Hello to #asme11!

This is a quick introduction to who I am and why I am interested in the use of technology in medical education, and especially the benefits (and risks) of social media and networks.

I've written a quick post over on the Med Ed Connect blog asking for those coming to our workshop on social media and networks in medical education to leave a quick introduction so that we could start to get to know each other. So here is my own quick introduction. Really looking forward to meeting you.

AMEE offers virtual participation in September conference

"Dear Colleague

Problem - Are you unable to attend the AMEE 2010 Conference due to funding issues, time constraints or travel problems?

Solution - The AMEE 2010 Conference will be available Live Online.

Join key conference sessions live online:
get the best seat in the house without leaving your home or office and take part in the plenary presentations by international experts, on your own or with your colleagues, through webstreaming. Comment or submit questions by texting or phoning. A theme of the conference is the future of medical education from an international perspective. If the time is not suitable, join a transmission of the session later in the day.
meet the plenary speakers along with the other online conference participants, following the plenary presentations in a dedicated interactive question and answer sessions. All you need is a broadband connection. If you have a webcam and microphone you will also be seen and heard when you ask a question or comment.
participate, through webstreaming, in conference symposia on important topics including updates in medical education, team-based learning, self-assessment, research in medical education, medical education in the 21st C, the future doctor and the future curriculum. Comment or submit questions by texting or phoning.
access an on-demand recording of a review of 7 years of AMEE Fringe sessions highlighting some of the most innovative and somewhat different ideas about medical education.
access an on-demand recording of the final Spotlight sessions where six speakers highlight key take-home messages from the conference, in particular relating to the new learning technologies, research in medical education, interprofessional education, undergraduate education, postgraduate and continuing education and a student perspective
access online abstracts of the 450 short communications and 600 posters.
access recordings of the sessions to watch at your leisure if you can’t participate live.

Perhaps not as good as being there in person but certainly the next best thing. Join online and hear about and share key developments taking place in medical education.

Please look at the programme for the online conference to see the exciting range of contributions and topics covered at http://www.amee.org/index.asp?lm=129

Enrol for AMEE 2010 live online at www.amee.org for only £99. This entitles you to one login with the sessions viewed by an individual or multiple users at one computer.

Participants registering by 22nd August will be entered into a draw for a free registration for AMEE 2011 in Vienna"

Tweeting from a conference.

If you are following me on twitter you will have noticed many #comet09 tweets in the last two days. There will be more tomorrow as the conference finishes in the afternoon. So what was it about? COMET is an interdisciplinary conference in communication, medicine and ethics. It moves around the world and this year was on my doorstep in Cardiff so too good an opportunity to miss.

I decided to tweet because I thought the content would be interesting to quite a few of the people I know on Twitter. And it was. Some of the things that happened:

• @jrbtrip found out what an old colleague was up to
• @hadleybeeman and I had a discussion about whether patients had the right to not engage in partnership with their GP in their care
• @mrhyde found out about some research on how people who are obese access information on the internet.
• @vmontori who was a co-author of some work that my colleague presented was kept up to date although he was still on the other side of the Atlantic.
• @casesnetwork kept up to date with Brian Huritz's lecture.

And after seeing a presentation about using multiple modalities in drug patient information leaflets I remembered that I had seen a lightning talk about this last week at Health Camp but couldn't remember who. I tweeted and had the answer before the speaker had finished her presentation.

I do seem to have been the only person tweeting from COMET 09, but I predict that come COMET 10 in Boston there will be a few more. This was not about providing a backchannel to the conference, but simply about bringing the contents of interesting dialogues to a wider audience. So if you are listening to someone stimulating, think about tweeting. The chances are that someone you know will be glad that you have made the effort to share.