The status and challenge of information technology in medical education

Abstract

Information technology (IT) has been greatly developed over the past decades. The developed IT becomes an important component in our life, which will affect the teaching and learning process. There are both big challenges and huge potential in the use of IT in education. With some unique characteristics in medical education, using IT as a tool can affect the medical curriculum and profession. This article presents the status and challenge of IT in medical education. First, the rapid development of IT used in general education is described, which is compared with the status of IT in medical education. Then, the challenge of IT facing teachers and students is discussed. Lastly, the promise of IT in medical education is provided. Both China and other countries need to develop new IT in medical education. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.