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Divergent Views

Divergent Views presents experts' opinions on topics near and dear to those developing online healthcare education. To suggest a topic for a Divergent View article or contribute an article, contact Valerie Smothers, MELD's Managing Editor.

Why We Need Better E-Teaching, Not More E-Learning

John Harris Jr., the President of Medical Directions, Inc., argues that healthcare educators involved in online education are far too wrapped up in creating learner-centric, self-taught courses. Self-teaching is inefficient and, sometimes, dangerous. Instead they should shift their focus to the creation and deployment of computer-based educational tools that teach.

What's the Pathophysiology of E-learning in the Medical Community?

Greg Long, Chief Learning Architect of Accelera, asserts that the medical community is doing a poor job in creating e-learning. Find out what MELD (and you) can do to improve healthcare education and ultimately improve patient care.

Is Metadata Too Subjective?

One of the most important uses of text-based metadata is to enable discovery of resources. But, is metadata the most effective way to identify resources and foster information discovery? Are newer, less context-sensitive methods of resource indexing more helpful? Jim Martino, the Digital Pedagogy Specialist for the Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries discusses the pros and cons of metadata use and some of the newer techniques used to expose relevant content to learners.

 

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