"Let’s accelerate the movement to serve our constituency."
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Globally, there have been rapid developments in the prevention, diagnosis and comprehensive management of spinal cord injury. This assumes importance since spinal cord injuries are one of the most devastating ailments that pose a grave challenge to humanity. Despite significant developments over the last few decades, there exists a substantial gap between what is “possible” or “needed” and that “actually available” to people living with this devastating ailment. We are all aware that many spinal injured people are not managed appropriately at the first opportunity. Changing this scenario does not require a large effort or economic resource. Awareness and availability of knowledge amongst health professionals, as well as all others concerned with SCI management should make a significant impact, as is obvious from various studies. Recognizing the great need for an educational resource, ISCoS had conceived elearnSCI.org with a view to disseminate knowledge & improve the quality of lives of people living with spinal cord injuries. ElearnSCI.org is thus a landmark global educational initiative of ISCoS. |
The Proposal for elearnSCI was approved by ISCoS in October 2010. A company was finalised to develop the web interface. Module coordinators, subcommittee coordinators & members were appointed. Editorial Committee and subcommittee meetings were held in Washington. In addition, there were several Core-group Meetings. The content was developed by Subcommittees and improved with feedback of Elearn Editorial Committees.
The educational resource was pilot run in an elearning workshop in April 2012 in Delhi. The content was discussed thread bare in the Editorial Committee meetings. The feedback was then circulated to Subcommittee coordinators. The revised submodule was recirculated to Editorial Committee before the content was uploaded on Website. The resource was launched in the ISCoS ASM in London on 4th September, 2012.
The comprehensive e-learning resource comprises of 07 modules and 88 submodules. Each sub-module covers a specific component of management and includes a presentation giving an overview of the topic, activity-based learning exercises, references and self-assessment questions. Other components of elearnSCI.org include glossary, FAQs, User Guidelines and some other information.
ElearnSCI.org is unique on several counts. It is the first such educational resource and is available globally totally free of charge. There has been consumer input on the resource. 332 experts from 33 countries and 31 Sub-committees have contributed ensuring that the information available is applicable globally irrespective of the socio-economic and cultural background of the region.
It is not possible to acknowledge by name everybody who has contributed since the list is exhaustive. However, I would want to especially acknowledge all the experts who have voluntarily contributed to the educational resource. The collaborating partners i.e. Asian Spinal Cord Network (ASCoN), Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, Livability and The Lifetime Care and Support Scheme also deserve a special acknowledgement as do the module coordinators, elearnSCI.org Editorial Committee, Consumer Advisory Committee, ISCOS-Education Committee, ISCoS Scientific Committee, ISCoS Executive, Project Coordinators and ISIC Editorial Committee. Of course, I would want to also acknowledge ASSI General Body for supporting the whole project. I would want to also express gratitude to Himanshu and his team from Grapes Software for developing the web platform and uploading the educational resource.
The Successful launch of the project brings to fruition the unparalleled global contribution of a large number of experts. Hope you enjoy going through this innovative ISCoS initiative and provide us with your feedback. However, the launch should not make us complacent. Infact, we have just stepped out and the journey continue. We should not be daunted by it as well. Since "Together We Can"….
Dr. HS Chhabra
President, ISCoS
Chief Project Coordinator