Teaching academic writing to medical professionals using computer communication media

Academic writing is an important skill of those medical professionals who wish to engage in education and research. In addition, many medical professionals whose first language is not English need to learn academic writing in English because it is the dominant language in academic communications. At most universities in Taiwan, however, academic writing is not included in the undergraduate curriculum, and therefore most of the medical professionals began to learn academic writing after starting their careers. Medical professionals usually have busy schedules and need to do shift work, but learning to write in a second language is time consuming and needs a lot of practice. Whereas learners can benefit from proof reading of the instructor, they can benefit even more if the instructor can guide them through the proof reading process and explain the reasons for corrections. This study applied one of the most popular computer communication media, which has a desktop sharing function, to the teaching of academic writing and asked students report their experience. In comparison with face-to-face one-on-one teaching, students reported advantages including flexibilities in schedule and place, saving of traffic time, potential to broadcast to other students, no need for a classroom or office, and the option of making a recording for replaying and sharing with other students. On the other hand, students reported limitations including the needs of equipment and access to network, interruptions of the connection, and bad quality of communication sometimes. Overall, medical professionals prefer this learning mode than face-to-face one-on-one learning.