E-Medical Education

Abstract

The World Wide Web has made available a large variety of medical information and education resources only dreamed of two decades ago. This review discusses a number of Web-based e-Medical education concepts and resources likely to be of interest to the medical education community as well as a number of other groups. The resources described focus especially on those that are free and those that have an interactive component. The importance of interactivity and its role in the “constructivist” approach to education is emphasized. Problem-based learning in medical education is also discussed. In addition, the importance of “Web 2.0” and related developments is discussed, along with an overview of Web-based medical simulation software that can complement medical education programs. The importance of podcasts and videocasts as an educational resource are also emphasized. Other concepts such as mashups and the semantic Web are briefly described. Intellectual property issues are also discussed, such as Creative Commons license arrangements, as well as the concept of “information philanthropy”. Finally, the importance of peer-review and technology evaluation for online educational materials is discussed.