Our educational method is based on two fundamental principles: collaboration and distance learning.
The first principle is collaborative learning. Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean T. MacGregor, in their work on collaborative learning, described it as an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches that involve joint intellectual effort by students, or by students and teachers together. Usually, students work in groups of two or more, mutually searching for understanding, solutions or meanings, or creating a product.
Collaborative learning represents a significant shift away from the typical teacher centred or lecture centred classroom. The lecturing, listening and note taking process does not disappear entirely, but it lives alongside processes based on student discussion and active work with the course material. Teachers who use collaborative approaches tend to think of themselves less as expert transmitters of knowledge and more as expert designers of intellectual experiences, guiding a more emergent learning process.
Read more on the Collaborative Learning page.
The second principle is distance learning. The main reason for adopting it was to offer the program to remote areas and to clinicians who could not travel for six months to attend a course, and above all to create a global network of clinical researchers.
The program reaches participants through participating centers and online, and is discussed by the faculty in the Program Blog.
Further reading: the Cochrane Library and PubMed are useful starting points for evidence in clinical research.
Authoritative external resources for readers who want to go further into clinical research methods, reporting and education.
