How ISE developed an online education platform with free accredited resources with over 500 new users per year
- Website
- https://edu.isendo.org/
- Project dates
- July 2018 - December 2022
Project team
The project’s team was formed by the following individuals and groups:- ISE Executive Director: Helen van Oers (Netherlands)
- ISE Education Manager: Pamela Funes (Argentina)
- ISE Office Manager: Gergana Georgieva (Bulgaria)
- ISE Education Working Group: Antoine Tabarin (France), Cheri Deal (Canada), Abbas Raza (Pakistan), Ayesha Motala (South Africa)
- ISE Board: André Lacroix (Canada), Emanuel Christ (Switzerland), Margaret Wierman (USA)
- Kenes Continuing Education Manager: Diana van Brakel (Netherlands)
- Kenes Compliance Specialist: Margarita Velcheva (Bulgaria)
Tools & Systems
Several tools and platforms were used for the development of the ISE Global Education Hub and the dissemination of the educational resources hosted on the platform:
- Moodle, Learning Management System - Where the ISE Global Education Hub is hosted
- Articulate 360, eLearning Authoring - Development of eLearning courses and interactive patient cases
- Canva, Design and Communication - Design of banners and images to promote our educational activities
- QR Code Generator - Creation of QR codes for inclusion in our promotional materials
- Vyond, Video Animation - Development of ISE Global Education Hub promotional video
- Panopto, Video Editing & Library - Video library hosting the recordings of all our live webinars and congress sessions
- Zoom, Meeting & Webinar - Planning of meetings and live webinars (registration page, attendee reports, etc.)
- Google Analytics, Reporting & Analytics - Reports on user behaviour and activity on the ISE Global Education Hub
- Bit.ly, URL Shortener - Creation of shorter URLS to direct users to our different educational activities and registration pages of live events
- SurveyMonkey, Online Survey Creator - Development of post-webinar surveys, needs assessment surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, etc.
- Mailchimp, Email Marketing Company - Creation of marketing mailshots to promote all the online education activities to our database
- Air Table, Marketing & Communications Planner - Project management tool used by internal staff to plan marketing and communications
- Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter, Social Media Platforms - Dissemination and promotion of the online activities
- YouTube, Video Sharing Website - Upload of promotional videos, activity trailers, etc.
Introduction
Before the launch of the ISE Global Education Hub, the International Society of Endocrinology’s main and only educational event was its biennial flagship congress, the International Congress of Endocrinology (ICE).
Some of the big questions of the society were around ISE’s positioning in an evolving global landscape. The main questions that prompted the organization to make a change:
Defining our positioning
ISE’s role needed to be clarified in relation to its members, regional affiliates and other allied groups to react to the globalisation of leading societies and sub-specialist organisations who developed their own international strategies. A clearer understanding of ISE’s positioning needed to be widely promoted in order to effectively represent, partner and support the broad composition and increasing scope of the global endocrinology community.
Remaining relevant to a variety of stakeholders
First and foremost our commitment has always been to our National societies. Whilst members have highlighted it is still important for them to be part of an international community, significant efforts had to be channelled into retention by enhancing member value to satisfy increasing member expectations and nurturing effective two-way engagement. To remain relevant and representative of the discipline as a whole, the society had to offer needs-based endocrinology education for HCPs also in those years when there was no ICE congress.
Determining our primary focus for the greatest impact
Whilst there are many membership organisations representing the vast array of endocrinology-related conditions and diseases, as a global umbrella organisation, we must leverage our knowledge, network and influence to focus efforts in areas we can have most impact, realising significant progress and achieving sustainable outcomes on behalf of the community we represent.
Building corporate partnerships
With the congress being hosted by a national member society, there had been no outreach by ISE to industry. Launching the Education Hub allows ISE to explore in-routes to industry partnerships, establishing sustainable relationships supporting future congresses as well.
Discovery
Before the launch of the ISE Education Hub, a needs assessment survey was sent to ISE’s member societies. The purpose of such a survey was to understand the issues around endocrinology education and identify the main topics with unmet continuing medical educational (CME) needs. The survey was sent to 50 member societies and it was completed by a total of 55 people.
The survey collected information about the topic areas that included the most prevalent endocrine disorders within the community of the surveyed individuals, the 3 endocrine disorders for which greater access to education for healthcare professionals was needed, and whether it would be of value for the individual’s society to get access to online materials on the ISE Global Education Hub.
The results of this survey showed that there was a clear need for additional education on certain topics in endocrinology, and to be able to access them online via an educational platform (at no additional cost).
Based on the results of the survey, the priority topics to develop the first online materials were selected.
In 2021, an additional needs-assessment survey (attached below) was sent out to ISE’s database of 16,000 endocrinologists. It was completed by 191 individuals and had a similar structure as the previous one, with additional questions around the most effective learning formats for healthcare professionals to obtain new knowledge and skills. Based on the results, the ISE created an education calendar for the next 2 years, with educational activities addressing the topics where most education was needed.
Objectives
The ISE strategy identifies high-quality needs-based continuing medical education, available and affordable to all, as a key strategic priority. The ISE Global Education Hub aligns with ISE’s mission to facilitate collaboration and integration across endocrine organizations and offer educational activities to disseminate knowledge and research, focusing particularly on developing nations and early career endocrinologists.
The objective of the ISE Global Education Hub is to provide endocrine healthcare professionals with free high-quality education enabling them to further develop in their specialty, with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes. In addition, the project provides early career professionals worldwide the opportunity to interact with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).
The main aim of this project was that by 2022, the ISE would have a global education portal that:
- Hosts accredited ISE driven event content
- Promotes existing member materials
- Develops new media to fulfil unmet CME needs
- Provides self-learning resources and tools
The specific KPIs for its first year (2019) were:
- Financial - A total of 105K funding
- Audience - 500 users
- Accreditation - Accreditation of all e-learning content
- Content focus - Thyroid, Diabetes, Adrenal, Growth Hormones
- To be developed with editor:
- 6 webinars
- 2 eLearning courses
- 1 blended learning activity
- 3 grand-round discussions
Timeline
Timeline of key events:
- July 2018 - Needs assessment to member societies
- Aug - Dec 2018 - Platform development and testing
- Jan 2019 - Soft launch with 3 eLearning courses and other resources
- Feb 2019 - EACCME accreditation
- Oct 2019 - Organisation of first live webinars
- 2020 - Full year of operation and development of additional educational resources
- Jan 2021 - Launch of first activity supported by the industry
- July 2021 - Updated needs assessment
- Dec 2021 - Best eLearning / Online Education Award by AAE
- Sept 2022 - 2,500+ registered users
Activities
First, in-depth research was done to choose the appropriate Learning Management System (LMS) according to the needs of the project. The selected LMS was Moodle. Some of the reasons behind this decision were related to the fact that it's an open-source and free tool, it can be easily customised and there is plenty of documentation available about how to use it.
After selecting Moodle as the right LMS, the organization carried out a thorough pre-selection of the existing content that would be uploaded to the ISE Global Education Hub (mostly past congress materials) and discarded content considered to be outdated.
As a next step, and based on the results of the needs assessment carried out in 2018, the ISE Education Working Group agreed on the topics for the development of the first 3 eLearning courses that would be uploaded to the platform for its launch. During this process, the ISE Education Coordinator worked hand in hand with the subject matter experts (SMEs) recommended by the ISE Education Working Group to create the courses using the eLearning software Articulate 360.
The ISE Education Coordinator worked on these first 3 eLearning courses almost simultaneously together with the oversight of a member of the ISE Education Working Group, who would review the scientific content and monitor the development process.
In order to develop the content, the ISE Education Coordinator worked with the SME. They analysed the structure of other online courses for visual inspiration, identified the best topic to approach in each course, the format it should be presented in and what specifics about to topic it should address. For the narrative and sequence of slides in each course, a storyboard was created.
Once the 3 eLearning courses were ready, they were uploaded to the ISE Global Education Hub. This section was later renamed Webinars/Courses so that participants could find all available content by accessing the same section and filtering per area of interest.
The average duration of each eLearning course was 1 to 1:30 hours. Each course contained knowledge check questions/activities throughout the content and a final evaluation for learners to claim CME (Continuing Medical Education) credits.
On 8 January 2019, the ISE (through its educational provider the Kenes Group) applied for CME/CPD accreditation to the European Council of Continuous Medical Education (EACCME®). A requirement to get the entire platform accredited was to have a minimum of 10 educational activities on the site. Therefore, in addition to the 3 eLearning courses, the ISE developed educational activities around 7 sessions of past ICE congresses.
As part of the application, the following information had to be submitted:
- Overall project description
- Test credentials to navigate the platform
- Information on each course
- Expected educational outcomes
- Target audience description
- Level of evidence of the content
- How the activities employ methods of active, adult learning to achieve the learning objectives of the educational activities
- Confirmation that the content is free from any commercial or other sort of bias
- Specification of the extent to which the content is suitable for an international audience
- Specification of the means for the learners to provide feedback on the educational activities
- …and more.
The ISE Global Education Hub received accreditation on 12 February 2019. Because the entire platform is accredited, learners receive 1 CME/CPD credit per hour of learning that they spend on the CME/CPD accredited activities available on the platform. Through an agreement between the European Union of Medical Specialists and the American Medical Association, physicians may convert EACCME credits to an equivalent number of AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (credits valid in the USA).
The existing CME/CPD accredited educational offerings were developed under the leadership of the ISE Education Working Group (15 international members of the society from different specialty areas), supported by the ISE Education Coordinator, and delivered with the expertise of a group of over 60 medical SMEs from around the world.
The ISE Education Working Group is governed by its Terms of Reference (TORs). The objectives of the ISE Education Working Group are:
- Objective 1: Implement the Education strategy for the ISE
- Objective 2: Support the development of educational resources and materials for the ISE Global Education Hub
- Objective 3: Support the development of endocrinology-related reviews, webinars and courses featured on the ISE Global Education Hub (through the identification of SMEs, review of proposals for calls for Expression of Interest for ISE courses and events)
- Objective 4: Support the development of an annual educational calendar with topics and speakers
- Objective 5: Actively search for partnership opportunities for the ISE Global Education Hub
- Objective 6: Help expand the reach of the educational materials of our partners by featuring them on the ISE Global Education Hub
- Objective 7: Analyse and recommend activities requiring ISE endorsement
The Education Working Group has a Chair and a Co-chair. Both positions are elected by the members of the Education Working Group, and their 2-year term starts at the annual General Assembly of ISE. The members of the Education Working Group preferably provide broad ISE regional representation and topical focus. The composition of the Education Working Groups should reflect the ISE diversity principle; the group should embrace and proactively implement a mix of diverse candidates related to age, gender, ethnicity, cultural and regional perspectives. ISE Education Working Group members must have a demonstrated interest in ISE activities.
The education on the ISE Global Education Hub is available 24/7 and it includes a wide variety of learning formats.
The learning formats of the materials available in the ISE Global Education Hub are eLearning courses, accredited webinars, interactive case studies (based on real-world patient scenario), MEDBuzz Videos (short, 3-5 minute videos focused on a hot topic, distributed via YouTube), Ask the Expert Interviews (10-minute interviews with SMEs who answer challenging questions) and other resources. View more details on the education hub website.
Overviews of each learning format and of the existing activities on the ISE Global Education Hub are attached.
ISE Hub Homepage, Dec 2022
Innovation
The Global Education Hub offers learners various activities using different educational formats. Learners can complete interactive case studies based on real-life patient scenarios developed by SMEs. As they progress through the case, learners make decisions regarding diagnosis, treatment, and management of the patient. Because in real life there are not always right or wrong answers, learners receive feedback which gives them a better understanding of the consequences of their decisions and the recommended or most suitable steps forward.
In addition, the Hub hosts CME/CPD accredited activities and microlearning resources.
The Hub allows ISE to expand its educational strategy beyond live events and offer continuous education by giving medical professionals the opportunity to stay updated with the latest developments in endocrinology all year round 24/7 and free of charge. In addition, the Hub provides a new avenue for members of the ISE community, to expand their professional development portfolio and receive CME/CPD credits.
Marketing
Offline Marketing Approach
At ICE, we promote our educational activities at a booth. This booth is usually accompanied by a monitor displaying a looping video that promotes the ISE Global Education Hub and its activities. The latest version of the video can be watched on YouTube here.
Other materials exhibited at the booth:
- Flyers
- Brochures
Here, we usually scan delegate’s badges to get their details and, with their consent, add them to our communications database to ensure that they will receive ISE’s news and updates on future educational activities.
Online Marketing Approach
A comprehensive audience generation strategy was implemented to ensure maximum uptake of the ISE Hub among healthcare professionals whose work intersects with endocrinology. Our underpinning approach involves proactively driving and maintaining engagement with the ever-growing ISE community and generating relevant leads to the CME available within the ISE Hub.
ISE member societies have a global presence. Our marketing and communications strategy is therefore extensive, drawing on all partner global networks, in order to ensure maximum reach and impact.
ISE membership, 2022
Specific activities include but are not limited to:
Example of mailshot sent promoting the recording of a webinar
- Regular promotions around upcoming activities are sent to the global ISE community via more than 46 member societies representing 24,000 endocrinologists around the world;
- ISE monthly news updates and quarterly newsletters are disseminated through our database of more than 20,000 healthcare professionals;
- Customer retention by ensuring new webinar attendees or education Hub subscribers are added to the target audience for future promotions;
- Promotion of our online activities through call-to-action banners on the ISE Global Education Hub and the ISE website;
- Regular social media posts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, generating increased following and engagement;
- Online advertising including paid targeted advertisements (interest-based targeting on Facebook to bring high-volume traffic);
- Promotions via partner organizations comprising multiple relevant patient and endocrine nurse organizations as well as related specialty societies around the globe;
- Exploring ways to align our promotions so they leverage relevant international health days (Example: World Thyroid Day on 25 May).
Challenges
Because the ISE is an international society, following guidelines of a specific country is a challenge, so we must ensure that our educational activities are relevant to different parts of the world and that they contain tools, resources, and information that our target audience can apply to their daily practice. A big part of our audience is located in underserved regions of the world so our SMEs need to take this into account when developing content.
An example of how we try to ensure we can address the specific needs of our audience can be seen in our webinar process. When registering to our webinars, participants can submit questions to the SMEs. Many of these questions are about how to address specific situations in a given country or region, or how to treat patients in low-resource areas where the standard treatment options might be not affordable. This way, our speakers can tailor their presentations to include information that they know the audience needs, and address some of the pre-submitted questions by participants during the live Q&A.
Another challenge is that because ISE is a federation, it does not have individual members but member societies. This makes it sometimes a challenge to be close to our learners. It is easier for us to reach out to those learners who have registered to the ISE Global Education Hub. However, many times we need to reach out to the endocrinology community via our member societies, where we do not have full control of how the information is spread. This is why one of our main goals is to build strong relationships with our member societies and ensure our communications are effective so that they can, in turn, disseminate our activities among their individual membership.
Because there are other endocrine organizations around the globe that are also engaged in online education, we need to conduct diligent research to ensure we are not creating content that is already developed and made available by other organizations.
Achievements
ISE has accomplished its main goal with this project, which was to build an online education platform with free accredited resources in endocrinology that would keep its learners coming for more. This is evidenced by the increasing number of learners that we see on the ISE Global Education Hub each year, which is most likely due to the solid educational portfolio that we were able to build hand in hand with the SMEs in the field.
Another objective of paramount importance was to receive accreditation from the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education – EACCME®.
We have also witnessed higher completion rates over time. The fact that we were able to build a brand and consistency across our educational activities gives reliability to our content, which might have contributed to higher learner satisfaction and commitment over the years.
Through the ISE Global Education Hub and the live webinars, ISE was also able to build a solid and consistent brand which increased the visibility of the society at a global level. By doing so, many doors opened to collaborate with other societies and partners who are working in the same or a related field.
In order to make ISE’s educational ecosystem sustainable in the long term, an important objective was to receive financial support from industry and pharma companies who believe in our mission. In 2021, ISE received support from industry for the development of 6 educational activities. We are working hard to continue this trend.
Tiles of CME/CPD accredited activities on the ISE Global Education Hub
Targets & Statistics
With the launch of the ISE Global Education Hub and the development of live webinars, ISE was able to:
- Receive the Hub accreditation by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education – EACCME®;
- Establish a broad educational portfolio (approximately 100 educational resources) available 24/7
- Reach over 7, 500 people who either registered on the Hub or for one of the live webinars, solidifying the ISE brand and increasing ISE’s visibility;
- Create an educational extension to the congress offering on-demand highlights of the scientific program;
- Receive almost 300K USD support in educational grants from industry;
- Strengthen relationships with member societies and international partners such as the International Society of Nephrology (ISN), the World Alliance of Pituitary Organizations (WAPO), the International Coalition of Organizations Supporting Endocrine Patients (ICOSEP), the International Menopause Society (IMS), and the Federation of International Nurses in Endocrinology (FINE), collaborating in joint education projects;
- And, most importantly, deliver free, high-quality education to the more than 2,600 healthcare professionals registered on the Hub and the more than 5,000 learners who attended webinars throughout 2020, 2021 and 2022, many of whom may not have access to these learning resources otherwise.
From a financial perspective the Hub has been self-sustaining since its launch. The industry funding covers partly the platform costs, course development, SME fees, and staff support.
Financials
The seed funding for the development of the ISE Global Education Hub (120,000 USD) came initially from the organization’s own budget with the vision of receiving external support to maintain the platform in the longer term. The running cost of the education portfolio is between 25 and 30% of the society’s annual expense budget. In 2021, after 2 years of operation the ISE Global Education Hub became a self-sustaining activity.
Although receiving funding for the online education activities is important to ensure the sustainability of the ISE Global Education Hub and keep access to these activities for free, all support from industry is guaranteed to be from unlimited educational grants meaning that the content remains independent, solely developed by ISE, and free from any industry involvement.
ISE allocates part of its yearly budget to the further development of the Global Education Hub and the related educational programs. The ISE Education Coordinator is dedicated for 0.6 FTE with guidance of the Executive Director. The promotional activities are supported by the Marketing Coordinator.
The education budget also includes other fixed yearly costs, e.g.: maintenance/security updates of the ISE Global Education Hub, marketing spend, and in some cases SME honorarium. Expenses for translated materials are covered by the respective educational grant.
On the other hand, the ISE Board and the members of the Education Working Group contribute on a voluntary basis.
What would we do differently?
To plan the development of the educational activities, ISE creates an education calendar. Initially, the education calendar was created at the end of the year for the following year. However, the organization is now trying to plan with at least 2 years in advance (always based on the latest needs assessment). This allows the society to project ahead and focus its time and resources more efficiently.
ISE has recently welcomed a Medical Writer to the team. It would have been very helpful to have a medical writer as part of the education team from the very beginning to support the design of the educational content. This person’s role is to support the ISE Education Coordinator who has experience in adult learning principles but does not have a scientific background. This also lessens the burden of work of the SMEs who are developing and reviewing the content of the educational activities.
Besides building a strong curriculum and growing target audience, it is key to develop relationships with industry partners that are long-term and focused on key scientific developments, rather than it being transactional activities. The initial approach of ISE was to develop the education strategy in isolation based on the needs assessment, whereas as of lately the voice of industry is being heard as well.
Advice
It takes time to establish an online presence with an educational platform and increase traffic on the site. This is something that associations should take into account. Some recommendations to achieve increasing engagement are:
- Be consistent with your educational approach.
- Try different learning formats; not everyone learns the same way. A format that works for one person may not work for another.
- Release content regularly. This will create the habit in learners to visit your site more often to look for information or to see “what is new”.
- Stay consistent with the structure of your activities so that learners know what to expect when they come back to your site to start a new activity. This will also help solidify your brand.
- Do not get disappointed if completion rates are low at the beginning. High completion rates are usually a challenge, especially when we are competing for attention with platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
- Celebrate small steps. If a person visited your site and learned something from it, you are still contributing to change. Completion rates alone should not drive your strategy.
- Talk to your learners. Survey your most active learners on the platform to understand what they are missing on the site and how the site could contribute to their professional career.
- Form a committee, task force or the like and make them responsible for the education strategy, content calendar, and outreach to SMEs– keep them active, involved and updated.
- Keep good relationships with your SMEs.
- Review the content of your courses with the SMEs to ensure that your content remains relevant and up to date. The frequency with which you do this will depend on the content you are offering, of course.
- Actively seek for opportunities to collaborate or join efforts with other organisations in your field or in complementary fields.
Feedback & Testimonials
Some testimonials from learners of the ISE Global Education Hub who completed one or more courses:
- Excellent case studies.
- The course helped me in my patient management and kept me updated.
- I found the answers to many questions I had.
- I enjoyed how the learning from studies was put in the context of clinical cases.
- Just graduated as a medical doctor and served as a great revision class. Concise and simple to follow.
- It has been gratifying to learn things that are not usually spoken in congresses and endocrinology courses. I think the themes have been very successful, and they have been done in a very didactic and entertaining way.
- Very useful and refreshing.
- It exceeded all expectations.
As part of the evaluation that learners need to submit after completing a course, we ask them whether they are likely to make any changes in their practice or research, and it is gratifying to see that most learners answer YES to this question:
As part of such evaluation, we also ask learners to specify the extent to which they found the educational activity effective. The below percentages are based on 1,006 responses of learners who completed a CME/CPD accredited activity on the ISE Hub:
Our community is very active on Facebook, and we are proud of receiving messages like the one that follows:
Sometimes, we receive feedback by email from learner who even suggest topics for future activities:
Wider impact
Stronger Relationships
By seeking collaboration opportunities for educational projects with organisations in the same field, ISE was able to initiate and strengthen relationships with member societies and international partners such as the International Society of Nephrology (ISN), the World Alliance of Pituitary Organizations (WAPO), the International Menopause Society (IMS), the Federation of International Nurses in Endocrinology (FINE), and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR).
Free CME/CPD Accredited Education
The ISE has been able to offer independent accredited medical education free of charge via the ISE Global Education Hub. This was possible partly thanks to the external support received from industry partners who believe in the mission and vision of ISE. In the future, such support is likely to contribute to the financial sustainability of ISE, allowing further investment in education.
Support to Regional Societies
As part of ISE’s global outreach activities, the organization could support the education and advancement of endocrine practice in less resourced regions by supporting its member societies with their local endocrinology events. The levels of support range from event promotion to full endorsement of the event and assistance in securing international speakers. The goal of such participation is for speakers to share their knowledge and experience with the local community of healthcare providers.
When organizers and speakers give ISE permission, the recorded talks of these events are uploaded to the ISE Global Education Hub under the Partner Events section, which also aims at giving more visibility to the event of the organizing society and its regional faculty.
Brand recognition
Since 1960, when the first International Congress of Endocrinology was launched by ISE, this was the only activity the society organized initially every 4 years, later every 2 years. The brand would disappear in the years in-between. The ISE Global Education Hub has helped to keep a steady flow of activities, offering value and keeping visibility in-between the congress years.
Awards and recognition
In 2021, the ISE won the Award for the Best eLearning/Online education of the AAE International & European Association Awards. The judges said: “ISE succeeded in excellent reach and content, and all funded by grants. An amazing job creating its first e-learning platform from scratch. This project is well thought through, comprehensive and focused on the different elements and components to take into consideration when designing the educational activities of an association.”
