As part of an introduction to webcast services on their new dedicated website, AOCMF offered its members the unique benefit of accessing live webcasts during the annual Davos Courses. This special offering gave CMF members (who were unable to attend the courses) access, for the first time ever, to lectures taking place in real time. The webcasts also provided registered users with the opportunity to put questions to the faculty during the discussion phase of the course sessions.
Gerson Mast presented on fracture treatment in the growing skeleton, while AO President Paul Manson presented a keynote lecture on the challenges and results of frontobasal fracture. This first webcast took place during the last session of the day, on Monday December 7th and was moderated by Nils-Claudius Gellrich and Gregorio Sanchez-Aniceto.
The second event took place, on Wednesday morning, December 9th, with Gregorio Sanchez-Aniceto presenting on complex midfacial and panfacial fractures, followed by Nils-Claudius Gellrich presenting on frontal sinus and anterior skull base fractures. This session was moderated by Daniel Buchbinder and Gerson Mast.
From the point of view of the course participants in the lecture hall in the Davos Congress Centre, the webcast felt much like any other course presentation. The technology did not in any way interfere with their learning experience. While for the CMF members who logged in from as far away as Russia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, it was a completely unique—and technically successful—opportunity to experience and participate in an AO course (despite the time differences).
The course participants in the lecture room were given the opportunity to ask questions first during the discussion phase and they also benefited from the high caliber of questions that subsequently came from the web. The registered users were eager to use this unique opportunity to have immediate access to the faculty members and questions came thick and fast through the moderators to the presenters (ensuring that the discussion went on for much longer than the allotted time).
Both moderators and speakers were very enthusiastic about the use of this technology to reach a wider audience. Most said that although initially they were aware of the extra technology in the room, once they started on their lectures they forgot the camera and focused on the audience in front of them.
Paul Manson was particularly passionate about the web streaming and said that if one the key AO mission’s is to educate surgeons then we really should be offering all our courses online. Manson maintained that there is a huge audience out there without the time or funding to attend the annual Davos courses but they are certainly not lacking in desire to access the high quality teaching on offer. He went on to say that while attending the Davos Courses is a once in a lifetime experience and the face-to-face interaction with faculty and other participants is irreplaceable, for many surgeons the journey to Switzerland will never be an option. Thus streaming some of the courses would mean reaching many more doctors around the world.
AOCMF membership manager Alexandra Lepionka sent an email to all CMF members inviting them to join in these events, in the weeks preceeding the AO Courses. Lepionka supported by a team from AO, registered the 45 participants through the AOCMF website in advance of the streaming—although some users were still registering as the event began. The live video webcast and chat services used the latest web-based Flash technologies, including streaming audio and video and participants were supported through a functionality test prior to the webcast to ensure they could successfully access the service.
For more information and to sign-up for AOCMF membership log onto: www.aocmf.org |
|
|
|  |
|