Educational Philosophy

There have been remarkable changes in medical education over the last three decades associated with changes in healthcare delivery, advances in medicine and in medical and learning technologies.  There is every indication that the pace of change will continue to increase.  These changes affect everyone concerned in medical education and present medical schools with major new challenges.  Medical schools and bodies concerned with specialist training and continuing medical education will have to respond quickly and effectively to these challenges by: 

Transforming how students and doctors learn
Innovations in technology and pedagogy have the potential to transform the way students and doctors learn, however the overall culture of teaching and learning has to a large extent remained relatively unchanged.  IVIMEDS will support schools in the implementation of new learning and information technologies.

Sharing expertise and resources
Significant advantages are to be gained from the sharing of expertise and resources between schools.  IVIMEDS will provide collaborative solutions across medical schools and institutions throughout the world.

Delivering a high quality and financially sustainable medical education service
Many medical schools and institutions are facing increasing financial pressures.  Sharing knowledge, expertise and resources through IVIMEDS will provide high quality and lower cost medical education.

Increasing access to medical education
In many countries the need to train more doctors has been identified and it has been recognised that there is a need to widen access to medical education and to train doctors in rural areas within their own communities.  IVIMEDS offers a flexible response to this challenge and provides the opportunity to support the training of diverse groups of students in a range of community-based as well as traditional settings.

Working to achieve lifelong learning
The need for doctors who are lifelong learners has been well identified.  IVIMEDS helps partner schools to prepare students for lifelong learning and at the same time caters for the continuum of education from undergraduate through postgraduate to continuing medical education.

The IVIMEDS partnership is committed to the application of new learning technologies, to the effective and efficient delivery of traditional or problem-based programmes of teaching, learning and assessment.  The use of these technologies support

• ‘just-for-you’ or adaptive learning with the curriculum customised to the needs of individual students and doctors in terms of content and learning strategy, taking account of the learner’s previous knowledge, experiences and learning style. 
• ‘just-in-time’ with learning opportunities made available to students or doctors at the time of need, integrating theory and practice.
• Work-based learning and learning at the site or clinical location where it is most convenient and effective.