An engaging online training platform for General Practitioners (GPs), developed as a result of a KTP between the University of Reading and GP training specialist, Red Whale/GP Update, has beaten 127 companies to win the ‘ON24 Webinars That Rocked 2019’ award. The project is also a finalist for the Digital Learning Transformation award by the prestigious Learning Performance Institute. The project was featured at an Innovate UK event,  Invest to Innovate, on 5th February in Reading where Dr Ian Campbell, Interim Executive Chair of Innovate UK, provided a keynote address. 

The KTP project, funded by Innovate UK, focused on developing an engaging and effective online teaching platform to complement the current face to face offering delivered by GP Update – and, crucially, set out to reflect the company’s unique selling point of providing training that is relevant, challenging and fun.

Gerry O’Hagan, the KTN’s Knowledge Transfer Adviser for the project commented that “I think the success that the team is achieving with these awards is clear recognition that they are successfully transferring the unique, individual character evident in their face to face Continuous Professional Development (CPD)  sessions for medical professionals to life in the digital equivalents that they are now launching successfully”.

The work between the University and Red Whale was set up by the University’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), who matched Red Whale’s needs with a KTP associate, Dr Blessing Mbipom and a team of experts including Prof Rachel McCrindle, Biomedical Engineering; Professor Richard Mitchell, Computer Science; and Dr Yota Dimitriadi, Institute of Education.

The University of Reading team used their experience in technology enhanced learning and online course development to support Red Whale’s online CPD offering.  As a result of the partnership, the digital learning offering has seen a doubling of engagement from attendees online.

Martin Haley, CEO of Red Whale said “We’re delighted that the partnership between Red Whale and the University of Reading has resulted in our winning this important award. By collaborating with the right expertise at the University, we’ve been able to develop our digital learning offering to deliver medical education to many more medical professionals without compromising on the quality and value of our courses.”

If you think a KTP could help your organisation create innovation impact, talk to one of our Knowledge Transfer Advisers today.