Which CME Learning Tools Have the Greatest Impact on Learners?

Online CME has the potential to transform learning outcomes in the professional development space, even beyond the timeframes of artificial-learning benchmarks. One of the best uses of online CME is the chance to expand curiosity and innovation among healthcare workers. Some of the best tools that online CME provides involve active participation in searching for answers, which boring PDFs or lifeless lecture-style CME just can’t touch. Let’s take a look at valuable CME learning tools that will impact your learners.

Building learner-centered courses

The most significant impact that you can have on learners is to build courses that facilitate their learning and ensure that they have enough control over their records to direct their careers. Learner-centered courses are more than just the target information; you need to implement CME learning tools that improve learner outcomes and encourage signups for further courses in the series or new options from your institution.

Discussion Boards

One of the most significant forms of engagement with any material is discussion. Learners often miss the face-to-face interactions of traditional CME, so give them the chance to interact with an online platform. A thriving discussion board allows learners to:

• Discuss and engage with difficult concepts. Not all material is suitable for lectures. For controversial or cutting-edge concepts, discussions could unlock greater mastery.
• Share community wisdom and experience. A valuable resource for learners is other learners. Allow everyone the same opportunity to network and discuss the courses.
• Debate controversial topics under the guidance of discussion boundaries. The medical field is rarely cut and dry. These boards allow learners to address topics in constructive ways.
• Prepare statements and build cases. Discussion boards remove the pressure to perform on the spot, allowing learners to gather their thoughts and present their best arguments.
• Ask questions at any point or return to respond to new information. Unlike live discussions, discussion boards allow learners to return later with further information, clarifications, or questions.

Discussion boards are a valuable service for learners. They provide a way to interact with the material, asking questions and offering clarifications. Learners can interact with each other similar to the way that they do during in-person courses.

Portfolios

Portfolio options allow learners to display and organize their learning as it happens over the course or series of courses. Portfolios are:

• Continuous. This drives home the concept of continuous learning, giving learners the chance to present and defend knowledge, as well as show the evolution of their knowledge and experience.

• Interactive. Learners can arrange information and learn in ways that suit their process. It helps bring the material off the page and into a better zone of learning.

• Reflective. Portfolios allow learners and their instructors to reflect on the quality of learning and mastery, showing a comprehensive picture that simple quizzes can’t approach.

A portfolio is an evaluative tool that shows a learner’s education trajectory. It allows learners to showcase their knowledge as it evolves. It also helps address different learning preferences and provides a better way for instructors to gauge the effectiveness of the material.

Self-Service Tools

Nothing facilitates a learner’s progress and experience more than self-service tools. Giving learners control over different aspects of the course provides incentives to finish, enroll in future courses, and troubleshoot various obstacles. These types of tools include:

• Robust customer-service access for troubleshooting. Learners won’t have to wait for your administrator to reissue logins or handle website issues.
• Single login options to connect learning modules easily. Learners can take a series of courses and view them all in one place.
• Automatic reporting to make recordkeeping easier. Both your learners and your administration will thank you when recordkeeping speeds up without sacrificing accuracy.
• Access to certificates and transcripts. For furthering education and career goals, learners will have easy access to copies of their certifications, course records, and any other relevant information at each career stage.
• Robust feedback and follow-up tools. Need learners to provide feedback and reviews? Are you scouting for a new audience? You’ll have all the automation you need to follow up, encourage learners to complete actions, and market your course.

Remove the pressure on your administration and yourself by giving learners access to parts of the course that they’ll need to prove certification and direct their career paths.

Creating Impactful Courses

Building interactive, next-level courses can ensure a robust career development path for attracting and retaining top talent. These courses can build your institution’s reputation. Course features and hosting provider options can help you create the types of courses that learners are actually excited to take.

Use the CME learning tools embedded in your course platform to help learners drive their learning and put “continuous” back in continuous learning. These impactful tools will create a culture of professional development and allow learners to go beyond information into knowledge and mastery.

To learn how EthosCE can enhance the continuing education of your medical professionals, request a free 1-on-1 demo with one of our specialists today!