iCoViP
iCoViP International Collection of Virtual Patients - Digitized Education in Europe beyond
the pandemic
Project description:
COVID-19 urged universities world-wide to quickly transform their curriculum into online formats. The impact on medical education was even more significant as patient contact and the availability of non-COVID-19 related patients was very limited and we experienced a 10-fold increased usage and demand for virtual patients (VPs) from different countries within and outside Europe [Hege et al. 2020]. VPs are interactive, case-based learning activities suitable to promote problem- solving and clinical reasoning, which are important abilities medical students have to master to become professionals.
Discussions with educators and faculty staff and responses from students during the summer term 2020 showed a clear desire for a continued use of the VPs after the return to face to-face teaching, the covering of additional symptoms and diseases, and varied presentations to prepare students for patient encounters in a safe and adaptive learning environment that facilitates deliberate practice.
Objectives of the project:
- To provide a multilingual and diverse collection of 200 VPs for medical students that can be flexibly integrated into different curricula. The collection is focused on clinical decision making in different contexts and complexities and will also promote student mobility through multilingualism, e.g. in the context of Erasmus exchange programs.
- To promote and improve the integration of VPs into medical curricula, e.g. in blended learning formats.
- To establish a strong collaboration between the partners and interested faculties, educators and students beyond the funding period in order to be able to offer and expand the VP collection in the long term.
Facts about the research project:
iCoViP International Collection of Virtual Patients - Digitized Education in Europe beyond
the pandemic
Funding: Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership 2020 (KA226 - Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness)
Budget: 266.946 Euro
Duration: April 2021 to March 2023 (Two years)
Project coordination: University of Augsburg, Germany (PD Dr. med. Inga Hege, Alice Bienvenu)
Partner: University Paris-Saclay, France, Jagiellonian University Cracow, Poland, University of Porto, Portugal, Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (KUM) Munich, Germany, University of Zaragoza, Spain.
Press release of the University of Augsburg
