5 Practical Strategies for Effective CME

Gone are the days of outdated learning methods that featured lectures in darkened rooms with an instructor teaching from slides. These not only can leave learners bored, but note-taking is also a skill that needs to be learned and may not suit everyone.

There need to be simpler strategies that address learner needs and learning styles and make your CME more engaging and effective. One strategy is e-learning using video and audio formats.

In this post, we discuss these five practical strategies for effective CME.

1. Steer Away from Old Learning Methods

The old methods of teaching are going by the wayside, with more providers moving into e-learning because it offers practical strategies for effective CME. But many CME programs continue to use traditional teaching methods, such as lecturing. These are not effective at engaging learners, having numerous drawbacks:

• Lectures are demanding for learners. Research has shown that lectures should last no longer than fifteen minutes. In her book, Tools for Teaching, author Barbara Gross Davis states that attention during lectures tends to wane after approximately ten to fifteen minutes.
• Lectures are not engaging, often being long and monotonous, resulting in boredom and learners tuning out.
• Lectures are instructor oriented. Learners are unable to ask questions, discuss ideas, or share valuable personal experiences. As a result, instructors cannot tell if learning has taken place.
• Lectures do not accommodate individual needs. It is a delivery format that fails to account for many disabilities or other learning needs.

Get away from the “one-size-fits-all” mode of thinking.

One practical strategy for effective CME is to avoid a “one size fits all” way of thinking. Your learners do not absorb the same information in the same manner because they possess different learning styles. Look to provide your CME content through dynamic self-study and/or self-directed e-learning methods that can be delivered via videos, audio, and web-based enduring materials rather than traditional learning such as lectures.

Poor content retention? Think again.

Be sure that your learners are actually retaining your content. Studies have shown that after a lecture:

• Within one hour, learners will forget about 50% of the information presented.
• After twenty-four hours, they will have forgotten around 70% of the new information.
• After one week, retention is reduced to an average of 90% of the information being forgotten.

Your CME content must reinforce learning. Offer flexible means of e-learning with interactive content, such as video, audio, and internet-based enduring materials.

Have your learners headed out the door?

You might see that your learners are not completing their CME courses. If this is the case, your content might be to blame. Are you:

• Providing only text-based content with no imagery?
• Using only lectures to present material?
• Conducting lengthy lectures?

You must consider new ways to offer your content, using e-learning in the form of interactive CME course content so your learners can remain engaged and return to you for additional courses.

2. Embrace E-learning

Challenges can exist when it comes to designing e-learning content for adult learners that is engaging and addresses their learning needs. Compared to traditional teaching methods, CME courses that incorporate text, graphics, animations, video, audio, and other multimedia formats will be enhanced. This results in content that meets your learners’ needs and provides them with interactive education that is compelling and enables effective knowledge retention.

3. Use Video as a Way to Address Learning Styles

All learners have different learning styles, but the more engaged that a learner is in their learning, the more likely that they will be successful. Video-based learning is highly advantageous to visual learners, and it can transform a non-visual learner into a visual one. Once a learner digests examples of the video format, they are more likely to continue using it.

Interactive videos are ideal because they enable learners to comprehend your content better. As a result, your course becomes more interesting and helps make their CME easier and more fulfilling.

If you do use lectures, they can be recorded and viewed at a learner's own pace, especially if they can be easily accessed on any portable device. This way, your content can reach a wide group of learners. Combining speech, text, and images helps get to the point of the course more quickly.

Live video streaming can be adapted to CME events such as conferences, seminars, and other meetings. Learners can also take advantage of interactive Q&As, which can make the event more memorable and address their learning needs in a more direct and accessible way. Streaming reaches learners anywhere and anytime worldwide.

4. Engage Audio to Address Learning Styles

While you may be focusing on providing live-streaming video, know that audio for CME also has substantial value.

Auditory learners comprehend and remember more through listening and speaking. Presentations and discussions work well with this learning style, particularly when supplemented with technology.

Audio available in the form of podcasts can be made available on a weekly or monthly basis or any other timeframe. You can develop podcasts as a series of CME content. Learners can subscribe to a series and automatically get each update. The key is to keep your podcast updated regularly, and learners will receive an effective learning experience.

5. Reach for Technology to Help with Your Strategies

Technology is rapidly changing the way that content is presented in today’s CME environment. Video and audio have come to the forefront as practical strategies for effective CME. Solid learning management systems (LMS) are providing audio and video as ways to reach a wide range of learners.

An LMS such as EthosCE can help with your strategies to make your CME content more engaging and effective for your learners. It has live-streaming video and audio for use with conferences, meetings, events, and other activities. Whether through audio or video, learners can access CME content at any time.

EthosCE also simplifies the conversion of CME activities into enduring materials. When you use Zoom or GoToWebinar, those meetings are directly available in this LMS. As a result, there is no need to download, convert, or upload large video files. Enduring materials can be developed using course cloning. Video and audio can easily be converted into enduring materials so learners can access them from anywhere at any time.

Let EthosCE Help You with Your CME Strategies

It is important to recognize your learners’ learning styles and how to best address them. Strategies using video and audio are enabling learners to get the most out of their CME. EthosCE provides you with the ability to deliver your course content through these formats so your learners can receive an engaging CME.

At EthosCE, we understand the challenges of staying up to date and compliant with ACCME changes. We know how critical it is to get things done right the first time when it comes to team-based education and success.

To learn how EthosCE can enhance the continuing education of your healthcare teams, schedule a free 1-on-1 demo with one of our specialists today!