E-learning in radiology: an Italian multicentre experience.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to design, deliver and evaluate an e-learning teaching programme for post-graduate radiodiagnostics training that would involve various post-graduate schools throughout Italy.


METHODS
All of the Directors of Italian post-graduate schools of radiodiagnostics were sent an e-mail on 27 September 2010 informing them of our willingness to set up an e-learning project for the academic year 2010-2011 in the form of single-subject teaching seminars. The proposed subjects were the semeiotics of the various organs and apparatuses in the context of "Urgent/Emergency Pathology". After having received registrations, a calendar of lessons was planned to be held between 10 November 2010 and 12 October 2011. The validity of the project was tested by means of a multiple-choice questionnaire covering the technical and didactic quality of the entire project, to be completed by the students.


RESULTS
Fifty-one percent of the universities in Italy participated in the project: Trieste, Udine, Verona, Milan-Bicocca, Novara, Varese, Genoa, Sassari, Rome Campus, the Catholic University of Rome, Chieti, Foggia, Catania, Modena, Florence, Palermo, Bologna, Pavia, Parma and Ferrara. The lessons were attended by a total of 10,261 post-graduate medical students, for an average of 513.1 students per lesson. Seventy percent of the students judged the didactic content "excellent", 25% "good", and 5% "satisfactory"; none said it was unsatisfactory. In terms of visual quality (particularly the details of the radiological images proposed in the form of slides and/or video clips), 73% judged it "excellent", 20% "good", 6% "satisfactory", and 1% "poor". The audio quality was judged "excellent" by 71%, "good" by 22%, "satisfactory" by 6% and "poor" by 1%. In relation to judgement of audio and video quality, it has to be underlined that this was greatly affected by the hardware/software configuration and the band speed and technology of the Internet connection.


CONCLUSIONS
Technological evolution is overcoming all barriers, and technology is also having a positive impact on the approach to teaching. Our multicentre teaching experience merits the following considerations: the quality of the teaching product was certified by the students' judgements of its didactic content and the quality of reception; the economic cost of the teaching had a minimal impact on the post-graduate schools (€ 18 per lesson). In terms of breaking down national barriers, it is to be hoped that the coordination and integration of diagnostic imaging e-learning projects, with the participation of post-graduate schools in different European countries, can be developed not only in a spirit of "cultural sharing" and the exchange of teaching experiences.
Istituto di Radiologia Diagnostica ed Interventistica, AOU Maggiore della Carità, Corso Mazzini 18, 28100 Novara, Italy. profcarriero@virgilio.it
A
A
Carriero
L
L
Bonomo
F
F
Calliada
P
P
Campioni
C
C
Colosimo
A
A
Cotroneo
M
M
Cova
G C
GC
Ettorre
C
C
Fugazzola
G
G
Garlaschi
L
L
Macarini
M
M
Mascalchi
G B
GB
Meloni
M
M
Midiri
R Pozzi
RP
Mucelli
C
C
Rossi
S
S
Sironi
P
P
Torricelli
B Zobel
BZ
Beomonte
M
M
Zompatori
C
C
Zuiani
D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D020407:Internet; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007558:Italy; D011871:Radiology / Q000193:education*