The AO Foundation (The Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen), is a Davos-based, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the care of patients with musculoskeletal injuries.

However, they found that their cornerstone programme that was designed to train and equip junior surgeons was amongst the dullest and hardest to master.

The Challenge

The Müller AO Classification of long bone fractures is the standard classification used by trauma surgeons and physicians dealing with skeletal trauma worldwide. It is at the heart of the AO training programme and the difficulty in teaching the classification system effectively has led to young medical professionals dealing with trauma patients in busy hospitals being unable to speedily and accurately describe fracture injuries to their medical colleagues.

This leads to delays and confusion in treatment. Whilst training is available, skills fade was also a concern, with busy staff potentially forgetting much of what they had learned after the programme had completed.

AO Foundation approached LINE with a very specific request: turn a highly specialised subject that was perceived as boring, but incredibly important, into something that would be seen as a gold-standard example of e-learning.

The development challenges were formidable.

The highly technical skills of AO and specialist surgeons had to be captured to create a suite of e-learning that would not only be compelling and acceptable to a profession where e-learning is not common-place, but, most importantly, would lead to quicker and more accurate diagnosis of musculoskeletal injuries.

So how was it done?

Here are just some of the tips that made this an award winner:

1. Use stories to set the scene but make sure are authentic
2. Assign learners a role in the process , setting realistic goals so that see how their actions influence results
3. Borrow gaming ideas to engage by add time related elements to exercises to create a sense of competition and urgency

For more ideas and inspiration, download the full case study below.

This case study has been independently investigated and developed by Towards Maturity as part of our Good practice Partnership with e.Learning Age and the e.Learning Awards..It was first published in e.Learning age Magazine in 2012.

To read the full story please click on the download below.

Related downloads

• LINE and AO Foundation bringing dry bones of theory to life