Chun Wah Michael Tam1, Anne Eastwood. 1. School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. m.tam@unsw.edu.au
Abstract
BACKGROUND: E-learning is part of the mainstream in medical education and often provides the most efficient and effective means of engaging learners in a particular topic. However, translating design and content ideas into a useable product can be technically challenging, especially in the absence of information technology (IT) support. There is little published literature on the use of web 2.0 services to build e-learning activities. AIM: To describe the web 2.0 tools and solutions employed to build the GP Synergy evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal online course. METHODS: We used and integrated a number of free web 2.0 services including: Prezi, a web-based presentation platform; YouTube, a video sharing service; Google Docs, a online document platform; Tiny.cc, a URL shortening service; and Wordpress, a blogging platform. RESULTS: The course consisting of five multimedia-rich, tutorial-like modules was built without IT specialist assistance or specialised software. The web 2.0 services used were free. The course can be accessed with a modern web browser. CONCLUSIONS: Modern web 2.0 services remove many of the technical barriers for creating and sharing content on the internet. When used synergistically, these services can be a flexible and low-cost platform for building e-learning activities. They were a pragmatic solution in our context.
BACKGROUND: E-learning is part of the mainstream in medical education and often provides the most efficient and effective means of engaging learners in a particular topic. However, translating design and content ideas into a useable product can be technically challenging, especially in the absence of information technology (IT) support. There is little published literature on the use of web 2.0 services to build e-learning activities. AIM: To describe the web 2.0 tools and solutions employed to build the GP Synergy evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal online course. METHODS: We used and integrated a number of free web 2.0 services including: Prezi, a web-based presentation platform; YouTube, a video sharing service; Google Docs, a online document platform; Tiny.cc, a URL shortening service; and Wordpress, a blogging platform. RESULTS: The course consisting of five multimedia-rich, tutorial-like modules was built without IT specialist assistance or specialised software. The web 2.0 services used were free. The course can be accessed with a modern web browser. CONCLUSIONS: Modern web 2.0 services remove many of the technical barriers for creating and sharing content on the internet. When used synergistically, these services can be a flexible and low-cost platform for building e-learning activities. They were a pragmatic solution in our context.