A test of the first course (Emergency Medicine) that is globally available for credit and for free.
BACKGROUND
The WHO has called for the use of computer-aided education to train millions of additional health providers. We herein address this appeal with the first globally available, free, accredited, computer-aided, and peer and mentor-guided course.


METHODS
The intervention studied was NextGenU.org's first course, "Emergency Medicine (EM) for Senior Medical Students", required for the graduating Classes of 2013 at the University of Missouri (UM) and the U.S. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). Control groups were the Class of 2012 at USUHS, and students nationally in the Class of 2013.


RESULTS
As of July 2016, there were over 4,000 registered "NextGenUsers" in 145 countries. USUHS NextGenUsers (n=167) averaged 80.3% vs. USUHS control students' 80.9% (n=163, p=0.4) on the Society of Academic EM (SAEM) exam, vs. 71.4% nationally (n=415, p<0·0001). UM NextGenUsers (n=35) averaged 71.2% on the SAEM exam vs. 71.4% nationally (n=415, p=0.8). Both EM Clerkship Directors reported good student satisfaction with these asynchronous, competency-based, site-agnostic readings.


CONCLUSIONS
This novel model of a free, accredited course is becoming widely used, and has performed as well as some of the world's most-resourced courses.
School of Population and Public Health University of British Columbia (UBC), 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3. Electronic address: verena.rossa-roccor@ubc.ca.
Erica
E
Frank
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6.
Kate
K
Tairyan
Project Manager and Director of Evaluation, NextGenU.org, 12082 Mountain Lane, Sedro-Woolley, WA, 98284.
Michelle
M
Everton
St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5B 1W8.
Jennifer
J
Chu
Asst. Professor of Military & Emergency Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA.
Craig
C
Goolsby
University of Missouri Health Care, 1 Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO, 65201, USA.
Alisa
A
Hayes
Director of Technology, NextGenU.org, 12082 Mountain Lane, Sedro-Woolley, WA, 98284.
Ann
A
Hulton
D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D009862:Online Systems; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013337:Students, Medical
Health sciences education; Innovation; MOOCs; Medical education; Online; Public health education