Presented By: Vedprakash Mishra, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University)
Co-Authors: Russell Franco D'Souza, UNESCO
Surapaneni Krishna Mohan, Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute
Princy Louis Palatty, Amrita School of Medicine
Mary Mathew, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE)

Purpose
Bioethics has been formally introduced into the medical and healthcare curriculum in India. All teaching faculty are expected to be trained to teach medical ethics as an integral part of the curriculum. An accredited face-to-face integrated bioethics training program was designed and developed by expert faculty from the Department of Education under the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics (Haifa). This course has successfully trained more than 2000 senior medical, dental and allied health sciences teaching faculty in India. As an extension of this, a live interactive webinar series was designed and piloted in India and Africa. This sixteen-week online teaching programme was implemented successfully.

Methods
The usefulness of teaching bioethics using a live interactive webinar-based model was assessed using a structured questionnaire that was administered before and after each session to the participants of the International Certificate Course on The Principles of Bioethics and Human Rights (based on UDBHR) in Health Sciences.

Results
Participants demonstrated a significant increase in understanding of the subject (P<0.001; as evaluated by paired "t" test) for all the topics that were conducted and assessed. These results suggest that this online distance teaching-learning methodology satisfies the objective of providing evidence-informed teaching in bioethics faculty development. The major advantage of this online distance teaching-learning methodology is that it is a cost-effective method for delivering effective bioethics education.

Conclusions
This study clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of online distance teaching-learning methodology as a teaching tool in bioethics for faculty. This is a welcome option for overworked yet enthusiastic teachers of bioethics. This methodology can reach a wider audience of trainers and participants across the world at the same time. It allows for interaction with the trainer, immediate clarification of doubts and expression of opinions synchronously. It is cost-effective and can be attended from the comfort of home or workplace.