Global Hackathon Aims to Solve Challenges in Medical Education Through Technological Innovation

LONDON, September 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Elsevier sponsors world's first medical education hackathon: AMEE Hacks held Sept. 4-6 in Glasgow  

Eighty designers, developers and medical experts from around the world will gather in Glasgow to solve the most pressing technology issues in medical education during AMEE Hacks, a 48-hour hackathon presented by the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE).

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is the headline sponsor of AMEE Hacks. The hackathon, a first for medical education, takes place from Sept. 4-6, in conjunction with the annual AMEE conference, Sept. 6-8, in Glasgow, UK.

"The event is designed to explore how we can improve medical education," said Jeremy Chui, Lead Organiser at Hack Partners, which organized the hackathon. "We want to change how students learn and think about medicine by using technology to enhance their educational experience. These new innovations will help aspiring doctors be more efficient and ultimately provide better healthcare across the world."

The two-day event, in Glasgow, Scotland, will bring together medical students, medical teachers, psychologists, learning technologists, educationalists, software developers, project managers, graphic designers and interaction specialists to create technology solutions for issues in medical education.

"Elsevier is making available an extensive catalogue of content and data from our key undergraduate texts and eProducts for the hackers to use, providing them unlimited scope to create technologies that will hopefully innovate the medical education industry," said Yvonne Ridge, Product Director for Clinical Education, Elsevier. "The teams can choose which challenge they want to address. It will be really interesting to see the finished technology at the end of the event."

From over 300 applications, 80 participants have been selected to take part in the event. The hackers will be grouped into small teams and independently create a technology that best answers a challenged posed by the event sponsors and the wider AMEE community. Medical education mentors from Elsevier and other sponsoring organisations will be available to guide and motivate the hackers throughout the event. Also, Elsevier is sending a 2^nd year medical student from Cardiff University to participate in the hackathon. The student won a competition on Elsevier's social media channels and will receive a £50 Elsevier book voucher and a one-year subscription to Elsevier's adaptive learning tool, ExamPrep.

"Personalisation and adaptive learning are two of the key themes being explored at this event, and we know that our customers have a growing interest in those themes," said Gemma Simpson, Marketing Director, Education EMEA/LA, Elsevier. "As a provider of digital education solutions, we see this event as an opportunity to engage with the medical education and technology communities and show our support for innovation and creative problem-solving."

Each AMEE Hacks team will present to a panel of judges at the end of the 48 hours and prizes will be awarded across a number of categories, with the winning team being given the opportunity to visit the Netherlands and have an exclusive tour of Elsevier's headquarters in Amsterdam.

About AMEE 

The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) is a worldwide organisation with members in 90 countries on five continents. Members include teachers, educators, researchers, administrators, curriculum developers, deans, assessors, students and trainees in medicine and the healthcare professions. AMEE promotes international excellence in education in the healthcare professions across the continuum of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. AMEE, working with other organisations, supports teachers and institutions in their current educational activities and in the development of new approaches to curriculum planning, teaching and learning methods, assessment techniques and educational management, in response to advances in medicine, changes in healthcare delivery and patient demands and new educational thinking and techniques. http://www.amee.org

About Elsevier 

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes more than 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Christopher Capot
Director, Corporate Relations
Elsevier
+1-917-704-5174
c.capot@elsevier.com