AO Spine event planning always starts with the learners' needs for a particular topic and considers the curricular competencies to be covered. Recently, AO Spine Latin America (AO SLA) reorganized their webinars framework by pathology and by level of complexity. The aim is to provide participants with a clear and structured understanding of the learning offerings.
As always, all AO Spine educational events are linked to the AO Spine curriculum. AO Spine Latin America Education officer Luiz Gustavo Dal Oglio da Rocha introduces the key aspects of the new structure and the reasoning behind the changes.
I personally think there is a global need to evolve online education. The pandemic created new challenges as well as opportunities. We have had more online activities than ever, with a record number of participants. To continue offering our spine community the widest range of opportunities also in these uncertain times, we seek to evolve and create new, more interactive formats and new educational tools, as well as improve our hallmark events.
Therefore, we started developing new activities and adding even more interaction tools, surgical skills debates, and key leaders' opinions. The online offering scenario has grown to also include the AO Spine spine centers and our fellows in a new webinar format.
Last year was a good learning experience and we want even better results in 2021.
Stepping into a new generation of online education will keep AO Spine in the lead of spine education in our region. With the different levels and formats that we offer, we can better meet the needs of our community and fulfill the mission of AO, to provide the best treatment to our patients, while fostering integration and development of spine centers.
Every type of webinar has a different purpose:
The 1h-webinars based on lectures or the case-based webinars allow terrific discussions with our speakers on clinical aspects of different spine pathologies. We will have both principles and advanced level options during the year.
The webinars held by our Spine Centers are a great opportunity to showcase their services and present their cases and fellows to the community. The participants have the chance to get in touch with our Spine Centers and to learn how they deal with their patients. This is another way to strengthen and improve the exchange of knowledge among peers.
The "Meet the expert" is a special members-only webinar. It is a unique opportunity to interact in very small groups and meet some of the best spine surgeons in their field. Participants can learn tips and tricks of advanced surgery skills and surgical planning in close contact with an expert. Participants can even submit their cases for discussion in the group.
Adult learning processes focus on interaction and best practice exchanges. Although English is used universally in medical education, we understand that sometimes participants can benefit more when interacting in their native language. They can be more comfortable in writing in chat forums, asking questions, or speaking up in a webinar.
Our online events are usually a mix of Spanish and Portuguese, as they have similarities that facilitate understanding. Even if an online synchronous translation is available and possible nowadays, using native languages is a more tailor-made and approachable solution for participants.
The community should be aware that our high-quality online education is based on a structured learning framework. We are constantly improving the online offerings focusing on vanguard education strategies, engagement of key opinion leaders, and constant evolution and care for every type of activity. This makes our proposal unique.
Alongside the four webinar formats, we have two continuing education programs: an 18-month lato sensu postgraduation program and a 3-month university extension course on scientific research.
With so many online events last year, AO Spine Latin America developed a pioneering Faculty training program called Digital Education Training (DET) with the approval of the AO Education Institute. The pilot program was a cross-divisional experience. Faculty from AO Spine and AO Trauma were invited to participate in this challenging tailored project that aimed to improve their online performance in their educational roles.
The initiative for DET came from Juan Emmerich, the AO Spine Latin America Chairperson, who is also the program director.
And we did not stop there. Last year we decided to offer an online version of our Hospital Based Seminars (HBS). We successfully held 40 HBS events in 2020, 3 face-to-face and 37 online. We were very active and productive in Latin America—also the participants and the faculty—during the past pandemic year.
Even though the 2020 scenario allowed us to significantly improve our online offers it blocked many opportunities for face-to-face events. We took the time and made progress in finalizing a curriculum for our specimen courses and simulation courses (Hospital Based Courses), which are expected to be launched this year.
I expect it will be both challenging and exciting to bring back in-person events and to foster the AO Spine community live again. My aim as the Education Officer is to offer the highest level of online education, to hold great face-to-face events which allow even more expertise exchange and skills development, to stay in our leadership position in education in the region, and to keep on developing education formats fully committed to the AO mission.
Find all upcoming AO Spine Latin America webinars here.
Find all upcoming AO Spine events for here.
