Is there a Virtual Medical School on the horizon?

Medicine and Health Rhode Island, Sep 2003 by Smith, Stephen R

E-learning in medical schools is the natural convergence of all these factors. Computer-based learning is well adapted to a student-centered, active, integrated approach to teaching and learning. Today's medical students are learning in a medical practice environment where computers are ubiquitous and essential. While computer-based learning can never totally replace face-to-face learning, nor should it, its role in medical education seems inevitable. Yet, major obstacles have inhibited its full-scale adaptation.

THE INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL MEDICAL SCHOOL (IVIMEDS)

The major obstacle inhibiting e-learning in medical schools is the enormous amount of effort, both human and financial, to develop quality e-learning resources. The Open University of the United Kingdom spends $1.5 million on the development of each of its courses and 18 months in production.2 At New York University School of Medicine, faculty spent more than two years and $150,000 to develop a module on the surgical aspects of gallbladder disease. While the quality of the module is top rate, it represents only a very small portion of a total curriculum for medical students. No single medical school has the talent, expertise, or money to develop a comprehensive computer-based curriculum.

The idea of the International Virtual Medical School (IVIMEDS) arose from this challenge. Professors Ronald M. Harden of the University of Dundee in Scotland and Ian R. Hart of the University of Ottawa in Canada proposed that medical schools from around the world collaborate in the development and sharing of e-learning resources in medical education.

IVIMEDS is not a free-standing medical school. Medical students would not be enrolled in IVIMEDS directly. Rather, partner institutions would make parts or all of the IVIMEDS curriculum available to their own students.

IVIMEDS has been developed as a nonprofit entity with a Steering Council comprised of representatives from the more than three dozen partner medical education institutions from North and South America, Europe, and Asia. The Scottish government provided an initial grant to IVIMEDS, but now the organization is sustained by contributions made by its members. More information on IVIMEDS and a list of the current partner institutions can be found on the Internet at www.ivimeds.org.

The major components of IVIMEDS consist of reusable learning objects (RLOs), a curriculum map, virtual patients (VIPs), and study guides. RLOs are small, discreet "chunks" of information used for learning. For example, an electrocardiogram showing left ventricular hypertrophy, a chest x-ray showing cardiomegaly, and an audio recording of an S4 gallop are each RLOs that might be used in teaching about congestive heart failure. The same electrocardiogram might be used in teaching about hypertension. Thus, RLOs can be combined and reused in a variety of teaching situations. An analogy can be made to a Lego toy. Each Lego piece can be used in different ways-in one plan as a piece of a castle and in another plan, a spaceship. RLOs can be used separately as small discreet units, or combined into a larger, more complex learning module. Anything that can be displayed on a computer can be an RLO, such as text, graphics, pictures, audio, and video.