Massive open online courses are relevant for postgraduate medical training

INTRODUCTION: The CanMEDS framework describes seven roles in postgraduate training, but training and courses relevant to these roles can be limited. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) – free online courses in which anyone can participate, anywhere – may improve course participation. This study investigates the relevance of MOOCs for postgraduate medical training within the CanMEDS framework. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We extracted a list of all courses posted by the two largest MOOC providers, Coursera and EdX, and reviewed all course descriptions and categorised each course into one of three categories – “relevant,” “possibly relevant” or “not relevant” – reflecting the degree of relevance to each of the seven CanMEDS roles. We also noted course workload, duration and the name of the educational institution. RESULTS: We agreed the most on the role of health advocate (Cronbach’s α = 0.85) and the least on the role of collaborator (Cronbach’s α = 0.46). After a consensus-building process, 165 courses were found to be relevant or possibly relevant, mostly to the roles as scholar (n = 75) and medical expert (n = 57). The courses had a median duration of seven weeks and a median weekly workload of 4.5 hours, and were predominantly from North American universities. CONCLUSION: A large number of MOOCs are relevant for postgraduate medical training. A weekly workload of 4.5 hours may enable course participation even for busy clinicians. Physicians should consider these free and universally available courses as relevant and potentially effective means of education.