PCF5:Open educational resources and health education - part 2

Title of session
Open Educational Resources and Health Education

Session details

 * Date: 16/07/08
 * Time: 14.00
 * Room: Elvin Hall

Session papers

 * Mrs Sandhya Gunness, Educating diabetes patients and youth through the WikiEducator: a case study from Mauritius, (413)
 * Prof Arjuna Aluwihare, Where there is no surgeon: upscaling surgical skills transfer for healthcare professionals in developing countries, (260)
 * Dr Clare Sansom, Remote use of Web 2.0 technology by MSc Structural Biology students from the global south, (327)

Key Issues that arose in the session

 * 1.	raising awareness of the availability of OER – connecting potential users to those resources whether they are course creators, teachers or students


 * 2.	issues of confidentiality when using such open structures as wikis, blogs etc – especially if on sensitive topics – and of ‘credibility’ e.g. in relation to medical advice


 * 3.	difficulties of getting feedback on resources created for such use


 * 4.	technical choices – the difficulty of working out what’s the best way forward in a rapidly changing environment. The conflict of very sophisticated technology that is only accessible to some vs simpler technology accessible to all


 * 5.	partnerships – the importance of selecting the right partners for the intended aim of the initiative

Points for future action (Policy, recommendations, commitments etc.)

 * 1.	consider new opportunities for raising awareness of resources that are already out there (PCF5 has helped, what more can be done?)


 * 2.	need more thought on how to get feedback on use of OERs and hence contribute to their evaluation at different levels


 * 3.	maintain awareness of the technical environments in which potential users operate but also bear in mind that this is a rapidly changing scene