Set-up and Facilitation of Online Small-Group Clinical Discussions

Abstract

Abstract Educational technology-based learning, or e-learning, is expected to play a significant role in medical education due to such advantages as the convenience of a classroom without walls and the flexibility for both learners and teachers to work independently. Small-group teaching is an established educational methodology that is amenable to conversion into an e-learning format. However, no guidelines exist for best practices for both medical students and facilitators in the virtual, small-group setting. With this resource, we offer details on how to set up an online e-small group asynchronous clinical discussion and how to facilitate and conduct such a session with best practice guidelines for the e-facilitator and etiquette guidelines for medical students. The sample infectious disease e-small group, used in this resource to describe the set-up, is appropriate for a late first- or second-year medical student level, as it fits an integrated unit that discusses HIV and targets pathophysiology and pharmacology content. This module was codesigned and facilitated by near peers and, as such, it addresses the competency of life-long learning while building skills of medical students as teachers. To our knowledge this is the first attempt to outline the implementation of an asynchronous e-small group clinical discussion. The best practice facilitator guidelines were codeveloped with medical student input and are based on a review of literature.

Keywords

• Technology
• Medical Students
• Teachers
• E-Learning
• Enhance
• Small Group Discussion