In the above section, we talked about self-assessment as a phase of learning while building content for surgical training. Let's discuss it a little more in detail with examples of some self assessment modules available on Global Surgical Training Challenge Modules.
Self assessment is an important part of the open source surgical training as it allows the learner to assess their standing and gain confidence in the skills they have learned.
It can be in the form of a series of multiple choice questions or case-based assessment that gives them multiple scenarios to practice these skills.
Some examples of self assessment learning modules are as follows:
Technologies to create simulations for surgical trainings middle income countries[edit | edit source]
In order to be able to understand how to create simulations, we need to first understand what is a simulation?
A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. In surgical training environments we are using open source simulations to build hardware and software models of human body systems for learners to practice surgical skills before performing them in real life. This allows users to create low-cost learning environments especially in low income and resource constrained settings. Simulations can be hardware as well as made on software applications to be accessed via web.
Hardware Simulations
When it comes to hardware simulations, some technologies that can be used are 3D printers, mannequins, AED models, etc. These technologies help simulate real life human body models to practice surgical skills on.
Software Simulations
As the world is growing, virtual simulations of surgical training have become very common using virtual reality, augmented reality or mobile phone apps. If you have software simulations that you want the user to access, make sure that they are available to access for users through all platforms.
If it is a web application, be sure it is hosted online for anyone to access remotely. To host web based simulators, you will need a website, a domain and a hosting service. Make sure you are not providing a local computer link for web simulations. You can find out more about making websites publicly available here.
If you are building apps, make sure that they are available on Google Playstore and App Store for Android and Apple users respectively. We know that uploading an application on the App Store is more tricky than on Google Playstore, therefore, we also recommend considering an alternative mentioned below. Note that the app's functionality on the alternative will not be as good with respect to the real app but it will be closed since we are testing it on a simulated platform.
Follow steps to make the app live on Google Playstore
Follow these steps to make the app live on App Store
Follow these steps to upload the app on a web based android emulator (for apple users if you cannot make the app live on App Store)
You can also get your open-source content certified. An example of a platform that helps you do that is this