E-Learning in family medicine education: faculty support in a community clerkship

E-learning was planned as a test for medical students within their curriculum of family medicine. A multi-modular online-offer specific to the target group accompanies the 10th term medical students during their peripheral practical courses in family practices. Teaching objectives are as follows: (1) Introduction into e-learning, (2) clinical general medicine - online-module, (3) chronic care online-module, (4) online-application. The systematic evaluation shows that e-learning promotes the communication of students both among themselves and with the university during their practical courses. On the basis of the experiences from this pilot test the combination with more traditional teaching methods (blended learning) seems to be a promising option for medical education.