By: Momoe Hyakutake, Nidal Khalifeh, Mark Viola, Kate Willey, and Randy Ray
PRÉCIS
Our project, following a directive from UBC’s Dean, is to “select an LMS to deliver distance-based video-based clinical assessment”. The LMS users are 3rd year medical students and clinical faculty from UBC, UNBC (Northern British Columbia) and UVic (Victoria). The main affordance we are seeking for these users is the ability to record, edit, share, annotate, and play video remotely and asynchronously. Students will be videotaped while demonstrating specific clinical examination skills. They will then upload video of this work to the LMS. There, their peers and faculty will be able to comment on specific points in the video. Because no LMS has these specific video features embedded within it, we would require one that supports plug-ins or apps that play hosted videos (e.g. unlisted Youtube videos). We have also been asked for discussion forums and access to student resources such as a “clinical reasoning framework”, which fit more easily within the capabilities of most, if not all, LMSs. Students will be face-to-face for a clerkship along with one of the faculty members, but others will be located at one of three cooperating Universities – thus, distance education principles must also be considered.
RATIONALE
Whenever an institution decides to implement a change as large as the adoption of a new Learning Management System (LMS) there should be a rather long and exhaustive vetting process where numerous options are considered and tested. When considering criteria for an LMS evaluation, our main concern was identifying the target features and functions that were key to the program in question: the Year 3 video initiative in UBC’s Undergraduate Medical Program. According to Wright, Lopes, et al., a selection committee of key stakeholders needs to be created to identify the ‘target’ features and functions of the required LMS. In addition to some of the basic features in the LMS, our selection committee identified three key features that were mandatory and non-negotiable: 1) the ability to handle media streaming and video annotation; 2) the functionality of the LMS on different OS and via mobile devices through native apps; and 3) the ability of the LMS to provide collaboration tools for end users. During Year Three Rural Family Practice Clerkships, UBC’s Undergraduate Medical Program requires that students be videotaped demonstrating specific clinical skills, while other classmates and faculty annotate the video with feedback. This requirement of the course necessitates the LMS’s ability to handle media streaming. As some of the faculty will not be in the same physical location as the rest of the group members, we identified the need for strong collaborative tools that allow for synchronous and asynchronous communication, including wikis, threaded discussion forums, instant messaging and chat functions. Finally, the ability to have a full user experience on a mobile platform will allow for more access and a more positive experience by students and faculty. As users are in different locations, the stability of the LMS on different operating systems will ensure a more consistent experience with less of a reliance on IT support.
References:
Anderson, T. (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. AU Press.
Bates, T., & Poole, G. (2003). Effective teaching with technology in higher education: Foundations for success (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Wright, C., Lopes, V., Montgomerie, C., Reju, S., and Schmoller, S. (2014). Selecting a Learning Management System: Advice from an Academic Perspective. Educase Review. Retrieved from: http://er.educause.edu/articles/2014/4/selecting-a-learning-management-system-advice-from-an-academic-perspective