Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;26(1):1854066.
doi: 10.1080/10872981.2020.1854066.

Twelve tips for teaching medical students online under COVID-19

Affiliations

Twelve tips for teaching medical students online under COVID-19

Zhehan Jiang et al. Med Educ Online. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Universities worldwide are pausing in an attempt to contain COVID-19's spread. In February 2019, universities in China took the lead, cancelling all in-person classes and switching to virtual classrooms, with a wave of other institutes globally following suit. The shift to online platform poses serious challenges to medical education so that understanding best practices shared by pilot institutes may help medical educators improve teaching. Provide 12 tips to highlight strategies intended to help on-site medical classes moving completely online under the pandemic. We collected 'best practices' reports from 40 medical schools in China that were submitted to the National Centre for Health Professions Education Development. Experts' review-to-summary cycle was used to finalize the best practices in teaching medical students online that can benefit peer institutions most, under the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak. The 12 tips presented offer-specific strategies to optimize teaching medical students online under COVID-19, specifically highlighting the tech-based pedagogy, counselling, motivation, and ethics, as well as the assessment and modification. Learning experiences shared by pilot medical schools and customized properly are instructive to ensure a successful transition to e-learning.

Keywords: COVID-19; SPOC; assessment; e-learning; medical MOOC.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
All Twelve Tips for Teaching Medical Students Online under COVID-19
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Two Data Visualization Examples
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
COVID-19 Cases Used in Teaching Materials
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
A Standardized Patients Example from a Paediatrics Department
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Videos Recording Completing Process of Homework Assignments

References

    1. Gewin V. Five tips for moving teaching online as COVID-19 takes hold. Nature. 2020. March 24 [cited 2020 April10];580:295–296. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00896–7 - PubMed
    1. Flexner A. Medical education in the USA and Canada. New York (NY): The Carnegie Foundation; 1910.
    1. Quintero GA. Medical education and the healthcare system - why does the curriculum need to be reformed? BMC Med Educ. 2014;12(1):213. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Del Rio C, Malani PN. 2019 Novel coronavirus—important information for clinicians. JAMA. 2020;323(11):1039–10. - PubMed
    1. MOE: guidance for protection and support of teachers during COVID-19 outbreak.2020. [cited 2020 March12]. Available from: http://en.moe.gov.cn/news/press_releases/202002/t20200217_421838.html

MeSH terms