Charting the Course for Online Physician Assistant Education
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Charting the Course for Online Physician Assistant Education M. Jane McDaniel 1 & James A. Van Rhee 1
# International Association of Medical Science Educators 2020
Abstract The move to online learning has become one of the most challenging events in physician assistant (PA) education; however, new advances in online technology now make it possible to deliver an entire PA didactic curriculum online. The blending of the latest innovations in online technology with a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum enables programs to engage students using the Socratic method online while providing feedback in real time. While this novel approach to learning is still being evaluated as data is continually collected, preliminary results indicate online technology can be successfully implemented in a blended PA education curriculum. Keywords Online learning . Technology innovations . Physician assistant curriculum . Blended learning
1.Background The controversial shift to online learning has presented unique challenges to physician assistant (PA) educators and students alike. This controversy was highlighted in 2010, when the US Department of Education reported that “students in online teaching conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction” [1]. In 2013, Ferrario and colleagues discussed the lessons learned by a multitude of instructors teaching in an online environment and reported that there was no difference in overall student performance when comparing work done by students in an online program versus students in a traditional “brick-and-mortar” program [2]. A study from the Association of Surgical Education also determined that a blended online curriculum produced higher student satisfaction and resulted in learning outcomes that were similar to a traditional curriculum [3]. In a more recent 2018 article, the barriers to implementing online learning in medical
* M. Jane McDaniel [email protected] James A. Van Rhee [email protected] 1
Yale School of Medicine Physician Assistant Online Program, 100 Church Street South, Suite A230, PO Box 208004, New Haven, CT 06520-8004, USA
education were identified and included lack of institutional support and negative attitudes, while solutions centered around improved institutional strategies and a positive attitude among the developers and those delivering the online curriculum [4]. With regard to PA education, Roter et al. evaluated the outcomes resulting from an online genetics education program and found that those PAs who took the online course “engaged in more targeted data gathering” than those in the control group consisting of PAs who did not participate in the online genetics education program [5]. These studies all point to the fact that online learning is as good, if not better, than traditional learning when the appropriate culture is in place to support and promote this novel curriculum [4]. Although many PA programs across the country have incorporate
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