An Insightful Workshop on the Use of Technology in Online Small Group Teaching in Basic Medical Sciences

IMU’s Human Biology Division of School of Medicine and its e-learning Department with the help of the University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning (ICL) organised a two-day Workshop on Online Small Group Teaching in Basic Medical Sciences using Technology on 23 and 29 July 2020. The target audience was lecturers in Basic Medical Sciences in Medical Schools of Malaysia. The workshop was sponsored by Insan Saintifik Sdn Bhd. The workshop was organised completely online using online registration of participants in Zoom. The workshop was initiated with a plenary on ‘Principles of e-learning in online small group sessions’ by A/Prof Nilesh Kumar Mitra, Associate Dean, Technology Enhanced Learning on the morning of 23 July 2020. The participants were then introduced to web-conferencing tools by Hasnain Zafar Baloch, HOD, e-learning Department, IMU, with live experience of participants on how to create and enter into break-out session of MS-Teams. In the next online session on Open-Source Resources, the participants were quite surprised that even 3-D online resources for use in teaching medicine are available free. In the next two sessions, which continued until lunch break, one of the e-learning staff, Mohd Lazry trained the participants on the use of VYOND to prepare videos while his colleague, Raden trained the participants on the use of Articulate 360 to create interactive contents. With this initiative from A/Prof Nilesh, few participants has already started working with Mohd Lazry and Raden, before the workshop, introducing their contents on KARYOTYPING. Hence the participants could experience the construction of the video interactively using VYOND. In the afternoon session, the participants were divided into groups.

Group	Activities
Group 1 consisting of Biochemistry and Physiology lecturers	Dr Tan Boon Keat and Dr Huma Shahzad demonstrated to the participants how IMU School of Medicine lecturers used technology to organise small group practical sessions during the Movement Control Order.
Group 2 consisting of Anatomy, Pathology and Microbiology lecturers	Dr Anudeep Singh and Dr Mangala demonstrated how IMU lecturers used powerpoint interactively during MMS sessions, with students demonstrating during the online class on surface anatomy of the heart. Participants appreciated the interactive creation of contents on anatomical structures and construction of interactive quizzes in Dr Anudeep session on Articulate 360.

The first day session ended with log-in of the participants to IMU e-Training website to experience the training materials and briefing on the construction of online teaching materials by the participants and online demonstration of the product on 29 July, the second day of the workshop.

On the second day, the organisers were quite surprised about the way the participant lecturers presented their production of online teaching materials online using VYOND and Articulate 360.

Presentations
Biochemistry lecturers	Interactive contents on ‘Diagnostic Approaches to Genetic Testing’
Physiology lecturers	Developed contents on ‘Using Partogram to Record the Progress of Patient in Labor’ and Respiratory system practical on pulmonary function tests
Dr Priya Madhavan, Microbiology lecturer from the School of Medicine, Taylor’s University	Demonstrated her developed contents on Gram’s stain
Other lecturers from the Anatomy department of UPM, USM and Perdana University	Developed contents on Embryology, Interactive quizzes, and demonstration on splenic anatomy

In total, 19 Faculty registered for this online workshop representing Faculty of Medicine of AIMST, USIM, USM, UPM, Perdana and Taylor’s University. IMU faculty from the Biochemistry, Physiology, Anatomy and Pathology Departments joined the workshop. The workshop was chaired by A/Prof Nilesh and Mr Hasnain Zafar Baloch.

Comments by the participants on the workshop
Quite helpful and now I have confidence in building interactive contents.
Excellent hands-on experience on online tools, particularly Vyond.
I now have the confidence to use Articulate.
A well-organised workshop.
We have definitely learned something valuable.