e-Teaching

INTRODUCTION

e-Teaching is a method wherein teaching is done for multiple centers by one teacher using live classes and the internet. Hands On Heart supports the use of e-teaching for training in Pediatric Cardiology. This program was designed for use in India but can be applied to or accessed by anyone worldwide.

e-Teaching in Pediatric Cardiac Sciences

Many practitioners in India, Africa and globally identify significant gaps in the learning experience in diagnosing and treating children with heart disease. We believe that online educational modules supplemented by live training can make a significant difference.

Since March 2010, a not for profit trust People4people run by a well respected Pediatric Cardiologist Dr Sunita Maheshwari partnered with Cisco technologies to pilot live interactive e-teaching in Pediatric Cardiology . Since October 2011, this program was generously supported by Childrens heart link and a content platform with recorded electures, journal articles and quizzes in the pediatric cardiac sciences was created by Linkstreet. This program was supported and endorsed by the National board of examinations in New Delhi until August 2019. Over 925 eclasses have been conducted to date (December 2021) with an ongoing biweekly program. Since September 2019 the program has been opened to all interested learners and is endorsed by the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India and supported by the Hands on Heart group. It (https://pedicardioclasses.net) is the longest running free online teaching program in the Pediatric cardiac sciences.

It is our aim to make training in the Pediatric cardiac sciences of high quality and accessible to all practitioners interested in the care of children with heart disease, so as to improve the overall quality of cardiac care to children in India and Africa in particular and globally, in general.

The advantages of e-teaching are several

One trainer/teacher can teach multiple students in multiple geographic locations at the same time, obviating the issue of teacher shortage.
The same content/approach can be disseminated to all the centers/students undergoing superspecialist training so there is a national consensus on management approach among all trainees/centers.
The e-classes can be recorded and replayed so they can be viewed repeatedly by the same group or new trainees.
Since it is interactive it has a virtual feel and question and answer sessions are similar to a normal classroom.