A Model for Online Interactive Remote Education for Medical Physics Using the Internet

摘要

Background: Medical physics is a relatively small community but it spans great geographical distances, usually with a scarcity of experts whose expertise could greatly benefit students entering into the field. In addition there are many software systems for which an interactive education method would be most advantageous.Objective: To develop a process to optimally use the Internet for real-time interactive remote education of medical physics and to present the experience of the study.Methods: The project is a collaboration of the Department of Medical Physics at the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre in Canada and the Department of Radiology at the University of Malaya in Malaysia. A class of medical-physics graduate students at the University of Malaya attended lectures provided by lecturers in Toronto, using the Internet as the main tool of communication.Results: The different methods that can be used to provide the real-time interactive remote education were explored, and various topics — including traditional classroom lectures as well as hands-on workshops — were also delivered.Conclusions: The concept of real-time interactive remote education is viable and holds promise for providing economical and practical tele-education to the medical physics community, but depends heavily on the availability of the Internet in many developing countries.