Introduction
Clinical reasoning is an essential competence for medical practice and is necessary to excel in the profession. A healthcare professional should master such skills to make credible interdependent choices. Medical studies have a long-established pedagogical approach to face-to-face learning. Still, students should be knowledgeable about the latest technologies to be flexible in a learning environment. Several aspects influence the success of online education, ranging from facilitator-led, student-led to technology-led factors. Comprehending students’ attitudes, facilitators’ experiences, and the latest trends in institutions determine positive progress for online learning.
Questions
- The success of online learning greatly depends on the students’ attitude to learning. Discuss and analyze the types of students in an online learning environment. Provide a plan to improve student receptiveness to online learning.
- Facilitators are key to the success of online learning. Discuss and analyze barriers to successful online learning from a medical educator’s perspective. Provide a plan to motivate facilitators to embrace online learning.
- Collaboration between institutions, students, and facilitators is key to the success of online learning. Discuss and analyze some of the barriers to the implementation of online learning. Provide plans to improve collaboration.
Hospitals and healthcare institutions require graduate students with high-level skills. Students’ attitude in an online learning environment determines the learners’ success rate. Self-motivation, self-discipline, persistency, effective time management, appropriate communication, and cognitive readiness to learn are the skills a performing online candidate should have (Sangwan et al., 2020). Although students are connected to their devices during lessons, they can participate in the class, but some prefer passive to active learning. However, if the learners are introduced to active, well-designed online classrooms, it will spark their interest, and they will be ready to make contributions to the studying process.
Medical facilitators are critical to the success of online learning. The negative attitude amongst educators and constant pressure to manage teaching, research, and balancing work and personal life are barriers to successful online learning. Facilitators feel overwhelmed with the process of engaging with new tools and have difficulty navigating technical issues due to insufficient e-learning knowledge and training to develop and implement online learning tools (Bradshaw & Hagler, 2021). A positive attitude can be fostered by training facilitators on the e-learning tools, providing insight on how to solve some of the technical issues, and educating them on how the adoption of digital tools can create more free time.
The success of online learning in institutions depends not on educators and students only, but on institutions as well. The lack of support and limited direction on how to implement programs are barriers to online learning success (Rapanta et al., 2020). Implementing advancements in technology without appropriately involving all stakeholders can limit efficiency. Institutions should address poor communication skills between departments, educators, and students by collaborating with all stakeholders to implement e-learning programs. Institutional support to faculty is key to the future success of the development and implementation of online programs.
References
Bradshaw, M. J., & Hagler, D. (2021). Innovative teaching strategies in nursing and related health professions (8th edition). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Rapanta, C., Botturi, L., Goodyear, P., GuĂ rdia, L., & Koole, M. (2020). Online university teaching during and after the Covid-19 crisis: Refocusing teacher presence and learning activity. Postdigital Science and Education, 2(3), 923-945. Web.
Sangwan, A., Sangwan, A., & Punia, P. (2020). Development and Validation of an Attitude Scale towards Online Teaching and Learning for Higher Education Teachers. Techtrends, 1-9. Web.