Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia.
J Altern Complement Med. 2020 Apr;26(4):335-345. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0319. Epub 2020 Feb 3.
The complementary medicine (CM) education sector is maturing as evidenced by rising professionalization and improved educational standards. However, despite the substantial size of the CM industry the education of existing and future CM practitioners has received little research attention. The aim of the study reported here is to explore the perceptions of CM teaching academics (working across the university and nonuniversity CM education sector) to the use of learning technologies in their work. An online survey was administered to academic staff ( = 80) at two key CM education provider institutions, one in Australia and one in the United States. Academics were questioned regarding four specific domains: their demographics; their perceptions and experiences of technologies in general; their perceptions of the changing face of CM education and the role of the CM teacher in general; and their perceptions of their institution's infrastructure, progress, and support regarding learning technologies. Respondents reported having taught for a mean of 9.6 years overall and a mean of 5.3 years at their current institution. More respondents identified as female, and most participants were employed on duration-specific contracts ( = 57, 72.2%). A majority of permanent employees (71%) reported not currently being in clinical practice, while most contract employees (82%) were in clinical practice. Participants reported that teaching practice was changing due to the availability of learning technologies (mean 4.2: standard deviation [SD] 0.79) and that confidence and capability with digital technologies were essential to being a successful academic (mean 4.2: SD 0.74). Contracted academics were significantly more in agreement than the tenured academics with regards to their institution being more advanced with regards to the effective use of digital technologies ( = 0.025). Tenured academics were significantly more likely than the contracted academics to perceive themselves as having a positive influence upon recommendations for new technologies to be adopted by their institution ( = 0.001), as well as input to decision-making about which technologies are implemented in their area of work ( < 0.001). This in-depth empirical study of CM academics' perspectives provides novel but measured preliminary insights into the place and value of learning technologies in CM education. This research is consistent with other educational research suggesting that academics have complex patterns of technology adoption and that over simplified interpretations of resistance to change among academics require modification and should not be seen as the rejection of technologies by academics. Ultimately, more research exploring the interface of CM education and learning technologies is needed, including comparisons with staff and academic perspectives within and across other CM institutions, integrative medicine institutions, and medical education settings.
补充医学（CM）教育领域正在成熟，这体现在专业化程度的提高和教育标准的改善上。然而，尽管补充医学行业规模庞大，但对现有和未来补充医学从业者的教育却很少受到关注。本研究旨在探讨 CM 教学学者（在大学和非大学 CM 教育领域工作）对其工作中使用学习技术的看法。 我们对两所关键的 CM 教育机构的学术人员（澳大利亚一所，美国一所）进行了在线调查。询问了学者们关于四个特定领域的问题：他们的人口统计学特征；他们对技术的看法和经验；他们对 CM 教育面貌变化的看法以及 CM 教师的一般作用；以及他们对所在机构在学习技术方面的基础设施、进展和支持的看法。 受访者报告称，他们的平均教学年限为 9.6 年，在当前机构的平均教学年限为 5.3 年。更多的受访者是女性，大多数参与者是根据合同期限（ = 57，72.2%）受雇的。大多数固定员工（71%）报告称目前没有从事临床实践，而大多数合同员工（82%）正在从事临床实践。参与者报告称，由于学习技术的可用性，教学实践正在发生变化（平均值为 4.2：标准差 [SD] 0.79），并且对数字技术的信心和能力对于成为一名成功的学者至关重要（平均值为 4.2：SD 0.74）。与终身制的学术人员相比，合同制的学术人员更认同他们所在的机构在有效利用数字技术方面更先进（ = 0.025）。终身制的学术人员比合同制的学术人员更有可能认为自己对所在机构采用新技术的建议有积极影响（ = 0.001），并且对所在领域采用哪些技术的决策有投入（ < 0.001）。 这项对 CM 学者观点的深入实证研究提供了新颖但经过衡量的初步见解，了解了学习技术在 CM 教育中的地位和价值。这项研究与其他教育研究一致，表明学者们采用技术的模式复杂多样，过于简化的对学术人员抵制变革的解释需要修改，不应该被视为学术人员拒绝技术。最终，需要进行更多探索 CM 教育与学习技术接口的研究，包括与其他 CM 机构、综合医学机构和医学教育环境中的员工和学术人员观点进行比较。
