Content Analysis of Interactive Mentoring and Learning Web Discussion by FAIMER Fellows of South East Asian Region on Qualitative Research

With the advent and frequent use of technology, web-based learning has become an innovative method for student engagement and learning enhancement. It is a powerful instructional tool to facilitate the exchange of ideas and peer-to-peer collaborative learning, especially if the topic of discussion is need based and of common interest. Geographical barriers can be overcome with ease, and a cooperative learning environment can be set in.

We are describing the process and content analysis of effective web-based mentoring and learning discussion amongst the medical faculty of South East Asian Region, carried out during an educational fellowship on the less frequently deliberated topic of ‘Qualitative Research’ (QR).

An interactive online discussion was carried out between the faculty and fellows of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research Regional Institute of PSG, Coimbatore, India during the month of August 2014. The moderators used various pre-planned strategies during the discussion, such as case scenarios, debates, discussion on published articles, posing open-ended questions, data analysis activity, data interpretation activity and data presentation activity to keep the learning environment active. Content analysis of the shared e-mails of the fellows was done to establish the collective learning of the participants.

A total of 129 mails were exchanged between 42 fellows during the month long discussion to generate 155 pages of transcripts labelled as ‘low inference descriptors’. The respondents expressed the need of QR in medical research and the wish to collaborate on learning approaches and various aspects of analysis of QR. The fellows gave the feedback that the online learning was elaborate and in depth and replete with self-explanatory examples and was able to fulfil all the learning needs of the participants. The content analysis found that QR topic could be deliberated and explored with hands on activity with simple innovations of web-based learning.

Creating a facilitating environment on the web and encouraging interaction and hands on training influences the pedagogical adult learning amongst geographically diverse and distanced learners in a well-designed fellowship programme. Such an approach can be duplicated in wider settings of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education globally.