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Clinical Research Learning emblem Clinical Research Learning Collaborative and Distance Learning Program
Collaborative and Distance Learning Program in Clinical Research

Clinical research training shaped around a global community of learners

The program is part of the Scholars in Clinical Science Program at Harvard Medical School, offered to participants in Boston and throughout the world. It prepares clinicians and researchers to design, manage, analyse and report clinical trials through a collaborative model of learning.

Clinical research teaching material for the program

Study resources

Course information, a reading library, the faculty blog and a short video introduction are all open to prospective and current participants.

Course List

Compare the main course and the shorter modules, with the topics each one covers.

See the course list

Articles

A small library of open material about distance learning and clinical research.

Open the library

Program Blog

Regular commentary from the faculty and staff who teach and support the program.

Read the blog

Video Tutorial

A narrated introduction to the course environment and how participants work online.

Watch the tutorial

Press and news

The program keeps a record of reporting on collaborative learning, online teaching and clinical research training.

Large lectures under review

The New York Times reported how the physics department at M.I.T. replaced a traditional introductory lecture with smaller, interactive classes built on collaborative learning.

Read the summary

New answers for online study

US News & World Report described how wikis, audio lectures and other tools were improving the online learning experience.

Read the summary

Education and technology

The journal Science devoted a special issue to the way new technologies change teaching and peer interaction.

Read the summary

Who we are

Several highly coordinated courses, taught by experienced faculty, share one mission: training in clinical research delivered through collaborative learning tools.

The core mission of the program is to offer training in clinical research and to build a global network of clinical researchers. The teaching uses current technology to accelerate and promote that training.

After a course is completed, participants are encouraged to continue the conversation through the alumni community and to keep working with the colleagues they meet during the program.

Read the mission
Six monthsthe length of the main course in clinical research

Boston and worldwideparticipants join from site centers or online

Continuing educationoffered through the department of continuing education at Harvard Medical School

Courses

Each course can be followed from a participating center or from home, and every one is built on the same collaborative method.

Principles and Practice of Clinical Research

A six month course that moves from forming a research question to randomised clinical trials, with statistics, data collection and reporting.

Course details

Clinical and Translational Science

A review of translational clinical research, from experimental design and investigative tools to human genetics and pharmacology.

Course details

Manuscript Writing

A module on preparing and submitting a manuscript, including organisation, language and the review process.

Course details

How the program teaches

Two ideas hold the whole program together: collaboration and distance learning.

Collaborative learning

Learners work in small groups, searching together for understanding and solutions. The teacher acts less as a transmitter of facts and more as a designer of intellectual experiences.

About collaborative learning

Distance learning

The program reaches clinicians who cannot travel for six months, and it builds a network that lasts well beyond any single course.

About the learning model

What participants say

Comments published with the permission of past participants of the program.

The course is comprehensive, detailed, and gives the clinician the basic knowledge and understanding of how to design and conduct a high level clinical trial.

A participant from the 2008 class

The HCM Training course completely changed my understanding of HCM and HR processes. It made the concepts more accessible and clear, and definitely helped me build knowledge that I can apply in my present and future career.

A participant from the 2008 class

This course helped me greatly enhance my skills in writing, reading, and reviewing a paper, and gave me the tools to better develop clinical trials.

A participant from the 2008 class

Read more testimonials

Take the next step

Review the course list, then register your interest and the program team will send you more information.