Get ready for video games and nano-learning in continuing ed
Gamification, nano-learning, and an end to the 50 minute continuing education hour? Those are a few of the trends that the accounting and medical professions, among others, have been forecasting as part of the future of mandatory continuing education (MCE). MCE has been a key component of professional licensing for decades, but the Internet and other technological advances are bringing transformative change including much more bite-sized learning segments that might be just 10 minutes rather than an hour. Among new priorities is a process known as “nano-learning”; “the needs of individual learners in content in smaller modules that are appropriately leveled and modularized…. on demand, or just-in-time, and self-based.”
The accountancy boards in both Ohio and Maryland this year approved continuing professional education programs that include modules in 10-minute units.
In medicine, designers of learning modules are creating virtual treatment rooms. For example, with a series of cases, “learners are presented with the patient’s history and current complaint, and then enter the virtual “exam room” where they will engage the patient and formulate their diagnosis and treatment plan.” Each case correctly addressed lets learners accumulate points and pass through new game levels, according to the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions.
