Digitising Medical Colleges in India: Find the Best LMS

Have you ever wondered how one could teach about anaesthesia, coronary diseases or even a surgical procedure online? This comes across as a question with a hint of doubt. After all, medicine should be learned and taught in a real-life learning environment. But with advances in technology and in a day and age when doctors are able to perform heart surgeries remotely, why can’t medical courses be taught online?  

Unprecedented situations demand adaptations in medical education. Global changes significantly impacted teaching and learning over the past few years and accelerated the transition to online learning. Medical education was no exception. Educators were compelled to innovate to help ensure medical students could efficiently complete their studies—no matter how or where they were studying.

Why Digitise Medical Colleges in India? 

Although clinical teaching requires close human contact, medical schools must prepare their students for the future of digital learning by using virtual learning environments (VLEs). Online and blended learning are important components of the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) new guidelines for a competency-based undergraduate curriculum for medical students.

Yet as the past few years have shown us, enacting a plan for competency-based education and hybrid learning should not be rushed. Faculties need to be effectively trained, students need time to adjust, and technology needs to be methodically and intentionally implemented.

Ultimately, implementing a learning management system (LMS) in medical schools can make education more flexible, especially when teachers can alternate between virtual classrooms and face-to-face teaching. A blended approach can also encourage active learner involvement and lead to self-directed and collaborative experiences. Choosing an LMS is a process that has unique criteria depending on the functionalities necessary at each step of the educational cycle. Institutions and educators should do in-depth research on technology solutions with these demands in mind.

How to Choose the Right LMS for Medical Colleges 

Many LMSs in use today are designed to mirror and enhance traditional classroom methods; however, they do not all meet competency-based learning requirements.

According to the NMC, the following factors should be considered when choosing an LMS:

• It should be based on user needs and directly support the curriculum’s objective and purpose.
• It should be user friendly—easy to install and use without requiring advanced skills.
• It should be accessible and usable across a variety of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Online learning platforms offer numerous options for distributing content and facilitating teaching experiences—from online videos, tutorials and webcasts to formal assessments and virtual reality simulations.

D2L Brightspace

We view the LMS as an opportunity to design learning that enables students to demonstrate mastery of skills and gain growth-oriented feedback from peers and experts. Educators should also be empowered to create highly personalised learning at scale with Brightspace’s flexible and automated solutions.

Here are a few features that Brightspace offers to educators and learners in compliance with the NMC guidelines: 

• A flexible design provides the ability to create, personalise and organise course content in accordance with the medical curriculum and competencies as laid down by the NMC. Content can be used again across multiple programs, years or courses. It is even possible to reuse entire courses, including activities such as assessments, competency alignments, rubrics, grade book settings and more.  
• Online assessments allow students and faculty to easily submit and access lessons and assignments. Activities (evidence-based assignments) can be completed by students using a variety of methods (files, audio, video, images, etc.). They can also share, view and edit texts, documents, photos and videos in real time.
• Collaboration tools—such as video tools, discussion forums, virtual classroom alternatives and other features—offer a great alternative to in-person learning. Videos might be distributed to illustrate important clinical, procedural or communication skills. Online lectures, problem-based learning, simulated lab work, virtual patient sessions and discussions are also possible.   
• Customised weighted rubrics allow faculty to automate the distribution of marks across multiple categories with a final score calculated by the rubric. Using well-constructed marking formats and rubrics can make assessments fairer and more reliable for learners.
• Mobile responsiveness means learners can access their courses on any device, anytime, anywhere.  
• Effective evaluation tools facilitate feedback by combining faculty expertise with automation to offer personalised assessment. Instructors can provide feedback to students after an assessment or custom activity, such as a dissection; practical, case-based learning; a simulation; a bedside clinic; early clinical exposure; and more.  
• Personalised learning paths allow learners to choose how and where they demonstrate proficiency. Brightspace supports modular-level categorisation of learning and evaluation activities using an easy-to-use, intuitive interface. 
• A digital student logbook, which can be made available throughout a multiyear course, enables students to record and monitor evidence-based learning. The logbook contains information such as assessment grades and teacher feedback. In it, students can record a variety of activities, such as attending seminars, additional clinical rotations and more.  
• Competency-based medical education (CBME) can be delivered out of the box through Brightspace. CBME aligns course assessment activities against competencies that can be measured. Students’ achievement levels observed against these competencies are easily available as dashboards for monitoring progress and encouraging effective engagement.
• A reliable, cloud-based platform and modern, secure architecture mean learning can continue uninterrupted—letting educators continue to educate and students continue to learn.

Virtual learning should empower people. It should augment, expand and reimagine what is possible in physical classrooms. And it should help educators and learners overcome limitations they may encounter with face-to-face teaching and learning. For medical colleges in India, the future of learning is blended and filled with opportunity. To learn more about Brightspace, visit D2L.com.

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