INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY-BASED LEARNING APPROACHES IMPLEMENTED IN EUDONORGAN PROJECT: WEBINARS, WEBAPP AND FACE TO FACE TRAINING

Introduction:
In the digital era, higher education teachers need a strong education framework based on the use of innovative teaching methods and emerging technology tools that respond to the current educational needs. Web based learning, flipped classroom or virtual simulations are some of the educational strategies that institutions are committed to implement in their training programs, both online and face to face, with the use of ICTs. Within this technology-based context, we present EUDONORGAN, an educational and social awareness project that aims at developing and implementing two types of activities at EU level, focusing on training and improving social awareness to enhance the positive attitude towards organ and tissue donation.

Methods:
The project is structured in two complementary phases managed by four European countries: Spain as leader, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. Phase I was focused on training (TxT) health professionals (HP) and other relevant actors (NHP) in the field of health in organ and tissue donation. Phase II consisted of the organization of social awareness raising events according to the guidelines established. Phase I amounted to 100 study hours and followed a blended learning system. These training sessions were based on active learning methods with the integration of the main adult learning principles. Considering this pedagogical perspective, three different constructivist based learning environments were proposed: webinars as synchronous learning seminars; WebApp in self-study format with the use of motion graphic educational contents and face to face sessions that boosted hands-on learning and best practice exchange. Webinars, WebApp and face to face were evaluated by participants on a scale from 1-poor to 5-excellent. The acquisition of knowledge after the course was compared with the pre-course knowledge level.

Results:
In phase I, a survey on knowledge, attitude and perception was carried out before and after training to measure the impact. We received 173 applications out of which 101 participants from 28 different countries were: 79 HP (51 medical doctors, 27 registered nurses, and 1 medical student) and 22 other key players (8 transplant patients and patients’ representatives, 2 journalists, 8 communication experts, 1 manager and 3 others). WebApp was evaluated with 4,45 (on a scale from 1-poor to 5-excellent) and we could see 25,22% of knowledge improvement among healthcare professionals and 29,47% among other key players upon completion. The face to face session was evaluated with 4,44 (on a scale from 1-poor to 5-excellent). A total of 96 participants were successfully certified. In phase II, European organ donation data has been analysed and 6 tailored agendas were proposed. By 2019, a minimum of 350 to 400 European participants will benefit from this project.

Conclusions:
EUDONORGAN is a unique and challenging innovative technology-based. Blended-learning strategies are considered to train HP and NHP that will be involved in the organization of events with the final aim of improving social awareness and enhance a positive attitude towards organ and tissue donation, and ultimately help improving donation rates.