EURURO Vol. 72 No. 3

321 476

Platinum Opinion
KIUrologyX: Urology As You Like It—A Massive Open Online Course
for Medical Students, Professionals, Patients, and Laypeople Alike
Lars Henningsohn Nima Dastaviz Natalia Stathakarou Cormac McGrath
a Division of Urology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; bDepartment of Learning,
Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
We report on the design, execution, and results of one of the
world’s first clinical and in particular the first urology
massive open online course (MOOC). We argue that scalable
online learning not only offers urologists a unique
opportunity to teach a global audience of medical and
health care students and professionals but also utilises
elements of e-learning that allow everyone to learn about
urology and medical science.
MOOCs—online courses accessible to unlimited number
of participants on a global scale, with no prerequirements—
are attracting a lot of attention. MOOCs are often free of
charge and allow dissemination of knowledge to large
groups of people, including students, professionals, and
patient groups . Currently there are few clinical MOOCs;
a search of the current MOOC landscape on the biggest
platforms—edx, Coursera and Udacity—returned approxi-
mately 100 medical MOOCs, of which only 35 have a clinical
orientation and just one on urology. MOOC research is
inconclusive regarding effectiveness as a learning medium;
high attrition rates are reported and lack of participant
engagement is another concern. Nevertheless, engaged
participants have access to high-quality learning material
that allows them to maintain and facilitate their learning
.
The aim of this Platinum Opinion Editorial is to report on
the design and outcomes of the urology MOOC and to
outline in brief the differences in completion and perfor-
mance between specialist and non-specialist participants.
The planning of the KIUrologyX MOOC started 6 mo
before its launch. The total production cost was approxi-
mately s50 000. The team consisted of ten people, including
learning designers, a project leader, platform specialists,
and a video team. The course director spent approximately
1.5 mo of full-time work in completing the project. The
course material was structured into four main symptom
domains based on urology learning objectives in the
medical programme at Karolinska Institutet:
1. Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS);
2. Haematuria;
3. Pain and/or lumps in the scrotum; and
4. Erectile dysfunction.
The main learning outcome was that the student should
be able to describe, argue, and reason concerning the most
common symptoms for the urinary tract by the end of the
course.
The course consisted of a number of key components;
52 video lectures were recorded with a duration ranging
from <1 min up to 17.5 min. Video components in MOOCs
are critical, and provide a theoretical foundation for student
learning. It has been shown that short videos of 4–9 min in
length work best in the MOOC context All videos were
followed by case-based multiple-choice questions (MCQs)
to stimulate learning. To increase learners’ understanding of
the clinical reasoning within urology, the MCQ assessment
format was used in different ways throughout the course,
including ordinary case-based MCQs and selected differen-
tial diagnosis lists.
Two branched virtual patients (VPs) with continuous
feedback were implemented (prostate cancer and bladder
cancer) to enhance students’ training in clinical reasoning
and interactivity with the course content. Furthermore, the
course had a frequently asked questions module (FAQ), a
ava ilable at
journal homepage:
* Corresponding author. Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodava¨gen 18A, Stockholm 17177,
Sweden. Tel. +46 73 7121366.
E-mail address: (C. McGrath).
0302-2838/# 2017 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.