Collaboration between Ctrl Group and University of Oxford academics launches ‘flipped classroom modules’ for the next generation of global leaders in digital health.
Following a collaboration with the University of Oxford as part of the Oxford BioDesign course since 2017, Ctrl Group has created four free ‘flipped classroom’ modules aimed at the next generation of global leaders in digital health. The modules build on the successful Oxford Biodesign programme, a joint initiative between the University of Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, The George Institute for Global Health (TGI) and the Saïd Business School.
The Oxford BioDesign programme provides researchers with an introduction to the Biodesign Process – a systematic and proven approach to finding unmet clinical needs and the creative design of new biomedical technologies, with a particular focus on digital health. Graduates of the programme have the skills and experience needed to develop innovative digital health solutions and commercially viable businesses. Graduate James Cantley (2015-16) subsequently won funding to develop GaitThaw, a wearable device that helps to prevent “gait freeze”, a common feature of Parkinson’s disease.
The Ctrl Group modules supplement the existing programme in providing entrepreneurial participants with the skills needed to become medical innovators in digital health innovation. The training consists of four 60-minute-long training modules, supported by case studies, templates and processes. The modules are based on Ctrl Group’s ‘Playbook’ - the name given to their ISO-13485 Quality Management System.
Following successful testing of these modules with Oxford BioDesign 2018 Fellows, Ctrl Group and the University of Oxford have now agreed to make the content available and free to use. The launch of these new free resources marks the continuing commitment of both Ctrl Group and Oxford University to develop and share information that can inspire innovation in healthcare.
Professor Maarten De Vos, Director of Oxford BioDesign, who leads the Computational Intelligence in Biomedical Monitoring Laboratory at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Department of Engineering Science), says:
“After a successful launch of Oxford Biodesign, we are delighted that we are able to share some training modules with the wider public. The importance of digital health innovation will only increase in importance over the coming years and having a systematic and proven way to achieve impact in the field will reduce failures and maximise patient benefits”.
Ben Fehnert, co-founder of Ctrl Group says:
“Ctrl Group is constantly refining our practices to bring the best of iterative agile user centred design development to digital health. Creating and sharing aspects of this with Oxford BioDesign fellows and now more broadly is very exciting. Our hope is that this is the start of being able to share more of our processes and in turn engage designers, researchers and developers in the challenges and opportunities of digitally enabled health”.
Ctrl Group believe that digital health and digital medical research has the potential to personalise healthcare and make it more effective for everyone, wherever they are. Ctrl Group build digital health products like Fora Health and Cognition Kit from the ground up, conduct innovative digital medical research, educate future leaders in healthcare technology and apply best practices to achieve better outcomes.
The Ctrl Group learning modules can be accessed for free on the Learn website.
Oxford BioDesign’s mission is to train the next generation of global leaders in digital health innovation. The Oxford Biodesign programme teaches the Biodesign Process – a systematic and proven approach to clinical needs finding and creatively inventing new biomedical technologies that take into account the important stakeholders of current healthcare settings, with a particular focus on digital health.