Overview

RCEMLearning is the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) elearning platform. We aim to be a leading Emergency Medicine elearning site which delivers high quality resources to its members and the broader international elearning community.

RCEMLearning is simultaneously committed to preserving benefits for RCEM members and promoting elearning predicated on open access principles. The majority of content is open access (content in the Exams and CPD section is for RCEM members only), and the site includes a section devoted to the production and dissemination of FOAMed materials. RCEMLearning is registered under a Creative Commons license to encourage (re)use of resources for educational purposes.

Site structure

The site is comprised of the following elearning resources:

• An etextbook designed to support shopfloor decision making/teaching and individual learning.
• Hundreds of interactive sessions ranging from short clinical cases (which are open access) to complex learning sessions which include diverse assessment methods. Successful completion of these sessions generate certificates for learners’ portfolios.
• A section devoted to critical appraisal.
• FOAMed content, comprised of podcasts and blogs, predicated on current trends in evidence-based medicine.

The site publishes and curates elearning content which adheres to the following criteria:

• Aligns to existing content types and templates.
• Is sustainable and can be reproduced over the coming years if committee members change.
• Is mapped to the RCEM curriculum.
• Is informed by a contemporary evidence-base (including links to relevant guidelines).
• Each section has sufficient depth of coverage (a minimum of twenty sessions). We welcome proposals for new content types but they would have to be launched with a minimum of 20 individual content items.

Governance

RCEMLearning is overseen by an Editorial Executive (ed. exec.). The group currently meets twice each year at College premises. Given the nature of the project a significant amount of work is conducted online.

Members of the ed. exec. are responsible for specific sections of the platform and they oversee the production and curation of content for the site. The ed. exec. is responsible for ensuring RCEMLearnings pedagogical models and educational strategy reflect best practice in the field. When appropriate recommendations and requests for further assistance are referred to other RCEM governance bodies (Education Committee, Council, Executive etc.).

The Editorial Review Board (ERB) work alongside the ed. exec. to ensure content is regularly reviewed and remains relevant. The ed. exec. and the ERB contribute their time voluntarily.