British educationists highlight importance of e-learning

British educationists have stressed the need for employing new teaching methods in medical education, as most of the educational institutions in the world are now engaged in e-learning. Speaking at the inaugural session of a 2-day workshop on e-learning at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Monday, they said that e-learning was not just about the content and delivery of teaching, but was a pedagogical approach that is flexible.
Professor Paul Duvall from University of Liverpool, UK said, "The challenge for medical educators is to be aware of the new changes and to consider how the latest technology can be used to enhance learning." He was of the view that integration of e-learning into medical education could catalyze the shift toward applying adult learning theory, where educators would no longer serve mainly as the distributors of content, but would become more involved as facilitators of learning and assessors of competency.
Professor Duvall further said, "In diverse medical education context, such as in Pakistan, e-learning could prove much effective, as students would not see e-learning as replacing traditional instructor-led training but as a complement to it, forming part of a blended-learning strategy." He also emphasised to start e-learning as a pilot project in medical colleges of the Punjab.
Professor Ian Willis of the University of Liverpool's, Centre of Life Long Learning, said that innovations in e-learning technologies pointed toward a revolution in education, allowing learning to be individualised, enhancing learners' interactions with others and transforming the role of the teacher. He said that combining traditional face to face instruction with web-based learning ie blended learning, was best suited for practice-based disciplines like medical sciences.
It may be noted that a 3-member British team was visiting UHS under "INSPIRE" project being funded by the British Council for supporting joint academic and research programmes between UHS and University of Liverpool UK. The British team would also visit Punjab Medical College Faisalabad, Shaikh Zayed Medical College Rahim Yar Khan, Services Institute of Medical Sciences Lahore, Nawaz Sharif Medical College Gujrat, Wah Medical College Wah Cantt, and conduct workshops to empower the faculty of these institutes during their visit to Punjab. They would also meet the officials of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to discuss issues related to medical education in the country.
Dr Janet Strivens, Co-Director of the Postgraduate Diploma/Master's Programme at the University of Liverpool said that most educational institutions in the world these days were engaged in e-learning. It was important to consider which courses could be delivered wholly online and which were best to adopt a hybrid (blended) model of learning.
"Before an effective e-learning strategy can be launched, academic and IT staff must be made aware of the technical tools available to them, how these can contribute to enhancing the learning experience and to review these thoroughly for feasibility and appropriateness," Dr Strivens opined.
Vice Chancellor UHS Professor Malik Hussain Mubbashar said that teachers in medical colleges needed to change their own beliefs, behaviour, perception and assumptions about learning and teaching in order to provide quality medical education to today's medical students to become the competent and caring doctors of tomorrow.
Professor Arif Rashid Khawaja, UHS Director Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), said that UHS had been awarded the prestigious 'INSPIRE' grant by the British Council for finding indigenous solutions to local problems in medical education with the support of University of Liverpool, UK. He said that UHS project had been selected as one of the 17 successful awards out of 123 applications received from both Pakistan and UK. The proposal was mutually selected and approved by both British Council and Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan, after detailed evaluation process.