Medical education in pediatric and congenital heart disease: A focus on generational learning and technology in education

Medical education is a complex interplay between teacher and trainee with the ultimate goal of producing competent physicians who provide excellent patient care. Physician education has evolved over centuries, from the apprenticeship of barber-surgeon through generations of bedside teachers and now evolving use of technology based instruction. All of these educational practices are based on expert assessment of effective techniques for imparting experience and knowledge to a new group of learners, the young doctor. In the past several decades, exponential growth in both medical innovation and technology development has occurred, leaving the current landscape of medical education with a substantial amount of medical data as well as innovative platforms for information access and distribution. These rapid changes have led to stark differences between medical educators and learners in their world views and preferences relating to teaching and learning. Therefore, understanding how the current generation of medical trainees perceives the world, accesses and retains information is imperative to effective education. The concept of generational learning can be used as a framework to identify teaching and learning preferences and help build relevant and effective educational content. This review article aims to outline our current understanding of generational characteristics, learning styles, and preferences. Using this framework, we will explore innovative educational content relevant to pediatric cardiology. Finally, we propose that a methodical approach to curriculum development will forge this generational gap and lead to even more effective and sharable educational content within our field.