Cross-disciplinary perspectives on the transition to remote education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the cancellation of clinical attachments and face-to-face teaching at medical schools across the world. Experiential learning—through simulation or direct patient contact—is essential for the development of clinical skills and procedural knowledge. Adapting this type of teaching for remote delivery is a major challenge for undergraduate medical education. It is also an opportunity for innovation in technology enhanced learning and prompts educators to embrace new ways of thinking. In this article, the authors explored how educators from different disciplines (medicine, music and performing arts) are using technology to enhance practical skills-based learning remotely. The authors, five experienced educators from different fields (surgery, medicine, music and magic), jointly documented the transition to technology enhanced remote teaching through a series of five structured conversations. Drawing from literature on distance learning in medicine and professional experience in education, the authors identified seven practice-enhancing recommendations for optimising teaching of procedural knowledge and skills. These are: (1) make a virtue out of necessity; (2) actively manage your environment; (3) make expectations clear; (4) embrace purposeful communication; (5) use digital resources; (6) be prepared for things to go wrong and (7) personalise the approach. The authors argue that widening the discourse in technology enhanced learning to include cross-disciplinary perspectives adds richness and depth to discussions. This article demonstrates a cross-disciplinary approach to addressing challenges in technology-enhanced medical education.