AMCC: Innovative Education

• Changing Context: Satisfying Expectations
• Distance Education: A Thoughtful Choice
• Information Technology's Contribution

Established in Montreal in 1988 through the initiative of a group of practitioners, the Collège des Médecines Douces du Québec was fulfilling a need to propose credible education likely to foster a dialog between conventional and alternative medicines. To satisfy the expectations of students in optimal conditions, the College quickly made the choice to offer distance education, made more efficient thanks to electronic exchanges. Initially destined to a Francophone public, this training was offered in English starting in 2000 through the Alternative Medicine College of Canada.

Changing Context: Satisfying Expectations

The idea of an educational structure came to life in the consulting practice of two doctors (one of which was an homeopath), a naturopath and the actual College director, David Bentata, an acupuncturist and acknowledged member of the Collège des médecins du Québec in 1988 (then known as the Corporation professionnelle des médecins du Québec). At the time, the consulting practice was host to trainees from other schools. Demand was great, in a context of developping different but complementary approaches.

The Government of Quebec and the Office des professions du Québec had passed a bill (#25) making acupuncture fall under the control of the Corporation professionnelle des médecins du Québec. This happened in the 1980s, after which the acupuncturists of the time underwent exams. In that same period, Dolisos and Boiron installed laboratories in Montreal. It lead to the unprecedented development of homeopathic medicine, practiced by practitioners not medical doctors. These practitioners followed courses in diverses schools and laboratories in Quebec with passion. The founder and director of the College was a pioneer in promoting acupunture as early as 1979 and homeopathy as early as 1984.

In the 1980s, naturopathy existed, but much more inconspicuously; the laboratories Robert et Fils were the first to provide quality natural products. However, it wasn't until the end of the 1990s that a real interest for this type of practice manifested.

At its beginings, in 1988, the College offered a multipurpose training in its consulting rooms, one weekend a month for three years. The teachers kept in mind their desire to pass on quality scientific knowledge enabling a true communication and collaboration with medical doctors. This was a legitime pursuit since three of the four teachers were involved or members of the Collège des médecins du Québec.

Distance Education: A Thoughtful Choice The idea of distance education came a year later, when teachers recognized the problems in maintaining a quality program, with courses given one weekend per month, especially when taking into account vacation time, missed courses due to transportation or weather issues. They chose to add textbooks to the courses as well as practical workshops at the College. With time, these textbooks were improved to the point of constituting a solid knowledge base and represented, as early as 1993, a bona fide reference library for students and teachers alike. Quickly, this method of teaching proved to be efficient and adapted, offering numerous advantages. Success ensued: students could manage their time independently, schedule more time to study during the week, at home or at work, taking advantage of free time, and without pressure nor travelling worries. Workshops completed the training. Starting then, the College could accept students coming from various Francophone countries and even opened a branch in Switzerland. It grew  successfully for many years. In 1994, the College had to adapt to international teaching practices. Each program, course and module underwent harmonization, on the basis of textbooks requiring 45- or 90-hour of study, plus a course in anatomy-physiology, that became a prerequisite to the training.

Information Technology's Contribution Aware of the performance possibilities brought about by the new means of communication, the College was among the first interested in information technologies with the creation, in 1997, of the first version of its website and the introduction of electronic exchanges. Unmistakably, from that time, the educational relationship of students was improved: communication with the tutor was quicker, more fluid and therefore more spontaneous. In 2000-2001, courses were completely updated and translated to English, attracting a great number of Anglophone students from all five continents. Nowadays, the College has as many Francophone as Anglophone students, supervised by a team of teachers, tutors and collaborators that are always available, motivated, passionate about alternative medicine and driven by the desire to have their graduate students acknowledged.