BSMS Capsule presented at the Ottawa 2024 Conference, Melbourne, Australia

Pictured above are Tim Vincent (BSMS), Dr Chee Yeen Fung (Imperial), Dr Bradley Williams and Prof Lizzi Shires (UTAS)

BSMS colleagues, in partnership with Imperial College London and the University of Tasmania Medical School, delivered a workshop at the Ottawa 2024 conference in Melbourne at the end of February. Titled ‘Make it work for your students: How to adapt formative assessment resources across international borders’, the session explored the process of adapting UK-based clinical learning content for Australian medical students – a task that has been successfully carried out over the past 18 months by the Capsule team and partners. The group of international participants were provided with a summary of the BSMS-UTAS experience and then given the opportunity to adapt example cases for their own learners’ contexts. This provided insight into the ease of adapting the majority of the UK-based content and the topics and writing styles that typically need to be adapted.

Tim Vincent, Senior Learning Technologist at BSMS, said: “The workshop was a great success. The participants were highly engaged and we had a very useful discussion. Not only did the participants seem to learn from our experience but we also gained helpful insights that will further enhance our Capsule content writing to make it as usable as possible for the global learning community.”

Tim also took the opportunity to visit the University of Tasmania’s Rural Clinical School in northwest Tasmania where medical students undertake practical skills training during their clinical placements. The campus also supports students of nursing, pharmacy, clinical psychology and other allied health professions. Tim met many of the dedicated staff team and explored the teaching facilities including two high-fidelity simulation wards and the novel virtual learning platform they have built. Tim says “It was clear that the team there gave high quality, well-resourced training to the students, including excellent social facilities to help generate a sense of belonging despite practising across a wide healthcare region. I really appreciated the time taken by the team to host me. Plus, I really appreciated the picturesque coastal setting – their beaches are much sandier than ours!”

As well as the University of Tasmania, Capsule is being used by the majority of UK medical schools. It remains a key clinical case-based learning resource that all BSMS educators can use in their teaching.

If you would like access to Capsule and insights into how it can help your teaching, contact the BSMS TEL Team: