Utilising Dropboxâ„¢ for Free and Shared Educational Resources: A New Initiative
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Abstract
Introduction
Plastic surgery trainees in the UK are required to complete six years of higher surgical training. During this period, they must pass the Intercollegiate Specialty Examination (FRCS(Plast)) in order to gain the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and be eligible to be placed on the GMC specialist register, subsequently enabling them to apply for consultant posts.
The FRCS(Plast) examination consists of two written sections, a single best answer paper and an extended matching item paper. The syllabus is extensive and a great depth of knowledge is required to pass the exam. Many books and courses are offered to aid revision, however these can be extremely costly to the candidates and often the texts are too detailed.
Background
Three years ago, a collaboration of senior plastic surgeons placed their revision notes online in a Dropbox™ file. Their aim was to create a free, invitation-only resource, which would provide plastic surgical trainees with all the key information they need to pass the exit examination. They built the website ‘www.frcsplast.com’, whereby trainees could read about the resource, the thinking behind the scheme, and then contact the administrators to request access to the resources in the Dropbox file. The trainee is then granted access to the files and is free to utilise them at their discretion. Trainees are able to edit the information within the Dropbox files, which keeps the documents up to date. However, if any information is incorrectly added or removed, other trainees or an administrator can moderate the information in a similar manner to Wikipedia™.
At present, over 250 trainees have access to the files supplied by www.frcsplast.com, however to date there has been no formative assessment as to whether they have found the resources to be a useful tool to aid their revision.
Method
A questionnaire was sent out to each of the trainees registered to share the resources in the Dropbox file. We assessed the stage of the trainee, whether or not they had sat and passed their examination and if they found the files to have been useful.
Results
All of the trainees questioned stated that they had found the resources available on www.frcsplast.com to be useful in their revision for the FRCS(Plast) exit examination and their training in general. Those who had access to the resource ranged from first year surgical trainees, all the way up to consultant surgeons.
Conclusion
Providing a free resource, which is available by invitation-only, is an excellent and selfless initiative to aid trainees. Those who have access to the files provided by www.frcsplast.com have greatly benefited from the information available.
This model is an excellent example of how shared resources can benefit trainees and we suggest that this should be adopted by other specialities. This resource fosters communication amongst trainees and promotes goodwill.
Plastic surgery trainees in the UK are required to complete six years of higher surgical training. During this period, they must pass the Intercollegiate Specialty Examination (FRCS(Plast)) in order to gain the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and be eligible to be placed on the GMC specialist register, subsequently enabling them to apply for consultant posts.
The FRCS(Plast) examination consists of two written sections, a single best answer paper and an extended matching item paper. The syllabus is extensive and a great depth of knowledge is required to pass the exam. Many books and courses are offered to aid revision, however these can be extremely costly to the candidates and often the texts are too detailed.
Background
Three years ago, a collaboration of senior plastic surgeons placed their revision notes online in a Dropbox™ file. Their aim was to create a free, invitation-only resource, which would provide plastic surgical trainees with all the key information they need to pass the exit examination. They built the website ‘www.frcsplast.com’, whereby trainees could read about the resource, the thinking behind the scheme, and then contact the administrators to request access to the resources in the Dropbox file. The trainee is then granted access to the files and is free to utilise them at their discretion. Trainees are able to edit the information within the Dropbox files, which keeps the documents up to date. However, if any information is incorrectly added or removed, other trainees or an administrator can moderate the information in a similar manner to Wikipedia™.
At present, over 250 trainees have access to the files supplied by www.frcsplast.com, however to date there has been no formative assessment as to whether they have found the resources to be a useful tool to aid their revision.
Method
A questionnaire was sent out to each of the trainees registered to share the resources in the Dropbox file. We assessed the stage of the trainee, whether or not they had sat and passed their examination and if they found the files to have been useful.
Results
All of the trainees questioned stated that they had found the resources available on www.frcsplast.com to be useful in their revision for the FRCS(Plast) exit examination and their training in general. Those who had access to the resource ranged from first year surgical trainees, all the way up to consultant surgeons.
Conclusion
Providing a free resource, which is available by invitation-only, is an excellent and selfless initiative to aid trainees. Those who have access to the files provided by www.frcsplast.com have greatly benefited from the information available.
This model is an excellent example of how shared resources can benefit trainees and we suggest that this should be adopted by other specialities. This resource fosters communication amongst trainees and promotes goodwill.
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