progress and quiz results, the McMaster team found in its own study that their elearning program was equally as effective as classroom training in terms of knowledge retention.

First-time Articulate users learn to build an elearning course in 120 minutes 

Our customers from McMaster invited me to attend an Articulate training session on Friday in Toronto. Part of the annual meeting of the Association of Professors of Obstetrics & Gynaecology of Canada (APOG), I joined the McMaster team at a hotel in downtown Toronto to help facilitate the session whose name said it all: Build a Take-Home eLearning Module in 120 Minutes.

McMaster elearning team: Anthony Levinson, Amie Cullimore, and Jennifer Schnarr 

Participants — individuals who run OB/GYN programs at universities throughout Canada — brought their own laptops and had previously downloaded free trials of our products for use during the training session. They were also asked to bring an existing PowerPoint lecture from one of their classes for use during the training session.

Jenn shows off a report from Articulate Online used to track med student progress 

It’s always a good sign that you’re focused on your work or enjoying what you’re doing when you don’t notice the time and something is over before you know it. Such was the case on Friday — before I knew it, the workshop was over and a roomful of Articulate beginners had created their first elearning modules with Articulate Presenter. Anthony did an excellent job leading the workshop while Jenn, Amie, and I circulated the room to answer questions. We covered everything from publishing and recording audio to customizing player templates and adding attachments to courses.

Gabe poses with Denise, who won the raffle for a copy of Studio 

The workshop was a testament to the ease of using our products. We had a roomful of medical professors with no previous rapid authoring experience who were converting their classroom material to elearning in no time at all.

It’s always an enjoyable experience to interact with our customers face-to-face, as well as to watch first-timers see how easy it is to create engaging Web-based training on the fly. As one individual said, “You mean it’s that easy? I just make my changes in PowerPoint and publish?”

Yup, it’s that easy.

You may also recall McMaster’s Articulate-powered intro psych course, which I highlighted on this blog last year.