Reply: E-learning in reproductive medicine
1 Department of Clinical Science at South Bristol, Obstetrics and Cynocology, University of Bristol, 2 Institute of Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol, 3 Department of Reproductive Biology, University of Burmingham
4 To whom the correspondence should be addressed. Email: k.whittington{at}bristol.ac.uk
Dear Sir,
We thank Drs Garcia-Velasco and Schneider for their interest in our study and comments concerning their own experiences of Internet teaching.
The flexibility that Internet teaching offers students is clearly a major benefit for many types of educational fields, including reproductive medicine. As our paper (Whittington et al., 2004
) illustrates, this is the main reason students applied to our programme (www.red-msc.org.uk) and illustrates the need to offer courses that allow people to study whilst employed. Undoubtedly this also enriches the learning environment as students are able to contribute to discussions (whether they are face-to-face or on-line) with their own first hand experiences.
The unsuccessful use of synchronous web-based chat rooms by Drs Garcia-Velasco and Schneider is not surprising, although inclusion of student evaluation as to why this was the case would have been interesting. From our experience we suspect it is likely to be due to the time constraints this form of communication imposes. Chat rooms are a form of synchronous communication so students and tutors need to be on-line at the same time for discussion to take place. Invariability this will be difficult due to work/personal commitments and the time-zone differences that exist in truly global courses. Although Drs Garcia-Velasco and Schneider have used e-mail communication to overcome this problem we feel that this is not the ideal solution. Personal e-mail replies to individual students are time consuming and repetitive for the tutor and encourage inequalities in the amount of information each student is given. For the MSc programme in Reproduction and Development (www.red-msc.org.uk) that we run at the University of Bristol we find that a better option is to use asynchronous web-based discussion forums. These allow students to view and contribute to on-line discussions at any time which is convenient for them, and ensures that all students have access to the same information. An e-mail alert option ensures that all students and tutors are notified of each new posting to the forum to help ensure the time-flow of the forum. This type of web-based communication will also encourage peer-teaching and support, thereby giving a virtual course a greater sense of identity (Cahill et al., 2003). Unfortunately, not all asynchronous web-forums are user friendly, and we have had most success with a format that allows contributions to be grouped into sections with the user's picture appearing next to his/her comments, rather those using threading systems which can often appear confusing (Figure 1). Asynchronous communication also allows time for the student to consider their response and review their knowledge prior to postings, which may be of benefit in subjects that are more concepts-centred (such as statistics) rather than those focused on pure factual information. We have utilized our teaching methods, including such discussion forums, in this regard by teaching a biomedical statistics element in our MSc programme (Knight et al., in press).
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Additional issues that may prevent participation in any format of web-based discussions should also be considered, such as unfamiliarity with the medium being used and a perceived threat of exposing ignorance of knowledge resulting in a loss of status (Cahill et al., 2003
). Salmon (2000) has provided a useful five-step model for introducing learners to on-line discussions, which has appeared to improve subsequent participation rates.
We would encourage Drs Garcia-Velasco and Schneider to consider a trial of switching from some of their conventional paper-based questionnaires to a method of computer-assisted assessment (CAA) similar to the QuestionMark system used in our course (Jenkins et al., 2004). This has advantages for the student in that they receive instant feedback which allows reflection of the learning material and is considered an essential element in good course design (Bull and McKenna, 2004). In addition, these systems reduce the time spent by tutors marking assignments, thus allowing tutors to spend their teaching time communicating directly with the students.
While the importance of education is becoming increasingly recognised the availability and speed of the Internet is increasing worldwide. It is therefore likely that the Internet will play an increasingly important role in education, overcoming geographical barriers, enabling efficient communication and providing widespread access to computer based learning and assessment.
References
Bull J and McKenna C (2004) Blueprint for Computer-Assisted Assessment. RoutledgeFalmer, London, pp. 52–62.
Cahill DJ, Cook J and Jenkins JM (2003) How useful are World Wide Web Discussion Boards and email in delivering a Case Study Course in Reproductive Medicine? In Claude Ghaoui (ed.), Usability Evaluation of Online Learning Programs. Information Science Publishing, pp. 360–370.
Jenkins JM, Whittington K, Cook J and Cahill DJ (2004) ReproMED Applying Perception to Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education. Conference Proceedings: Questionmark Europeans Users Conference, 2004 May 26-28, Edinburgh. Available at: http://www.questionmark.com/uk/conference/.
Knight R, Whittington K, Ford WCL and Jenkins JM (2000) Biomedical statistics teaching over the Internet. In Howard C (ed.) Encyclopedia of Online Learning and Technology. Idea Group Inc, Hershey, USA, (in press).
Salmon G (2000) E-moderating: The key to Teaching and Learning Online. KoganPage, London.
Whittington K, Cook J, Barratt C and Jenkins J (2004) Can the Internet widen participation in reproductive medicine education for professionals? Hum Reprod 19, 1800–1805.
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