Reuniting with My Childhood Passion

If I had told my younger self that I would one day contribute to medical education not as a doctor; I would have been stunned.

In high school, I was captivated by the sciences. Courses like biology, physics, and chemistry fuelled my dreams of donning a white coat and saving lives one day. I was certain that becoming a doctor was my path. But as time passed, my interest shifted, and I now work at Three Mountains harnessing the power of e-learning.

Recently, I had the opportunity to join a team working to digitise learning content for the University of Rwanda’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences, specifically for the EAC Regional Centre of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization, and Health Supply Chain Management.

What started as just another project quickly became a full-circle moment for me. As I revisited familiar concepts like immunology and epidemiology, topics I once studied with fascination, I realised something unexpected. Though I had not become a doctor, I never knew I would still contribute to medical education as an instructional designer. But I thought it was a powerful reminder that while career paths may change, our passions have a way of finding us again, sometimes in the most unexpected places.

Then, another realisation struck me. medical textbooks can be incredibly dense and, at times, even boring. As an instructional designer, my role wasn’t just to digitise content but to transform complex scientific material into something engaging, accessible, and practical. My team and I constantly asked ourselves, “How can we make this complex content more interactive for students?”. Collaboration has been key to this process. Regular discussions push us to refine the e-courses we’re creating, exchanging ideas, challenging each other, and ensuring we produce the best possible learning experiences.

One of the crucial learning curves for me was using Articulate Rise 360 for the first time! It is a tool for designing e-courses. At first, it felt unfamiliar, but I started watching online tutorials and with the support of my team I adapted quickly. Now, instead of chucking text on the platform, I’m starting to create visually appealing e-courses that encourage active learning.

I am optimistic that medical students, who once relied solely on traditional lectures and dense textbooks, will soon have access to engaging and effective e-courses. They’ll be able to learn at their own pace, revisit materials whenever needed and interact with content in ways that will make complex medical topics easier to grasp.

I see how e-learning can transform even the most complex medical content into engaging and effective e-courses. This realisation excites me even more because the future of learning is digital, and I’m grateful to be part of a company that is helping shape that future.

Hesron Byiringiro