AIIMS Study on Hybrid Education

New Delhi: A study conducted by All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi has found that hybrid education will play a key role in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

During the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, one of the challenges faced in medical education was maintaining interactivity among the students.

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To circumvent the challenge, an innovative approach of structured virtual group discussion (sVGD) was adopted in physiology postgraduate education for effective academic learning. It involved supervised and unsupervised interactions in a structured way leading to the active engagement of students. The students perceived sVGD as a more effective format compared to group discussion in a conventional virtual format.

A statement by AIIMS, Delhi said, "The results of our study were published in a reputed international journal of medical education and was awarded the best research paper for the development of newer techniques (Dev Raj Bajaj Award) by the Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists in 2021. The innovation was a consequence of our published research on the perception of students regarding the effectiveness of virtual versus face-to-face teaching amidst COVID-19 conducted by Dr Simran Kaur, Dr Dinu S Chandran, Dr Megha Bir and Prof. KK Deepak at the Department of Physiology, AIIMS, New Delhi."

The principal investigator, Dr Simran Kaur, said, "Our novel approach in medical education may act as a torchbearer to implement small-group teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students across speciality, especially during a pandemic or similar circumstances, where a transition to virtual format is inevitable."

HOD, Physiology Prof. KP Kochhar said, "Hybrid education is the way forward in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. This will also promote inclusivity of different learning styles and enhance functional outcomes in postgraduate medical education."

"Technology should be used in all its potential for advances in medical education," added former HOD, Physiology Prof. KK Deepak.

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