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"TO INSPIRE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, PROFESSIONALISM AND LIFELONG LEARNING"

Imhotep Virtual Medical School is an undergraduate medical education research project and medical student Web 2.0 companion that includes high quality reusable learning object (RLO) integration, scholarly web-interactive Power Points presentations, audio and video mini-lectures, eNotes and eBooks, QBanks; discipline, organ-system and topical web pages; detailed, content enriched learning objectives, competency-based learning outcomes and authoritative link outs.

Research Question: “How can medical student learning in the foundational years (MS1 and MS2) be tailored to the personal needs and varying learning styles of the individual student as part of the integrated modular approach to curriculum delivery?”

Hypothesis: Computer Mediated Medical Education* (CMME)  in a Web 2.0 environment that includes diverse digital repositories of well organized, and meaningful  tools and resource can enhance student-centered learning methodology, process and performance outcomes, and close student gaps in learning when used as an integral component of the modular integrated curriculum.

Research Project Overview

The explosion of new digital learning technologies, the exponential growth of Internet usage and the advent of the World Wide Web are changing the face of medical education. There are also demands in medical education for greater globalization, for the development of common core curriculum standards, for improving access to training, for more flexible and student-centered training programs including programs with multi-professional elements and for maintaining quality while increasing student numbers and working within financial constraints. Hence enters Imhotep Virtual Medical School (IVMS), a high-quality education program embodying a hybrid model of a blended curriculum of innovative e-learning approaches and the best of traditional face-to-face teaching, as one response to these challenges.

An undergraduate medical education research project exploring:

  Innovative thinking and approaches to the new learning technologies including Web 2.0 tools, e-learning repositories and virtual reality;

 New approaches to curriculum planning and mapping and advanced instructional design based on the use of 'reusable learning objects;

 A culturally competent curriculum with an international perspective on medical education which takes into account the trend to globalization and the demand for global health and development;

 A flexible curriculum which meets the needs of different students and has the potential of increasing access to medicine, particularly for United States racial / ethnic minorities and the poor, and those in developing countries who have limited financial and human resources.

Purpose of this website:

The overall purpose of this website is to serve as a collaborative "sandbox" for both students and teachers to dialogue. Medical education experts will have an opportunity to read from a robust repository of peer reviewed literature in contemporary medical education, teachers can access tools and resources to assist in their preparing lectures and other learning opportunities. From this website students will be able to access the full spectrum of topics comprising the scientific foundation of clinical medicine pertinent to their didactic and clinical learning experience. Additionally, the program enables learners and teachers to have collaborative input, including scholarly discussions and debates, into the ongoing development of a dynamic and well organized  digital database consisting of courses, curricula, tools and resources reflecting the most forward thinking ideas, trusted  academic content and cutting-edge teaching/learning methods from across the globe. 

For students: The strings of information comprising this website represents the foundation and seeds of a well organized and meaningful digitized curriculum in evolution and always under construction. At its core the site represents  a feasibility study, data acquisition tool and, first volley towards answering the research question and testing the hypothesis statement herein. It is anticipated  students will use relevant tools and resources offered during their formal medical studies and training and fill evaluation instruments on multiple variables related to their experience and the usefulness of the resources. 

For teachers: The website is also designed to support medical teachers and medical education experts interested in improving their expertise in teaching, implementing and evaluation educational innovations, and utilizing current educational technologies. Readers interested in reviewing background data on computer assisted learning (CAL) in medical education  are referred to the PI's Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) and Medical Education cloud folder. As the CAL folder is a sub-folder of the "Medical Teacher & Faculty Development (MTFD) Portal" , for a broader review of the literature on contemporary undergraduate medical education (MedEdu) and the utility of computers and information technology (CIT) in  MedEdu readers are pointed to the MTFD portal collection.

Download: About Imhotep Virtual Medical School Research Project.pdf

How to Get Involved:

To learn more about the project and (or) how you can contribute to its research and development  you can  begin by reading and interacting with this website and offering  feedback/ comments.   For more detailed discussions and to make formal contributions to the project's design, methods and (or) content learners should  join the IAUCOM  eCurriculum & Digital Repository Development Group.   (Moderator, Marc Cray MD)

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A formal CMME research proposal will be generated elsewhere, and project development support sort, should this demonstrating be determined to merit further attention.