Cochrane ClassMate: a trainer’s toolkit to support and enhance evidence production training activities with interactive micro-tasks

Tags: Workshop
Noel-Storr A1, Dooley G2, Watts C3, Wisniewski S4, Sriganesh V5
1Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, Oxford University, 2Metaxis Ltd, 3Cochrane Learning and Support Department, 4Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, UK, 5QMed Foundation, India

Objectives: People often learn best by doing. Trainers will be able to use Cochrane ClassMate to create exciting activities for learning about evidence production and synthesis. The tool will allow trainers and educators to create rewarding ‘learning by doing’ classroom activities by customising tasks from the Cochrane Crowd platform: http://crowd.cochrane.org. Learners will improve their research and information skills by carrying out practical tasks in identifying and classifying clinical trials and studies. Tasks can be tailored to their areas of interest or expertise.

Description: The workshop will begin with a series of short presentations describing the aims and objectives of Cochrane ClassMate, and the progress of the project to date, including reporting on the results of early pilot evaluations of the tool.

The workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to create a learning event using the Cochrane ClassMate toolkit, involving:

- selecting an appropriate micro-task such as RCT identification;

- selecting an appropriate topic area if applicable, such as depression or asthma;

- deciding on the size of the group and setting of the students;

- deciding what the reward/s should be.

We will also run a predesigned event within the workshop to demonstrate how ClassMate can be used.

The workshop is open to all with an interest in, and able to use, Cochrane Crowd’s tasks within learning or training environments.