Consensus on Quality Indicators of Postgraduate Medical E-Learning: Delphi Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• E-learning Quality Assurance

Background:

• E-learning is increasingly used in postgraduate medical education.
• Existing evaluation tools lack empirical foundation and are inconsistently applied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify an empirically founded set of quality indicators for e-learning.
• To establish a benchmark for effective "good enough" e-learning.

Main Methods:

• A Delphi procedure involving 13 international education experts and 10 e-learning users.
• Initial 57 items derived from literature review and focus groups.
• Consensus defined as >2/3 agreement rate.

Main Results:

• 37 out of 57 initial items were accepted in the first round; 15 new items were added.
• After two rounds, 37 items were accepted, and 34 were rejected due to lack of consensus.
• A final list of 37 validated quality indicators was established.

Conclusions:

• A validated list of 37 quality indicators for postgraduate medical e-learning evaluation was produced.
• This represents the first defined and validated set of quality indicators for this field.
• The next step involves developing and validating an e-learning evaluation tool based on these indicators.