title: A unique, interactive and web-based pediatric rheumatology teaching module: residents' perceptions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The limited availability of pediatric rheumatologists for teaching in pediatric residency programs negatively impacts resident education about rheumatology. At present, there are no educational websites available for trainees to learn about pediatric rheumatology. We are planning to develop an interactive web-based teaching module to improve resident learning about rheumatology ("POINTER": Pediatric Online INteractive TEaching in Rheumatology). The aim of this study was to perform a needs assessment of pediatric residents who will be using POINTER.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pediatric residents (n = 60) at The Hospital for Sick Children were emailed an online survey. This was designed to assess prior use of online teaching modules, the utility of an online teaching module for rheumatology and which technologies should be included on such a site.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-seven residents participated in the survey (78.3% response rate). Ninety-one percent of the respondents thought that an interactive teaching website would enhance their learning and should include case-based teaching modules. Several web-based technologies were felt to be important for inclusion on the teaching modules. These included graphics and animation (86.4%), interactivity (93.2%), pictures (100%), live digital videos (88.9%) and links to articles and research (88.6%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An interactive web-based rheumatology teaching module would be well utilized by pediatric residents. Residents showed preference for case-based teaching modules as well as multimedia modalities for learning a detailed musculoskeletal examination.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8, Canada. shirley.tse@sickkids.ca.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batthish
authors.forename: Ereny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bassilious
authors.forename: Rayfel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hyman
authors.forename: Shirley Ml
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tse