Distributed Autonomous Organization of Learning: Future Structure for Health Professions Education Institutions

Daniel Cabrera; Christopher P Nickson; Damian Roland; Elissa Hall; Felix Ankel

doi:10.2196/28770

Distributed Autonomous Organization of Learning: Future Structure for Health Professions Education Institutions

JMIR Med Educ. 2022 Jan 4;8(1):e28770. doi: 10.2196/28770.

Authors

Daniel Cabrera^#¹, Christopher P Nickson², Damian Roland^{3

4}, Elissa Hall⁵, Felix Ankel⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States.
² Intensive Care Unit, Alfred Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
³ SAPPHIRE Group, Health Sciences, Leicester University, Leicester, United Kingdom.
⁴ Paediatric Emergency Medicine Leicester Academic (PEMLA) Group, Children's Emergency Department, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, United Kingdom.
⁵ Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States.
⁶ Department of Emergency Medicine, Regions Hospital, HealthPartners Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34982722
PMCID: PMC8767473
DOI: 10.2196/28770

Abstract

Current health professions education (HPE) institutions are based on an assembly-line hierarchical structure. The last decade has witnessed the advent of sophisticated networks allowing the exchange of information and educational assets. Blockchain provides an ideal data management framework that can support high-order applications such as learning systems and credentialing in an open and a distributed fashion. These system management characteristics enable the creation of a distributed autonomous organization of learning (DAOL). This new type of organization allows for the creation of decentralized adaptive competency curricula, simplification of credentialing and certification, leveling of information asymmetry among educational market stakeholders, assuring alignment with societal priorities, and supporting equity and transparency.

Keywords: blockchain; credentialing; curriculum; decentralization; education; health professionals; instruction; medical education; multidisciplinary; training.

©Daniel Cabrera, Christopher P Nickson, Damian Roland, Elissa Hall, Felix Ankel. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (https://mededu.jmir.org), 04.01.2022.