Cost-effective e-learning in medical education

This chapter discusses the difficulties that are inherent in the measurement of cost effectiveness of e-learning in medical education and will highlight the problems of identifying the effectiveness of this form of training and how the associated costs can be calculated. Blended learning approaches are being increasingly used, in which the use of teaching and learning delivered by technology is mixed with face-to-face teaching. Recent technological advances have substantially reduced the entry level for anyone to create their own content, and this has led to the phenomenal growth of social software, such as blogs, wikis, social-network sites and media-sharing sites. The possibility of measuring the effect of a particular intervention allows its effectiveness to be determined. A recent meta-analysis of Internet-based learning in the health professions showed that there were large positive effects compared with no intervention, with the greatest effect for knowledge and skill outcomes but less for learner behaviours and patient outcomes.