Massive open online courses for educating physiotherapists about spinal cord injuries: a descriptive study

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Online Education
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer scalable education in specialized fields.
• Physiotherapy management of spinal cord injuries requires continuous professional development.
• Online learning platforms can supplement traditional medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe two MOOCs focused on physiotherapy for spinal cord injuries.
• To evaluate participant registration, completion rates, and knowledge acquisition.
• To assess the impact of MOOCs on the usage of the elearnSCI.org resource.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study design was employed.
• Two 5-week MOOCs on spinal cord injury physiotherapy were conducted in 2014 and 2016.
• Participant knowledge was assessed pre- and post-course, and website analytics tracked resource usage.

Main Results:

• Over 13,500 physiotherapists and students registered across both MOOCs.
• Participant knowledge increased by a median of 15%.
• elearnSCI.org lesson access significantly increased during MOOC delivery periods.

Conclusions:

• MOOCs are a cost-effective method for disseminating knowledge on spinal cord injury physiotherapy.
• These courses successfully increased participant knowledge and engagement with online resources.
• Further research is needed to determine if MOOCs translate to improved clinical skills.