Moving forward: embracing challenges as opportunities to improve medical education in the post-COVID era

Abstract

Pandemics affect every aspect of life, and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is no exception. The impact of COVID-19 might be even greater in medical education, which involves close contact with patients. This comment reviews current trends in medical education in response to COVID-19, especially in the pre-clerkship curriculum, and discusses opportunities and challenges in medical education in the post-pandemic era. COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of online teaching and learning and is expected to boost innovation in medical education. First, blended learning, which is a mix of online and offline learning intended to incorporate the best of both worlds, is expected to become more widespread. Second, more novel approaches to learning that involve student-led initiatives likely become popular mediated by various technologies. Third, there will be more use of online learning resources and assessments. As online learning is expected to play a prominent role in the post-COVID-19 era, such transitions offer both opportunities and challenges. These challenges include faculty development on online teaching skills, creation and sharing of online resources, and effective design and implementation of online assessments. This comment calls for institutional support and collaborations for faculty development and for the development and sharing of learning resources, more models and guidelines for effective technology integration, and use of the virtual learning environment to promote student-centered learning to embrace the challenges as opportunities to improve medical education in the post-COVID era.