Learning technologies are integral to the courses run through the Melbourne Medical School.

MD Connect™

The MD Connect™ software is specific to the Doctor of Medicine (MD) and is the primary curriculum delivery platform. Delivering resources, managing clinical portfolios and placements, and messaging being just a few of the key functions and activities it supports. The Melbourne Medical School also employ a range of in-house and commercial technologies to support your learning which are accessed through a Software Launcher.

From Year 1 of the course, all MD students have access to the following modules through a web based application.

Timetable

This allows you to view your own personal weekly timetable, select a learning event, and then directly access specific resources associated with that event. Additional information such as the location of a lecture, the lecturer and their contact details are also provided.

Announcements

This communication tool will notify you of important information, timetable changes, upcoming events etc. Messages may originate from the Biomedical Science Academic Centre, the Medical Education Unit, Melbourne Medical School or Clinical Schools.

Curriculum - Search Resources

Many resources are used to support the medical curriculum, including lecture slides and recordings, textbook readings, journal articles, notes, video and audio files, websites and medical portals. You will have direct access to these resources by conducting keyword or title searches, and most resources will be downloadable to your own computer.

Curriculum - Browse

This feature provides an alternative way to access resources, allowing you to browse through curriculum material arranged by year, term and weeks of the entire MD course.

Library

A portal for accessing a targeted selection of medical and biomedical resources via the University library’s online collection. It includes:

• Over 20 online bioscience and medical textbooks
• Search tools optimised for finding academic, scientific and biomedical information;
• Unrestricted access to key clinical support resources (e.g., Australian Medicines Handbook, MD Consult);
• Other useful sites related to bioscience and medicine, including Medical and Biomedical LibGuides.

From Year 2 onwards, MD students will have access to additional modules:

Patient Records

Electronic health records are an increasingly important feature of the national healthcare system, in both primary care and hospital settings. To help you develop expertise in the practice of creating, storing and managing high quality patient records, MD Connect™ features a patient record system designed for clinical education. The system allows you to capture details of your clinical encounters and store de-identified patient information in a secure database. It also mediates online access to specialist medical databases such as the Australian Medicines Handbook.

Procedure Log

A clinical procedures log allows you to record when and where they performed a particular clinical procedure and to access key information concerning these procedures.

Learning Management System

Blackboard is the University's central Learning Management System (LMS) and is used by most of the courses delivered through the Melbourne Medical School. With regard to the Doctor of Medicine (MD) the majority of related resources and activities are directly supported by MD Connect, although some will continue to be delivered and supported by the LMS. In Year 1 of the Doctor of Medicine, the following components of the LMS are used: 

• Grade Centre (for posting assessment results)
• Discussion Boards (for communication between students, groups and tutors)