“Am I audible? Are my slides Visible’

Dear All,

We have a Pandemic of Webinars occurring at all levels of Medical Education and Urology is no exception. Definitely in these trying times when physical events cannot be conducted, these webinars have become a boon for many at all levels to interact and continue to impart knowledge. But Over indulgence is definitely not the way to go about. No doubt, such overindulgence have made us bring out many potential teachers to the fore but will they continue when they restart their clinical programme with full vigour will have to be seen.

The article is addressing the Ophthalmology Community but all the thoughts it has forwarded can aptly be applied to Urology as well and they are worth considering. I must thank Sabnis for introducing this article to me.

The constant banter prior to any speaker commences is ‘“Am I audible? Are my slides Visible’. This has become the routine as the person speaking may at best be able to see few of fellow faculties but definitely not the audience he/she is addressing. In a Physical Meting, the speaker can see the audience he is addressing and can on occasions change he talk to some extent depending on the audience present which is not possible at Webinars when the audience are invisible.

I have placed some of my comments along with the article and I hope there will be some interaction among us as how these Webinars need be conducted.

With warm Regards,

Venu

 

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Comments(5)

  • Dr. Roy Chally
    Dr. Roy Chally
    30 Oct 2020 03:03:58 PM

    Webinar’s in Urology

    Agree with all said in the article. My comments 

    Types of webinar’s 

        Lecture format

                In attending a live lecture from a teacher with experience, what one learns depends on the quality of the teacher and the interactions in and outside the class. The teacher paces the talks to allow the listeners to take notes.In a class room lecture, the teacher is accountable for what is said. All this is missed in web based talks. 


    Live operative workshops 

       Live operative workshops gives gives one good tips on the operative techniques for consultants. They do not teach residents to assist or do surgery. 


    Operative Video presentations

        Video presentations without discussion is of little use. 

          

             All these formats of presentation are already available in the internet today. These webinar’s are unlikely to be a useful tool to train a postgraduate. One can pass an exam with knowledge from the internet but managing a patient is a different ball game and webinar’s are not a substitute for clinical teaching. 

  • Dr. Roy Chally
    Dr. Roy Chally
    30 Oct 2020 03:03:59 PM

    Webinar’s in Urology

    Agree with all said in the article. My comments 

    Types of webinar’s 

        Lecture format

                In attending a live lecture from a teacher with experience, what one learns depends on the quality of the teacher and the interactions in and outside the class. The teacher paces the talks to allow the listeners to take notes.In a class room lecture, the teacher is accountable for what is said. All this is missed in web based talks. 


    Live operative workshops 

       Live operative workshops gives gives one good tips on the operative techniques for consultants. They do not teach residents to assist or do surgery. 


    Operative Video presentations

        Video presentations without discussion is of little use. 

          

             All these formats of presentation are already available in the internet today. These webinar’s are unlikely to be a useful tool to train a postgraduate. One can pass an exam with knowledge from the internet but managing a patient is a different ball game and webinar’s are not a substitute for clinical teaching. 

  • Ravindra Sabnis
    Ravindra Sabnis
    30 Oct 2020 03:52:55 PM

    Since the pandemic has set in, physical conferences have disappeared. I do not know how long they will disappear, Although in India, covid is on decline, but in Europe, it has increased & fresh lock down is being imposed at many places. 

    Human nature is not to sit quiet. Even in most adverse situation, human mind will find out something to overcome the situation. Thats a basic theory of survival of fittest. I feel webinar is one such example to overcome absence of physical conferences. 
    Initially there was lot of enthusiasm about such webinars. Because of novelty & people had lot of free time. 
    I feel webinars have to be looked into different perspectives. there are many facets to this. I will mention what I feel about this mashrooming of webinars. 
    1) Webinars are now organised in such a large number - people have really lost count of it & lost interest in it 
    2) Many criticise that such number is not good. On same topic - so many webinars - what more is going to be discuss. Which actually is right. (I remember there were 5 webinars in 2 days about metastatic Ca prostate management) In fact people are jokingly saying - we have to appoint a research cell to research what is not discussed in webinars. Too much of even medicine has toxicity - same way too much webinars defeat its purpose. However other side of it is - what is harm in having more webinars. As such no cost is involved, Even USI is not spending any money, if it is free, then let 100s of webinar happen. Those who wish to see, will see, even if there are 10 people watching, it is beneficial for them. There is no compulsion for people to watch. So why criticise webinar numbers. In fact people have choice, if you do not want to see, forget, Nobody has lost any money. 
    2) Next is actual benefit of these webinars - As compared to retention power - what you hear in webinar - I feel is very poor as compared to conferences. I still remember some of the lectures, orations given in conferences, but I can't say that about webinars , I have already forgotten them - even those where I was faculty. SO webinars can't replace physical conf. 
    3) Certainly webinar has potential to try & test new speakers. They can be given opportunity. IN physical conf you do not want to take chance with totally newcomer as, if he does not deliver well, audience's money, time is wasted. so many things are at stake, that is not in webinar, nobody is at loss. 
    4) In conference / class room, that atmosphere is there, which helps to great extent, about retention of what is taught. sitting at home, it is totally lacking 
    if we see our own webinars by USI or by many other organizations, the enthusiasm has gone down. As Dr Venu sir pointed out, how many will persist after work starts is important. in the beginning of pandemic, with so many webinars, - it appeared that everybody wants to teach somebody. now that is gone, all those have disappeared. Teaching is huge commitment which does not come & go in waves. It has to be sustained. Sudden spurt of new teachers via webinars will not replace them, & webinars will also not replace old fashion classroom teaching / cases discussion or conferences. 

  • Dr. Roy Chally
    Dr. Roy Chally
    31 Oct 2020 10:12:26 AM

    Totally agree with Sabnis that the speakers particularly the young are benefitted. 

    Webinar’s to be beneficial, the audience also should be given an opportunity to participate.
    Speakers in we ebinar’s are now imparting a rigid view point on the subject. One objective in teaching is to create an inquisitive mind. 
    How to foster this in webinar’s is a challenge. 

  • Ravindra Sabnis
    Ravindra Sabnis
    25 Nov 2020 02:18:26 PM

    I feel webinar has some benefits, physical classroom teaching have some benefit. We need to take better aspect form all forms & come out with maximally beneficial hybrid system which will impart knowledge & at that same time, as Dr Roy Chally sir said, will stimulate them to think of their own. We should create urologists who should have capacity to think rather than tell what has been to ld them as parrot. 

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