News

U Chicago Keeps Medical Professionals Current with Online Training

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/06/10

The University of Chicago will be implementing an online training solution from Interactyx for its medical students. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center will commence using the company's service, Topyx, as its e-learning solution in 2010 for a two-year period.

"Being able to easily manage required courses to stay on top of changing curriculum needs and to create a new channel to help our medical professionals share ideas and expertise led us to choose TOPYX as our eLearning software solution," said Peter Smith, fellowship director for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. "We will be using it to coordinate a multisite course for general pediatrics residents in our subspecialty of developmental and behavioral pediatrics.

Smith explained that the unit runs a required month-long course for the residents both at the University of Chicago and Loyola University Medical Center. "The course, by its nature, occurs in many different physical locations, has a complex schedule, and includes both experiential and didactic components," he wrote in an e-mail. "Topyx is proving to be a tremendous upgrade for me as a teacher (coordinating the complexities of logistical scheduling) and will be, I hope, an upgrade for the learners too (with the social networking functions especially).

The hosted course management system provides schools with functionality to combine real-time discussion, case studies, and faculty and peer expertise and deliver it to users on multiple platforms, including mobile devices.

"TOPYX is ahead of the market in providing the resources we are asking for, and does so with an affordable, straight-forward manner," Smith said. "We are excited about the possibilities ahead of us. We see this as a great example of a win-win partnership."