THE RAPID REMAKING OF ONLINE LEARNING

How we approach change and difficulty often defines us. I say this as a preface for a short quote adapted from Benjamin Franklin:

ADVERSITY BREEDS INNOVATION

As any sonographer will confirm, where you place your focus greatly impacts the quality of your image, or said another way, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses”.

While we at Pegasus Lectures can’t change the world by ourselves, we can tend to our little garden, which is providing the best in continuing medical education and ultrasound registry preparation. As discussed previously, Pegasus Lectures has invested heavily in expanding our distance learning platform over these last nine months. The fruits of this labor are nearing harvest.

Keeping this in mind, we wanted to discuss three factors influencing our innovation and improvement.

Demand for Asynchronous eLearning

Due to the sudden elimination of commutes, travel and (sadly) leisure activities for many people, the issue of self-discipline in the context of time-management has suddenly become relevant. In short, people have different paces in life, learning, and job performance.

Managers and educators are wrestling with this challenge, trying to synchronize self-starters, people who work off instructions/checklists, and those others who are best described as “motivationally challenged”.

We took these factors into consideration in designing our latest eCourses, balancing the needs of the more deliberate learners with the demands of dispositional “go-getters”.

Accordingly, you will notice improvements in:

• Flexibility

• Adaptability

• Customization

New features have been added to present materials in such a way that the user can dictate their own pace and review. The interfaces are more dynamic and designed to engage viewers, rather than (the industry-standard) slog through PowerPoint slide-decks with a couple cine-loops thrown in for variety.

Adaptive eLearning Displaces Fixed eLearning

Along the same lines as outlined above, we placed a greater emphasis on the user being able to create their unique learning environment. An integrated note-taking feature has been added, along with the utility to create a customizable review section, sharpening your focus in final test preparation run-throughs.

Users Demand Modularity

Time-management is being redefined today as never before. Where availability not so long ago was bounded by an “at work/gone home” paradigm, employer expectations have abruptly evolved. Unfortunately for many people, work has come home. This has created a frustrating environment where you are challenged to jump in and out of business and personal tasks nimbly.

Consequently, online learning must adapt to this reality. Being able to pick up where you left off, and allocate study time in 20-30 minute commitments is now a critical design feature. Especially when you have specific knowledge strengths and deficiencies, the ability to focus on specific subject-matter in a non-linear environment is optimally user-friendly.

In summary, each step of our development efforts has been driven by the needs of you, our customer. Our focus on accessibility and flexibility, combined with developing and delivering innovations in distance-learning technology has resulted in the most advanced and interactive distance learning platform available.

–Frank Miele, MSEE , President of Pegasus Lectures, Inc.  Frank graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a triple major in physics, mathematics, and engineering. While at Dartmouth, he was a Proctor Scholar and received citations for academic excellence in comparative literature, atomic physics and quantum mechanics, and real analysis. Frank was a research and design engineer and project leader, designing ultrasound equipment and electronics for more than ten years at Hewlett Packard Company. As a designer of ultrasound, he has lectured across the country to sonographers, physicians, engineers and students on myriad topics